MCRGO BOD Attacks the First Amendment

Many of you read the public statement that was posted on the MCRGO website that the operator of this site committed illegal activities.  Unless the First Amendment has been declared illegal there have been no illegal actions.

One can understand how they could make knowingly false statement when presented with information that is critical of them.  However, the actions of the MCRGO Board of Directors go way beyond that. 

Members of MCRGO your membership dues have been used to pay for a law firm to write intimidating cease and desist letters in an attempt to shut down the free speech of this website and others.   It appears that MCRGO BOD not only thinks they are above criticism but that the First Amendment does not apply to anyone but themselves.

The MCRGO BOD hired the Bambery Law Office using your member dues and donations to write this intimidation letter full of frivolous claims and threatening legal action if I do not immediately close this website.  Link Fixed Read the entire text of the letter. After reading the letter look at this site and try to substantiate the claims they made.

Everyone knows that lawyers aren't cheap.  Just how much did this attempt to shut down free speech cost the members of MCRGO?  Why was the BOD willing to use your money to go to court to shut down free speech, when what they should be doing is taking the cities that are passing illegal CCW restrictions to court.  Why did MCRGO just raise their membership dues?  Is it to cover all the legal expenses from trying to fight the First Amendment?  Shame on the Board of Directors of MCRGO for betraying the Constitution of the Untied States of America in their blatant attempt to intimidate people from free speech.  Further, they publicly posted statement that they knew to be false, this opens all sorts of doors for legal action to be taken against MCRGO.  Do you think the Board Members will dip into their own pockets to cover these expenses?  I doubt it; they will use your membership dues.  MCRGO Members it is time your throw out this regime of holier-than-thou board members who are using your money filling frivolous lawsuits trying to stop free speech.  This is not what MCRGO is supposed to be about.

I will explain the claims made and show that anyone could see the claims the MCRGO BOD had the lawyer make have no weight at all and they would be laughed out of court if they actually tried to proceed. 

MCRGO's Service Mark Claim:
MCRGO claims that any use of the letters MCRGO is a violation of their service mark.  MCRGO registered the term MCRGO as a service mark in the state of Michigan.  Service mark's are to provide protection from one commercial entity against another commercial entity using the same mark to sell similar goods or services.  In order for there to be a service mark violation one must show that the competing commercial entity stole customers by using the mark to sell similar goods or services.

This is what the MCRGO BOD is claiming this website did.  First, this is a website, not a commercial entity.  There is no organization or corporation; there are no products or services.  Finally, this site is about the MCRGO BOD.  How can something be a competing entity with itself?  This claim is so ridiculous I cannot believe they actually hired a lawyer and convinced him to put it in writing.  But they did, using the name of MCRGO and your dues and donations!

MCRGO BOD's Domain Name Claim:
The MCRGO BOD also claim that the domain name used is also in violation of their service mark because the mark is contained within it.  This too has no merit.  Domain names like microsoftsucks.com would not exist if they extremely generalized view of the law was accurate.  The domain name was registered with register.com and is subject to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy adopted by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.  There are three very strict criteria all of which must be met in order for a complainant to win control of the domain.  The MCRGO BOD's claims don't even come close.  For example one is that the domain must have been registered for a legitimate use and not for reasons such as registering the domain with the only purpose being to resell for a profit.  Free speech is a legitimate use and has been prove so over and over in court.  Since all three are required and the MCRGO BOD can't even get passed the first criteria, they have no case period.  Yet they used your membership dues and donations to hire the lawyer to try to make the case that they did.

If MCRGO had any credibility left with the legislators the BOD has certainly destroyed it now.  Members of MCRGO it is time to get a new Board of Directors.  Use the email links below to call for the resignations of all the directors.

Use this form to email all the Board Members or use the email links below.

[Form removed]

Phil Webster resigned his position as an MCRGO BOD member before this incident ever occured.  Phil is one of the nicest most pro-gun person that I have ever meet.  Phil resigned because the other BOD members would not listen to anything he had to say.  It is sad to see such a good person resign due to the actions of the current BOD members.