{"id":51299,"date":"2015-02-16T12:00:52","date_gmt":"2015-02-16T18:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=51299"},"modified":"2015-02-15T21:35:21","modified_gmt":"2015-02-16T03:35:21","slug":"shrieking-for-relevence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=51299","title":{"rendered":"Shrieking For Relevence"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been a rough year or so for Heather Martens.<\/p>\n

It seems like just yesterday that she was not only serving as the chairperson (and almost solitary member) of “ProtectMN”, an astroturf checkbook advocacy antigun group, but\u00a0de facto\u00a0<\/em>Minnesota State Representative for House District 66A, doing both her own job and that of Representative Alice Hausman (notwithstanding being a paid lobbyist, which is supposedly against House rules). \u00a0But it was in fact two years ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last year, the worm turned for Heather Martens. \u00a0Flush with Michael Bloomberg’s money, the regional anti-gun movement hired a slew of PR professionals to carry the victim-disarmament movement’s legislative water.<\/p>\n

And nobody has ever accused Martens of being a PR professional. \u00a0Inept? Sure. \u00a0Incapable of making a substantial true statement on the gun issue? \u00a0Utterly.<\/p>\n

And so during the 2014 session, Martens was largely sidelined.<\/p>\n

Oh, she still had her ace in the hole; for the past decade and change, no editor anywhere in the Twin Cities media would consider a story about firearms complete without a (false, laughable) quote from Martens. \u00a0She was to gun issues what Larry Jacobs is to every other political topic.<\/p>\n

But then, a few weeks, back, the unthinkable happened; the Strib published a story on a gun policy issue<\/a> that passed on quoting Martens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Does this mean the Twin Cities media has finally realized what every other sentient person in the universe on both sides of the gun issue has known for over a decade – that Heather Martens is to competence and knowledge on Second Amendment issues what Mark Dayton is to hip hop?<\/p>\n

Let’s not get carried away, here.<\/p>\n

But let nobody think that Ms. Martens is going to fade too gently into obscurity, no matter how objectively richly deserved. \u00a0She sent out an email blast to her “supporters” this past week, including a little bird. \u00a0Bits of emphasis are scattered throughout by me:<\/p>\n

Dear Mr. D’Artagnan,<\/span><\/p>\n

The gun extremists have pulled out all the stops. They’ve introduced a bill to repeal all permitting and background check requirements to buy and carry firearms. The gun extremists tried to repeal our life-saving Minnesota law before, and we stopped them<\/strong> — but we couldn’t have done it without you.<\/p>\n

Can you help us stop<\/strong> this dangerous bill?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Two questions, here:<\/p>\n