This landed in my email last night after 10pm. It is an apology for one of the impromptu speakers at the Pontiac meeting last week. (More on this here.)
Eloquent, sincere and well-written. I replied and asked if he minded if I reprinted it and he agreed.
It took courage to write this.
Mr Boch,
I wanted to take the chance to thank you for welcoming me to your Guns Saves Life meeting in Pontiac. I saw some familiar faces from the community and appreciated the handshakes and friendly discussions before getting starting.
I am not a prison staffer and do not wish my comments to negatively affect the men and woman who work behind the wall.
I am a private business owner and real estate investor.
At 26 I’m dis heartened by the current state of Illinois politics and economics.
Paying over $100,000 dollars in taxes this year alone and now having my 2nd amendment under attack it seems leaving this state would be my best bet. However I haven’t gotten to this point in my short life by running away from my problems. I am in a constant pursuit of becoming a better young man. Many times falling and picking myself back up.
Fueled by my dissatisfaction with the our overreaching government and also to be fair your seemingly condescending remarks to me at the beginning of the evening, I’ll be the first to admit my public comments were hastily, poorly spoken, and I should thicken my skin.
I wanted to walk out after my comments. I was the first to wish I could have taken them back and honestly, I was embarrassed. Afterwards I was approached by some fine gentlemen who took the opportunity to teach me and correct my speech. I looked them in the eyes and took it on the chin. Also reading your blog wasn’t easy, but I took the comments shared against me on the chin as well.
I want to take a brief moment to clarify that I’m not speaking out for sedition or anarchy in any way. When I said we should be gathering at the Capitol I was insinuating we hold a lawful and peaceful protest or Gun Rally. I know in my passion and at face value this is not what I said. I would advocate we make sure to go about it in a professional manor. We have seen the people of Virginia protest peacefully, picking up garbage as they left.
Though a fine expression of principle I understand politics has a way of complicating the application of such principles and I have read your blog disagreeing with such protest.
I will say this.. We have an overwhelming passive and apathetic populace. We are mostly sitting ideally complaining about tyranny. Guns saves life has been a thorn in the side of Illinois politics, however something isn’t working.
I do believe we can do more.
Mr Boch. There seems to be a generational strife between us. I would like to do my part to again apologize for my comments. I can’t take back what I said or how I said it but it truly was not a great representation of the man I am or hope to become.
There were wiser men in the room that night and I appreciate their words of encouragement and advice.
I cannot say I will be back, ultimately I would respect if you preferred I don’t return. If I was excepted back I would come for information and not as an adversary to you.
Ultimately I believe we are stronger together and are fighting for the same common cause.
I intent to learn from this and become more informed, knowledgeable and of course speak in a more professional and productive manner.
I hope this email is well received and I wish you and Guns Saves Life nothing but the best.
Thank you for your time!
God Bless!
Kyle
A well-written letter. Kudos to this man. And we all get passionate about our gun rights. Most of us have been guilty at one time or another of rhetoric that would have been better left unsaid.
He is also right when he says apathy is killing us as a country. Our rights are disappearing steadily, because younger people (and even many of my age) simply do not care enough to get involved anymore. It’s not just politics, but most people simply choose to ignore the things going on around them. Gun rights are the tip of the spear, so to speak, because people that advocate for 2A rights are typically more involved (and more forceful) about not allowing government to steamroll over the top of us.
Well said Sir. I was not there on this night, however I did hear about the things that you said. It takes courage to speak your mind but to step up and say I was wrong, builds character. Learn from this along with some of the other LIFE LESSONS and you will have fond memories to look back upon. Chin up and keep moving forward.
Kudos for an honest, honorable apology, here is hoping he is able to focus on positive ways to funnel his enthusiasm. IGOLD is coming up and it has been a positive way to demonstrate to legislators our strong commitment to our grievances on 2A infractions. I hope there is a good turnout this year although I will be unable to attend because of diminished finances, I have attended many times in past years, my heart is with the spirit of those that are able to be there. May God Bless the efforts of all in attendance.
Impressive. Honest and sincere. Will he really come back if you welcome him? We’ll see. I must say it’s usually easier to write things than do things, but that took a lot to write, so I think I’d give him the benefit of the doubt.
I was at the meeting and I will say it was interesting. Emotions ran pretty high and the first couple of speakers received some applause for their statements but as it progressed it turned into a lecture directed toward us old dogs for not doing anything. The crowd remained calm and respectful even though we were spoken to rather disrespectfully. The gentleman who spoke at the end about the Convention Of The States was a very calming voice and it was surely needed. I’ll also say that John handled this very well and I thank him for that. We’re all in this common effort to preserve our Constitution and we all have our ideas of how to do it but we can’t divide ourselves because that only helps those who want to disarm us.