Gun Clubs & NRA Membership

I don't have a problem with it. It's their place, their rules, their decision. They're just trying to help out an organization who protects your rights to love and enjoy those guns of yours. I voted no, because I'm not actually a member of any gun club.

The NRA is the largest insurer of shooting ranges in the country, of the ranges they insure, one of the stipulations is that members of the range also belong to the NRA.

As a gun owner, you should be willing to join an organization such as the NRA or the Second Amendment Foundation as without organizations like these, the forces of organized gun bigotry would have prevailed long ago.

Both club I belong to and indeed every club in the area require an NRA membership.

By having 100% of members in the club as NRA members the local clubs get grants and other benefits from the NRA. One of the clubs I am in was given over 15K from the NRA last year alone.

That is money that would have just been assesments otherwise.

I generally dont like Mandatory anything. However a gun organization may feel it owes its existance or its future to an action group who fights for our gun rights. Or the insurance situation above.

If you dont want to join, dont, but you'll have to find a place to shoot.


(I think you should join)

Usually this is about insurance and not politics. Consider it a $25-$35 contribution to the range's insurance fund. Personally, I think if you're a gun owner and enjoy training with and using firearms, that backing the NRA is another kind of insurance as well.

I am not a member of a gun club but the one near my house requires you to be a member of the NRA and the VSSA (Virginia Shooting Sports Association). Also Well put Justin. I could not have said it any better. It truly makes me sad to see the number of gun owner that refuse to support the NRA of any other Gun Organization.

I don't have to belong to any organizations because we have an awesome Conservation-run range in my neck of the woods. I have recommended to my family members and friends that they not join the NRA for various reasons.

2075 RAMI said:

I don't have to belong to any organizations because we have an awesome Conservation-run range in my neck of the woods. I have recommended to my family members and friends that they not join the NRA for various reasons.

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So sad.

Sorry, but I do have my reasons why.

Sorry, but I do have my reasons why.

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Junk mail...it's always the junk mail.

(If it really is the junk mail ... the closest THR member get elected to go puke on your shoes!)



-Sam

I just get email updates which is a lot cheaper for the NRA and easier for me to dispose of. I imagine that most new members of the NRA just get the email updates.

I don't think you should be allowed to own a gun unless you join the NRA. I quit shooting clay targets because of the anti gun(metallic cartridge and deer hunting) attitude of so many squires with five thousand shotguns wearing expensive English outdoors gear and driving Range Rovers. They will not support the NRA because it is too "extreme".

It really frosts because they get a free ride from the people that they consider inbreds and rednecks who ARE the NRA and stay active in the RBKA movmemt.

If shumer and obama get their way, those thousand dollar Beretta autos will be declared assault weapons in a new york minute.

If you can find anybody who does a better job representing gun owners than the NRA, by all means, support them, but it ain't GOA( I still send them money every year.)

If you enjoy shooting/gun ownership, you are a hypocrite for not belonging to the NRA. Were it not for the NRA, Senator Dodd's father, Senator Dodd the elder and Bobby Kennedy would have outlawed gun ownership about 1962. Sorry for the harsh words but that the way it is, you can own a gun because of the NRA and the individuals and clubs that have supported it for over a hundred years.

I just get email updates which is a lot cheaper for the NRA and easier for me to dispose of. I imagine that most new members of the NRA just get the email updates.

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ditto. i get very little snail mail from the NRA, and that's even without having gone to the link on their website to have it stopped. i get emails and extremely rare actual mail. it doesn't send me into a tirade when it happens.

the other common "reasons":
- they only care about hunting rifles!
- they only care about ARs!
- wayne lapierre makes too much money (nevermind what other CEOs of similar organizations make)!
- they compromise on everything; i don't support any organization that doesn't get their way 100% of the time!
- the sky is falling!

that about sum it up?

Well put jaysouth. You just gained my respect for that one.

I love and enjoy guns but do not feel I should have to join a nother orginization and pay there dues on top of dues at the gun club just to do some shooting and to sight in my guns.

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OK then go start your own gun club. And, when you learn that you can't buy liability insurance at any reasonable price unless you go through the package NRA has put together you will stop complaining.... or you will write a big check to the insurance company. Your pick.

to answer the actual question...

i don't currently belong to a gun club. one that i'm interested in joining does not mention any requirement to join the NRA in their membership FAQs. as implied above, this wouldn't stop me even if it were a requirement.

The NRA has supported,plea barganed for gun laws and actually helped write anti gun/2A legislation. However that is what they don't want it's members to know. For the sake of this thread I will not elaborate further because it will get locked in a heartbeat. But you are more than welcome to do your own research on the matter. But don't call the NRA if you want an unbiased opinion.

Sorry guys but I cannot support an organization that supports gun control, and no my morals aren't for sale.

I can't believe that almost half of the gun clubs don't require this. If our rights get taken away, there'll be no need for a gun club.

you do realize the game of politics is played in the real world, not your fantasy world, right? when it becomes apparent that anti-gun legislation has the votes to pass, would you rather they let the other side do all the writing?

for instance...would you have preferred the AWB not have a sunset clause? without that, it would likely be in place forever. legislation rarely gets repealed (to my great dismay!).



edit: i'm sure the gentleman from fort worth will have a better response than mine...

require... no
strongly recommend... yes

Understand that the NRA subsidizes insurance for gun clubs. If our club couldn't get insurance through the NRA the price would go up by a factor of 4X over night for half as much coverage. This would probably put the club under.

All he NRA asks of the club is that they have a min. percentage of club members (something like half) be NRA members. Since it's the NRA members dues that are helping to underwrite the insurance.

We've also had NRA tech. range consultants out on several occasions to show the club how to improve the safety of the ranges. And though the club pays for this service, it's a very reasoanble charge.

I think a lot of people don't appreciate that the NRA is pretty much THEE authority on range safety and firearms safety training.

If there is an accident at your club and they get sued. Having NRA consultants as an expert witness to testify that you complied with the highest standards for range safety will go a long ways. One such law suit would put most clubs under. And don't think for a minute that there's not some developer eyeing the property to build condos.

Political lobbying money is totally segregated into their political wing and does NOT come from regular member dues. So there's not really any good reasons for a club member to not join, regardless of their politics.

If the NRA stopped underwriting insurance programs for gun clubs... they'd pretty much all go the way of the Dodo bird.

If shumer and obama get their way

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We can put that away. They aren't concerned with guns. Not now. Before Obama, it was illegal to carry a gun into a national park. Now you can. Thank Obama for signing that into law. I'm not political and I don't care much for discussions about such things, but the crazy insanity about "gun-seizing Obama" and whatnot only resulted in runs on ammo and price increases that turned out to be totally unnecessary. Don't fuel the hysteria. Obama gets an "F" from the Brady people, he's OK in my book.

The local range does not require membership but strongly recommends you join the NRA. Make no mistake about it, now looks OK as far as gun control in the present admin. but it will only take a millisecond and things will change for the worse if they think that they can gain a foothold on more control.:banghead: