The Virginia Citizens Defense League is gearing up to boycott and perhaps picket Cole's Gun Shop, saying owner Mark Cole put their privacy in jeopardy when he agreed to let a court-appointed officer scrutinize his gun sales for the next three years.Yeah, no doubt it was a tough choice, and I say that with no sarcasm.
Attorney Michael Cole, who represented his brother's shop in the settlement, says it was purely an economic decision.
"Was it going to eat into our profits and ability to make a living more to defend this case or to settle it under the terms that we were offered?" he said. "It's a no-brainer."
But collaborators have always had reasons to take the path of least resistance, and the Coles are now in a fix. I wouldn't want my information subjected to that sick punk Michael Bloomberg's scrutiny, either, and would take my business to a place where that doesn't happen.
Still, here's my challenge to gun owners, because the enemy is successfully playing our ranks against each other: Will we take the lead in helping out a gun store that resists and defies the Bloomberg parasites? Legal battles are expensive and protracted. The average gun store simply does not have the resources to fight one, and will make the "pragmatic" choice just to survive.
If our answer is "No," that is, if we have chosen the path of least resistance, then I don't see where we have much room to complain. The gun stores will be picked off one by one, to cave in or fold under pressure. Either way is fine with those who wish to see us disarmed.
I'd think the gun industry would want to keep their lines of supply open, and ought to take the lead in coordinating this. But I won't be surprised to find that until their bottom lines are threatened, they too will take the path of least resistance.
So rather than form a centralized organization--that might impose all kinds of objectionable eligibility standards--we should act locally. If we know of a gun store that's being extorted, talk to the owner about setting up a defense fund--then get your gun owning friends and grassroots activists involved. Figure out how much needs to be raised and come up with a plan to do it.
Or don't, and continue down the path...