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Title: Volunteer Voice 31st Edition

Original CoS Document (slug): [[https://conventionofstates.com/volunteer-voice-31st-edition|volunteer-voice-31st-edition]]

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Created: 2023-01-31 23:35:19

Updated: 2024-12-29 03:00:00

Published: 2023-02-05 01:00:00

Converted: 2025-04-14T21:22:43.966931057


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**Time to Abolish the ATF**\\
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By Brian Harris\\
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Investigating the weaponization of the US Justice Department is a popular mantra now that the Republicans control Congress. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has introduced H.R.374, “Abolish the ATF Act.” This is a sensible bill for several reasons. First, reducing the federal bureaucracy is a positive since America is broke. Why should we borrow money to fund a federal agency that imposes on our liberties by administrative fiat? The ATF employed nearly 6000 people in FY 2021 and had a budget of $1.8 billion. The Second Amendment consists of one sentence with 27 words. Federal{{https://content.conventionofstates.com/cosaction-prod/public/content/images/63728/63728_original.png?237x236}} firearm rules don’t keep guns out of the hands of criminals, but they make criminals out of law-abiding citizens. \\
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Second, the ATF has a scandal-ridden past. You may recall the 2011 Operation Fast and Furious gun walking scheme that allowed guns to get into the hands of drug cartels and was discovered when a Border Patrol agent was killed using a weapon registered to the sting. In 1993 the ATF initiated the stand-off at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, TX. A year prior to Waco, the incident involving Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, was sparked after his arrest by ATF agents.\\
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Rep. Gaetz cites a recent passage of a rule by the ATF that would classify firearms with stabilizing devices as “short-barreled rifles” This change in classification criminalizes something that has long been viewed as legal by the ATF. To justify this new rule, the ATF changed its definition of what constitutes a rifle. Graetz notes that if his bill doesn’t get traction, he will move to support defunding of the ATF.\\
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Another recent court decision highlights the overreach of this weaponized agency. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals determined that the ATF exceeded its legal authority when it banned the sale and possession of bump stocks in 2018.\\
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The ATF is just one federal agency that has become weaponized over time. Abolition or defunding of the ATF is something that COS supporters can rally behind since it aligns with the COS mission of imposing fiscal restraint and limiting the power and jurisdiction of the federal government.

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**A COS Volunteer Activist Literally on Fire**\\
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By Jim MacDonald\\
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What makes a COS volunteer activist sensational? A patriot who loves God, America, and their family and is willing to fight to protect them. These are the people attracted to the Convention of States Action. Sandy Reno is one of these patriots.\\
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Sandy married his wife, Janis, thirty-nine years ago and has two daughters, a stepson, and two granddaughters. One daughter owns her own hairstyling business, the other daughter is an oncology radiologist, and their stepson is an engineer.\\
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Following in his father’s footsteps, Sandy enlisted in the army as a young man, serving three years on active duty and three years on inactive duty. He was stationed in Germany, trained in communication but worked in classification and security.\\
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After serving our country, Sandy returned to Chattanooga, TN, started college and received a marketing degree. In college, he worked multiple {{https://content.conventionofstates.com/cosaction-prod/public/content/images/63755/63755_original.PNG?339x175}}jobs, including the Chattanooga Gas Company, and began a lawn-mowing and house-cleaning business.  \\
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When Sandy graduated college, he got a job teaching for a year before Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) hired him as an assistant unit operator for several coal-fired power plants. He then finished his career working at Watts Bar Nuclear Generating Station as a first responder. Sandy is grateful that he had the opportunity to work a lot of overtime to set him up for retirement.\\
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**A miraculous watershed moment**\\
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All Americans should be grateful for the men and women who serve in the military to protect our great nation. And I’ve never known a serviceman who didn’t have breathtaking stories to tell. Sandy is no exception.\\
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While serving in Germany, Sandy had a mind-blowing, awe-{{https://content.conventionofstates.com/cosaction-prod/public/content/images/63734/63734_original.jpg?288x207}}inspiring event occur that proved the seemingly impossible could be possible.\\
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Sandy was resting in his sleeping bag in a military track vehicle one night, with snow covering the ground. The driver noticed the fuel in the generator providing heat inside was low. So the driver climbed up with the fuel can and started filling the tank. When the driver noticed the fuel overflowing, he stopped filling it and reached into his pocket for his lighter to see in the dark.\\
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Before Sandy realized what the driver was doing and stopped him, you can imagine, things went up in flames. The driver had caught on fire along with the gas can. Nevertheless, he calmly pulled the gas can from the fire, dropped it on the side of the vehicle, and then slid down into the vehicle, falling on top of Sandy.\\
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Meanwhile, Sandy climbed out of his sleeping bag to assist the driver and struggled to open the door and exit. Sandy worked to open the track door with the driver on fire, screaming and panicking. All you needed to do was grab the handle and swing it down, and the door would sling open due to the weight. Unfortunately, with the driver on fire, and climbing all over Sandy’s back, Sandy could not get the door to open. By now, Sandy’s back is on fire, but he was unaware of it.\\
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Finally, Sandy cried out to the Lord, “Lord…help me get this door opened.” Sandy said: “These are the words that came out of my mouth. I then grabbed the handle, turned it, and the door flew open.”\\
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By this time, the Captain and the Company Commander had gathered around to figure out what was happening. When the door {{https://content.conventionofstates.com/cosaction-prod/public/content/images/63737/63737_original.jpg?229x246}}opened, and the two men fell out, the driver took off running through the darkness of the woods while on fire. Not knowing he was also on fire, Sandy took off after him, like two fireballs running in the night. The Commander and Captain then took off after them.\\
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Sandy caught up to the driver and tackled him. Suddenly, there were people on top of them both, piling snow on top of them to put the fires out.\\
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Afterward, they loaded the driver, who was severely burnt, onto a gamma truck. The Captain told Sandy to get in, but Sandy refused, saying, “he’s not going; he’s fine.” The Captain, afraid that because Sandy was burnt, he may have been in shock and insisted he goes.\\
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It wasn’t until the doctors at the German hospital started examining Sandy that he realized he had been on fire himself. He could smell the fire on the driver, but not himself.\\
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Sandy insisted to the doctor that he was fine, but the doctor said: “you have burnt patches across your back. Removing the clothing, the doctor was surprised and said, “well, you don’t have any burnt skin, just your hair?” Sandy said: “well I asked the Lord to help me that night…He must have had His hand on me!”\\
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The doctor then said, “I believe you are all right, but how are you mentally?” The doctor started asking questions to check his mental state. During this ordeal, Sandy only had the hair on his arm and his back singed off.\\
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Sandy stated: “The Lord was with me that night.”\\
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Upon returning to work, the Captain told Sandy: “when you took off running that night, they saw two balls of fire running in the woods, one was the driver, and one was him. How in the world you aren’t burnt, I don’t know.” Sandy stated, “I’ll tell you what, I have a praying mother back home. She and the Lord upstairs is taking care of me.”  \\
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**The COS email that caught Sandy's attention**\\
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About four or five years ago, Sandy received an email about the Convention of States. After reading the email, he said, “well, I’m for that; I’ll sign that petition.” So he signed it, which was the last thing{{https://content.conventionofstates.com/cosaction-prod/public/content/images/63739/63739_original.jpg?152x307}} he remembered until about two years ago. Then, he saw another email blast Jay Walling sent about a meeting at the Rib & Loin. Sandy thought, “that’s that COS petition thing I signed before.” So he read a little about it and thought, “I’m going to go check it out. I just retired and didn’t have anything holding him back. And I don’t mind eating either.”\\
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Afterward, Sandy kept calling Jay and saying: “what do you want me to do? This is just right for me. But…” he said, “all I want to do is show up…just tell me where you want me to be and I’ll be there.”\\
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Sandy is passionate about working with the local community. He’s always kept up with Washington but never the local community. Sandy never knew who his state representatives were. He’s been all about Washington because that’s all you hear about. “It’s in our community where our fight needs to be.”\\
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Sandy feels that his calling is using that Biblical Citizenship to get into the churches because Sandy was raised there. And the veterans in the churches don’t know anything about this. Sandy also joined the American Legion. He’s going to use that to get the veterans in COS.\\
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Sandy feels he can use his influence in the local community to get the COS going, to educate and teach people about COS. “We just got to get the word out.”\\
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When Sandy gets a lead on a veteran and calls them up, the veterans are delighted he’s a veteran and call them to talk about COS.\\
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Sandy feels we need to get some of the young veterans involved. But knowing how he was himself, Sandy knows they are busy working overtime or two jobs to make ends meet. In addition, they have a family with activities. “I wish we could motivate some of these next-generation people.”\\
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Sandy says, “We all need a cause. We raise our children, take them to church, etc., but we must have a cause. There are multiple causes to be a part of, something to fight for. People must get involved. But I feel that COS is the safest and best way to go.”\\
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COS has permeated Sandy’s heart. From “I just want to show up;” to, being on fire for veterans in COS!\\
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**This Veterans Coalition Director's Goal is to Spread COS like wildfire **\\
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After recently watching the Montana COS volunteers present their case to the state legislature. Sandy felt their message was powerful. They laid a solid case for COS. Unfortunately, the opposition to COS also had it together and presented second. But the Senator who sponsored the bill closed it out with a compelling case. He told the committee that it’s the state’s responsibility to stop this chaos in Washington.\\
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Sandy’s aggressive goal over the next year or two is to raise the petitions of veterans in Tennessee from the current 9% of the state to 20%. We can easily make that happen with the help of enthusiastic veterans like Tom Riordan, Jr., Karl Kingdom, Jr., Tony Celiberti, and others.\\
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**Conclusion**\\
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When asked what is one thing you want people to know about Sandy? He stated: “I truly love God, my country, and my family. For those reasons alone, I will fight to preserve what was given to me. I grew up in a great time and want my grandchildren to as well.”\\
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In conversations, Sandy’s had with people he grew up with. They all love God, America, and their family. Of course, we had challenges and disagreements with one another, but for the most part, we all got along regardless of their skin color, religious beliefs, education, etc.\\
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Today, the Marxist agenda has divided Americans in every possible way to create chaos from within. In a video that went viral in 2020, a lady explained how several countries were recently destroyed: To establish national socialism, you must first install hatred in the people…you must divide people of the country into well-defined groups…Then you blame one group as the cause of all the problems they face. This is what’s happening in America, and what every tyrant in history has done to gain control. As Vladimir Lenin stated: the goal of socialism is communism.\\
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Marxist socialism has infiltrated every aspect of our society. So raising the largest grassroots organization to call a convention of states to rein in our Marxist government is the only answer law-abiding Americans can do, barring a revolution.\\
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Come join our movement!  

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**A Valentine’s Day Message**

By Jim MacDonald\\
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Just in case you don’t have a date for Valentine’s Day, it is on February 14th. And it’s no secret that men across the country find themselves in hot water when they forget this special day of the year. So, please consider this your reminder because the day will be here in the wink of an eye!\\
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Now, where did this holiday come from? Well, legend has it that around 496 AD, the Roman Emperor Claudius II forbade young men from getting married because it hindered their skills as a warrior. However, a Priest named Valentine disregarded that decree and would secretly wed the young suitors. When the Emperor got word, St. Valentine was martyred...Not exactly the vampire wedding with a love at first bite.\\
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Now Cupid was an ancient god of love who had wings and carried a bow with a quiver of arrows. He was considered mischievous and would often shoot his arrows into people who hated each other, which in turn would cause them to fall in love. Cupid would then play his favorite music from the rock band called Heart!\\
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As divided as our nation has become, we sure could use some of Cupid’s arrows right now!\\
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It’s believed that the holiday originated to Christianize the pagan Roman festival of Lupercalia, which honored the god of fertility and celebrates the coming of spring. This is often symbolized by the mating of birds known as tweethearts.\\
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We at the Convention of States want to wish everyone a very Happy Valentine’s Day but remember, the difference between love and marriage is that love is blind, and marriage is an eye-opener. And never laugh at your significant other’s choices because you’re one of them!\\
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P.S. Don’t forget to wish your single friends a Happy Independence Day!\\
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Happy Valentine’s Day!

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**Capitol Surge Day Was a Success!**\\
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By Ramona P. DeSalvo\\
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More than forty volunteer activists from across the state descended upon the Cordell Hull Building to meet with legislators and to attend the opening day of the legislature at the Capitol. Volunteers carried the message to lawmakers that COSA is bigger and stronger in Tennessee in 2023 than it was on February 4, 2016, when Tennessee became the fifth state to pass the Convention of States Resolution (SJR67).

It was exciting to see volunteers from as far away as Pittsburgh Landing to Sevierville travel the distance to Nashville to arrive at 9:00 AM (that’s{{https://content.conventionofstates.com/cosaction-prod/public/content/images/64007/64007_original.jpg?290x175}} dedication!) to meet with COSA leaders and to map out their day at the Capitol. Some had never visited a lawmaker’s office and others were old pros. Volunteers were assigned to attend lawmaker meetings with a state leader and were given packets of information about COSA TN to give to lawmakers. The packets contained a list of petition signers for each district's senator or representative, a copy of the Tennessee resolution as passed, a thank you card letting the lawmakers know we appreciate their service to the state, a TN summary sheet providing an update about COSA TN’s growth and what volunteers are doing, and a handout from COSA national, letting legislators know how Americans of all political stripes feel about term limits, fiscal restraints, and government overreach at the federal level.

Noon marked the opening of the legislative session, and volunteers were in the gallery to watch the events. Following the House and Senate sessions, {{https://content.conventionofstates.com/cosaction-prod/public/content/images/64023/64023_original.png?318x178}}the teams returned to Cordell Hull to complete their legislative visits. All 133 legislators were visited with some meetings hosting six or seven volunteers, including the last meeting of the day with House Leader William Lamberth. COSA volunteers asked each of the lawmakers if there was anything with which COSA could help them. We also queried them on their stance on upcoming legislation such as HB1/SB1 to stop gender surgeries on minors, Choice Lanes (the proposed fee-supported traffic lanes), election integrity, and proposed campaign finance laws, among other topics.

It was exciting to see the enthusiasm of the volunteers and the satisfaction garnered in knowing that Tennessee legislators are accessible to hear their concerns. It was quite rewarding to know that this year was the most well-attended Capitol Surge Day COSA TN has had. Many of our volunteers were sorely missed this year, like Yvonne Rogers (who passed) and then Hill Rogers, Claire Root, our State Director Lyle Hill, our SD/Education Norman Bobo, Cathy Bickerstaff, and others who could not attend due to illness or travel. We remember you in our prayers and will see you during a session, at a COSA meeting, or at the summer state strategy meeting.

This 2023 session is flying by already, with hearings scheduled on various legislation, all of which can be viewed online at the TN General Assembly website. If you missed a hearing, you may watch the recording later to see what transpired. The hearing videos are an excellent way to learn how our government works and how you, too, can become involved by speaking at a hearing on an issue that matters to you. We are the largest army of grassroots activists in American history, and as such, you are prepared to have your voice heard! Some issues are driven by COSA, but you, as an individual Tennessee citizen engaged in self-governance, are free to contact lawmakers about issues of interest to you. We look forward to seeing you at the 2024 Capitol Surge Day!      

The following are some pictures of our COSA Tennessee Volunteers and the legislators they met with:

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**Tennessee on the Move...**

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Governor Bill Lee's Inaugural address

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Patriots from Chattanooga - Special Thank you to Marshall Willis

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Patriots from Hickson

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Patriots from Murfreesboro

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Patriots from Sevierville

 

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**Upcoming Meetings and Events**

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**Jamestown, TN.** February 11, 2023, from 9:30 to 11:00 at Fentress County Courthouse, 101 N. Main St., Jamestown, TN 38556 Larry Wilke\\
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**Loudon, TN.** 1st Wednesday of every month at the Chota Rec Center 145 Awohili Dr., Loudon, TN 37774, Room D at 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. - Call Terri Hult for more information: 865-304-6997 \\
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**Murfreesboro, TN.** Saturday, February 18, 2023, from 1:00-3:00 p.m. at Unity Freewill Baptist 1901 Florence Rd Murfreesboro TN 37129 Linda and Richard\\
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**Powell, TN.** Saturday, February 11, 2023, from 12:00 till 1:00 p.m. at Shoney’s on Emory Road, Powell, or the second Saturday of each month, Ann Martin and Doug Mobley

**Sevierville, TN.** Saturday, February 18, 2023, Patriot Potluck from 10:30 till 2:00 pm King Family Library, 408 High St. call Christine Solomon at 832-868-3674 for more information

**BattleCry,** Join Mark Meckler for the BattleCry every Sunday night at 8:00 p.m. EST on Facebook and Rumble.

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