17. Computer Letters ``THEY'LL HAVE TO SHOOT ME FIRST TO TAKE MY GUN.'' Roy Rogers, discussing proposed California ``handgun freeze.'' The advance of technology helps the Second Amendment, as guns get better. Progress also helps the First Amendment, where computers are making writing a letter to Congress even easier than writing by hand or by typewriter. Word processors make it simple to send the same letter to your two Senators, and just change the address. A few months later, the computer letter can be revised slightly, and sent to the US Representative. Help other people write If you own a personal computer and a printer, and you're adept at word processing, consider setting up a letter table at a gun show. Visitors to the gun show give you their name and address, which you input into the computer, which outputs letters ready to mail. At one gun show, a man brought his personal computer and printer, along with pre-written letters to the President, the Republican National Committee Chairman, the Governor, and US and state Senators and Representatives. The man also brought stamps, envelopes, and a good supply of printer paper. He ended up generating 1,608 pro-rights letters, and raised $1212.80 in voluntary donations. David Bollinger, a Texan who runs a group called ``Civil Rights...Civil Responsibility,'' also sets up a computer for letter writing at gun shows, and offers these tips: o Make sure to tell the gun show operator that you will need an electrical hook-up. o Ask a local gun store if they could chip in to pay the table fee (usually 30-80 dollars). o Pull your table about six inches back from the aisle, thereby giving the impression of a small island amidst the sea of customers. o If you're not charging anything, make sure your display banner says ``FREE.'' o Bring extra paper, and a large supply of pens, and expect some of the pens to walk off during the course of the day. o Voluntary donations can be collected in a small-mouthed transparent plastic jug, with a label like ``Donations gratefully accepted.'' o Bring wire ties with which to control the computer cables. o A sheet draped over the front of the table helps protect the cables and equipment from children. o Lay out samples of letters that you will generate. Print plenty in advance, since some will walk off. o Learn the legislative district boundaries for the areas near the gun show, since many people will not know who their representatives are. o Morning hours will be slower than the afternoon. o Don't get mad at people who don't stop at the table to write a letter. They may have already written on their own. o Do some advance research, and prepare letters tailored to the different officials that people will be writing too. A letter to the President might have a different content than a letter to a pro-gun Representative than a letter to an anti-gun Senator. o Bring some carts for hauling your equipment in and out of the show. o Don't have the letters pre-metered, and don't mail them in zip code bundles. The letters make more of an impact if they arrive one at a time, with less of a mass-produced look. (Encouraging people to add a ``p.s.'' can also help individualize the letters; but any letter is much better than no letter at all.) To make things even easier, Bollinger has written a computer program called ``Letergen'' designed especially for use at gun shows. It's not a program suited for a computer novice; a user needs to be familiar with terms such as ``ASCII,'' ``path,'' and ``print buffer.'' The program also requires a few hours of work entering legislators' addresses and draft letters before it's ready to use at a gun show. But once it's up and running, Letergen can help you generate a lot of letters very quickly. The only flaw is that the program's model ``anti'' letters (chastising legislators for bad votes) are too hostile; happily, the program allows you to write your own model letters. Bollinger sells a DOS version for five dollars. If you want the program, write to David Bollinger at 7410 Silent Sunset, San Antonio, TX 78250, (512) 647-0547. Make sure to specify the disk size and density you want.