Giving in on this is what I call a "Russian Compromise"( maybe I should say "liberal compromise"); they say " what is mine is mine and what is yours is mine- I'll compromise and let you have half of yours back". This sets a new baseline for the next time they demand a compromise( and they will)and then we lose half of the half we have left over. I spent most of my working life estimating and negotiating changes to contracts. An "auction" is not a negotiation and seldom results in a fair and equitable adjustment to the contract price. Similarly if we give away rights in an auction we are not being fair to our progeny, whose rights we give away so people will say we are reasonable. The biggest mistake we make is believing they have good intentions. We know from long experience that they will use those that have gone through a heartbreaking experience and tell them an inanimate object is the cause of their loss( not the one that wielded it), then present them to the public; so if we resist we are evil. The kids that lost their class mates or the parents of the lost students are not the ones we are fighting. We are fighting those that are "setting up" all the rallies, and refusing to let the ones that disagree with them participate. We seldom know who they really are.
Mike
Mike