The first Million Mom March National Convention took place at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, in Denver Colorado on Friday September 15th and Saturday, September 16th. What we saw and what we learned opened our eyes wide to the enormous threat that we are facing from those who would trash the Bill Of Rights and take away our guns, in the name of "protecting the children".

There were aspects of this gathering that reinforced already-held beliefs and suspicions about the Million Mom March and its agenda, and we discovered new things that came as a complete surprise. Following the cardinal rule of warfare, which is "know thy enemy, we had members of the Tyranny Response Team pose as Million Mom wannabees, and had them register for both days of the meeting.

We wanted to have a lot of people infiltrate their meeting, because as we checked their schedule prior to the meeting itself we learned that they would break the main body of attendees (about 350) into separate workshops and seminars. We wanted to be able to tape and take notes of all of the various seminars but because they ran five seminars concurrently we had to decide which ones were the most important. They were charging $100 per head to attend the convention and in addition to the fact that the notion of giving these Fascists even a dime was repugnant, our finances are severely limited. Thusly, we had to settle for only two. The idea was that if one of our women got into trouble there would be someone else there to run interference for her, or at the very least give us a call and tell us what was happening. This may sound a bit melodramatic for if one or both of our ladies got caught the very worst that could have happened is that they would have been asked to leave. These women were showing a lot of courage, and a little back-up never hurts.

The seminar attendees were given periodic breaks for meals and free time and as we had rooms in the hotel, we were able to meet with our women periodically and debrief them on what was going on. There were moments when each of them didn't want to continue. Their emotions ran from fear to shock, to disgust, to outrage. They both were afraid that they would not be able to control themselves, and might begin screaming and ranting at these women they so affectionately named the "Commie Mommies.

They turned out to be real troopers, however, and each of them stayed the course and played their role perfectly through the very end. They even joked about how many new "friends" they made, and who they expected to get e-mail and phone calls from. Quite frankly, these fine, courageous women of the TRT who volunteered to do this thing ended up with some very strong conflicting emotions. Despite the fact that the MMM convention reaffirmed how great a threat these statists pose to our liberty, on a personal note they took a strong liking to many of the women, and felt a strange sense of betrayal ingratiating themselves to them under such false pretenses. In addition, they felt that even though these women are being utterly deceived and manipulated by tyrants and power brokers, the women themselves are for the most part well-intentioned ladies and the TRT women had ambivalent feelings about gathering information about them that ultimately will be used to defeat them.

Having said all that, the process of debriefing these gals turned into more of an emotional roller coaster than any of us could have foreseen. The main point that they both stressed from their two day experience was that the MMM is much better funded, organized, motivated and connected than any of us had imagined. The sheer volume of literature that we collected would tend to confirm this. The brochures were slick and very professionally done. Some of them were in color and printed on heavy glossy paper.

They covered a wide variety of subjects including all aspects of the gun control debate and every facet of fund raising, organizing, dealing with the press, legal concerns, security matters, and more. One of the things that our ladies found particularly worrisome is the emphasis that the MMM are placing on our youth. Clearly a disproportionate amount of their efforts are aimed at our young people. Donna Dees Thomases, much to our surprise, was not the center of attention. Despite her impressive credentials as a press representative for CBS News and two Democratic Louisiana Senators, Thomases was a nervous, pudgy middle-aged woman, who looked strangely out of place in her ill-fitting blue jeans.

It appeared that Rebecca Brown, the very same Rebecca Brown who founded MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers), supplied both the spiritual energy and certainly the lobbying experience and expertise at their convention. She appeared quite tired, however and was noticed taking Advil at the banquet. In a back handed compliment to the TRT, she said that the MMM would make it a priority to "shame the TRT, in the same way that MADD shamed drunk divers". Good luck, Becky. We learned that the MMM is rolling in dough. They received a million dollars from the Packard foundation and a staggering five million from the Emma Goldman foundation, not to mention all of the ten and twenty dollar checks and cash that must be flooding their post office boxes. They had to have raised about $35,000. from the convention alone.

They had three professional video camera crews filming every facet of their convention, as well as a still photographer who they contracted independently. Their security man is a retired Secret Service agent (much more on him to come soon), who in his brash arrogance, stressed the point in his seminar on security to "know your enemy". I suppose we're just following his advice. The rest of his talk was classic threat assessment kind of stuff. Despite the fact that they maintain a non-partisan political makeup, in the end the MMM clearly and enthusiastically endorsed the candidacy of Al Gore-what a surprise. What truly was a surprise, is that many of the Million Moms casually admitted that their husbands owned guns, and in a few instances, so did they.

The leadership bent over backwards to emphasize and re-emphasize the fact that the MMM does not want to confiscate all guns. They did however, admit that certain actions taken in California, did result in the banning and confiscation of a number of guns labeled as "assault rifles". They claim simply to want to outlaw what they call "junk guns" and "assault rifles". They want gun owners to be federally licensed, photographed, finger printed and regulated. They want federal legislation because of how easy it is for people to cross state lines and buy guns in states with more liberal laws than their own. This point in particular, was driven home by women from Westchester, New York, who also noted how different the gun culture was in Colorado than in their home state.

Despite their reasons for federal legislation, they are somewhat inexplicably focusing on state lobbying efforts. Clearly the majority of the seminars as well as the literature given to all attendees was geared for organizing and lobbying on a state level. In private conversations there were some women who confessed to wanting an end to all private gun ownership, but astonishingly enough most of the women favored strict control, licensing and regulation, as opposed to outright prohibition and confiscation.

It is interesting to note, that in their talking points, they made it clear that the Second Amendment was to be skirted, or better yet, ignored altogether in debate. They advised the Million Moms to veer away from Constitutional arguments, and drive home the point that gun violence is a social issue and like cancer is a social disease, which we as a society must deal with collectively.

It is therefore not too surprising that a disproportionate number of attendees were in the health care profession, from nurses, trauma counselors, psychologists and so on. They emphasized that the term "well regulated" in the Second Amendment didn't mean well stocked (as we know it did, from a myriad of sources) but rather, it meant well controlled by the government, which is what they claim gives them license to enact their entire agenda, and encourage their flock to fall back on when challenged by pro gun rights people. What seemed to have an ironic sense of justice to it is the fact that many of the Million Moms were victims of their own propaganda. They were busy making jokes about the TRT, how we must have eaten lead paint as children, and our parents are related by blood, and we are the products of inbreeding and a shallow gene pool and all of the other mindless, evasive humor they love to belittle their opponents with. They truly believe that we are red neck Neanderthal types, truly incapable of reason, articulation and cognitive reasoning.

The majority of them are physically afraid of us, and a story was told about how some Million Moms in Kentucky were intimidated by some people they described as NRA militia types, menacingly patting their hips. It was quite evident throughout the weekend as we walked through the hotel with our TRT T shirts on that all the Million Moms who saw us were physically intimidated. In once case a Commie Mommie who was waiting for an elevator refused to go inside when one of our guys got in, wearing his T-shirt. He held the door for her, but she shook her head and said condescendingly that she would just a soon wait for the next one.

Towards the end of the seminar, they gave time tables for how long they estimated it would take them to achieve their three main objectives of national registration, federal licensing and the outlawing of "junk guns" and "assault rifles". They said that they felt six to eight years was realistic, with an outside chance of four years if a few things went their way. One of the things that was repeated over and over was how the media ate up everything that they did, and how cooperative and sympathetic the media was in all of their events and press conferences. Motherhood and protecting children is a great glove to put over the fist of tyranny that is about to smash the last vestige of the Second Amendment.

What our women both mysteriously said was that by the end of the two days they both felt "brainwashed. I was perplexed and a little frightened by what they meant by that, and asked each one if they had doubts or second thoughts about the stand of the TRT. They both emphatically said "No", but that they felt like they had come out of a Tony Robbins seminar, or an Amway seminar, or an other cult like atmosphere. They said that the Million Moms left the seminar completely psyched and ready to do battle. Perhaps this is all in preparation for yet another sequel to The Stepford Wives.

All of their media people, lobbyists, speakers, organizers and photographers are seasoned professionals. They literally have the very best that money can buy. They are stacked with folks who have worked in many, many liberal causes and campaigns and take many years of experience with them to the political arena. The Million Mom March is anything but a grass roots group of angry housewives and mothers, wanting to protect the children.

The Million Mom March is a very well organized, extremely well-funded, professionally coached and directed group that is not about to go away any time soon. They make great efforts to stack the deck with a Republican here, and a gun owner there, but there is no question that the rank and file of the MMM consists of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, and despite specific protestations from Donna Dees Thomases to the contrary, there is little question in my mind that the Million Mom March's agenda is being carefully orchestrated from the DNC (Democratic National Committee), if not the White House itself.

We are up against a formidable foe, indeed. This is no collection of naïve, Alice in Wonderland women with tie-dyed T-shirts and granny glasses, tip-toeing through the tulips. This is a professional, seasoned, well-oiled political machine that is connected to the highest echelons of power, and has an apparently inexhaustible source of funding. In addition, the Million Mom March can tap into a deep well of easily emotionally swayed women foot soldiers who are enthusiastically prepared to do their bidding for them.

They are playing to a very sympathetic if not complicitous media, having their strings of motherhood and maternal concern pulled by the best politicos and lobbyists that money can buy. The Million Mom March is opening new chapters around the country faster than Starbucks. The right of the American people to keep and bear arms is under the greatest assault since the birth of this nation. Under the guise of motherhood and protecting the children those who want to destroy the Second Amendment and our way of life have found the perfect useful idiots to wage their war for them.

Those of us who make fun of, or belittle, the Million Mom March do so at our own risk. Their leaders know how to manipulate the media, lobby the politicians, and assassinate the character of their opposition. They learned their trade, after all, from the master, Bill Clinton. I don't know what else I can say to prod those of us who cherish our freedom to get off our asses and take notice of what is going on. Our ladies went straight into the belly of the beast and stared directly into the face of evil. Just seeing the expressions on their faces as they poured out the details of their two day adventure made my blood run cold. This is for real,folks. They have no intention of giving up. We will have further detailed reports on the Million Mom convention shortly. The time for complacency is over.

Editor
Bob Glass