'Grassroots' gun control org "Moms Demand..." is utterly astroturf

that advertises itself as "grassroots" ... isn't.

To attract more MSM to their rallies than rally participants, and somehow still draw a salary from somebody, somewhere.

Both green.

are on top of this and will crush these women.

They are already on it - 4 of these fancy PR moms met yesterday at a local Black-Eyed Pea in TX and a dozen or so members of Texas Open Carry were there with assault rifles to intimidate the moms and frighten locals.

all of the rifles are post 1986, therefore they can not be legal assault rifles using the proper terminology.
BTW, the goal isn't to intimidate but is just easier than showing up with a sign.
My pet peeve are those who want their, and only their, voices heard by accusing others of "intimidating". Since the cops were not called, I doubt anyone was scared.

I see you're doing your part to limit discussion.

I applaud those brave men - securing the restaurant from 4 unarmed MOMS

If you look at the list of NYC concealed carry holders, not only is it a who's who of rich people, but also gun control advocates.
Then there is Carl Rowen and Barbara Graham, but they are ancient history.
Since the "moms" were inside, the armed moms and dads were outside, hardly securing the eatery.
Personally, I wouldn't have a counter protest with a weapon at least in that context for several reasons. First, being armed at a political rally is illegal in Florida (which is why the RNC was a gun free zone) and simply wouldn't happen in Wyoming. Second, I don't think it actually works. I would pass out pamphlets using logic would highlight the various studies by criminologists and the latest CDC report.

hire a professional PR consultant. If the intent here was to communicate to and inform people who are open-minded on the 2A/RKBA issue, I can't think of a worse strategy than lining up like a firing squad and waiting for four activists to come out of a restaurant. (Well, (aside from actually shooting them, I guess...)

Although I'm cynical enough to wonder how much is stupidity and how much is agent provocateur.

lack of self-awareness really could come with a price tag - maybe Watts or someone like her is earning their paycheck. Except that it seems similarly anti-productive OC counter-demonstrations have happened in other places as well, so I think there genuinely are people who think these actions are a good idea...

land of loaded guns.

This group is kinda like the Westboro church nuts - only instead of stalking dead soldiers funerals...anti-gun moms are their target and guns of all shapes and sizes are their signs.

If I pulled into this Black-Eyed Pea for lunch and saw this, I would have left in a NY second or sooner. I would walk out of any establishment if one or many angry gun toting white men entered the place.

Wyoming, Finland, Norway, and New Brunswick.
That said, I felt safer in El Paso than Fairfield California.
While things maybe bigger in Texas, everything is better in Wyoming.
angry gun toting white men:
how about not so angry white men? Gun toting black men? Gun toting women of any race?
What does anger have to do with it? I knew a guy in Wyoming who open carried when going to the range on his motorcycle because it was the only legal way for him to carry at the time (a saddle bag or back pack would have been the legal equivalent of under the seat/glove box, which was illegal at the time.)
You watch the behavior, not make unfounded assumptions based on attire or accessories.

until not.

Like my friends ex - nice man, not angry, 60 years old - killed their 9 year old and himself.
Happens all the time in one country where the state of Wyoming is.

Something tells me the Finnish, Norwegians and NB's citizens are not angry because they aren't shooting each other or themselves to the tune of 40 per day

which those countries don't have.
As for your friend's ex, I lived in Japan for almost five years. Such murder suicides are quite common, just not with guns and they would have counted the nine year old as an "family suicide"
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/02/03/national/japans-suicide-statistics-dont-tell-the-real-story/#.UoAuflGNPuM

There's another version of the same picture, taken at the same time of the group from the front.

I saw it a day or so ago. Some gun control fans jumped on this version, taken from the back with no context and no proof there was any MDA group nearby. From what I can tell the whole thing is made up, including the "intimidated Mom's demand action group, all 4 of them", having lunch in a nearby restaurant.

(Seriously if your entire group only had 4 members, why would you publicize it?)

I'll try and track it down again again if somebody else doesn't find it first. When you see the two pix side by side it's obvious that this is a group picture in a parking lot holding a flag in front of somebody's pick em up truck.

But ... that's not an interesting story. Hard to imagine that gun control supporters would make shit up. Who'd a thought.

Here it is. Sorry it tool me a while to find it again and it's from Ammoland, but the source doesn't change the 2 pictures.

http://www.ammoland.com/2013/11/moms-demand-action-twist-the-truth-again/#axzz2kS0F5P2f

Those two toddlers and the women there must have scared the MDA group out of their wits.

before opening her own PR shop.

They ain't - intimidation, threats towards the head of the MDA. They've threatened her and her daughters, called her names - the usual slime that gun owners do.

Holding a flag doesn't mean shit. I've seen the other photo, they are posing with a flag and their frightening weapons..

Fuck them

I frankly don't believe her.
Example?

just now on Chris Hayes the crouching Cory Watkins pic was taken by a bystander at the restaurant.

and how did it get to the four people at the restaurant?

lazy aren't you?

someone makes a claim on some chat show, doesn't make it so. I do a lot of research. I seemed to have missed anything of substance in your post.

Welcome to DU.

scheme transfers to emotional issues....there's money to be made here.

That would be astroturf, in this context. Interesting conspiracy theory

and not out of the ordinary for the intellectually dishonest. In all things political, perception trumps reality. All propagandists are in the perception management business. OCT claims a lady went up to them and asked to take take their picture. A side shot was used, not the front shot which gives a completely different impression.

That's even funnier

as I said above, the counter protest was done stupidly. The claim of "being threatened and intimated" is hard to believe.
My first thought was it was a staged photo with actors and toy guns.
Shannon Watts claims they got the photo from "social media" was pissed off that the men and women was not arrested because open carry of long guns being illegal in Texas (which it isn't) and compared them to the Taliban, which is quite moronic on her part.

So you are saying that freedom of assembly should only apply to people you like? Like I said before, Watts' PR firm, she opened up her own shop after learning her craft at Monsanto, was hired by Bloomberg to create MDA. Her job is spin and dishonesty.

If you look at the front pic, they brought their SOs and kids too.

The fact that so many unstable people showed up with their killing machines, shows how completely insecure some are about the 'gun issue'. Of course they showed up to intimidate the mothers! Notice it was something like 4 against 20...that is how gun cowards role.

is illegitimate to these people. The only movements they see as legitimate are backed by the multi-billion dollar gun lobby. Reality means nothing in here.

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000082

None of them these people are upset about their kids. Watts is a former Monsanto PR flack who now is on Bloomberg's payroll. Reality isn't always what you want it to be.

To be blunt, in no wise different from the Tea Partiers.

Evidently, Michael Bloomberg took a look at the Teahadis and their overlords and said
to himself: "Hey, I can do that too!"

As I pointed out upthread, MDA's tax filings should be most illuminating...

They are controlled by the rich, whereas those who value guns, death, and corporate profits above human life are great as far as you're concerned. I understand the fact that people grieve for their murdered children and want to do whatever the can to sav lives is something gun worshipers cannot understand, but there continue to exist on this planet some people who actually care about humanity. I have no doubt the gun cabal is woking diligently to rid the world of the scourge of human compassion and love. I mean, where's the profit in caring for other Human beings? If those mothers don't kill, what possible value can they have to the world the gun lobby made?

You all obviously feel compelled to lie to yourselves, but don't for a minute thing anyone else believes your bullshit. We know what it's like to love people in our families and not to have the killed to satisfy the unfettered profits of gun manufacturer and the twisted delusions of their lackeys.

The irony of pointing to Bloomberg, while the gun lobby has spent huge amounts of money over the past several decades to ensure this country maintains the highest murder rate in the developed world. How dare one rich man contribute to gun control efforts and counter the billions that go to promote murder. Imagine thinking human life actually has value?

in this thread...
Guess you missed these, hmm?:



Instead of refuting the OP, you went off on an invented ad hominem attack.




I'll be here when you are ready to discuss facts.

I know the head of the Houston branch of this organization. She is very committed and is an effective advocate

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p557/

Tax-Exempt Status for Your Organization

I suspect they will be most interesting- if in fact they are filed at all...

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=779400752087000&set=a.217259448301136.70251.216484961711918&type=1

From the outset the intent was clear and utter intimidation. It backfired mercilessly on them, and the fallout continues. These are NOT the people any gun advo in TX or elsewhere wants leading the charge.

but there is nothing in the "tweet" that indicates it was from anyone in the organization, and the "event" was at a Black Eyed Peas in Dallas, not a Blue Mesa in Arlington. That said, it is a stupid tactic as I mentioned above.

More than one poster (as well as yours truly) have already decried OCT's action for being
the assholish thing that it was.

HOWEVER

Since real life is not some Manichean game, OCT bringing the stupid does not in any
way make MDA authentically grassroots