[nyrifleman]

This is a rant. You've been warned.

I'm sure many of us have noticed how the anti-gun media always blames the fact that gun laws have become looser and gun ownership more popular on the nebulous "gun lobby". This is a joke, of course. The entire gun and ammunition manufacturing industry has an annual gross income of something like $4 billion. That's GROSS income, as in, not including ANY of the expenses, such as salaries, taxes, rent, equipment, raw materials, advertising, etc., etc., etc. By comparison, tobacco companies spend around $10 billion every year on advertising ALONE.

Blaming everything on "the gun lobby" is pretty handy. Firstly, it implies that the only reason 80+ million own and shoot guns is because they are mindless, brain-washed rednecks and mere victims of the NRA and evil gun-manufacturing corporations. Just a little legislative effort on the part of the gun-grabbers and we gun owners would beat our 1911s into ploughshares and re-join the better and brighter portion of humanity. At the same time, it denies all of us RKBA folks the credit of being one of the most successful grass-roots movements since, probably, the Civil Rights movement.

Well, it's time the media got it: WE are the gun lobby. Just regular people, some of us dumber, some of us smarter, some of us richer, some of us poorer, some of us conservative and some of us liberal (believe it or not). It's not we who dance to the tune of the NRA, but the NRA who dances to our tune (and anybody who can remember even 20 years back can tell you how much more radical about gun rights the NRA has grown in that time).

Now... who can go and run us off a few "I AM THE GUN LOBBY" t-shirts and bumber stickers? :D

[mljdeckard]

I have made it clear to a few people today, that the NRA does exactly what I pay them to. Sometimes I even tip them.

[Tim the student]

Now... who can go and run us off a few "I AM THE GUN LOBBY" t-shirts and bumber stickers?

I like this. There is a member here who owns (maybe his wife does) a print shop somewhere in the northeast...

[RX-178]

If someone prints 'em, I'll buy one, and wear it.

[Hacker15E]

Nearly every article I've read in the last 24 hours which feels that gun control would have prevented Aurora, also has to blame "the NRA" for the state of firearms laws in the US.

That's like blaming the "power of the ACLU lobby" for still having 1st Amendment protected free expression.

Here's a mind blower...how about we just accept that the state of affairs is how "Americans" want them?

[Carl N. Brown]

I recall the "gun lobby" rhetoric from the late 1950s and early 1960s leading the drumbeat toward what became the 1968 Gun Control Act. I am beginning to believe the gun control groups have actually convinced themselves--urban legend style--that the only reason they have not achieved their goals is the magical influence of the "gun lobby". Most of it is as bogus as the evil gun lobby in the movie "Runaway Jury"-
(in the book the movie was based on, the evil lobby was the tobacco lobby, but Hollywood had to send an antigun message, so the plot was rewritten).

[RustHunter87]

anyone who is anti gun is anti America, thats the way i see it anyway

[k4swb]

Every check I have written in at least the last 25 years has: "I'm The NRA" right under my printed name. I've had to explain it a few times but I have had many comments on it when they already understood.

I think I'll have to get address labels with, "I'm The Gun Lobby" on them, or maybe a stamp.
I already use an address label stamp with the same, "I'm The NRA" on it.

[rajb123]

....my first gun was given to me at age 6.

The anti movement started after JFK was shot in dallas in '63. It has been all downhill since and the anitis have severely limited our 2nd Amendment rights.

The worst piece of federal legislation was passed during the presidency of bill and hillary clinton. Some of that law was sunset during bush#2, but most of it is still on the books...

..the gun lobby is small and somewhat underpowered. unfortunately, it is no match for the antis....

have a nice day!

[JagerRanger]

Nearly every article I've read in the last 24 hours which feels that gun control would have prevented Aurora, also has to blame "the NRA" for the state of firearms laws in the US.


Oh, we're were so lucky the assassin didn't utilize door wedges, molotov cocktails and bombs and disappear along with the movie theater crowd ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone_Disco_Club_fire - 162 dead.

http://listverse.com/2010/03/08/top-10-modern-night-club-fires/

[farson135]

OP- I am not sure if you have seen this but at least a part of the media supports your view-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHLN5P6LMOs

http://nracountry.com/

[Hacker15E]

I do desperately wish that there was a movement amongst firearms owners similar to the "I am a Mormon" tv ads that were on a couple years ago.

The Mormon ads showed all sorts of different types of people living all kinds of different lifestyles, in an attempt to de-mystify what type of people are Mormon.

There is this belief amongst non-firearm owners that owning "assault weapons", multiple firearms (any more than two seems to be called an 'arsenal'), or lots of ammo, is the earmark of sociopaths or otherwise total weirdos. We all know that's not true -- that firearm owners come in all shapes, sizes, genders, socioeconomic backgrounds, races, and political leanings. That owning an AR or AK isn't deviant behavior. That having several firearms doesn't mean you are a doomsday prepper. That having lots of ammo doesn't mean that you're just preparing to shoot up a school. It's actually surprisingly mainstream American behavior (outside of urban areas, that is) to do any or all of those.

I'd like to see all different kinds of "normal" Americans publicly showing that they own multiple firearms, especially the "evil" types, and stocks of ammunition. There needs to be an antidote to the narrative that antis are spinning right now that says the NRA is solely responsible for the ability to own AKs and ARs and normal-capacity mags, and that "normal" Americans don't own, need, or want any of this stuff "that is only designed to kill a lot of people".

[holdencm9]

^This

Hacker, I couldn't agree more with everything you said. Sounds like a good youtube channel for anyone with the cinematographic skills.

[Bubba613]

The anti movement started after JFK was shot in dallas in '63. It has been all downhill since and the anitis have severely limited our 2nd Amendment rights.
McGiven's Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting was published in the 1930s and in the introduction he mentions people pushing for gun control and offers the novel argument that restrictive laws only restrict those who obey them.

[Driftertank]

I own several guns that have never killed anything.

I carry a gun everyday, yet have never so much as aimed it at another human being.

I'm a full-time auto mechanic, i pay my rent, i pay my taxes. I have a girlfriend. I talk to my mother every week. I love my country, for all it's strengths and weaknesses.

I am a normal American citizen. And i am the Gun Lobby.


:D

[Twmaster]

Here is an article I remembered reading last year:

Attention Lamestream Media...I Am the Gun Lobby

By Jeff Knox

http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/8127

[Hacker15E]

All we need is a center ring

[Hacker15E]

No more dialing 911 when it's not an emergency or the police might come and you will be in trouble

[Hacker15E]

Santa's Rockin DVD will come today, July 25, 2012

[Double Naught Spy]

Since most of you are not the gun lobby, I am not sure where the misleading shirts will be actually beneficial.