I just want to point out that the mysterious gentleman, David Gross, who came forward to confirm his participation in John Lott's phantom phone survey is a very strong concealed gun-control advocate, a member of this organization, and practitioner of some rather dirty, if legal, tactics:
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May 5 Update -- The Minnesota Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance (GOCRA) just took exclusive ownership of the corporate names of the two biggest anti-gun groups in the state: Citizens for a Safer Minnesota and Citizens for a Safer Minnesota Education Fund.
Not only are those wonderful names for new organizations that would truly make Minnesota safer -- by enlarging gun rights, not destroying them -- the anti-gunners who spent a lot of time, money and energy building up those names can no longer use them. Nor can they use signs, stationery or other materials using those names.
That shut down the groups’ operations at a political convention this weekend and promises to give a great deal of grief to the groups, their officers, and their contributors.
Further, anyone who has contributed in the last three years to the IRS 501(c)(3) tax-deductible CSM Education Fund may have to file an amended tax return -- including American For Safe Government Andrew McKelvey and his personal anti-gun group, a heavy contributor to anti-gunners across the country.
The Minnesota anti-gun organizations had failed to file their annual non-profit corporation registration so their corporations had been automatically dissolved by the Secretary of State's Office. That terminated the existence of their corporate entities and made the business names available for the taking.
GOCRA took the name of the lobbying organization by incorporating a new subsidiary corporation with the now-available former name of the anti- gun group. That required only a one page fill-in-the-blank form available from the Secretary of State's Office and a $135 filing fee. The form was downloaded from the SOS web page.
The gun organization also got the name of the anti-gunner's tax- deductible foundation by forming another corporation which they intend to qualify under Internal Revenue Code Sec. 501(c)(3).
While they were at it, the pro-gun group reserved for 12 months other names they thought the anti-gunners might want to adopt (which costs less than incorporating).
The founders of GOCRA, David Gross and Joe Olson, both lawyers, were close friends and allies on the NRA Board until we were purged in the post-Heston era. But they’re very much still in the fight; I attended an meeting with Joe and other grass roots activists last week during the Reno NRA meetings.
Now, it's quite possible that this guy remembers taking part in a phone survey five years previously from some college kid at the "University of Northwestern" and just coincidentally happens to be a very active gun advocate. Anything's possible.
(thanks to Mac Diva for the catch).
And Guy Cabot tells us about Theodore Fiddleman.