Gun hater extraordinaire Michael Bloomberg funded the creation of “The Trace” last year. It serves as a propaganda news site for the gun grabbers of the world. Their reporter Dan Friedman called me three times in recent days, interviewing me for over 28 minutes in the longest call. Mr. Friedman seemed very keen to learn more about what to expect in the coming term of our new administration. We talked about where I see things headed and some of the things I intended to bring up with the President-elect’s Second Amendment Coalition (SAC) team.
The story broke today at The Trace:
One Member of Trump’s Second Amendment Coalition Has a To-Do List for the New White House
Obama’s executive actions are enemy number one.
In the waning days of the presidential race, Donald Trump’s campaign quietly announced the formation of a “coalition” dedicated to protecting the Second Amendment. The 62-member group would be helmed by the president-elect’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., along with Chris Cox, the National Rifle Association’s top lobbyist. “These leaders will continue to advise Mr. Trump and Governor Pence as they protect our Supreme Court and our right to keep and bear arms,”a press release said.
John Boch, the executive director of Illinois-based group Guns Save Life, was one of those named to the coalition. In an interview with The Trace, Boch says he is eager to share with the new administration his views on how to dismantle decades of presidential actions on firearms — just as soon as he is asked.
Aside from some issues of him conflating to some degree our discussions on where I personally believed gun control was headed and what I intended to recommend as part of the SAC, he cherry picked a couple of side issues to emphasize, while ignoring some of the main points we talked about. In short, he painted what I said in as negative light as possible from the Bloomberg-funded perspective. I suppose that when life hands you a bowl of lemons, you try to make lemonade. I foolishly thought he would accurately reflect general tone I shared with him. Silly me. Live and learn.
The people at The Trace and the folks at Everytown (another Bloomberg creation) all work together closely, I’m sure. Looking back at our conversations and the content of the story, one point stands out with exclamation points: Executive Orders.
The folks at The Trace are worried sick that decades of Executive Orders are going to be stricken with the same stroke of the pen they were created with. Let’s face it: At the federal level, most of the gun control passed since the mid-1990s has been through executive orders. Some of the orders are big things we’ve all read about (some of Obama’s recent orders) and others have been around a lot longer back (some of the orders affecting importation and NFA-regulated items).
Bloomberg’s people seem to know that President Donald Trump can roll back those rules and edicts right away and they are scared. My interview kept coming back to Executive Orders. Dan repeatedly asked me about them.
I liken their concern in my interview about Executive Orders – including ones issue prior to Obama – as akin to showing up at a probationer’s house as a probation officer and conducting an impromptu cursory search. When Mr. Probationer stands in front of the closet the whole time you poke around and you finally take a peek inside that closet, you shouldn’t be surprised when you find a fully loaded AK-style rifle.
“I don’t know nothin’ about that!” he protests.
Right up until you check the pictures on his phone and see a selfie of him holding his rifle looking like a menace to society.
The Trace acts like that probationer, and worries about Executive Orders getting stricken is their AK in the closet.
Let’s all work together to lobby everyone in President-elect Trump’s world to help get those old orders nullified as soon as possible. After all, the only thing that stops a bad person with evil in their heart is a good guy with a gun – not an Executive Order.
“Bloomberg’s people seem to know that President Donald Trump can roll back those rules and edicts right away and they are scared.”
Now that warms the sub-cockle region at the bottom of cold, black heart.
(And gives me a bit of a chubbie)…
*snicker, followed by a belly laugh*
Gee, lets see what I can think up right off the top of my head:
Korean garands back in the states
7N6 import ban lifted
‘Sporting Purposes’ taken out back and beaten with a hose
89 import ban gone
Sig braces can be shouldered
No more BS about using someone’s drill press to finish an 80% lower
And this is just what I can remember while sitting here.
I have never been happier about a presidential election ever. Trump’s mere presence may actually improve this country for generations even if he doesn’t get re elected.
Removal of the import ban would be great. More Norinco and Polytechs! Not to good for the people who have invested in them lately though.
I don’t think we’ll be seeing any Norinco’s being imported into the US, not without Trump adding a hefty tariff tacked on those Chinese guns.
We may see “Norincos” again, but “Polytechs” are highly unlikely. But we may see high-quality AKs at a cheap price, if it comes to pass. They were both just contract guns, produced at 2 (Polytech) or 4 (Norinco) different Chinese arms contractor factories. Poly’s little run-in with the Feebies (and The Party) means most of them won’t be heard from anymore.
http://chicom47.com/Pics/PolyTech/PolyTech.htm
We won’t see either.
Norinco no longer handles civilian sales and Polytech’s management aka PLA generals were “disciplined” and forced to shut their enterprise down.
Everything on the civilian side at least what the Canadians and Europeans are getting are from a company called Sino Defense Manufacturing. I have read their quality isn’t up to par from the last imports we got 22 years ago.
OK. I am NOT impressed with a non-leftist spokesman who only now understands that the anti-gun crowd will never give the other side a fair hearing, or report. Such simple-mindedness is juvenile. I would recommend, and vote for, a resolution to remove Mr. Boch from any serious position with any pro-gun organization or group.
I’d support that resolution. How can you be effective as executive director of any pro-gun organization without knowing the first rule of media relations: Never trust the media to quote you accurately, tell the whole story, or miss any opportunity to paint you as a slathering, half-witted redneck.
By even deigning to interview with the Trace, you lost credibility as a pro-gun spokesman. By discussing possible strategy, you border on traitorous activity. Next time you get such an offer, tell them to pound sand.
Traitorous activity? Get a grip, man.
Traitorous only from the standpoint of providing information to our political adversaries. Not in the conventional sense – you’re right, poor choice of terminology. Boch is still wearing rose-colored glasses if he thinks the media will ever treat 2A supporters fairly, though.
Current booty status: blasted
WTF does that even mean?
I’ve always had a gut impression that Mayor Bloomberg had a streak of authoritarianism– fascism for the managed society and police state — within him.
Don’t be a dick. Speaking of simple-minded and juvenile, aren’t you the guy who totally fell for “george from fort worth’s” trolling antics? Yeah. That was you.
Do all of his other writings and contributions to the gun community mean nothing because of this one incident that will have absolutely no negative impact on gun rights? Deep breaths, dude.
He probably pulled his sister’s hair as a kid. Or farted during dinner. We should probably reject him for that.
Or maybe he doesn’t like black jellybeans. I mean like, that’s rayy-sist.
How’s the air up there? You need oxygen to breathe on that high horse, Sam?
He’s got a phone and a pen.
Soon enough it will be a Chipping Wedge and a speaking fee check.
“In short, he painted what I said in as negative light as possible from the Bloomberg-funded perspective.”
If you didn’t 100% know with complete, deep-in-your-soul certainty that that was going to happen before you ever even agreed to the interview, maybe you shouldn’t be talking to reporters.
I gotta agree on that one, Stinkeye.
Bosch really should have gotten some insight on what to expect from Dean, Nick, RF, etc…
+1
The same goes with ANY reporter, from any publication.
Late to the party. I was about to post that same quote.
If this were tongue-in-cheek I’d laugh, but Mr. Boch seems genuinely surprised by the turn of events. Really?
It’s the media.
It’s the gun grabbers of Bloomberg.
They are biased and have an agenda.
You expect anything else?
You have a full transcript of the interview? Post it up.
Amen. Anyone who talks to the mainstream media about guns should always have a recording of the conversation. The Katie Couric school of journalism is always there.
Why on earth would anyone ever expect honest treatment of anything they say from the anti bunch? Keep in mind this is the same group that supported what was arguably the most corrupt presidential candidate in the history of this republic, little wonder that they were dishonest in their dealings with him.
God, am I the only one who thinks that if it’s The Trace calling, the best thing to do is HANG UP on them!
Gosh golly gee whiz, comments being taken out of context, focus on issues other than what you intended? BIG SURPRISE. Note to TTAGs. The Trace is not your friend or any other gun owners friend. Don’t talk to them.
Just say “my battery is low” or “I’m driving into a tunnel” etc.
You don’t talk to cops and you don’t talk to the gun hating media especially Bloombags The Trace!
“God, am I the only one who thinks that if it’s The Trace calling, the best thing to do is HANG UP on them!”
MLee, it can be very advantageous to speak to the gun hating mass-media.
PROVIDED you know what you’re dealing with and have some strategies to put the interview with them on your terms.
Nick Leghorn explained some of this in his interview with Roland Farrow…
Pray tell WHY would you talk to a leftwing BS group funded by Bloomie? Slash & Burn Boch -that’s how we roll…
I think they should be just as worried about the executive orders he’ll write, not just the ones he’ll erase.
And he’ll have plenty of precedent.
I don’t see an issue with Mr. Boch talking to someone from The Trace.
The first rule of media relations is not “Do not talk to the media”. The first rule of media relations is “When talking to the media expect to be taken out of context”.
If talking to the media had no upside no one would ever do it. The problem with not talking to the media is that then they speculate about you or just flat out make things up. If you talk to them and record the conversation then you can correct the record and make them look bad. If you don’t talk to them they are free to speculate that you’re either a coward or planning things so dastardly that you dare not speak of them before they go into effect. Just look at Steven K. Bannon. Apparently he’s a super anti-Semite because… he’s not talking to the press. Trump’s a hardcore racist. Did you know that? Well, you sure as fuck wouldn’t from any interview or speech he’s ever given but he declined to answer some questions from some Univision fucktard and the “racist” narrative got started about his border security plan. (I’m still not sure why people consider “Mexican” to be a race but hey, maybe they’re just way, way smarter than me.)
Just look at Nancy Pelosi’s comment “We have to pass it so that you can see what’s in it”. That sounds retarded but it’s far better from her POV than saying nothing and letting people speculate as to what she’s really up to or if her position is so indefensible that she won’t discuss it at all.
If you bother to pay any attention at all to either Right leaning or Left leaning publications you will find that quite often “… could not be reached for comment…” is cast in the light of someone intentionally ducking questions. It doesn’t matter if they just haven’t returned the call or not, it’s played up as cowardice or the hiding of malevolence by leaving it hanging at the end of an article begging you to ask why they didn’t answer those simple questions. It’s actually rather rare that such a statement comes with the caveat “As of the time of publication…” or “Was unavailable to comment at this time.
Boch did the right thing talking to this asshat. He wasn’t going to be treated fairly but ignoring the guy merely gives The Trace the ammo they need to go past taking things out of context and go straight to making shit up.
Boy, that comment was a big steaming pile of fail.
Let me be quick to flush the whole thing by asking….
“How many others from the 62 person committee opened their pie hole?”
How’s this for a strategy with the press…They will find out about Trumps actions when he executes them?
Point #2, now due to Boch’s loose flappers, the Trace can try to pump the evil Chinese AK47 angle to the story and try to gain some traction with his MFM cohorts.
I hope Boch has his azz tossed from the committee and I am more than happy to wait and see what Trump does than to pass info to the enemy. Wait a second, doesn’t that sound a little bit like Trump not wanting tactics blabbed to the press about your actions against ISIS? Hmmmm.
Boch doesn’t deserve a second chance.
“How many others from the 62 person committee opened their pie hole?”
How many of them got a personal call from The Trace? Hrmm?
You’re just pissy that someone talked to someone you don’t like. Now you want them to lose their job over it? Wow. Paging Dr. Smith, sandy vagina over here. We need a pressure washer stat!
I’d suggest that you 1) put on your big boy pants and sack up to how media actually works or 2) grab a juice box, take a nap and let the adults talk.
“How’s this for a strategy with the press…They will find out about Trumps actions when he executes them?”
Exactly. Let the press find out at a White House Press Conference. The only reason to speak with the press WAYYYYY before action is to misdirect your opposition. Tell them something like, “We are considering the best way to protect hunting in rural areas.” or some such nonsense and let them spin themselves into the weeds.
By tipping our hand now, our opposition has time to spin-up whatever countermeasures they deem appropriate. Why give them that advantage?
What advantage? What chamber of Congress does the media hold? Did they win the Presidential election?
Nuclear option in the Senate, Harry Reid style, and Trump’s people can do anything they want if the can convince the R’s to go with it. The Democrats can’t stop it.
There’s simply no advantage for them to have.
So what all executive orders can Trump undo that were anti gun? I know there’s the newest one where someone on social security that had a representative payee wasn’t allowed to buy guns anymore, but I’m sure there are a lot of EO’s that have been made the past 30 years that are anti gun and able to be abolished.
Oh a whole lot!!
I could write a short novel on all the things executive orders have done to gun rights but I would be here all day writing them down.
I can assure you that with them gone you would see more choices added to the market, better quality control, and lower prices.
Kudos to Boch for having the guts to take a chance.
Besides, he probably is causing them to crap their beds.
When life hands you a bowl of lemons…
Cut’em open and squeeze them into people’s eyes.
What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
I’m keeping my expectations low, but the more the left hyperventilates, the more I like this Trump fellow. Slash and burn, Donald. Slash and burn.
I foolishly thought he would accurately reflect general tone I shared with him. Silly me. Live and learn.
Seriously WTF? We’re you born yesterday?
I personally would not have spoken to The Trace, no doubt they will cherry pick words, put spin on and flat out misrepresent what was said. John Boch is part of Trump Jr’s Second Amendment Coalition, I would have thought that whoever is the spokesperson for that group should be the one dealing with the media, and there should be protocols in place (such as recording devices etc) to prevent flat out misrepresentation.
We know that the MSM, and especially anything overtly funded by the likes of Bloomberg will not report fairly.
Perhaps Mr. Boch will be accosted at his first meeting with Mr. Trump, and be told, “You’re fired!!”
“I would have thought that whoever is the spokesperson for that group”
I gathered there were 62 spokespeople for the group, and Boch was one of them. Did I miss something?
“…. and there should be protocols in place (such as recording devices etc) to prevent flat out misrepresentation.”
Mr. Boch continues the tradition of RF talking to the enemy and somehow never recording the proceedings. That super technology somehow escapes them.
Wait, you let a reporter from The Trace interview you and are now surprised to learn he cherry-picked some points and otherwise chose to paint you in as negative a light as possible?
Oy.
Hey, maybe you can call Shannon Watts and see if she’ll give you a fair shake, eh?
smh…
Since Dirk has abandoned us, let me suggest you also bargain for a BJ.
To: Chris Cox
Sub: NRA member requesting removal of John Boch from Trump SAC Committee
We can make this happen.
Here is some starting places.
https://www.nraila.org/contact-nra-ila/
https://www.facebook.com/NationalRifleAssociation
Embed not working
Getting started on NRA facebook
https://s14.postimg.org/l74c6ssu9/nra1.jpg
I am amazed at the incensed talk by some here. Keyboard commandos I say. What have all of you done for gun rights? Really? I have to wonder if some of you are the same voices that badmouth the NRA for not being our idea of perfect. If you think you can do better than Boch, then why haven’t you been doing it? Where have you been? Hell, you fellows are so committed to your opinion that you won’t even post under your real names. That’s dedication to the cause! (NOT).
I’ve been a fan of Mr. Boch for a long time now. I first learned of him when he and the GSL organization (then known as something else) promoted “Fanny Pack Carry” in Illinois. Not only did he talk the talk, he walked the walk, carrying an unloaded gun in a fanny pack everywhere he went. This wasn’t without a very real risk of arrest and prosecution by anti-gun officials who all certainly said they would arrest him.
Then he poked Chicago’s gun buyback in the eye by getting publicity for taking scores of guns to Chicago and then spending the money on an NRA Youth Shooting Camp. He single-handedly derailed Chicago’s gun buyback program, then an annual affair, for at least three three or four years. He got the former Chicago police chief fired from his job with Troy Industries and help expose one of the Ruby Ridge snipers they also employed.
He’s challenged other regulations here in Illinois, and time and time again, when push comes to shove, officials admit he’s right or simply go dark.
Boch’s role on this committee is perfect. Is he perfect? No. But last time I checked, neither is anyone else.
I hate incompetence.
I have a little sense that Trump does also.
” Hell, you fellows are so committed to your opinion that you won’t even post under your real names.
Really? Guess again, sport.
(With the exception of the ‘ttag’ at the end.)
Tough crowd, John Boch! The circular firing squad has assembled, it seems. Sorry to see that at TTAG.
Seems a little early to be fighting over what Mr. Trump will or won’t do… he’s not even gotten started yet. Unfortunately, I suspect nobody’s going to be very satisfied in the long run. He’s not Hillary… but that’s about the best that can be said at this point. I don’t expect any more integrity from Trump than I do from “Trace,” actually. But I’d love to be surprised.
Indeed, the circular firing squad has assembled, I see from comments.
Strych9 articulated half of my reason for taking the call from The Trace far more succinctly than I could have:
“Boch did the right thing talking to this asshat. He wasn’t going to be treated fairly but ignoring the guy merely gives The Trace the ammo they need to go past taking things out of context and go straight to making shit up.”
The other half is to not be prejudiced. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt until and unless they do me wrong. I don’t like the mainstream media, but we’ve used them successfully to get our message out plenty of times over the years.
I’m sure Dan over at Bloomberg’s Trace would have been delighted to make something up and then queue up the line, “When contacted about the aforementioned, Mr. Boch had no comment/hung up the phone without comment.”
It can be a tough crowd here. I suppose the pioneers take all the arrows.
John
Don’t let the keyboard commandos and Internet geniuses get your feathers ruffled. Unlike them, you are actually doing the heavy lifting and work. Keep looking out for the POTG and you will be just fine. Ignore the critics within our own ranks. Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.
“It can be a tough crowd here.”
I’m confident you’re up for the challenge. 🙂
Next interview, use what you learn from the last time. Consider availing yourself to what others have learned walking in that minefield.
(I have another suggestion for your long Washington, DC list. Every 2-bit federal agency has their own SWAT team. Disband all of them and roll them into the US Marshals. If the USDA needs a raid, they can pick up the damn phone and call the Marshals. We MUST stop this militarization of the federal police.)
Could you give me an example of why the USDA would ever “need” a SWAT raid? I can’t see any legitimate function for the USDA, let alone any police action.
They don’t *need* one, yet they have one. That’s why I offered that suggestion.
The USDA is heavily involved in food manufacturing, and the food companies pay for the on-site inspectors. They check stuff like food holding temps, sanitation of the production line machinery, general cleanliness, etc. The inspectors are there 24-7-365 if the production line is running.
The on-site inspectors have the power (and they use it, I’ve seen that first hand) to shut the production line down if the product being produced is not to the specifications the USDA has for that production facility.
Having USDA inspectors on site allows the companies to use the “USDA Inspected” logo on the food’s packaging.
I think many of you did not actually read the Trace article. It’s pretty factual. Will antis read it clutching their pearls? Yup. Should you care? Nope. Bosh appears polite and professional, not gloating, and doesn’t throw out any of the really huge ideas that would have freaked them out.
I would have started with “Repeal the NFA and defund the ATF”.
Bloomy is NOT a gun hater….he hates that the common folk have the same rights as the elite do when it comes to self protection.
“My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden.”
— Barry Goldwater
Let’s hope that Trump begins the process by rolling back every anti-2A executive order ever promulgated.
It would be nice to sign away all of those absurd and ridiculous executive orders. Any person knowledgeable on the issue would be able to directly confront the media questioning/attacks and deal with every single one. And then appoint conservative justices to the court who will strike down assault weapons bans. It would be really awesome if a court could strike down 6-3 (instead of 5-4) all assault weapons bans and magazine capacity bans throughout the country.
john seems to recognize that he miscalculated a reporter’s methodology. that’s good experience, he’s learned from it.
you will not be removed. go kick some ass.
1 – All media communications from the 2A advisory group need to be coordinated with (and vetted by) the administration’s communication shop.
I know the whole world is speculating (hoping) Kellyanne Conway will be “rewarded” with an appointment to some “position” in “the administration.” They’re hoping she’ll be tied down, and dirtied up — shut up and neutralized. Until that happens, the campaign / transition / administration communication shop rolls up under her. Figure out who is supposed to be chaperoning you, and use them.
2 – “We’ll have our own recordings & really would prefer of you publish the transcripts as a whole.” As you are now *associated with the incoming administration*, that’s not just fair, but semi-standard practice.
3 – The right answer on executive orders is something like this: “You raise the right point. Something as important as you say it is shouldn’t be subject to executive rule-making, which as you point out, can change with the tip of one person’s opinion. We’re going to recommend rolling back the worst of them, and perhaps all of them, with a recommendation that some be taken up in stand-alone legislation. We’re already talking to house leadership about this.”
“In general, we think things that bear on civil rights, like the 2A, deserve at least the discussion and evidence of broad support that come with legislation. We’re looking at literally decades of executive orders on guns. If they can’t get people’s support, they shouldn’t be on the books, and if they are the right thing to do, they ought to have the force of law.”
4 – Get an inventory of the key arguments, crafted wording — no “… binders full of women”, please — and some practice recognizing the set-ups, so you can respond appropriately.
The 0th thing you 2A adviser-people need to do is organize your PR. Whatever your policy recommendations(*), they will play out in the territory of public opinion, the pragmatic territory of administration politics, and the hostile territory of media. If you want any traction at all on this issue, you need to offer progress in those terms: a “triple bottom line”, just not the one the utopians refer to.
(*) In modern politics, a “policy” initiative is always political, and usually propaganda. Repeat that as many times as it takes to sink in.
If you are reading this Boch, I want a Sig 550. Whatever executive order you gotta get repealed to get me one will make 2017 the best year ever.
Poo. I want an MPX.
“I suppose that when life hands you a bowl of lemons, you try to make lemonade.”
John, I thought that Cave Johnson taught us all that when life gives you lemons, you use them to make a combustible lemon.