Tip O’Neill, Speaker of the House during the Reagan presidency, once said, “All politics is local,” and nowhere is this truer that with gun rights.

For most people, the gun laws and regulations that are applied by your state and local governments will affect your day to day gun life far more than anything the Congress will do on a national level. That’s why, once you are a member of the NRA, you need to seek out and join your local or state gun rights organization.

In Georgia, that group is GeorgiaCarry.org, or GCO. GCO has been instrumental in changing a lot of things that were wrong with Georgia’s gun laws, including the removal of a 140 year old law tha prohibited the carry of concealed weapons at “public gatherings,” even by license holders. They have also been successful in forcing Probate Judges, who are the ones in Georgia who issue Weapons Licenses, to issue licenses within the time frame mandated by law. Thanks to GCO, I wrote a lot of letters in the last couple of years to my state legislators, letting them know where I stood on the gun issues they faced.

So, I urge you to join your state gun rights organization, and your local organization as well, if you have one. A list can be found here. Then get involved. You’ll be glad you did

I first joined the NRA in 1993, by sending in a card that came with my first pistol. A couple of years later I decided to become a Life Member using one of their time payout plans.

The National Rifle Association is the largest voice for the Second Amendment and the rights of law abiding gun owners in America, with over 4 million members. It’s not the only voice we have, but it’s the loudest, and just about the only one that Congress and the anti-gun lobby both pay attention to.

Yet, most gun owners decide not to be members of the NRA. Whenever I meet a gun owner who isn’t a member, I ask them why. Here are some of the answers I get.

* I don’t want to be on any list for anybody to come after me for my gun.

Really? Don’t you think you’re on a few lists already? Have you bought a gun or ammunition using a credit card or debit card? Besides, what make you think, when the time comes, whoever is going to confiscate guns or round up gun owners is going to use a list? With over 75 million gun owners in the USA, door-to-door sounds a lot more effective. We’ll all be on the same list, then.

* I’m a hunter. Gun control doesn’t affect hunters. (A lot of these guys have Ducks Unlimited stickers on their trucks, too.)

What makes you think that? Ask Canada and Australia. Besides, there is nothing in the Second Amendment about hunting. And, what happens when they start confiscating “dangerous” rifles, and someone points out – correctly – that the average .270 deer rifle delivers a bullet with about 4 times the kinetic energy of the .223 Evil Black Rifles.

* I was a member once, but all they did was send me a bunch of mail asking for more money.

Okay. Either send them more money, or drop the mail in the trash. I do a little of both. Or, you can call them and tell them not to send you any more fund raising mailers. And, unlike a lot of organizations, they’ll stop.

* The NRA is so political now, about all they do is argue.

If you think that’s all they do, ask the Brady Campaign. Besides, every PTA in America is political, too. Unless you want to join the Board of Directors, the politics won’t affect you at all.

If you are a gun owner and you’re not a member of the NRA, shame on you. Visit http://membership.nrahq.org/ and join.

If you’re a gun owner and you think you have a good reason why you’re not a member, I’d love to hear it. But I’ve probably heard it before.

If you are going to be in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area on Friday, April 29, 2011, have I got a deal for you!

I have arranged with the Sportsman Channel for 4 free tickets to the Friday events at the NRA Annual Meeting. So, I am giving away 2 groups of 2 tickets to the event.

To win, email me by noon on Friday April 22, 2011 at [tomdl “at” comcast “dot” net] (you know how to put that together, right?) and tell me why you want to go. Include your name and address so I can send you the tickets.

I will then choose 2 winners of 2 tickets each, and post the winning reasons here next week.

Please, tell your friends.

Disclaimer: Winners are responsible for all expenses, including travel, meals, souvenirs, bail money, etc. I will not sell, give away, barter, or Spam your name, email, or address. The decision of the judges is final. Void where prohibited by law. If you live where this is prohibited by law, for goodness sake, move.

Yesterday I was in the garage for something totally non-gun-related, and I got to looking at my workbench area. The work area in my garage is a multipurpose self built tool bench, set against the wall, so that I can use the spaces between the wall studs for storage. The storage looked cluttered enough to push me over the edge to decide to clean it all up, and a couple of hours later, I faced a serious fact.

In the best terms, I am a collector of miscellaneous stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not bad enough to be on one of those hoarding shows, but, then again, no one on those shows thinks they’re as bad as they are. No, my problem is not to that scale, but yesterday I got a glimpse inside the head of those folks.

Once I was done, I had a written inventory of some of the more troubling items. For instance, I found that I own 224 rounds of ammunition for guns that I do not own.

• 200 rounds of cowboy loaded .38 special, from a gun show during a time when I had it in my mind that I would take up Cowboy Action Shooting. Then I figured it would take $2000 to get into the sport, not counting ammo or reloading equipment.

• 8 rounds of .30-06. The best part – they’re blanks. Got them from a divorcing friend whose son was in ROTC some time back, and didn’t know what to do with them as he was moving out.

• 4 rounds of .308. At least I think they’re .308. They’re the thinner rifle rounds I found in a box of Russian 7.62x54R.

• 12 20 gauge shotgun shells. I got them when I bought my 12 gauge Mossberg 500, used. The guy I bought it from said, “Here, I got some shells, too.” Thanks.

I also own 20 rounds of 7.62×39 tracer ammo. At least that’s what the little bag says. I bought them at a country general store in Alabama in the late 90’s. (The guy had some cool holsters, too, and I still have his card. Some day . . .) These, I can at least try out, some day.

I also found that I own 4 rifle cleaning rods and 3 pistol cleaning rods, plus 2 bore snakes. This is in addition to the 2 rifle rods that cam with my military rifles, and the 3 cleaning rods that came with my Glocks.

I have 4 pairs of shooting glasses and 3 sets of ear muffs. Granted, I do host a lot of people without their own gear, so this doesn’t bother me.

So, what do I take away from all that?

Don’t lose sight of my goals. I can still get into Cowboy Action Shooting, it’s just going to take a little longer, by buying the guns one or two at a time. My first goal is a Ruger Vaquero in .357 / .38 special. If nothing else, this would be a really awesome barbecue gun.

Keep a list of the things I would be willing to swap, and put them out on the forums.

Keep a list of my accessories with me, and when I’m tempted at a gun show, Walmart, Dick’s, etc., consult the list. It’s not perfect, but it avoids some of it.

I welcome other ideas on organization.