A special group of women, making a difference for all of us. Becky Lou Lacock stops by to share what the DC Project is doing to protect our 2A rights.
With this article I hope to share with readers the knowledge and inspiration I received on this monumental trip including but not limited to a good ground roots grasp of the ongoing battle for our rights across this nation; the prompting to be better prepared with credible facts for discussion/debates and expressly the need for more boots on the ground.
Being blessed with good friends and God willing, I was introduced to Dianna Muller, founder of The DC Project, as a possible fit for the group and its goals. It has truly been one of the highlights of my life! Shortly after the email introduction, Dianna and I spoke I accepted the honor of being the Louisiana Delegate for the annual trip to “The Hill”. Each year DCP members, women from all 50 states, gather for a week to share concerns with lawmakers and legislators. I couldn’t have been more thrilled to have the opportunity to represent Louisiana’s law-abiding gun
owners as part of a unique group of Second Amendment advocates.
The first group gathering was the welcome dinner at the NSSF Washington, D.C. office with guest speakers. I was honored to have my local Congressman “Captain” Clay Higgins (LA) (3rd District of Louisiana) express his strong support of protecting and preserving the Constitution of the United States, specifically the 2nd Amendment. He had been highly recommended as a speaker and when I reached out to his office, he was more than happy to accommodate! I was extremely proud of how he represented my home state of Louisiana in a professional manner and deeply conveyed his conviction to uphold the Constitution and stand up for our rights, not just for Louisiana but for America. He became a national figure for his courageous statements during his service as Deputy Sheriff, St. Landry Parish as you can read about here - “Captain Clay Higgins”
The next morning we met with our DCP Teams preparing to hit the road to the Hill. Each team had a leader and mine was the beautiful and talented Cheryl Todd of Gun Freedom Radio. Each team consisted of women from different states strategically chosen with varied interests, “different lanes” as Cheryl describes, in protecting and preserving our right to bear arms. This included but was not limited to hunting, sport shooting and competition shooting and last but not least- victims of assault with a story of the human right of self-defense, which was shared by all. Our team members Amanda Collins Johnson, Rhonda Ezell, and Kim Petters each brought striking stories. Please take the time to read each of their stories linked in their names.
As you can imagine for many women across the nation, arranging meetings with their respective legislators concerning the debate of gun control was a challenge, but nonetheless, speared by the passion, many were made. I would find myself fortunate to be in a group of women with great passion, stories, and professional presence.
Due to Congress being in session and the lawmakers doing their job, there was limited time for some meetings. As a delegate for Louisiana, in addition to having Congressman Higgins speak at the welcome dinner, I was able to schedule a quality meeting with Congressman Ralph Abraham, the representative for Louisiana and candidate for Louisiana Governor. Rep. Abraham is a Christian, a veteran (still serving our country as a pilot for CCA and Air Force Civil Air Patrol) and a staunch supporter of the 2nd Amendment.
My Team leader Cheryl Todd of Gun Freedom Radio succeeded in arranging quality time with Senator McSally (AZ), a meeting with high-level staff of Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), and a brief meeting photo-op with the dynamic Congresswoman Lesko (AZ) followed by a lengthy meeting with her legislative assistant. Team member Rhonda Ezell, of Chicago, IL, was able to meet with staffers of Illinois Senator Duckworth (IL) which, as you can imagine, proved to be interesting. Rhonda is very passionate about any attacks on our constitutional rights, as the lead plaintiff for paramount changes in Gun legislation in Chicago.
In addition to our team’s arranged meetings, I also floated around in between meetings with DCP member Heather Miller as she met with her Congressman Richard Hudson (NC). Congressman Hudson was in a committee meeting, and we were able to sit in on the meeting while waiting for the vote to start, which would allow time to pop out of the meeting for a quick chat and photo op.
The meetings mentioned above were only meetings that I personally attended. The project, with 10 teams of 5-7 women, accomplished at minimum 100 meetings with lawmakers in Washington, DC with a professional presence and a common goal to establish an open line of communication and provide a credible grassroots resource to our legislators as they fight for our rights.
After several days packed with meetings, the group and many others gathered for the annual DCP Rally for Gun Rights on the West Capitol Lawn where speakers shared testimonies, others discussed the rising demographic of female gun ownership and the need for vigilance in protecting the 2nd Amendment. We had several speakers including David “Shaky Dave” Smith - Parkinson's Shooter about his journey from the wheelchair to a worldwide competitive shooter, Shayna Lopez-Rivas sharing details of her assault on a gun-free campus. Grateful for all who, however difficult, were willing to share their experiences to help people understand that self-defense is a human right.
While in D.C. discussing the 2nd Amendment with lawmakers and women from around the nation, I was alerted to many threats in various states, left unchallenged would fundamentally change America as we know it. It doesn't matter where you live, there are people residing within your state lines that are confused about firearms and panic about gun violence. They start searching frantically for someone to tell them what to believe and how to think. With every mass shooting comes an uprising of those anti-gun activists screaming over the airwaves for a solution, someone to blame for not doing something, calling out legislators in the government to change laws, who are duly sworn to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Some are torn between calming the fears of their constituents and upholding the law. Some flounder, some stand strong, and some play the people like a finely tuned fiddle working them into a firearm confiscation frenzy.
There are constant attacks on the rights of We the People stated in the US Constitution, but none more disturbing than the 2nd Amendment which was written with the clear purpose of allowing the citizens to keep and bear arms, carefully written in a manner assuring that the right shall not be infringed.
Currently, the most worrisome laws being introduced are often referred to as “Red Flag” laws. These laws may come in various forms with different names, but basically they are pushing for similar results. What seems to be a reasonable law concerning the mental stability of citizens to possess or purchase firearms has all the signs of morphing into another serious invasive attack on the rights of many innocent people and removing their right to self-defense without.
For one example, according to New Mexico DCP delegate and candidate for US Congress Audra Brown, the Bloomberg gun control lobby tried unsuccessfully to pass a so-called red flag or extreme risk protection order measure. If passed, it would have allowed law enforcement agents to confiscate firearms and ammunition from law-abiding individuals without due process. Under this proposal, a person’s ex-spouse, girlfriend, or boyfriend could make unfounded, uncorroborated, and an unchallenged statement against an innocent gun owner, who would at the very least, have their firearms taken without due process, under the guise of a temporary solution. This leaves the person “under review” defenseless against assault. These “red flag” bills have encountered opposition in other states because they lack the ability to configure legal appropriate due process procedures, among other significant problems. Surprisingly, none other than the Rhode Island chapter of the ACLU expressed great concern about “the breadth of this legislation, its impact on civil liberties, and the precedent it sets for the use of coercive measures against individuals not because they are alleged to have committed any crime, but because somebody believes they might, someday, commit one.”
The DC Project was founded out of a passion to inspire people to stand up for all of our rights against enemies foreign and domestic. Working to instill the fight in each and every American. To encourage you to reach out to your lawmakers at every level of government and let them know that you support their position on gun control, or why you don’t. They must hear from us. We’ve seen anti-gun activists attempt to “infringe” upon our right to bear arms, in direct conflict with the original intent of our founders when they found it necessary to amend the Constitution. They felt strongly that every American’s right to bear arms was to guarantee all of our rights and protect our Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic.
The DC Project is looking to establish a presence in each state individually and stay ever-present in the ongoing discussion. Reaching out to local and federal legislators during the year, individually and as a whole, staying in the forefront as a resource and a strong voice for keeping our freedom. We feel that we must stay vigilant and informed of attacks on the 2nd Amendment and the Constitution. I hope you will do the same ~ Becky Lou
Becky Lou Lacock
Becky spent most of her life as an entrepreneur successfully owning several retail businesses. Fishing has always been on her agenda, but her shooting and hunting adventures began in 2000 when she attended a B.O.W. Workshop and took an intro class for shooting shotguns. Later that same year she met her husband who introduced her into extensive shooting activities and hunting Starting relatively late in life, her newfound passion dominates her every thought, with her excitement and enthusiasm spilling out onto everyone around her. Find out more at http://www.beckylououtdoors.com/.
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