"Change" one vote at a time

by Sean Maloney, Esq.

But I'm only one person; what can I do?

The statement that "I'm only one person; my vote doesn't mean anything" has been discredited over and over again by razor-thin election victories throughout history. Remember "hanging chads" or "dimpled chads"?

My point is, don't underestimate what you, one person, can do to change the outcome of, well, the world. Take this year's presidential election for example; does anyone have any doubt that four more years of Barack Obama, as lame duck President, will change the world? President Obama thinks so.

After all, Obama urged outgoing Russian President Dmitri Medvedev to tell incoming president Vladimir Putin to give him time: "On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved – but it's important for him to give me space."

Medvedev replied: "Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you..."

Obama then elaborated: "This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility."

Medvedev responded: "I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir."

Sneaky, sneaky, our president, yours and mine, made these comments when he thought the sound was turned off and we his loyal subjects would not hear what Obama believes his power will be after he wins his reelection.

I'm only one person; what can I do? Start by changing the world. Our Founding Fathers gave us many things. Second to none is the power to use our voice to be heard, protected by the 1st Amendment; and a voice for change at the ballot box during an election.

To change the world, you don't need anything other than what you already have. You use it every day. It's the greatest single advertising, game-changing tool we all have: our voice, speaking our opinion, giving our advice, backed by the credibility we have spent a lifetime creating. Chris Matthews, Dan Rather, or Katie Couric may not care what I have to say, but my friends, co-workers, family, acquaintances, and people who take the time to listen DO care.

If you want to change the world, start talking! Educate yourself about the issues you care most about and prepare a 30-second "commercial" about how you feel and why. Need help with your commercial? The information is just a GOOGLE away.

Throughout the course of normal everyday conversation, you have the opportunity to voice your opinion and share your thoughts. When people ask "what do you think?" they ask because they care about your answer, they value your opinion and need validation of their own thoughts or views.

When you share a thought or your opinion, be prepared to back it up with facts. That's just as easy. It's what you believe, what you're passionate about, or simply it's an expression of your thoughts. Don't be offended. Most times people who question you or ask for an explanation just want to be educated so they can say "yeah, that's what I think" or "yeah you're right."

My one caution is to beware of those who are so biased, or so anti-everything someone else says, that they are a waste of your time. When you interact with those people, be aware there is nothing you can say, no amount of facts you can proffer, and no amount of common sense in the world you can provide to change their minds, or at least get them to agree to disagree.

For example, when I am asked, "What do you think about President Obama's views on the 2nd Amendment?" I respond with my 30-second commercial.

Use the following facts to make your own 30-second commercial. If you create it, you won't forget it. Practice the delivery and be able to defend the statements. It's not hard -- it's all true. In no time you will be the person people go to to obtain their information.

President Obama and his cabinet are the most anti-gun, anti-2nd Amendment President and cabinet we have ever had.

If Obama wins reelection, he will have the opportunity to appoint as many as three more anti-Second Amendment justices to the Supreme Court and destroy the Second Amendment. (He has made two anti-gun appointments already, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor.)

Obama will flood our federal courts with anti-gun judges who will rule against yourconstitutional rights.

Obama will expand gun owner registration to include you.

The Obama Justice Department illegally imposed gun registration in four border states, requiring gun shops to report the sales to any law-abiding citizen who purchases more than one semi-automatic rifle within five business days; now, Obama’s Assistant Attorney General wants to force all Americans to register all of their guns.

Obama will try to give the United Nations authority over your firearms.

Obama has already endorsed moving ahead toward a U.N. gun ban treaty and will likely sign it after it's negotiated. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is all over it.

In "Operation Fast and Furious," the Obama administration armed violent criminals in Mexico in an attempt to frame American gun owners like you for Mexican drug crime.

Under operation "Fast and Furious," the Obama administration helped transfer guns to drug cartels in Mexico to build a case for gun control. See illegal gun registration on the four border states above.

Barack Obama has a long history of trying to regulate, restrict and ban your Second Amendment rights out of existence.

Obama has opposed your right to carry a firearm; supported gun owner licensing and gun registration; voted to ban your semi-automatic rifles, handguns and ammunition; and voted to criminally prosecute you if you ever use a firearm in self-defense. When Obama told author John Lott, "I don't believe that people should be able to own guns," he meant what he said.

Obama will work with anti-gun New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and anti-gun lawyers to severely restrict the types of firearms you can purchase.

The Obama administration has already blocked the importation of M1 Garand rifles into the United States and tried to ban countless types of popular imported shotguns. If reelected, Obama will launch a legal assault to ban the importation of other firearms popular with collectors, hunters and sport shooters.

Barack Obama ignores Congress and says he's above the law.

In late 2011, Obama told Congress he would ignore a provision in the 2012 omnibus spending bill that specifically barred him from using taxpayer dollars to lobby for more gun control.

Obama will launch a regulatory war to shut down hunting and shooting.

In 2011, President Obama's army of anti-gun bureaucrats tried to shut down hunting and shooting on hundreds of millions of acres of public lands.

You can't trust Barack Obama with the future of your freedom!

If Barack Obama wins a second term in office, our Second Amendment freedom will not survive. Obama will never have to face the voters again, and will therefore be unleashed to push the most extreme elements of his gun-ban agenda to every corner of America.

That's just a part of who Barack Obama is -- look at his past, before he had to tone it down for reelection:

"Do you support state legislation to...ban the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns? Yes." (Independent Voters of Illinois/Independent Precinct Organization general candidate questionnaire, Sept. 9, 1996

"I'm consistently on record and will continue to be on record as opposing concealed carry." (Chicago Tribune, April 27, 2004)

"I believe in keeping guns out of our inner cities and that our leaders must say so in the face of the gun manufacturers lobby." Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope (2006).

And GunBaNObama.com will also bring you Obama's deeds:

Obama voted to ban almost all rifle ammunition commonly used for hunting and sports shooting. (United States Senate, vote no. 217, S. 397, July 29, 2005)

Obama voted to uphold local gun bans and the criminal prosecution of people who use firearms in self-defense. (Illinois Senate, SB 2165, vote 20, March 25, 2004)

In his only two votes on confirming Supreme Court nominees, Obama voted against two of the five justices (Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito) who later affirmed an individual right to keep and bear arms in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller.

Use any part of the above bullet points to create your own commercial. Remember money can't buy the power of your own spoken words and opinion to those who value it. You're only one person, but you can influence the election one person at a time. Then they tell a friend and they tell their friends and so on.

Sean Maloney is a Buckeye Firearms Association Minuteman, a Second Amendment Rights attorney in West Chester, OH, an NRA Benefactor Lifetime Member, NRA Election Volunteer Coordinator for Ohio's 8th Congressional District, an active NRA Instructor and received the NRA's 2011 "Jay M. Littlefield Volunteer of the Year Award". Sean Maloney is also running for the National Rifle Association's Board of Directors in 2013.