On November I reported that the CBA Board of Directors had voted to keep political and religious discussions off the CBA forum. I have copied that announcement below as a reminder.
November 30 post: “The Cast Bullet Association's Board of Directors has voted to discontinue hosting religious and political discussions on the CBA Forum.
I proposed this motion after years of the moderators' best efforts had been unsuccessfully in keeping discussions on these topics from degenerating into heated and ugly arguments and denouncing of posters of differing opinions. This was causing hard feelings between members, changed no minds, and produced no value to the CBA and our efforts to support and encourage cast bullet shooting.
There are hundreds of discussion groups on the Internet where political opinions can be expressed and it is fairly easy for individuals to start and manage one themselves if additional opportunity is wanted.
A strong majority of the Board agreed that these heated exchanges were casting the CBA in a bad light with potential members and should be discontinued.
Because of the importance of the Second Amendment, an exception will be made for notices strictly to alert the membership about specific proposed regulations or laws that might restrict the ownership or use of guns.”
Members posting responses to this original announcement agreed that it was a good move (see the original thread below.)
Since the notice we have had generally good cooperation by members and most posts on the subject have been limited to alerting members about specific proposed regulations or laws.
However, feelings are of course running high since Sandy Hook, new restrictions on gun owners have been proposed, and a few posts on our forum have been political statements. Some have involved statements that could be interrupted as implied approval of armed insurrection or assassination.
Not only do these posts break the forum rules but they also harm our cause. Implied threats will reinforce the opinion of some that we are a radical and perhaps dangerous element that should be regulated.
It is in the best interests of the CBA and all gun owners to discourage this type of statement.
I again ask your cooperation in respecting the vote of the CBA Board on this issue.
John