Are Gun Owners Selfish.....

Laziness and procrastination are pretty common human behaviors that have nothing to do with selfishness. I think those two behaviors have a lot to do with why some people don't become active in supporting RKBA groups. They say the 2A is important and they say they support keeping it, but they don't actually DO anything about it.

hso, you're right, but, IMO, I don't think it's because gun owners are particularly "selfish".

Do you tip, at a restaurant? I used to work for tips, so having worked in the service field, and identified with other service workers, I tip well.
But have you ever watched, and listened to a companion, co-worker, or acquaintance, who doesn't tip ? They will usually dredge up some lame ass, or mealy-mouthed excuse why they don't tip. I even had a friend who would put the waiter thru the nines, make a special order, out of every meal, run the poor guy ragged, then wait for any excuse or minor mistake to say, under her breath "FINE! You're not getting any tip from me!" One time, she refused to tip because the diner used powdered pepper, instead of flake pepper. But the real truth, once you pinned her down, and made her spit it out, was she simply wasn't ever going to ever tip anybody.
But the point is you either tip, or you don't, and the people who don't generally like to make up excuses or point to justifications why they shouldn't tip. If a waiter or waitress makes one mistake, then THAT is the perfect justification NOT to tip.

So you can probably see where I'm going with this. The NRA Board Of Directors, with their lavish salaries and perks, all paid for, by us, is giving all the folks who aren't going to contribute a dime to the cause, anyway, broad and perfect justification, thru their actions, and the way they waste NRA funds, very plausible excuses for being too cheap to contribute, in the first place.

OTOH, I no longer leave the tip at the table, I've seen too many tip thieves. I hand the tip to, and thank the waiter directly. Needless to say, if it's any establishment you use regularly, wait staff are very helpful, to customers they know and like.

Like bad tippers, these cheap people see the NRA antics as an out. They now have their excuse. It's now their Laminated Justification for how they can avoid paying participation. They aren't going to allow themselves to get pulled back into having to contribute, by the GOA, SAF, VGOA, NSSF, JPFO, etc.

Gun owner's are selfish. This is a Me, Me, Me society. All people are Selfish, Arrogant with a whole lot of stupid thrown in.

BigBore44 said:

They absolutely have to do with selfishness. In their most basic form: Laziness is selfishness with your effort. Procrastination is selfishness with your time.

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Nice point. In that light, I stand corrected.

The thread seems oriented toward selfishness with financial resources, and it was in that context that my thoughts were, but effort and time are both legitimate resources, and valuable resources as well, that deserve consideration as worthy contributions toward "the cause".

BigBore44 said:

This isn’t about starving children in other countries. This is about our 2A rights in our country. Though if you wanted to make some kind of argument about that, if the people have the ability to keep their government in check, you would be less likely to have a government starve its people.

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You missed the point. You are marking a moral argument that other people should spend their $50 here rather than there... well people with other moral arguments can do the same thing.
It has no end.

OP you convinced me. I renewed my SAF membership last month, but I just went to their site and donated a little extra a few minutes ago.

Next I need to decide what to do at the state level. I've been a member of Buckeye Firearms Association, but Ohioans for Conceal Carry appears to be another good choice and they don't seem to care for each other and I'm not exactly sure why.

Edit, got my answer. Looks like I joined ORCC in 2019 and let let my BFA expire. Just renewed OFCC for another year.

Old Dog said:

Regrettably, it seems as though only about one out of every ten gun owners that I know are actually concerned about the RKBA.

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And some significant portion of those did so as a result of the constant drumbeat against NRA for at least the last four decades (so not just versus the current NRA woes).

NRA is just the most visible of the Rights Agencies out there; if people won't support them, they are under-likely to seek out the other agencies they ought to be supporting.

So, part of this is about having the ability, the gumption, to busk all the social stigma--real or imagined--to contribute.

Human nature is complex. It's tough sledding to predict or anticipate. And, all too easy to castigate the flaws seen in others. So, really, our watchword ought to be to not shout, not insist, not demand. Which is sore complicated when constantly being barrages by shouting, by insistence, by demands, from our foes.

We gun owners, if you will allow me a generalization, are given to a stubborn independent streak. "I ain't doin' it; an' you can't make me!" We encompass a group that largely wants to be left alone. Leading by example only works if those 'following' are paying attention.

It does not help that we get all hung up on intellectual purity, too. Any minor deviation from the True Path gets a person condemned as a heretic or an apostate. Making claims that there are the ideologically impure within a group has long been used as a tool to destabilize such groups, too.

I am going to get ammo with my stimulus check, maybe a .357 too. And I feel fine with that decision. I am not obligated to support the NRA, I sent them $1,000 in 1980 for a Benefactor membership. I am not saying that I won’t send more, but right now I want good ammo. I don’t know what is coming in the near or far future. But it might be violent.

BigBore44 said:

Go back to post #22 and read my first 2 paragraphs. At no point did I say people “should”. I simply provided figures to show what could be accomplished if people did. This was never an argumentative or accusatory thread. And I made it a point to not word it in such a way. This was a thread about introspection. And whatever determination you made or action you take after that, is up to you.

I’ll even give you a figure and put it into perspective that will really blow your mind. $50 can absolutely be viewed as a pretty decent amount to donate. So instead of donating $50 at once, what if WE donated $5 a month. That’s less than $1.50 a week. What’s that, a candy bar? A single bottle of pop from a vending machine? Cant even buy a meal from McDonalds for $5. And that’s just once a month. Except now, we just went from $4.25 Billion, to $5.1 Billion.

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I understand you didn’t use the words “should” I understand you specifically said people can do what they want with their money.
But the fact remains you made the post and sighted the stats to point out what we could do, well why would do that? Possibly because you view that as what we should do? I would hope so, and I would agree like I said previously I give substantially more than the number you use.

Honestly, I completely agree with you, your math is right and I’ll even say gun owners should be donating to pro-2A causes if they want to keep the right. but with respect it’s a pipe dream. The 80/20 rule applies all over the place including with gun owners, frankly I bet it’s worse than that.


I mean if we all ~85million or so gun owners voted pro-2A we probably wouldn’t have to donate any money, but that’s just as likely to happen as getting all 85 million to care enough to depart with any amount of money. Further, I know a few gun owners who are admittedly anti-gun, don’t ask me I don’t understand it either but I tell you they exist.

CapnMac said:

NRA is just the most visible of the Rights Agencies out there; if people won't support them, they are under-likely to seek out the other agencies they ought to be supporting.

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People that don't don't understand the way multi national organizations work, or don't care, or don't want to, simply rationalize not supporting.

If someone with a clothing allowance to attend high level Congressional meetings, a travel allowance and expense account, and is the single most successful proponent of 2A rights keeps you from spending a lousy $40.00? Well, I guess you have to live with that.

Liberals fear and loathe the NRA. Why? Because there are a "MEASLY" 5.5 million dues paying and giving members that are out there fighting the fight EVERY DAY, in EVERY STATE. Relentlessly with a team of lawyers and professional lobbyists. NRA is a multi faceted organization with many many many programs to include the legal fight, civilian marksmanship, training and more. .

Not a couple of guys with regular jobs who write letters from time to time. Not that these guys aren't well meaning. They just don't have the assets or know how. GOA teamed up with NRA to work on the CCW reciprocity bill.

This has worked out pretty well:
https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/resources/ccw_reciprocity_map/

And just another comparison of why our combined support is important:
Election spending 2020
NRA 18.2 mil
GOA 800,000

And NRA did that while under CONSTANT attack by New York, and a gigantic publicity smear attack. Regrettably, the smears worked and our side stayed home.

My wife and I are both NRA Life Members, and have been for years. (She is also an Endowment Member.)
We are both also Life Members of TSRA, and have been so for "almost as many" years.

Not to say that we couldn't do more, but I'm not going to listen too much to people making generalized statements...