Project Appleseed

This past Wednesday I attended the swearing in of America's newest citizens, at Memorial Hall in Sacramento.  There were 818 in attendance, from 89 countries!  It was inspirational and moving, and I'll be attending others.  I've mentioned before the idea of reaching out to new citizens before they plop onto the couch, and I still think this is a worthy line of attack, so to speak, for increasing our ranks.  Outside the hall there were several tables set up, mainly for voter registration or for candidates (primaries are June 8th).  We could set up our table too, but I think we need to approach this differently than at a gun show.  I have no idea how many, as legal aliens, own firearms, but I'd guess a lower percentage than the birthed population.

I'm thinking along the lines of an Appleseed demonstration--open to the public, featuring a few riflemen, the instruction, and of course the History.  Even these men and women, who had to learn American history as part of their becoming citizens (and know it better than most Americans!), most likely do not know the April 19th stories.

I'm throwing this out as a brainstorm, and I want to hear from everyone.  As much for the Appleseed demo as for the new citizenry.

     Good idea! Go ahead and not wait for others, flesh it out yourself.

     Incorporating any ideas later posted in this thread.

     No doubt you'd want to have a loaner rifle for every person, assuming you add a shooting component - but I can see a non-shooting AS directed at these new citizens - don't know how many would attend - but only one way to find out.

     A meeting at the local library to "Tell the Story" would be a quick and easy way to go - send a press release to the local paper (there's already one you can use on the site here - search "press release" in quotes) - maybe a few native Americans will show up.

At my Nat. Ceremony in LA there were 4,500 of us in the morning, where I and Jane "Dr Quinn Medicine Woman" Seymour took our oaths and another 4,500 in the afternoon where my wife took hers. They do that once a month in LA.

You're going to need more than the local library 

Is the Rose Bowl available?? How much would that be?

Antibubba,
I eat at Thai and Suhsi restaurants a lot (Now Fred, just keep it to yourself). Periodically, one of the employees gets their citizenship and I always bring them a new American Flag and a pocket Constitution, being the grandson of an immigrant myself.

I see I been lax. I will now include Appleseeds info!

Nicely done sir,
PH

Quote from: V on May 21, 2010, 05:24:51 PM
At my Nat. Ceremony in LA there were 4,500 of us in the morning, where I and Jane "Dr Quinn Medicine Woman" Seymour took our oaths and another 4,500 in the afternoon where my wife took hers. They do that once a month in LA.

You're going to need more than the local library 

      A problem we'd all be more than happy to have!

This is a great idea!  Even if all that can be done is to get the tri-fold into their hands, that's an accomplishment.  I'm going to scope out the details where/if/when there are any Naturalization ceremonies here in DFW.

Quote from: FredNo doubt you'd want to have a loaner rifle for every person, assuming you add a shooting component - but I can see a non-shooting AS directed at these new citizens - don't know how many would attend - but only one way to find out.

The idea was for existing riflemen to demonstrate a little of what we do at Appleseed, but not one in which attendees would shoot.  A fair number of them may not own firearms, and if a survey were done I'd bet most of them are pistols and shotguns, not rifles.  Also, keep in mind a lot of them will be from countries where firearms are only in the hands of the police/paramilitary/guerillas/oppressors, etc.  In this, our goal isn't to remind Americans of heritage they've forgotten, but to instill in them a new heritage.

This demo (In my head I call it "The Riflemen's Roadshow"   ) is one that need not be limited to new Americans.  We may be reaching a saturation point with gunshow booths and shooting club meetings, and we're going to need a way to reach non-gunnies.  One thing we could also do is assemble an AS video on CD.  I don't know what the cost of mass producing it might be; but maybe we can make enough of them for us to take to clubs and groups to show them.  Or even better, the copyright permissions will allow us to make as many copies as we want for the purpose of promoting AS, and we send out a copy to all the Shoot Bosses.  We can even "leak it" to YouTube.  

There is now a Powerpoint slide show which is good enough to capture eyes for a few minutes, but I'm thinking of a 20 to 30 minute video with a beginning, middle, and end.  Thematically it would focus on the Six Steps, and between each step a shot of 'seeders applying that lesson on the line.  A History Lesson track over the shooting can tell snippets of the story--a hint of the real thing.  It has to be interesting enough to keep the attention of a new or non shooter to the end.

The advantage of a CD is that it can go places live shooting can't, but a live demo is going to be so much better.

OK, next naturalization ceremony is June 17th.  I'd like to have something available, even if it's just a boxful of trifolds.  The floor is now open.

Great ideas all. Something to keep in mind- the last time I looked at the Naturalization Test Question Pool, the 2A was  A Government Right or a Collective Right, reserved to the military, &c..  That trip to the UCIS Pool was post Heller- I have not checked since.  You may have to work to convince the citizens otherwise, especially if the UCIS/ICE folks or swearing in officials are near by.

Tom

Post modified 5/23/10 by commenter.  See corrected post at Reply 11.  dr144

I'll look into that, D-rat.

Quote from: desertrat144 on May 21, 2010, 11:39:01 PM
Great ideas all.  Something to keep in mind- the last time I looked at the Naturalization Test Question Pool, the 2A was  A Government Right or a Collective Right, reserved to the military, &c..  That trip to the UCIS Pool was post Heller- I have not checked since.  You may have to work to convince the citizens otherwise, especially if the UCIS/ICE folks or swearing in officials are near by.

Tom

This is why the DVD video will be the best route to follow. "A picture is worth a thousand words." The people in power currently can only remain in power by "fooling" the masses. New citizens are the easiest prey due to strings attached to them by the "authorities". I'll let the reader decipher that remark.

-fb

I checked the Citizenship Test Question Pool today, athttp://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=88086338b3281210VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=74d49ddf801b3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD, and this was the only firearms related question found:

51. What are two rights of everyone living in the United States? Question 51 Audio (438KB MP3)

        freedom of expression
        freedom of speech
        freedom of assembly
        freedom to petition the government
        freedom of worship
        the right to bear arms

They changed again, at least answer wise, so I retract what was previously stated.

Tom

51. What are two rights of everyone living in the United States? Question 51 Audio (438KB MP3)

That is a strange question. Be careful how you answer that one.

-fb

51. What are two rights of everyone living in the United States? Question 51 Audio (438KB MP3) is the question; the assumption is that you are a US Citizen.
Any two of these are the answers:
        freedom of expression
        freedom of speech
        freedom of assembly
        freedom to petition the government
        freedom of worship
        the right to bear arms

Just gotta love USCIS!  The whole question and answer pool is a scary peek into the workings of the process, and future visions.  Check out the past test pools for perspective.

Tom