24. Testifying before Legislative Committees

``THOSE WHO WON OUR INDEPENDENCE BY REVOLUTION WERE NOT COWARDS. THEY
DID NOT FEAR POLITICAL CHANGE. THEY DID NOT EXALT ORDER AT THE COST OF
LIBERTY.'' Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, Whitney v. California
(1927).

	Testifying before a legislative committee is probably the most
dangerous thing a pro-rights activist can do. If you write letter to a
legislator that's not very good, little harm is done; a bad letter is
simply a missed opportunity to do good. In contrast, a bad witness
before a legislative committee can single-handedly destroy months of
effort by thousands of activists.

	Bad testimony is like a tank crew member pulling a grenade pin--and
dropping the grenade in his own tank! The good guys suffer all the
damage. So here are some tips to keep your testimony from causing
friendly fire fatalities.

Should You Testify?

	First, find out whether you can or should testify at all. At all
Congressional hearings, and at some state legislative and city council
hearings, there is simply no room for a citizen witness. The
legislators limit testimony to a few pre-selected people.

	At other hearings, the committee may only have time to hear from a
half-dozen witnesses (or less) on a particular bill. And at still
other hearings, the committee may take the time to listen to every
citizen who wants to say something.

	Before deciding to testify, call NRA headquarters and talk with
your state liaison, or call your state shooting association or other
local pro-gun group. They can tell you how the hearing will be
structured, and if the committee can accommodate citizen witnesses.

	At a hearing where only a few pre-selected people will be heard,
you can still help by showing up with a written statement (more on
that below), and asking the committee clerk to include your statement
in the record. The tactic is particularly effective if you can find a
friendly legislator who will call attention to it. She might, for
example, say, ``Mr. Chairman, I would like to enter into the record the
written statement of Mr. Fred Goodguy. Mr. Goodguy is strongly opposed
to the bill. May his statement be entered into the record?''

	If you do testify, remember that there is only one reason to
testify: winning. Your objective is to convince a legislative body to
take a pro-rights vote, or at least to modify a bill in a pro-rights
direction. The purpose of testifying is not to get your picture in the
paper, nor is the purpose to make yourself happy. Gun-owners who put
their egos aside help kill bad legislation. Gun-owners who testify to
feed their egos make themselves happy, get their pictures in the
paper, and help pass bad legislation.

Preparation

	Like it or not, how you testify may be more important that what
you testify about. So dress in a business suit. If you don't own one,
at least wear a jacket and tie. Women should also dress
conservatively.

	Whenever you're doing anything that involves dealing with public,
including testifying, never wear hunting orange or similar
paraphernalia. Orange clothes increases the wearer's chances of
getting on TV, but mainly because he looks stupid, sort of like the
hunter that Johnny Carson portrayed on the ``Tonight Show.''

	Try to arrive at least a half-hour early, so you can get a seat,
and coordinate with the rest of the pro-rights folks there. Quite
often there will be a local gun rights leader serving as an informal
coordinator of the witnesses. If there is such a coordinator, seek him
out, introduce yourself, and follow his advice.

	When you get to the hearing room, be aware that there is already a
waiting period in effect, and it applies to you. Hearings often start
late and run overtime. Be ready to wait a long time before it's your
turn.

	When you're in the audience, waiting for your turn to testify, be
quiet and respectful. Do not call out or say anything rude when
opposing witnesses speak. Legislators hate such rudeness, and the
press may well make you look like the bad guys.

During Testimony

	Be consistently polite and respectful. If a legislator treats you
rudely, respond politely. Honey catches more flies than vinegar, and
some of the other legislators may appreciate your mature response to
their obnoxious colleague. Besides, the legislator may not actually be
hostile, but may just be trying to make up her own mind by asking you
tough questions.

	If you feel yourself getting hot under the collar, take a few
seconds for couple deep breaths and drink of water.

	Other legislators, rather than being hostile, may strike you as
stupid, and keep asking you the same question, thereby indicating that
they didn't understand your previous answers. Don't get frustrated.
Patiently answer the question again, perhaps with different phrasing.
The other legislators in the room will probably understand, even if
the one legislator never does.

	Address the legislators with appropriate titles, such as ``Madame
Chairperson'' or ``Mister Chairman'' or ``Senator'' or ``Representative
Jones.'' If you're not sure of what title to use, ``Sir'' and ``Ma'am''
work fine.

	Remember that the anti-gun lobby thrives on promoting hysteria,
and portraying pro-rights citizens as unstable nuts who can't be
trusted with guns. Your job when testifying is to defuse the issue, to
calm things down, and to demonstrate by your every act that gun-owners
are extremely mature and patient. Let the legislators see what good
citizens gun owners really are.

	Of course a witness can scream at the legislators that they're a
bunch of Communist butchers, and he may well get some media attention.
Anyone can get his picture in paper for pulling his pants down in
public. But such histrionics help the gun prohibitionists.

	Even if you are positive that the committee is biased against you,
don't attack the committee; you'll simply alienate them further.

	In the same vein, lay off personal attacks on other opponents.
True, the bureaucrat testifying in favor of gun control may be
small-minded enemy of freedom, but now isn't the time to say so.
Confine yourself to factual evidence disproving his statements.

	If there is a time limit on your testimony, obey it, even if an
anti-gun windbag who testified before you ran overtime. Show that our
sides plays by the rules.

	The time limits that apply to regular folks generally aren't
enforced against government officials who are testifying. They can--and
do--pontificate as long as they want. Don't waste your energy getting
upset about it.

	One way to multiply your impact before the committee is to
demonstrate that you are speaking on behalf of other ordinary
citizens. Maybe you can present the committee with a petition signed
by 20 of your friends indicating that they support the same proposal
you are testifying to support. Even better, they could write short
letters (maybe with your help) for you to offer to the committee.
Present the evidence of citizen support with something like ``Mister
Chairman, before I begin I would like to present you a petition from
25 other residents of Fenario who are unable to attend this hearing,
but who wanted to let the Committee know of their strong support for
House Bill 649.''

Substance

	At the very beginning, state who you are, where you're from, who
you're representing (if anyone else), and your position on the bill:
``Thank Madame Chairwoman for this opportunity to testify. My name is
Jack Straw. I live at 2201 Terrapin Lane, in Bailiwick. I am here on
behalf of my local community organization, the Southern Bailwick
Neighborhood Association. Madame Chairwoman, we strongly support House
Bill 2285 for the following reasons.''

	With a good personal appearance, you've cleared the way for
legislators to listen to what you have to say. For substance, the key
rule is this: Be specific. Quotations from James Madison, or
soliloquies about how gun control never works are a waste of time.
Most legislators already believe in a general right to bear arms; and
the legislators that don't can't be persuaded by rational argument.

	What the legislators need is not general philosophy, but specific
reasons to vote for or against a particular bill. So if they're
hearing a bill about a semiautomatic prohibition, they need to hear
about why a semiautomatic ban would be bad. If you're a target
shooter, you could explain how you use semis in competition. If you
have a semi for home defense, explain why it makes a superior defense
gun in many situations. If you're well acquainted with firearms
technology, explain how a semi fires at the same rate as a pump action
shotgun, not at the same rate as a machine gun. If you're up to speed
on gun policy issues, detail how the semiautomatic prohibition in
California failed.

	Likewise, if you're talking about a gun registration bill, talk
about the specifics of registration. Explain how the twenty dollar
registration fee would work a hardship on some gun owners. Point to
specific examples in other states of how anti-gun police chiefs have
twisted registration laws to turn them into gun bans. Let the
legislators know about other legislatures which have rejected
registration.

	Remember that legislators are generalists, not specialists. They
may not know the difference between a rifle and a shotgun. They may
have no idea of how severe gun control laws already are. (One New York
City Councilman thought that guns could be instantly purchased over
the counter in his city.) Some of them have never touched a gun in
their lives.

	So explain yourself in a non-technical straightforward manner that
doesn't assume a lot of prior knowledge on your listeners' part.

	Anecdotes which illustrate broad points are very useful. If you're
opposed to a bill creating a statewide handgun waiting period, tell
the committee about how the city-level waiting period in your hometown
is administered; while the city law specifies a 5 day wait, the police
often take a month to approve gun purchases. You might tell the story
of a woman you know who, after her house was burglarized, wanted to
buy a handgun in case the burglars came back; but because of the way
the waiting period really works, she couldn't pick up her handgun for
five weeks.

	Make sure that your anecdotes (like everything else you say) can
be presented quickly, without extraneous detail, and that you can come
to point before the committee gets bored.

	Unless you are going to tell a story about something that happened
to you, your own personal background should not account for more than
a sentence or two.

	Name-dropping and similar puffery are verboten. The committee will
think less of you, not more, if you drop lines like, ``I was discussing
this bill yesterday with my high school classmate, Mr. Moneybags, who
owns three major factories outside of town.''

	When challenging factual assertions made by previous witnesses or
committee members, confine yourself to explaining the truth, without
calling the other person a liar. Your factual arguments will be
strongest if you can cite a source of evidence: ``A few minutes ago,
one of the witnesses claimed that semiautomatics are the `weapon of
choice of criminals.' That statement's not entirely accurate. Even in
the big high-crime cities such as New York City, or Los Angeles, the
police records show that only about 1% of guns seized from criminals
are so-called `assault weapons.'''

	Try to avoid repeating points made by previous speakers, unless
you've got something new with which to elaborate the point. If by the
time the committee gets to you, prior speakers have already said
everything you planned to say, it's alright to tell the committee ``I
support House Bill 2285. The previous witnesses have already made all
the points I was going to make, so I'd simply like to ask you to
include my written statement in the record, and to enact this
important, life-saving legislation.''

	Visual aids and props, if handling correctly, can be quite
effective. In a bill to ban ``assault weapons'' you could take a picture
of an AKS rifle, and a Remington rifle, enlarge the pictures, mount
the pictures on stiff cardboard, and explain to the committee that
while the two guns look very different, their internal mechanisms and
rate of fire are just the same.

	Or, you could use your home computer to make a graph showing how
gun crime has increased in states with waiting periods. During your
oral presentation, you could give the committee members their own copy
of the graph, and explain its significance. (When you hand anything to
the committee, you will almost always do so by handing multiple copies
to the Sergeant-at-Arms, who will then distribute your material to the
committee.)

	In conclusion, thank the committee for the opportunity to express
your position, and quickly summarize the position: ``Thank your for the
opportunity to testify on the carrying of handguns by licensed,
trained citizens. House Bill 2285 will start saving lives and
preventing crime the day it is enacted.''

Written Statements

	If you have time, prepare a written statement to supply to the
committee. It's a good way to show you're serious, and will help you
prepare your oral remarks.

	Bring a clean, typed copy of your testimony for every member on
the panel, five extra copies for committee staff, five extra copies
for the media, and five more extra copies for unexpected
circumstances.

	The written statement can go into much more detail than you can
cover in the few minutes that you may be allotted for an oral
statement. So when making your oral statement, summarize the important
points from the written statement. Don't read from the written
statement. Listening to someone read aloud from a prepared text is
boring. You may notice that some of the public officials who spoke
before you were reading word-for-word from a prepared text. They're no
role model for you; the committee was probably bored with them.

	The statement itself should contain your name and address at the
top, along with the bill number or topic of the committee hearing. If
you're representing a group, the fact should also be noted in the
heading. (As we mentioned above, there's no point in mentioning that
you represent a gun group. It's more effective if you can arrange to
appear on behalf of another organization, such as your church, office,
or community organization.)

Other Legislators

	Since you've gone to all the work of preparing a good written
statement, and driving to the capitol, take the opportunity to garner
some influence with other legislators. If your own district's
representative isn't on the committee, drop by her office, ask for the
legislative assistant who deals with the right to bear arms issue, and
give the assistant a copy of your testimony. If you're lucky, the
assistant (or maybe even the legislator) may have a couple minutes to
chat with you. (See chapter 21, on meetings with legislators and
staff.)

	Follow up by writing a letter to your home-district
representative. Enclose a copy of your testimony (``In case you have
any use for a duplicate copy...''). Mention that the witnesses who
appeared before the committee overwhelmingly supported the pro-rights
position (which will almost always be the case, unless the committee
chair decides only to hear from certain witnesses). And offer to
supply any additional information the legislator would like help
decide about the issue.

Media Attention

	If you do testify, consider notifying your hometown media, and
providing them with a copy of your statement. If you come from a small
town, the local weekly might contemplate doing a couple paragraphs on
your testimony in the state capital 200 miles away. Even if the paper
doesn't do a brief story on the testimony, having been alerted that
local people are interested in the gun rights issue, the paper may pay
a little more attention to it in the future.

	A media release is only worth doing if you come from a fairly
small area. The New York Times will not care that you, a resident of
Brooklyn, testified before the New York state legislature.

Citizen Hearings

	In rare cases, citizens may be entirely shut out of public
hearings. For instance, in 1989, the Cleveland City Council passed a
semi-auto ban without even publishing the notice of the proposed law
on the Council calendar. The Council's deliberate violation of the
open meetings law was a conscious tactic to avoid pressure from
pro-rights citizens. When citizens are shut out in a blatantly unfair
manner, consider holding your own ``Citizen Hearings.''

	Such hearings will be challenging to pull off, and you should
therefore work closely with your NRA State Liaison. The hearings work
like normal legislative hearings, except that they're run by regular
folks, rather than politicians.

	Hold the hearings at a friendly forum (such as a Veterans of
Foreign Wars meeting hall). Invite sympathetic elected officials or
candidates to attend, and to serve on the panel if they wish.

	Unlike your governmental counterparts, be fair, and allow all
points of view to be expressed by anyone who wants to make a
statement.

	Inform the media (see chapter 31, press releases), and get as many
pro-rights folks to attend as possible.

	Hire a court reporter to record and print a transcript of the
meeting. Send copies of the full hearing transcript, a one-page
summary of the highlights, and a cover letter to all relevant
governmental officials. Explain how the official hearing excluded the
views of ordinary citizens, and how the Citizen Hearing was designed
to let the legislators know how ordinary people feel about the issue.

	The meeting is a good chance to mobilize pro-gun people. Collect
the names and addresses of attendees on a sign-in sheet, and give
attendees leaflets detailing further actions they can take.

PART III

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS:

WORKING WITH THE GUN GROUPS

	Every activist should join with fellow activists by participating
in pro-rights organizations. At the least, everyone should become a
due-paying member of the National Rifle Association. At the most,
perhaps you'll become the founder of your own local pro-rights group.

	This part of the book goes through the numerous pro-rights groups
that would be delighted to have your help, and also offers extensive
advice about how to form your own organization.