Gun Activist In-Fighting/Cal Lawyers

[Bruce Colodny]

Dear CalGuns.net and calccw.com members:

This letter is addressed to all people who support self-defense civil rights and the right to keep and bear arms.

Feel free to post this on any web page, blog, e-mail blast or shooting club bulletin board.

This memorandum is approved by the offices of: Bruce Colodny, Chuck Michel and Don Kilmer.

There appears to be a turf war developing in California between/among gun rights organizations over who deserves credit (funding?) for various projects, lawsuits and initiatives.

This must stop. It leads to self-inflicted wounds and wasted resources in the California gun rights community.

We have all accepted that our “right to keep and bear arms” is fundamental to our existence as a free state and a free nation. It is at least as important as the freedom to communicate and/or raise our children. Therein lays the complication. Who among us would tolerate anyone telling us how to discipline/teach our children? The stakes are high and they are personal -- because everyone “knows” the best way to protect those things they value most. And because the stakes are high, differences of opinion are perceived as apostasy, which leads to the allegation of treason.

This is error.

Differences of opinion over tactics and strategies are NOT valid reasons to attack anyone’s character, motive, intelligence or commitment to the cause.

The following proposition may seem incredulous to the general public, but if two lawyers have differing legal opinions in an unsettled area of law, there are three possibilities: (1) they are both wrong, (2) one is right and the other is wrong, or (3) they are both right. This is especially possible when discussing gun law. If you don’t believe us, ask other lawyers who have actually litigated gun issues.

For the record: Bruce Colodny, Chuck Michel and Don Kilmer are colleagues who like, respect and trust each other, refer cases to one another, confer with each other often and (believe it or not) have worked well together for over 15 years.

Please continue to have your policy debates and differences of opinion about the best strategies and tactics for securing our rights, but please do not presume to drag our legal reputations and our law firms into these debates.

Thank you.

Bruce Colodny, Attorney at Law
C.D. “Chuck” Michel, Attorney at Law
Don Kilmer, Attorney at Law