2nd Amendment Patriots Meeting in South Bend

[LockStocksAndBarrel]

I had the opportunity to attend the meeting Tuesday night (8/30/11) at the Kodiak Firing Range & Training Facility, Inc.

The group plans to meet at Kodiak on the last Tuesday of every month.

Below are the results of the meeting. I will post in this thread subsequent meeting info. I know at least 4 INGO guys were there.

I encourage anyone in the area to attend. Nice people, like minded and strong 2A supporters. Please join us and help spread the word.

Copy and paste of the meeting:

Last night's Second Amendment Patriots North meeting was a great success. Many thanks to everyone who showed up and the many valuable suggestions and contributions. This organization is going to be successful -- I can tell by the quality of the people involved. I counted 22 in attendance at the meeting. We soon filled our original meeting room and had to move into another room. I like those kind of problems.

First items covered were some basic organizational decisions for our group. We decided:

1. To meet on the last Tuesday of every month.

2. Meeting location for the time being will be:
Kodiak Firing Range & Training Facility, Inc.
4611 S Burnett Dr.
South Bend, IN 46614
574 299-8000
www.kodiakrange.com
3. Meeting time is at 6:30 PM.
4. Some items that we need to think about and can decide later are:

What will be our meeting guidelines (Robert's Rules of Order, etc)?

How much gun-related news should we advise the group of?
Safety education. I feel strongly about this one; it doesn't hurt to be reminded occasionally that a moment's inattention with a firearm can produce a lifetime of regret. Hopefully someone will volunteer to address safety issues for 5-10 minutes at our meetings.
Do we want to have any training at our meetings? I noticed there were already two sign-up lists for classes in the office. One class was for "Introduction to Reloading" and the other was for "Trauma Treatment". I signed up for both.
Do we want outside speakers at our meetings?
Do we want to take any "field" trips?
Do we want outside vendors to have product reviews/presentations at our meetings?
What about social events like picnics and cookouts?

5. We reported that we have had an offer from someone to pay for a listing with Meetup.com. This sounds like a good idea since individuals can coordinate their meeting schedules with other groups they may be interested in. We will need to decide on this soon. I am in favor of the idea. We also had someone at the meeting suggest we should be on facebook. Thanks for "volunteering" Ty!
6. As soon as possible we should pick some leaders for 2A Patriots North. I do not have to be a leader in this organization. Perhaps someone would like to volunteer. :-)
7. We will need to decide what level of public profile we should maintain. We need to be concerned about the image of Second Amendment Patriots North.

I am sure that we will be adding to the above list of things to think about as we progress. Your suggestions are appreciated.

Next item covered was a comprehensive report by Len on the South Bend Park Board Meeting. Len advised that he was permitted to read a letter to the Park Board and advise that what they were considering was against the law. The board reacted with a "deer-in-the-headlights" look. Apparently they were caught by surprise. After Len was permitted to read our letter, he left. Another of our members stayed at the meeting to evaluate their reactions. Not much was said about Len's presentation.

My own opinion is that we will have to watch this board closely. We probably should have someone at every board meeting. I don't trust them and imagine that they will try to sneak something thru. Just my thoughts.

We also discussed the violation of state law with the City-County Building. This issue is not going away and there will be more happening in the near future.

We also discussed the lawsuit against the city of Hammond.

After the meeting was adjourned, several of our members were treated to a tour of the facility by Mike Zimmerman (owner of Kodiak Firing Range).

Thanks Mike for your hospitality.

Respectfully submitted:
Dennis Whittaker

[mrortega]

Were you encouraged or helped in organization by Sen. Jim Tomes? He and a few others started the original group in Evansville several years ago.

[LockStocksAndBarrel]

The group in our area is an offshoot of the group Sen. Tomes started. Dennis and Les (de facto leaders) of our group are in contact with him on a regular basis.

[mrortega]

Originally Posted by LockStocksAndBarrel

The group in our area is an offshoot of the group Sen. Tomes started. Dennis and Les (de facto leaders) of our group are in contact with him on a regular basis.

Good. Jim is a very dynamic speaker. He could give an impassioned argument for why we all need to run out into the woods and bash our heads against a tree and we'd all be there with him

[Bill B]

So, what was said about the Hammond lawsuit?
If I am not in school I'll definately drove over for a meeting or two.

[LockStocksAndBarrel]

Originally Posted by Bill B

So, what was said about the Hammond lawsuit?
If I am not in school I'll definately drove over for a meeting or two.

It was just discussed as to what is happening. There wasn't anything new or insightful that we don't alreday know from this thread: http://ingunowners.com/forums/carry_...r_trouble.html

[GeneralCarver]

count me in. I will attend next meeting.

[JoshuaW]

Is it an open group right now? If so, I am definitely in.

[LockStocksAndBarrel]

Originally Posted by JoshuaW

Is it an open group right now? If so, I am definitely in.

It's a wide open group. Come one, come all!

[LockStocksAndBarrel]

The next 2nd Amendment Patriots North Meeting will be held on Tuesday Sept 27th at 6:30 PM. The meeting will be held at:

Kodiak Firing Range & Training Facility, Inc.
4611 S Burnett Dr
South Bend, IN 46614
574 299-8000
www.kodiakrange.com

Kodiak Firing Range is offered as a meeting place for 2A Patriots North thru the generosity of Mr. Mike Zimmerman (Owner). Thanks Mike for your hospitality.

When the meeting is over, I intend to drop a few rounds on the range. Today I went to Kodiak and purchased some 45 ACP frangible rounds so I could be "loaded up and ready to go". Incidentally, the frangible cartridges purchased at Kodiak were MANUFACTURED IN INDIANA. I paid less for them than another box of 50 purchased at another gun store. Let's support Indiana Businesses. I make no apologies, I am an unrepentant capitalist.

Some of the items I wish to discuss at next Tuesday's meeting are:

What will be our meeting guidelines (Robert's Rules of Order, etc)?

How much gun-related news should we advise the group of?

Safety education. I feel strongly about this one; it doesn't hurt to be reminded occasionally that a moment's inattention with a firearm can produce a lifetime of regret. Hopefully someone will volunteer to address safety issues for 5-10 minutes at our meetings.

Do we want to have any training at our meetings? Kodiak Range is now offering some very good training courses. I urge you to go to: http://kodiakrange.com/training.html and consider signing-up for some classes.

Do we want outside speakers at our meetings?

Do we want to take any "field" trips?

Do we want outside vendors to have product reviews/presentations at our meetings?

What about social events like picnics and cookouts?

We reported that we have had an offer from someone to pay for a listing with Meetup.com. This sounds like a good idea since individuals can coordinate their meeting schedules with other groups they may be interested in. We will need to decide on this soon. I am in favor of the idea. We also had someone at the meeting suggest we should be on facebook. Thanks for "volunteering" Ty!

As soon as possible we should pick some leaders for 2A Patriots North. I do not have to be a leader in this organization. Perhaps someone would like to volunteer. :-)

We will need to decide what level of public profile we should maintain. We need to be concerned about the image of Second Amendment Patriots North.

I have already received several thoughtful emails concerning the issues above. Hopefully we can discuss these issues at Tuesday's meeting.

Of course Len Grummell will be reporting on the latest news in the war on the Second Amendment.

Unless we get involved discussing some really heavy "issues", it is my intention to keep the meetings no longer than 1 hour.

Please send me any ideas you may have to help make our meetings interesting, informative and worthwhile. I know you are all busy and I want to make the meetings a good use of your time.

Respectfully submitted:
Dennis Whittaker