February 2015 - Louisiana Open Carry Awareness League

Gonzales Gun Show Table a Hit with Extras from Our Friends
On the weekend of January 24 and 25 LOCAL President Steve Raacke
manned a table at the Gonzales Gun Show at Lamar Dixon Expo Center.
Like past gun shows we saw many people stop by our display to learn about
LOCAL and discover that Open Carry is a legal option in this State.
The usual confusion and misinformation was present as several people,
when told about LOCAL and the right to Open Carry without a license, would
reply "I already have mine" referring to having a CHP as if we were offering
conceal training classes.
On the other hand we had many people who stopped by to say that either
they were already members or had found our website or social media sites
and liked what we were doing. It is rewarding to hear someone say, "I saw
your posts about the gun show this weekend on Facebook and stopped by
to say hi".
Steve stepped up his table display from last year by bringing his 17 inch
screen computer which ran slideshow loop of LOCAL photos and videos.
Also on the table was a 11inch tablet which he used to display the LOCAL
website and demonstrate to visitors some of the features found there.
Guests were able to see where issues of our Newsletter can be found along
with how to find the statutes and media articles we have placed on our
webpage. These were well received and helped show visitors how much we
have accomplished over the years.
Two other items helped drive a bit of traffic to our table or inform the public a
bit more and we want to recognize the organizations that helped make it
LOCAL Updates:
February 2015 Meetings
In the Northwest area meetings are by request. Contact us if you would
like to meet in the Shreveport/Bossier area.
The Florida Parishes area February meeting will be held at the IHOP in
Slidell. The IHOP is next to Academy Sports and Outdoors just north of I-12.
The meeting is on the third Saturday, the 21st at 6:30pm.
In This Issue
Louisiana Shooting Association Annual Meeting and Elections are
Saturday, February 28, 2015 at 9:30am at Cabela’s, 2200 W. Cabela’s
Parkway, Gonzales, LA in the upstairs meeting rooms. (Exit 177, Hwy 30, off
of
I-10)
The LOCAL Baton Rouge area MeetUp will be held after the LSA meeting
in the Cabela’s restaurant (approx. 1:30pm).
Pg. 1: Gonzales Gun Show Table a Hit
*For the most up to date list of meetings dates and times please see our
website at http://laopencarry.org
possible.
Pg. 1: LOCAL Updates
NOTE: When I hear from our area representatives I will post their
Pg. 2: Gun shows
meeting dates, times and locations to our website.
Pg. 2: “Guns Save Lives” Stickers a Hit
Pg. 2: ACLDN Booklet Popular at Gun Show
Pg. 3: Louisiana Shooting Association annual meeting
Pg. 3: Officer Elections
Pg. 4: Home Defense Foundation Donation
LEGAL Disclaimer: Nothing in this Newsletter should be considered
legal advice. Always research laws for yourself and consult a
practicing attorney regarding any questions you have regarding legal
matters. Louisiana Open Carry Awareness League (LOCAL) does not
offer legal advice and is not responsible for the actions of persons who
act on any of the information presented here.
Pg. 4: Please Join LOCAL
Pg. 5: Membership Application Form
© 2011 - 2015 Louisiana Open Carry Awareness League. All rights reserved.
Nothing here should be considered, nor is it intended to be considered as legal advice.
Page 1 of 5
Gun shows:



Bossier City Gun Show: Feb. 7 & 8 Civic Center – 200-225 T,
620 Benton Rd. Bossier, LA 71111 - SAT. 9-5, SUN. 10-4
Lafayette Gun Show: Feb. 21 & 22 - Lafayette Event Center,
4607 Johnston St., Next to Crystal Cottage and across from
Courtesy GMC - SAT. 9-5, SUN. 10-4
Mandeville Gun Show: Feb. 21st & 22nd - Castine Center - SAT.
9am – 5pm, SUN. 10am – 5pm
“Guns Save Lives” Stickers a Hit
In early January the monthly newsletter had been posted on several different
websites and discussion forums. It is seen by hundreds of people each
month. One of these people is Dale who goes by the screen name
Grapeshot on the OCDO forums. Dale is a member of the very active gun
rights group, Virginia Citizens Defense League, or VCDL.
http://www.vcdl.org/
After the January newsletter was out, LOCAL President Steve Raacke sent
private messages to certain moderators and regular posters on the various
forums where the announcement was made and asked for feedback about
our newsletter and our efforts to educate the public. One of those messages
went to Dale who responded with some positive advice and an offer.
In Virginia the VCDL has made popular the slogan Guns Save Lives. They
have 3 inch round orange stickers with this slogan printed on them and they
hand the stickers out at every gun show and event. The gun ban groups and
the media constantly portray guns as evil and the VCDL is trying to turn the
narrative around and say that many times Guns Save Lives (GSL).
Dale told Steve that he would gladly send LOCAL a roll of their stickers to
hand out at the gun show. This offer was accepted and just a few days
before the Gonzales gun show Steve received a box in the mail. Inside was
a roll of 1000 of the orange stickers.
By noon the building was full of people walking around with orange stickers
telling the world Guns Save Lives. Sunday was a repeat with many people
stopping by the LOCAL table to ask for a sticker and then learning about our
Mission to inform the public about open carry. We started the weekend with
1000 stickers. By the time the doors closed Sunday evening the roll
contained much less than half that. At least 600 stickers were given out in
about 2 days.
This was possible thanks to a friend of LOCAL who doesn't even live in
Louisiana but has seen our posts on various forums and reads our
newsletters. He saw that we are not a bunch of extreme OCers posting
YouTube videos of public marches or police confrontations. Instead we are
able to get our information out in a way that does not cause controversy or
give the gun ban groups anything to use against us.
Thanks to Dale, AKA: “GrapeShot” and the VCDL for the support and
encouragement shown to LOCAL! We hope to return the favor in the future.
Editor’s Note: LOCAL has ordered another roll of these stickers but with the
LOCAL URL at the bottom for use at gun show and other gatherings
ACLDN Booklet Popular at Gun Show Table
LOCAL has always encouraged its members to have a plan to deal with
legal issues that may arise due to carrying a firearm for self-defense. This
can be as simple as speaking with and retaining an attorney who can handle
your case if you are arrested to having a membership in one of the many
"prepaid legal plans" that are available.
LOCAL President Steve Raacke is a member of the Armed Citizens Legal
Defense Network plan which has a booklet titled What Every Gun Owner
Needs to Know About Self Defense Law.
This booklet covers the responsibilities that all gun owners share such as
securing your firearm so that criminals or children don't get their hands on
them. Chapters include The High Cost of Self Defense and When is Deadly
Force Justified as well as The Affirmative Defense of Self Defense, The
Initial Aggressor Rule and Defending Others. It even has a chapter on The
Castle Doctrine and the Duty to Retreat.
LOCAL doesn't give legal advice and this booklet certainly isn't legal advice
either. What it does is give a layperson a place to start to understand the
legal pitfalls of having a firearm and possibly having to use it against another
person.
Steve contacted ACLDN and requested a box of their booklets which are
provided free to members, gun stores, firearms instructors and others. The
week before the gun show Steve received a box containing 280 booklets.
The booklets were put on the LOCAL table so that people coming to our
table could pick them up, thumb through them and take them if they wanted.
On the Friday before the show vendors were at the expo center setting up
tables and displays for the coming weekend. After setting up the LOCAL
table, Steve took the GSL stickers around to the other tables and handed
each vendor a sticker to wear when the doors opened the next day.
Not only did the vendors want to wear the GSL stickers but they wanted
extras to decorate their displays. They put them on the front of rifle racks, on
display cases and even on their banners over their tables.
When the doors opened on Saturday visitors saw the stickers and asked
where to find them and was directed to the LOCAL table. As people came by
the table they were offered a GSL sticker. "Stick this to your shirt and stick it
to the people who want to take your guns." Steve would say as he offered
the stickers, "Tell Bloomberg where to stick his gun control plans."
(continued in right column)
The booklets proved popular and were a good way to promote our efforts of
getting gun owners to think about the realities of carrying a gun in daily life.
The fact is, if you ever have to pull your gun to defend yourself there is a
good chance that a second battle is waiting for you at the police station or a
court room. If you don't have a plan to deal with this second battle you could
lose your job, your home, your family and your freedom.
(continued on next page)
© 2011 - 2015 Louisiana Open Carry Awareness League. All rights reserved.
Nothing here should be considered, nor is it intended to be considered as legal advice.
Page 2 of 5
(continued from page 2)
The booklets from ACLDN were usually part of a packet given to people who
stopped by our table to discuss carrying a firearm. Steve would take a
booklet and place, like a bookmark, a copy of the LOCAL trifold pamphlet, a
LOCAL business card and a GSL sticker inside.
This combination of items was so successful that LOCAL officers are
discussing how to make this part of a "new or renewing member’s packet"
which would be mailed to everyone who pays dues to LOCAL. This would
be part of our efforts to step up our benefits to our members over just
sending an email with their membership cards attached.
If you would like to see a digital copy of this booklet, go to
http://www.armedcitizensnetwork.org/images/stories/Hayes_SDLaw.pdf
Thanks to our friends over at the Armed Citizens' Legal Defense Network for
the booklets. http://www.armedcitizensnetwork.org/
Images from the Gonzales Gun Show
Louisiana Shooting Association annual meeting
Feb 28 at Cabela’s.
On Saturday, February 28, 2015 the Louisiana Shooting Association (LSA)
will host its annual members meeting and elections in the upstairs meeting
rooms at the Cabela’s, 2200 W. Cabela’s Parkway, Gonzales, LA. The store
opens at 9am and the meeting rooms will open to LSA members and guests
at 9:30am. The meeting should wrap up by 1:30pm at the latest.
If you are not familiar with LSA you can go to their website to learn more but
basically they are the NRA and Civilian Marksmanship Program affiliate
organization for Louisiana. They sponsor competition shooting sports, hunter
education and more. They have been responsible for pushing lots of pro-gun
bills through our state capital to the Governor’s desk. They have also
stopped some pretty bad gun bills from becoming law.
While LOCAL is not officially affiliated with LSA we recognize that LSA is the
led pro-gun organization in our State and have agreed to support them on
several efforts when we are able. The LOCAL bylaws state that should
LOCAL fold as an organization our assets would be distributed to the LSA.
LOCAL President Steve Raacke will be attending the LSA meeting as a LSA
member but also representing LOCAL. After the LSA meeting is over Steve
plans to meet with any LOCAL members upstairs in the restaurant.
So feel free to come out, learn about LSA and what they do and join Steve
for lunch after the meeting. http://www.louisianashooting.com/
Officer Elections
Officer elections were to be held in January but it seems that there were no
nominations so the offices remain the same with a few exceptions; In the
Florida parishes area there was a change in positions when Wolf suffered a
stroke on May 5th and turned the reins over to his co-Representative until he
could return. Fortunately by June 16 he was back on the road to being his
old self and was riding his bike again soon after! Although he never actually
said it, we assume he regained his office as Area Representative.
In the Organization’s offices, VP Speedy Mercer and Secretary/Treasurer
Philip Heustis swapped hats! Philip is now VP and Speedy has taken the title
of Secretary/Treasurer. Speedy will still remain the webmaster of our web
and media sites and keep doing all the other behind the scene jobs that he
has been doing but will also take on the financial aspects of our organization
giving Philip a breather.
We are hoping that we will pick up more active members in the following
year who will want to step up and represent LOCAL either in some way. We
are very glad that you trust us to run LOCAL as we have thus far but
remember, burnout is an issue and we will need to step down at some point.
Hopefully someone will be there to keep LOCAL moving ahead. If not,
LOCAL will close its doors and pass along whatever is left to the Louisiana
Shooting Association as specified in our bylaws.
LOCAL Merchandise available at these locations!
Shop Zazzle: http:/www.zazzle.com/laopencarry
Shop Cafepress: http://www.cafepress.com/laopencarry
© 2011 - 2015 Louisiana Open Carry Awareness League. All rights reserved.
Nothing here should be considered, nor is it intended to be considered as legal advice.
Page 3 of 5
Home Defense Foundation Donation
The Home Defense Foundation out of New Orleans is self-described as: “A
multi-racial group that supports honest citizens who have to defend
themselves when criminals attack.” We got in contact with its founder. Mr
Mike Weinberger, and discussed ways that we could possibly help each
other as our end goals are very similar.
The HDF (Home Defense Foundation) provides education and training to its
members and the general public and will also give away pocket/purse
Pepper Spray canisters to their members as you can see from their the links
I copied from their site shown below:




Free Firearm Class
Free Pepper Spray
Free Don't Be A Victim Class
Free Street Awareness Class
They are able to do this through the efforts of their dedicated and active
members.
The Louisiana Open Carry Awareness League (LOCAL) is a non-profit,
grassroots, gun rights organization. LOCAL is a statewide organization with
regional chapters. Membership is open to anyone who is interested in Open
Carry and aiding in the LOCAL Mission of educating the public of the legal
right to Open Carry.
LOCAL Mission Statement
"The mission of the Louisiana Open Carry Awareness League (LOCAL) is to
support, defend and promote the fact that open carry of firearms is a legal
choice in Louisiana. We seek to accomplish this goal by educating the public
about the legality of open carry in Louisiana through the existence of our
website, producing and distributing literature, organizing open carry
campaigns and events, and by actively petitioning our representatives and
legislators. Additionally, we seek to be a conduit for personal involvement by
interested citizens to become active in their communities, as well as in statelevel politics."
The HDF of NOLA generously donated $300 to LOCAL to be used as we
see fit and we thank them very much for that donation! We are in contact
with the people they get their Pepper Spray from and plan to get together an
order of them to give out to our members in new membership packets that
we are planning to stuff with “Guns Save Lives” stickers, LOCAL pamphlets,
1” LOCAL logo hat/lapel pin(s), a printed membership card and Office Depot
discount card!
http://www.hdfnola.org/
Please Join LOCAL Today
Since 2009 LOCAL has been informing the public about the right to Open Carry in Louisiana as well as advocating for more gun rights. We have done this
with the generous help of our members and supporters. Their donations allow us to keep our website up. The gun show tables and pamphlets we pass out are
paid for from the dues our members send in as well as additional donations. We are a small group but we want to be able to do more. We need members who
can help us. If you are reading this newsletter and have not yet joined LOCAL please take a minute to go to: http://www.laopencarry.org/ and click on the
Join/Donate tab on the top line just under the State Flag. You can join online or print out a copy of the membership application and mail it in. Annual LOCAL
memberships cost only $10. Are you an NRA member yet? If not we have a better deal. Click the Join Here button on the NRA box on our webpage and sign
up for a 1 year NRA membership for only $25 and we will throw in a 1 year membership to LOCAL for free. Joining LOCAL won't put you on any unwanted
mailing lists. You will only receive monthly newsletter announcements or other important email alerts from us as they become necessary.
© 2011 - 2015 Louisiana Open Carry Awareness League. All rights reserved.
Nothing here should be considered, nor is it intended to be considered as legal advice.
Page 4 of 5
Louisiana Open Carry Awareness League
P.O. Box 4092
LaPlace, LA 70069-4092
http://laopencarry.org
Membership Application Form
Mark one option below
_____New Membership- $10 PER YEAR
_____Renewal - $10 PER YEAR
_____Update Information for Current Member
NAME:__________________________________________________________
ADDRESS: ______________________________________________________
CITY:________________________________ STATE:_____ ZIP:___________
PHONE: (
)
-
CELL: (
)
-
EMAIL:__________________________________________________________
LOCAL FORUM MEMBER? YES____ NO____
YOUR SCREEN NAME:____________________________________________
Dues can be submitted in person at our monthly club meeting or mailed to the above address.
Please make your checks or money orders payable to: LA Open Carry Awareness League
© 2011 - 2015 Louisiana Open Carry Awareness League. All rights reserved.
Nothing here should be considered, nor is it intended to be considered as legal advice.
Page 5 of 5

Download Report