Many of you have undoubtedly seen Friday's Wall Street Journal front page story entitled: "Explosive Debate: Should U.S. Check Up On Model Rockets?"
The publication of this story ends six months of work by NAR and TRA members to provide reporter Bobby Block with a complete and clear picture of the illegal and unnecessary regulation of our hobby by BATFE.
From the beginning, the NAR and TRA leadership coordinated Bobby's efforts with both our legislative and legal teams. Having been a Journal reader for the past 30 years, I now have a newfound respect for the integrity and diligence with which the Journal's reporters pursue their stories, having seen it firsthand.
The story's publication is important to the hobby for several reasons.
First, the Wall Street Journal is the country's most widely circulated newspaper. The paper is read and paid attention to by leaders in both industry and government. We could not have purchased at any price the breadth of penetration or credibility this article provides our hobby.
Secondly, the story itself paints the hobby in a positive light, and leaves the reader asking the question "why is the government wasting its time chasing these guys?" When I took a survey in my office today, where people do know about my rocketry life, but are not at all rocketry experts, they almost universally had the reaction "it's silly for the government to be bothering with you". Such reaction helps us build both public support for and credibility around the argument we've held all along that BATFE regulation is over and above anything reasonably required to protect national security or public safety.
Finally, having this article in the public record will help our efforts on Capitol Hill. Members read and respect this paper, and again the credibility we have gained from this exposure will ultimately help us achieve relief.
My thanks to the many NAR and TRA members who responded to my request to talk with and provide information to Bobby Block. I wish to particularly acknowledge the efforts of DC area NAR and TRA members, particularly those in the NOVAAR section, who spent considerable time at their launches to make sure Bobby got a good look at our hobby. They undertook this job on top of their already considerable work assisting the Team America flyoff and NARAM.
Recent suggestions in various electronic forums that we've lost this battle with BATFE are dead flat out wrong.
The tide is slowly but surely turning, folks. More and more people in more and more places are finding out about our troubles and the unjust treatment we're getting. If we can sustain our efforts to get the message out about our hobby, we can secure its unregulated future.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Mark B. Bundick mbundick - at - earthlink - dot - net NAR President www - dot - nar - dot - org
"A dark night in a city that knows how to keep its secrets, but high above the quiet streets on the twelfth floor of the Acme Building, one man is still trying to find the answers to life's persistent questions. Guy Noir, Private Eye."