Bighamton Rifle Club

[Independent]

Reprinted from BobKingsley.com

 

The Twilight Zone

Imagine if you will, a small gun club in upstate New York, over a 100 year old, quick to cow to government decree and comfortable censoring its own members and anyone else who disagrees.

Wait, a GUN club, super-submissive to questionable governmental edicts, embracing the muzzling of speech and censoring its members?  I thought the general perception of the “gun-culture” was anti-government, anti-edict, and general apprehension of authority? 

The leadership at the Binghamton Rifle Club, (BRC) apparently needs a reminder from Thomas Jefferson who tells us, “The government is best which governs the least because its people discipline themselves.”

Apparently not so at the BRC.  I am an eighteen-year member and I questioned the decision that closed the club to all activity due to the Corona-virus outbreak.  While I understood and supported suspending activities that congregated people in close groups, my point was that individuals could safely use the facility while practicing appropriate social distancing. 

The club has 24/7 access and I posited that certainly 3-5 members could occupy  a 12-lane shooting range in 3000 square feet of space while keeping distancing protocols.  I reasoned that members could decide for themselves the risks, just as they do at the grocery store, pharmacy or hardware store.  The President later reinforced this by specifically adding shooting ranges to the list of critical pandemic infrastructure.

At first, I lobbied club leadership privately via email.  When my concerns and request to re-open the club went unresolved, I reasoned that perhaps other club members felt as I did.  To find out, I posted my correspondence with leadership on the clubs Face Book, (FB) page in the effort to engage the some 600 plus members and get their feedback.  The club quickly took down my posts.  Flabbergasted by this, I posted a picture of the club with the words: “Frozen by Fear” photo-shopped onto the building.  The club took down the photo and blocked me from posting to my own clubs FB page.  Then a friend of mine posted an inquiry asking what happened to my posts and he too was taken down and blocked.

Rod Serling, the creator of the Twilight Zone TV series so popular in the 1960’s was born in Binghamton, NY.  What a coincident that the story of the Binghamton Rifle Club today just might suggest a twilight zone episode.  Who would have thought that a 105 year-old rifle club could morph itself into a warped mentality that believes censorship and compliance without question is the right way to lead?

I wonder just how many other gun clubs and traditional organizations historically thought of as “conservative” are likewise losing their way and their vision?  Might the Corona-virus situation be providing a beta-test laboratory for those in positions of power to observe and calculate just how far the American populace can be pushed?

Conservative American’s and especially those of us focused on the 2nd Amendment should be on the front lines of a healthy skepticism towards government.  Voltaire provides a clarion song when he said, “It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.”

Hopefully, the BRC is not the canary in the coal mine for the trajectory of political philosophy in our nation.  We must assert ourselves as citizens not subjects and heed Thomas Jefferson who said:  “A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take all that you have.”

 

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[19April1775]

He nails it except for not calling for a major revolt by membership against the cowardly "Executive Committee". They should be thrown out on their ass. The answer to 1984 is 1776.

[Bingoloid]

Although NY doesn't list them, the federal government has updated their advisory list to include shooting ranges. BRC should seek a waiver.

[19April1775]

20 hours ago, Bingoloid said:

Although NY doesn't list them, the federal government has updated their advisory list to include shooting ranges. BRC should seek a waiver.

RIGHT, ask the government for permission to exercise your Constitutional rights. That is what the Founders intended, I'm sure??!! Do you people really not have a built in alarm against government tyranny? How can you be an American and not? My best guess is your bloodlines sat on the side lines while my bloodlines kicked the King's ass all the way back to Britain. 

[Bingoloid]

3 hours ago, 19April1775 said:

RIGHT, ask the government for permission to exercise your Constitutional rights. That is what the Founders intended, I'm sure??!! Do you people really not have a built in alarm against government tyranny? How can you be an American and not? My best guess is your bloodlines sat on the side lines while my bloodlines kicked the King's ass all the way back to Britain. 

In point of fact, '75, my male-line colonist ancestor was transported for rebellion against the Crown over religious freedom, and he and all three of his sons signed their oath of allegiance to the Revolution at Pittsylvania. Two of those sons were at Valley Forge together, and one - my ancestor - was one of the first pioneers to push west on the Wilderness Road. Their descendants had valorous service records on both sides of the Civil War, and my mother and paternal grandfather were both veterans.

In any case, we live in a federal constitutional republic. Flying under the radar isn't a victory any more than a brothel is legal because it wasn't raided. Back the state into a corner and make them either fix their oversight or take sides against you in writing. There are more than a few pro-Second Amendment civil rights groups that would be happy to take that to court pro bono.

The good guys have had a strong track record at getting the Second Amendment upheld against the states in recent years and Pennsylvania has already backed down on gun stores after a court order. Challenging Albany to pick a fight is the only way you're going to get them to concede.

[Kaz]

On 3/30/2020 at 12:18 PM, Independent said:

"Hopefully, the BRC is not the canary in the coal mine for the trajectory of political philosophy in our nation."

No need to ask that question. Just look at whom the 2nd place Democratic presidential candidate is. This in the party of JFK? Even Serling couldn't come up with a plot like this.

[FormerSomeone]

I shot at BRC some years ago at an open house.  Good folks.  Also a former member of Broome County Sportsman's Assoc. and a former PPC shooter with Tioga (Sheriffs & Sportsmen) out on Carmichael Road in Owego.   I made the decision 15 years ago to get enough of my own property outside the city/suburbs to shoot when I wanted to and hunt deer without accommodating leagues and teams. It seemed whenever I showed up to shoot something "official" was going on and I had no access.  #$!*#%&!

 Best decision I ever made was to buy a home with land.  Not cheap but very worthwhile.  Land and time are the ONY things they are not making any more of.  Served my time growing up on the North Side with a 40' x 60" lot.  Screw that.  I have 1/2 mile off the road frontage to my back property line.  Mmmmmmm.

 

 

[19April1775]

19 hours ago, Bingoloid said:

In point of fact, '75, my male-line colonist ancestor was transported for rebellion against the Crown over religious freedom, and he and all three of his sons signed their oath of allegiance to the Revolution at Pittsylvania. Two of those sons were at Valley Forge together, and one - my ancestor - was one of the first pioneers to push west on the Wilderness Road. Their descendants had valorous service records on both sides of the Civil War, and my mother and paternal grandfather were both veterans.

In any case, we live in a federal constitutional republic. Flying under the radar isn't a victory any more than a brothel is legal because it wasn't raided. Back the state into a corner and make them either fix their oversight or take sides against you in writing. There are more than a few pro-Second Amendment civil rights groups that would be happy to take that to court pro bono.

The good guys have had a strong track record at getting the Second Amendment upheld against the states in recent years and Pennsylvania has already backed down on gun stores after a court order. Challenging Albany to pick a fight is the only way you're going to get them to concede.

So you lost your way with your lawyerly bullshit for awhile. Hopefully you learned from that.  

[Bingoloid]

50 minutes ago, 19April1775 said:

So you lost your way with your lawyerly bullshit for awhile. Hopefully you learned from that.  

Can't imagine what you think you're talking about, '75. There's a real world out there and you either live in it, or you lose.

Right now, it sounds like BRC's membership is losing because BRC's leadership doesn't want to put in the work. They do have an opportunity to make a lasting difference.

[19April1775]

57 minutes ago, Bingoloid said:

Can't imagine what you think you're talking about, '75. There's a real world out there and you either live in it, or you lose.

Right now, it sounds like BRC's membership is losing because BRC's leadership doesn't want to put in the work. They do have an opportunity to make a lasting difference.

I will let time help you figure it out.