Operation Firestorm

Note: nothing on this page is to be construed as an accusation of intentional wrongdoing by anyone in the Million Mom March. The following discrepencies between the group's tax return and its actions in its fiscal 2000 could be due to "the right hand not knowing what the left was doing." If so, however, are these people really fit to talk about gun owners' responsibilities? The evidence speaks for itself.

Last update: 25 July 2002

This page:

• Overview of Operation Firestorm
• Relevant excerpts, MMM tax return, 2000
• Why "Operation Firestorm?"
• What to do
• Targets: the "domino list"

• Blatant (in my opinion) inaccuracies in the Million Mom March Foundation's fiscal 2000 tax return (Form 990)
• Additional evidence, including statements from antigun politicians' official Web pages.
• Million Mom Form 990 now available as .pdf file from Guidestar.org. See for yourself!
• My contact information: UncleRomulus "at" stentorian.com

And tell the pleasant witch* this mock of hers
Hath turn'd her balls to political gun-stones; and her soul
Shall stand sore charged for the wasteful vengeance
That shall fly with them: for many a thousand votes
Shall this her mock mock out of the Democrat Left
Mock pols from their offices, mock the entire gun control movement down;
And some are yet ungotten and unborn
That shall have cause to curse Rosie O'Donnell's scorn.

 --paraphrased from King Henry V's response to a mocking gift of tennis balls from the French Dauphin, and posted some time ago at http://www.stentorian.com/2ndamend/victory.html regarding my intentions toward the Million Mom March. And now it is coming to pass.                    * and I don't mean Wiccans.

Some people think I'm obsessed with the Million Mom March the way Captain Ahab was obsessed with Moby Dick. I am obsessed with the Million Mom March the same way someone who sees a line of dominoes is obsessed with getting the first one to tip. Here is the general overview:

• Watergate: respect and trust in government
• Jim Bakker scandal: televangelism
• Enron and WorldCom: stock market
• Million Mom March Foundation's tax return: gun control movement

The purpose of Operation Firestorm is to engulf the entire antigun movement in what now look like major ethical problems with the 501(c)(3) tax-exempt Million Mom March Foundation. If the antigun movement is a block of hard crystal, the Million Mom March is the flaw that will allow us to shatter it.

The Million Mom March was itself largely destroyed by revelation in early 2000-- I was the one who blew the whistle-- that it was promoting House candidates on its Apple Pie Award page and attacking Tom DeLay (R-TX) on its Time Out Chair page. Second Amendment activists Jim March and Najda Adolf administered the coup de grace by getting the Million Moms kicked out of their taxpayer-supported offices in the San Francisco General Hospital. The Million Mom March is no longer a major threat; it is a way of getting at the Brady Center (directly, since the Million Moms officially merged with this organization), other antigun groups by association-- they're allied with the MMM-- and antigun politicians.

Noting the apparent improprieties with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt money, I thought it might be very interesting to see what the Million Moms told the Internal Revenue Service about their activities and expenditures in 2000. And I'm glad I did, because it is very interesting (to say the least).

The Million Moms split into 501(c)(3) exempt and 501(c)(4) nonexempt entitites somewhere around the second half of 2000. The activities through at least the Mother's Day rally were, however, exclusively under the 501(c)(3) exempt organization to which this tax return pertains.



I have a lot of trouble with these statements. As shown by the other two Web pages, I think these excerpts speak for themselves when compared with the Million Moms' actual activities:

Blatant (in my opinion) inaccuracies in the Million Mom March Foundation's fiscal 2000 tax return (Form 990)

Additional evidence, including statements from antigun politicians' official Web pages.

"Operation Firestorm" is from a phenomenon that was discovered during the Second World War (I think during the firebombing of Dresden). When enough incendiary bombs were dropped on a city, the individual fires began to pull air toward themselves. The combined effect of these fires was to generate sufficient draft to bring in air with gale-like force, and this fanned the fires into an uncontrollable blaze that incinerated everything inside it. The firebombing of Tokyo was, in fact, more devastating than either of the atomic bombs.

The goal of Operation Firestorm is therefore to "fan the fires of publicity" regarding the Million Moms' tax return and the apparent irregularities within. A few letters to the editor, or even news articles in local papers, are unlikely to have a devastating effect (just as a few Thermite bombs couldn't destroy a city). A lot of them, or getting a major newspaper to break the story, will have the desired effect. When this story spreads widely enough, it should feed on itself just like a physical firestorm.

I would not advise accusing the Million Moms of deliberately filing an inaccurate tax return. It could, after all, just be a big mistake. Just let the facts speak for themselves. As Edward Murrow once said, "This is the news."

• Letters to the editor can expose this issue
• Postings on Web sites and in newsgroups can spread the story
• Get your local newspaper to cover the story
• Get your gun club or pro-Second Amendment group to catch the ball and run with it
• NOTE: 501(c)(3) exempt groups cannot endorse or oppose political candidates. Don't go after the political targets on the list if you're 501(c)(3) tax-exempt.
• Send the information to major newspapers. If they hear from enough people, they may pick up on it.

Be sure to include relevant targets from the list below, or others of which you know. If you're in New York, cite Andrew Cuomo and Hillary Clinton. Californians can tie Dianne Feinstein to the Million Moms, and so on.

Remember that the Million Mom March itself is only a means to an end: engulfing other antigun organizations, and politicians, in the conflagration. The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence (formerly Handgun Control Inc.) should be the first to go. It merged with the Million Moms, so the Million Moms' problems are now the Brady Center's problems. The following list will doubtlessly expand. See Blatant (in my opinion) inaccuracies in the Million Mom March Foundation's fiscal 2000 tax return (Form 990) and Additional evidence, including statements from antigun politicians' official Web pages for how many of these people and organizations are connected to the Million Mom March.

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