H6 was passed: Adopted a motion amending the previously-passed weapons motion changing weapons to firearms and adding clarifying language.
Hopefully they will actually pass a motion repealing this one, so that we can return to status ante, before any of the weapons-related policies of the last two meetings were passed.
Boxmaster's Corner
Talk Mensa With Me
Dizzy trying to find out which way Mensa is going? Make this one of your stops to find out about the ins and outs of American Mensa, Ltd. (AML).
If you want to get in touch with me, contact me at boxmaster@alumni.williams.edu or just click on any of the "comments" links throughout this blog.
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
You *CAN* Make a Difference
As noted within my updated post below, the motion (H7) on the December agenda - which would have required hiring security guards - has been withdrawn by its mover.
To those who contributed to the conversation on the Facebook page, here on my blog, in individual e-mail letters to one or more members of the AMC, and in any other way communicated your opinions on this matter to the AMC, thank you. You have made a difference.
To Marc, for having taken to heart the concerns that were being raised and withdrawing the motion from the agenda, thank you.
For anyone who still has concerns about the currently in-force weapons ban (from the prior AMC meeting) and the motion (H6) on the December agenda (which replaces the broad weapons ban with a gun ban), keep on sending the AMC your comments. Similarly for any other item on the agenda that you have questions, comments, or concerns about.
To those who contributed to the conversation on the Facebook page, here on my blog, in individual e-mail letters to one or more members of the AMC, and in any other way communicated your opinions on this matter to the AMC, thank you. You have made a difference.
To Marc, for having taken to heart the concerns that were being raised and withdrawing the motion from the agenda, thank you.
For anyone who still has concerns about the currently in-force weapons ban (from the prior AMC meeting) and the motion (H6) on the December agenda (which replaces the broad weapons ban with a gun ban), keep on sending the AMC your comments. Similarly for any other item on the agenda that you have questions, comments, or concerns about.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Commentary on the December AMC agenda
The December 2013 AMC agenda is online. Go peruse it (http://www.us.mensa.org/AML/?LinkServID=ECB6C2BD-E35E-D520-7FF5145152348936&type=mrep&name=2013-12-07\Agenda\2013-12-07Agenda.pdf) so that you have the proper context for my comments on several of the items, below. H6 is likely the most controversial item (replacing the weapons policy with a gun ban at national-level events), with H7 (hired security guards) a close second.
Make sure you send your comments about the agenda items at least to your RVC. Consider sending them to more members of the AMC than that. Regardless of whether your views line up with mine or are a complete 180 to them, you should make your views known.
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F6 should be amended so that it is
clear that it references a current Mensa member who gives a program
at an Annual Gathering “on a day they will be attending any portion
of the Annual Gathering outside of their own presentation”. After
all, it makes no sense at all to charge a Mensa member to give a
program if they plan on doing nothing more at the AG than give that
program.
-----
H3 should be changed so that it is the
Finance and Audit Committee that gives final approval to the
registration rates for Annual Gatherings; it should be the AG
Committee that proposes the budget. If there is conflict between what
the AG Committee proposes and what the Finance and Audit Committee is
willing to approve, then the two committees should work together to
come to a mutually acceptable agreement. AGs are not cookie-cutter
events. Rather, in addition to the standard/stock items that all AGs
have, there are many things which add that local “flavor” or
imprint from the committee members. There is no way that the Finance
and Audit Committee can foresee what the AG Committee wants to do.
Nor should the AG Committee be prevented from budgeting something for
the AG because the Finance and Audit Committee didn't (and couldn't)
foresee what might be planned.
[Update 11/17: Based on input prompted by this letter sent to the AMC and subsequent conversation, the motion on the agenda will be amended/updated to add a clause at the end of the motion indicating that the registration rates should be "based on a budget developed by the AG Chair(s)."]
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H5 – Rather than continually dip into
the Life Member fund each year, how about doing what people have been
asking for for years: have a rolling membership year. This would be
the single biggest action that could be taken to help even out cash
flow, both nationally and at the local level. There won't be a single
huge (~20%) drop in membership numbers (and commensurate funding)
every April, and there wouldn't be this long trough before a single
spike in late March due to an auto-renewal system.
-----
H6 – Approving ANY weapons ban
(whether broad like ASIE 2013-037 or specific to guns like this
proposal) is something that the AMC should not be involved in doing.
First of all, any person who is
committing a crime (i.e., violating local, state, and/or federal law)
should be arrested and charged with said crime. There is no reason
why AMC should get involved with putting in policies that relate to
any criminal behavior.
Secondly, there is no meaningful
enforcement mechanism of such a ban. If someone concealed carries a
gun onto the premises, thereby violating such a ban, there is no way
for anyone to know until and unless that person decides to display or
brandish their gun. And, if and when such person would take that
action, in the vast majority of jurisdictions, such action would be
criminal, which brings us back to the first point.
Thirdly, by imposing such a ban, the
AMC only heaps on liability rather than helping to avoid it. By
banning guns, AMC then is put in the position of making sure that
they have taken all reasonable, necessary steps to protect the
attendees. If you don't have a robust enforcement/security policy put
in place, any harm that befalls an attendee because of someone
violating the ban but your not adequately policing it, that attendee
has cause to sue AML, in addition to whatever action they would take
against the offending individual.
Rather than banning guns, the AMC has
two realistic choices in terms of diffusing liability: 1) enact a
policy that states that it is expected that all attendees at the
events in question will comply with all local, state, and federal
laws regarding guns as well as the venue's policies (if any)
regarding guns, or 2) rescind any and all weapons or gun bans and be
completely silent on the issue. There is nothing in the bylaws,
ASIEs, or any other communication which officially permits and/or
endorses the carrying or use of guns (or other weapons) at
national-level events.
Furthermore, why should repeated
violations of this particular policy be deemed acts inimical to
Mensa. In jurisdictions where the carrying of the gun is permitted,
how can Mensa possibly take the position that someone can face
sanctions (possibly as severe as expulsion) for doing something that
is totally legal? That is untenable.
-----
[Update 11/19: The below commentary on H7 is now moot, as Marc Lederman (who was the initial mover of the motion) has withdrawn his motion from the agenda.]
H7 – While we certainly don't want
members getting involved with having to police a weapons/gun policy,
this motion says nothing of HOW such security officer(s) would
enforce such a weapons/gun ban.
As
mentioned in H6, there are public rooms for the following functions
at AGs: games, speakers, hospitality, meals,
business meetings, debates, tournaments, dances, testing, and
meet-and-greets. (Omitted from that list are the rooms for the Young
Mensans, Tweens, and TeenSIG. While not generally public, even to the
majority of attendees, these are also rooms that would be affected by
such a ban. And some would say they are the most vulnerable, too.)
So, figuring a conservative estimate of 1 room for games, 6 for
speakers, 1 for hospitality, 1 for meal plan meals, 1 for business
meetings, 4 for debates, 1 for tournaments, 1 for dances, 1 for
testing, and 3 for meet-and-greets, as well as one each for the Yms,
Tweens, and Teens, that brings us to a minimum of 23 rooms that would
need to be “policed”.
Clearly,
not all of these rooms are occupied at all times during an AG, so
figure (conservatively) that all rooms are open for 12 hours per day
except for hospitality and games which are open 24/7. This brings us
to a total of approximately 452 room-hours, assuming only one
security officer within each room. At $40 - $50 per hour, as provided
in the explanation, this is an additional cost of approximately
$18,000 - $22,500. This will raise registration costs anywhere from
$9 - $16 per person (likely more, given conservative estimates being
used) specifically to cover this cost alone.
Cost
aside, unless there is a mechanism in place for HOW a gun ban will be
enforced, all that hiring security guards will do is throw away money
for these people to stand and watch us cavort. If they are not
routinely doing some semblance of a search on each and every person
that comes into each and every public room which the AG has in use,
then there is no actual enforcement being done.
In
order to search people, there are a few methods: 1) Ask anyone will
overly concealing clothing (such as a jacket, sweatshirt, scarf,
hat/cap) to open up/remove said article to verify that no contraband
gun is being carried; 2) Ask anyone carrying any opaque bag or other
article large enough to conceal a gun to open it up and permit the
guard to “paw around” in it as necessary to satisfy the guard
that there is no contraband gun being carried; 3) Install and man
metal detectors and/or backscatter machines at the entrance to areas
small enough where people can't circumvent them by going in a
different entrance to that larger space. While this would surely be
fewer in number than the number of public rooms, it would certainly
be more than just one or two.
After
you deal with the matter of how this will be enforced, then comes the
matter of AML liability creeping in again. As has been previously
observed, if someone violates the gun ban and harms another in the
process of doing so, AML has the following liability issues: 1) the
injured attendee, 2) the security officer who may be injured in the
process, and 3) the hotel, for any damages to the hotel or its
personnel that are incurred because of the ineffective enforcement of
the policy.
While
some of the above points may appear to be hyperbole, rest assured
that with a dminished number of rooms being “policed” and with
little to no methods put in place to actively determine if the policy
is being violated, AML's liability continues to rise.
Recognize
the serious flaws in these motions, vote against all of the
weapons/gun policy-related items on this agenda, and repeal/rescind
the weapons poloicy that you put in place during the previous AMC
meeting. Admit that you made a mistake, correct it, and move on to
items that will actually be beneficial to AML.
-----
While
it doesn't look like there's anything objectionable in H8 itself, why
is it that this is being placed on the agenda without so much as a
“by-your-leave” mention within the Bylaws Committee?
-----
Why
is H9, the motion regarding member participation/input during the AMC
meeting, the last motion
on the agenda? Talk about a predisposition to vote against a motion.
Given the goals of this motion, I would urge not only that it be
approved, but that it be put first within this section of non-consent
agenda items. In the off-chance that this passes, what better ways of
being able to manifest its utility than during the discussions
surrounding the various gun ban-related motions? It is obviously true
that it is easier for someone on the “outside” of a discussion to
pick up on points that are overlooked by those people who are in the
thick of a potentially heated discussion. Clearly there are times
when such observations by another party can bring clarity to an
otherwise murky or controversial course of action, and provide an
unexpected resolution to the situation at hand. Will this always
be the case? Likely not. But if we can foster a society that actively
involves the members and considers their counsel, even in an
unofficial capacity, what better way to manifest our mythical “round
table society” that is so often and loftily mentioned, but so
infrequently realized?
While
permitting Comments from the Audience before the section of motions
is begun and at the end of the agenda is nice, it is insufficient for
pointing out something that only becomes clear even to the observer
during the actual discussion of the particular motion on the table.
For example, while I would like to think that I raised all the
pertinent points related to the gun ban-related motions in my
commentary above, I suspect that one or more things have been
overlooked. It's entirely possible that a member attending the AMC
meeting will actually realize a new, pertinent angle on the
situation. To miss out on that input during the discussion because of
formality, tradition, or whatever else might get in the way is to do
AML a disservice.
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Weapons policy adopted
According to the mini-minutes of the meeting, AMC adopted a weapons policy (somewhat changed from the original proposal, but still essentially the same in effect):
----
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The Board adopted a weapons policy for certain AML events, as follows: All functional weapons shall be prohibited from American Mensa Ltd. National events, such as Annual Gatherings, Annual Business Meetings, Colloquium, Mind Games®, and AML Board meetings. Sworn law enforcement officers are exempt from this policy. For purposes of this motion, a weapon is any instrument, device or thing that is both
a) Capable of causing death or serious injury; and b) Either
i) Designed or specifically adapted for use as a weapon; or ii) Possessed, carried, or used as a weapon.
Passed: 10-9-1
---
No indication here if someone was absent, or if the one person listed as abstaining is the Chair (who in previous years would have been listed in a 4th category, not voting (as is typical of the chair unless needed to either break or force a tie, depending on their desire), for Yes/No/Abstain/Not Voting). We'll need to wait until the full minutes come out to see who voted in favor, who abstained, and why there is one vote seemingly missing from the above tally (unless one person was, indeed, absent).
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Gun Policy Really Necessary?
On the agenda for the October 5, 2013 AMC meeting is the following motion:
G.14 Firearms policy at official AML events
Moved BAKERINK, seconded DURHAM: All operable firearms shall be prohibited from American Mensa Ltd official events.
EXPLANATION: This prohibition will be put into place due to the diversity of State laws, State Weapons Permit reciprocity, hotel policies, and liability insurance concerns. American Mensa has had no standardized policy for allowing firearms at gatherings. This makes it difficult for event Chairs and White Hats to keep up. American Mensa has no specific liability coverage for allowing operable firearms at an event. We wish to maintain necessary coverage for our events and this will not be possible if coverage for operable firearms is included.
FINANCIAL IMPACT: There will be no financial impact.
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What are your thoughts about this? Pro or con, let our RVC, Cam Smart, know where you stand on this. Or, for those AML members from elsewhere in the country, let your RVC know your position on this. (Heck, you can send it to other members of the AMC if you want, too.)
Friday, August 30, 2013
Upcoming MWM Election
Just a reminder to those considering running for MWM's ExComm, you have
until Tuesday to have your letters of intent to run and serve *received* by the Election Committee chairman. See CapM for specifics and the precise deadlines. As is the case with each MWM election, ALL ExComm positions are open for election. If you have questions about what a specific ExComm office entails, ask the current incumbent or even ask a former holder of that office. Most are most likely willing to give you an answer (though it may be a tight timeline, given possible holiday weekend plans). Speaking just for myself, it would be nice to see contested elections on a more regular basis. It seems to be a rarity in local group elections (at least in the three groups in which I've been a member). |
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
MWM's Tourist SIG
Interested in thrill rides? Will you be in Virginia on Sept. 28? Come join us at King's Dominion:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1396922250527946/
https://www.facebook.com/events/1396922250527946/
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