Reprinted with permission. Please visit his site.

Subject: Some things you should know (or ask) about the Bell Campaign and Million Mom March

From: William A. Levinson 26 February, 2001

Dear Million Mom March Chapter Organizer,

I am the Million Mom March's worst enemy— but I hope to be your friend.

It's my task to show you that the Million Mom March is also your enemy: a manipulative and deceptive organization that misleads and uses well-meaning and honorable people like yourself. When you've read this, and checked some things out for yourself (you don't have to take my word for them), I think you will be appalled to discover what you are really supporting.

The Million Mom March requests sensitive personal information from chapter organizers

The chapter application at http://millionmommarch.com/chapters/national/chapters/chapter_app/ requires you to provide your:

    1. Birth date
    2. Social Security Number
    3. Driver's license
    4. Name of your employer, and employer's address
    5. References
The page also requires you to initial the statement, "I hereby release from liability the Million Mom March and its representatives for seeking, gathering, and using such information and all other persons, corporations, or organizations for furnishing such information."

What business does the Million Mom March, or any organization for that matter, have in asking for this kind of information? Why should the Million Mom March be able to contact your employer, who may not agree with gun control? Why does the MMM need your Social Security number, date of birth, or driver's license number?

The MMM apparently collects this information through a secure server with a VeriSign certificate. You might, however, want to ask the MMM what provisions it has in place for assuring that it remains secure afterward. Can the MMM assure you that third parties (e.g. hackers who have nothing to do with the MMM) cannot gain access to personal information that it keeps on file? See the San Mateo Sheriff's Office web page at http://www.smcsheriff.com/id-theft.htm for why this is important.

The ugly truth about "Saturday Night Specials"

"Saturday Night Special" is among the Million Mom March's (and Handgun Control Inc.'s) favorite buzzwords for inexpensive handguns that working-class people can afford for self-protection. The complete term is "Negrotown Saturday Night Special"— and "Negro" isn't the word that its white supremacist inventors used. The KKK and its friends didn't want working-class Blacks to own guns, for obvious reasons. No one ever lynched a .22 or .25, let alone a .38.

The original MMM looked a lot like a political campaign— funded by tax-exempt money

The so-called "grass roots" Million Mom March was founded by Donna Dees-Thomases, a close friend of Hillary Rodham Clinton. It claimed 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in early 2000. That's the same tax status as a church or educational organization. Its real purpose, as I and many others perceive it (and I think you will, too), was to support Albert Gore's Presidential campaign by turning out the "soccer mom" vote.

Tipper Gore attended the Mother's Day demonstration in Washington, DC, and the official Gore campaign used a photograph of her in a Million Mom March T-shirt to promote Gore's candidacy. Senator Barbara Mikulsky (D-MD) appeared with Ms. Gore. Several election-related speeches were given at this tax-deductible event. Here is what the IRS says at http://www.irs.gov/plain/bus_info/eo/eo-faqs.html#12

"Whether a tax-exempt organization may endorse candidates for public office without jeopardizing its tax-exempt status depends upon the type of tax-exempt organization it is. For example, § 501(c)(3) organizations may not engage in political activity, including endorsing candidates…" The Million Mom March also praised House candidates Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Joe Hoeffel (D-PA), and Connie Morella (R-MD) on its Apple Pie Award web page and attacked Tom DeLay (R-TX) on its Time Out Chair page. The NRA (which I will admit is not impartial) called the Mother's Day rally a "thinly-disguised campaign rally" for Albert Gore. If this is true, and the evidence above suggests it, the MMM was running a political campaign with tax-exempt money. Here is an excerpt of Eric Yoffie's speech at the Million Mom March; Mr. Yoffie is the head of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, another tax-exempt group: True, we may not have the money of the NRA, but we've got savvy, grit, and passion. And we're going to find out who's getting NRA funds, and benefiting from NRA ads, and we're going to vote for the other guy… The American people, I believe, are ready for a leader who will take on the fanatics and support sensible gun control. http://www.uahc.org/yoffie/mmm.html Gee, which leader did he mean, Bush or Gore? Maryland Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (her boss is Parris Glendenning, more about him later) doesn't leave any doubt whatsoever. Here's an excerpt from her speech at the Mother's Day event: "It is time for Congress to follow the example of courageous leaders like Governor Parris Glendenning, Vice President Al Gore, and Bill Clinton. Today we march with our feet to Washington. In November we will march with our feet to the polling booth!" …

"Now, let me ask you to join me in a chant that will take us to November: We're going to vote! We're going to vote! We're going to vote!"

 There were other speeches of this nature. I am not a lawyer and I cannot say whether these activities violated tax regulations. I do not think they were appropriate, but I'll leave it to you to decide.

On a final note, Mr. Gore sold your side out when he discovered that there were a lot of gun owners in MI, PA, WV, TN, and AK. He suddenly got religion— more precisely rejoined the fold, since the NRA once gave him an "A" rating as a Senator— and began to sing the praises of the Second Amendment. By this time, however, no one on our side believed him. Union voters gave him PA and MI, but gun control cost him WV, TN (his own state), and AK (Million Mom March apple pie awardee, adulterer, and sexual harasser Bill Clinton's state. Is Mr. Clinton the MMM's Apple Pie role model for husbands, fathers, and male coworkers?)

The Million Mom March lies to its own marchers and sponsors as well as to the public

The Million Mom March lied to its own marchers, sponsors, and media contacts when it claimed that firearm violence kills 12 children a day (1997 figures). The MMM included young adults in their figure. This age group includes many violent criminals who kill each other or die by defensive gunfire from police or armed citizens. The MMM wants you to think, though, that they're innocent kids who find unattended guns, play with them, and shoot playmates by accident. It's Clintonese: "That depends on what you mean by 'children.'" The issue isn't "How many deaths from firearm misuse are acceptable?" because the answer is zero; your side and mine differ only on how to achieve this. It's about lying versus telling the truth.

I promised that you'd be able to verify many of these things for yourself. Use the Center for Disease Control's web site at http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate.html. See what you get for firearm-related deaths (all intents, including suicide) for 1997 (the MMM's source of "12 kids a day"), ages 0-17 (minors), and no age adjusting. Divide by 365. The Million Mom March also lied when it said that it's not out to ban handguns. Its official spokesperson Rosie O'Donnell (master of ceremonies at the Mother's Day Event) advocated banning not only handguns but hunting rifles: "I don't care if you want to hunt… you are not allowed to own a gun." And she means exactly that, you and not we, because her private security guard has a permit to carry a gun. I understand that MMM Midwest regional director Steve Young (or his wife) appeared in Northbrook IL to support a handgun BAN. The MMM will take whatever it can get in the way of stripping ordinary peasants citizens (but not the Rosie O'Donnells, Ted Kennedys, Carl Rowans, Dianne Feinsteins, and the other limousine liberal aristocrat lords-and-ladies-of-the-manor and would-be royalty) of their right to self-defense.

Trigger locks and safe storage laws?

"At a recent antigun conference in Chicago, Mr. [Dennis] Henigan, who is the top lawyer with Handgun Control Inc., the country's largest gun control organization, waved a version of the [Saf T Lock], extolling how easy it is to operate. Then, punching in what he thought was the correct combination, the lawyer failed to unlock the gun, much to the evident discomfort of the sympathetic audience." He excused his failure with the words, "Even if a klutz like me fumbles on the first try, the benefits of having a lock outweigh the risks." (Barrett, "A Simple Invention Points Up Complexity of Gun-Control Suits," Wall Street Journal, 4/23/99, A1).

"Yesterday, the Maryland-National Capital Park Police announced that its officers would begin using one version of the locks, locking magazines, on their Glock pistols when they are off-duty. At a photo opportunity at the department's Silver Spring headquarters, Glendening had an extended struggle to remove a locking magazine from one of the pistols." --"Dumbing Down Smart Guns: Md. Senate to Vote on a Weakened Version of Bill." Daniel LeDuc, Washington Post Staff Writer, Thursday, March 23, 2000; Page B04

 Sorry, Mr. Henigan and Governor Glendening, you don't get a second try. Had you been facing a violent criminal instead of a friendly audience, you'd be dead, along with any family members who were relying on you for protection. I am not against trigger locks that the gun owner uses at his/her discretion. I am against someone like Parris Glendening or Dennis Henigan telling you when you must use them, especially since they lack the character and integrity to admit their mistakes.

Gun control is for commoners, peasants, and serfs like you and me—

—but not for limousine liberal aristocrats, American royalty, "beautiful people," Hollywood celebrities, and lords-and-ladies of the manor like Rosie O'Donnell, Dianne Feinstein, Ted Kennedy, and Carl Rowan. They are entitled to armed bodyguards, concealed-carry gun permits, gated communities, and extensive security systems because their lives and safety are more important than ours. They are even entitled to violate gun control laws, as Carl Rowan did by not only having an unlicensed handgun in Washington, DC, but by using it to shoot a trespasser (nonviolent misdemeanor) with a "warning shot." As for Ted Kennedy, see http://www.ytedk.com/

for more about this individual who doesn't think you're responsible enough to own a gun.

The Violence Policy Center has openly declared its intention to deceive you

Assault weapons—just like armor-piercing bullets, machine guns, and plastic firearms—are a new topic. The weapons' menacing looks, coupled with the public's confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons—anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun—can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons. http://www.vpc.org/studies/awaconc.htm (as of 2/26/01, emphasis is mine) This organization's leaders are so arrogant that they advertise their contempt and disdain, not only for the American people, but for their own supporters and followers, on their Web site.
 
 

William A. Levinson

http://www.stentorian.com/2ndamend/ (my Second Amendment Web page)

There is a saying that a person can be judged by the enemies as well as the friends he/she has. If the MMM wants a picture of me for its Time Out Chair, I will be delighted to provide one.

Religious organizations and other 501(c)(3) charities: The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) apparently pulled its support of the MMM for this reason: "Church officials also said they were not aware that MMM organizers planned to become politically active regarding candidates for office, and would have preferred knowing the organization's plans before the event." ("Lutheran Church Not Informed of Gun Control March Politics," By Scott Hogenson, CNS Executive Editor 16 May, 2000) http://www.cnsnews.org/ViewReligion.asp?Page=\Politics\archive\200005\POL20000516b.html
 

The following is part of the Bell Campaign's tax disclosure forms, which they must make available as a 501(c)(3) organization. Here's a short breakdown of this year's (2000) $601,000 budget. See http://millionmommarch.com/home/files/Trauma_Center.pdf  Pay close attention to the salaries and wages, and look (Note 1) at who gets them.

It's perfectly legal for a nonprofit 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization to pay salaries (including payroll taxes and benefits)— but you aren't getting a salary, are you? Why aren't they volunteering their time, too?