NRA-- Yes? No? Maybe? Indifferent?

YES

Life member

Other groups are nice and I am happy for them but the only one on the radar screen of the ruling elite is the NRA.

they have supported more background-checks recently

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Hm-m-m-m?! Would you elaborate on that

Is it still a viable, useful organization?

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Yes, very viable and very useful!

And, more importantly, are there other national organizations that I should consider signing up with?

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There are but not with the same influence and power.

those of you who have some lame excuse for not belonging to the NRA (mailings, a single issue form the past, etc..) might as well just vote for Bloomberg or Obama....because that is, in effect, exactly what you have done.

Get over it, its the best we have right now. Pick your side.

Support them through membership, hope to support them more substantively when I get out of school and get a job.

But Wayne LaPierre irks me. A lot. I recall one quote in particular about guns for law-abiding citizens, not criminal or the mentall ill. Sorry, being mentally ill does not make one not a law-abiding citizen. I get the reasons why, but there are whole lots of NRA members who are both law abiding and who could be described as "mentally ill".

Big freaking difference between having a mental illness and having been adjudicated mentally defective/danger to self or others. When people make public statements lumping all mentally ill people in one group and classifying them separately from "Law abiding citizens" it sets the stage for lots and lots of future gun grabbing.

I suspect that I am far, far from the only member who holds her breath everytime some nutball shoots up a school because it's gonna start a chorus of calls for disarming the mentally ill.

Sorry, that's my current NRA rant.

They have my dues and they'll have more substantial support when I can afford it, but they really, really, really irk me sometimes with the whole mom and apple pie facade that *seriously* disenfranchises *huge* numbers of gun owners.

"I'm a member of the NRA only because one of the local ranges I belong to expects me to be"

You only belong to the NRA because blah blah blah? The NRA is the BIGGEST supporter of our Second Amendment Right and if it wasn't for them WE WOULD NO LONGER HAVE THAT RIGHT...PERIOD.

EVERY GUN OWNER should be an NRA member and if they aren't shame on them.....AND if you aren't a member you give up the right to someday say, "hey, they just passed a law that took our gun rights away" DUH!

LONG LIVE THE NRA! but only if YOU support them with a membership!

And how many formerly anti-gun Republican presidential candidates are kissing up to the NRA?

I'm fine and dandy now, and have been for a long time (no medications for 16 years). In the eyes of the gun-banners, though, I'm probably still a "crazy person," should they ever learn of my having once had a mental illness.

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You may wish to read the bill in question before posting such things. You wouldn't be affected at all. Not one bit. Wouldn't apply to you for a number of reasons.

If in fact you had been adjudicated, under the current law you wouldn't be able to own a gun ever again. The language in 2640 would actually allow you to petition to have your rights restored if you were found to no longer suffer from the mental illness.

Perhaps you should see what the NRA themselves has to say about the bill:
http://www.nraila.org/Issues/Articles/Read.aspx?id=246&issue=018
http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?ID=3097

Or you can go read the bill yourself and make up your own mind.

I've noticed that the NRA is bound and determined to spend every single membership cent I gave them in mailing me solicitations for donations.

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God this is just endless isn't it? All you have to do is call them and ask to be removed from the mailing list. It's been at least 5 years since I got any of that stuff from them.

When did it become so much trouble to either

a) ask them to stop or
b) throw it in the trash

-----quote--------
measure to look into people's medical history
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Still not accurate.

They are not "looking in to your medical history" on background checks. The law already says that anyone who has been adjudicated mentally defective is ineligible to purchase firearms. That does not change with the new law.

This is not about medical records. It's about court records.

What the new measure does is to ensure that when a person is legally adjudicated mentally defective, that those records are linked to the background check.

Adjudicated mentally defective is a far cry from "treated for depression." Adjudicated means that a court has ruled that you are not responsible for your actions and not competent to make major decisions on your own behalf. This does not just happen based on diagnosis or treatment of a mental health problem. This happens when people are recurrently running afoul of the criminal justice system due to their mental health problems.

You may still oppose the measure. But don't misrepresent what the measure actually is and actually does.

When did it become so much trouble to either

a) ask them to stop or
b) throw it in the trash

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When people discovered that they could get more attention from less effort by complaining about it on teh intarn3ts.

Sure, they recently backed a measure to look into people's medical history-- here's a reference to it.

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They backed a measure that just enforces what is already in the books which is if you are are mentally adjudicated, you can not legally purchase firearm. No one is looking in anyone's medical records. Any other reading into this bill is just fantasy in my humble opinion. Below is Section 101 of H.R. 2640:

Section 101 -
Amends the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to: (1) authorize the Attorney General to obtain electronic versions of information from federal agencies on persons disqualified from receiving firearms; (2) require federal agencies to provide such information to the Attorney General, not less frequently than quarterly; and (3) require federal agencies to update, correct, modify, or remove obsolete records and notify the Attorney General of such action to keep the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) up to date. Requires the Attorney General to submit annual reports to Congress on the compliance of federal agencies with such reporting requirements.
Requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to provide the Attorney General, not less than quarterly, information for determining whether a person is disqualified under the federal criminal code from possessing or receiving a firearm for use in NICS background checks.
Requires the Attorney General to: (1) ensure that all NICS information received from federal agencies is kept accurate and confidential; (2) provide for the removal and destruction of obsolete and erroneous names and information from the NICS; and (3) work with states to encourage the development of computer systems for notifying the Attorney General when a court order has been issued or removed or a person has been adjudicated as mentally defective or committed to a mental institution.
Prohibits federal agencies from providing a person's mental health or commitment information to the Attorney General if: (1) such information has been set aside or expunged or the person involved has been fully released or discharged from all mandatory treatment, supervision, or monitoring; (2) the person has been found to no longer suffer from a mental health condition or has been found to be rehabilitated; or (3) the person has not been found to be a danger to himself or others or the person lacks the mental capacity to manage his own affairs.

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NRA? Absolutely!

I echo a lot of what has been said. In the end it comes down to this for me.

They do more good for the 2nd amendment than any other organization out there, and that far outweighs the bad. I will be renewing my membership next year and anyone that understands the fight that is involved to keep our 2nd amendment rights, and is a gun owner, should be a member to.

There is a reason that gun control went absolutely nowhere after Virginia Tech. That reason I believe is the NRA. Congress knows they better step in line or at a grass roots level they will be thrown out in most states. That is directly because of the NRA.

Nobody is perfect, but they continue to have my support.

If in fact you had been adjudicated, under the current law you wouldn't be able to own a gun ever again. The language in 2640 would actually allow you to petition to have your rights restored if you were found to no longer suffer from the mental illness.

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I hope this isn't too far adrift from the original topic, but I have found that very, very few mental health professionals will *ever* admit that someone is "cured". It is currently in vogue to tell people that they must take medication for depression/anxiety/insert neurosis here for the rest of their lives.

That in and of itself is not relevant to the particular bill at issue currently. It is however very, very relevant to those of us who seek permits to CCW who have a distant mental health history. Those requirements, even in my shall issue state, leave a lot more lattitude.

But, the problem to my mind isn't the NRA's support of HR-whichever-one-it-is that is going on right now. It is the way NRA officials tend to refer to "the mentally ill" as a class apart from law-abiding citizens who possess the RTKBA. I believe the current statistic is that at any given time 10% or so of the ault population of the US is suffering from a diagnosable mental illness. I don't know exactly how what percentage of Americans have been adjudicated, but I do know that I've never knowingly met one. And I've met--in various professional and personal capacities--*a lot* of people who have tangled with that particular set of problems. None had been adjudcated. That is quite rare.

NRA leadership is *seriously* letting down about 10% of their membership (or more, sinc eth 10% figure is for current mental illness, not lifetime) by speaking in general terms about the mentally ill who shouldn't have guns.

It really plays right into the hands of the Brady bunch, in fact from my persepctive, I've seen comments from NRA leadership made me wonder if they were Brady or Feinstein quotes. I know what the proposed law says; I also know that Wayne LaPierre has spoken in praise of it in terms far broader than it actually encompasses.

I am a loyal NRA member, I contribute to the NRA-ILA, PVF and try to encourage as many people as I can to join. It is a simple matter of politics, with only about 5% of the estimated 80 million gun owners joining, the NRA is the strongest pro rkba organization in the US, but they are by no means invincible, and have to resort to direct mailing and the like to get as much support as possible. 4 million members gets us compromises and a "pick the battle" mentality. 80 million members would probably get a NFA, GCA, and 86' MGB repeal a small price to pay for some junk mail, or an e-mail to stop it. Gun folk tend to be a divided lot, and that hurts us, the Fudd and Mall Ninja camps squabble endlessly on just about every subject under the sun, all of the "hunter for AWB", "plinker against hunting", and "trap competitor for handgun licensing" not only give our enemies opportunities to turn us against each other, but play a big part in keeping pro-RKBA member numbers low, and in the end none of us would have any rights left. I do not agree with many of the NRA's actions, or their God guns and apple pie front, but it is the best we have, and if we all can come together we can stop the ever encroaching push to take our rights away, and maybe push back enough to get some that we lost.

We spend thousands on fiearms to protect us, but it only takes a minimum of $35 to protect our firearms.

I'm the NRA and I vote!
That scares the Politico's and keeps them in line. The NRA is one of the most powerful Lobbying organizations in the land. I don't always agree with Wayne and crew but they could be considerably worse.

The NRA is very good at putting up a conservative Hunter Sportsmen/ Home Protection front which plays better to the non gun masses than the Tacticool Hardcore side of guns. I know that doesn't suit everyone but sometimes you have to join an organization because its the best option not because you agree with every single byline. Don't whine about why the NRA sucks and find petty reasons for not joining you are ultimately just harming your chances at a fully restored 2A.

I look at it this way if I had a Broker that was consistently enlarging my portfolio and making me a good return would I drop him because he wears funny shoes? Hell no! He can wear ballet slippers for all I care as long as he's furthering my agenda.

Better than nothing I suppose. They play politics instead of sticking with the constitution some times, but I suppose you have to do that to get anything done in the country anymore.

I hope this isn't too far adrift from the original topic, but I have found that very, very few mental health professionals will *ever* admit that someone is "cured". It is currently in vogue to tell people that they must take medication for depression/anxiety/insert neurosis here for the rest of their lives.

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As someone who worked as a mental health professional, I would say that this is not true. The vast majority of my clients were 'cured', as were most of the ones that saw my colleagues. I suppose it depends on where you were working and what population you were working with, but if your clients generally don't show improvement over time, you will probably need to find different work. Additionally, insurance providers don't like paying for a lifetime of medicine or treatment.

Actually, the current 'vogue' trend is moving to short-term therapy. The percentage of chronically mental ill people is low.

This is far-and-away the best "What good is the NRA thread" I've seen. For both 'sides' of the issue.

The explication of the recent, VT-inspired legislation is exactly the kind of stance and function I expected the NRA to provide. They were savvy enough to make the right kind of political noises--victim empathy, an apparent agreement to further restriction--that the antigun movers and shakers could not ignore them. As a result, they were able to positively impact legislation about mental health issues that are important for gun owners.

I bought a life member in the mid-nineties. IIRC, my cost was 600.00, payable over two years quarterly--and it's the best investment I ever made to help promote our gun rights.

If I live long enough, it will probably amortize out at under $25 / $35 year, even with a good ROI analysis.

Jim H.

I belong to the NRA and have gotten surprisingly few solicitations for $$$, unlike the GOP who constantly hounded with mailings and phone calls ( I no longer contribute because of it).
After watching the video about disarming law abiding citizens during Katrina I am even more proud to be a member!

We have nothing to gain by not supporting the NRA and a lot to lose. You may not agree with every single thing they do or advocate, but they are the 500 lb gorilla and the politicians know who they are.

K

Join The NRA

I can't remember when I joined the NRA but I do know that it was at a time when money was tight so that in order to allow me to spend the money to join I had to do without lunch for a few weeks. I was glad that I did so!

Since then I have a few more dollars to spend and have joined CCRKBA, GOA, 2nd Amendment Foundation, USCCA, USPSA, VCDL and most recently JPFO - all are good organizations but none are a helpful as the NRA when it comes to protecting the right to own and carry guns.

Anyone who thinks they are supporting the 2nd Amendment and who is not a member of the NRA is fooling themselves. Let me make this clear - when you as a individual citizen contact your representative in Washington, the DC stands for "doesn't care" cause they don't - when the NRA speaks they pay attention.

Join up and grab an oar - the boat is beginning to sink!

John
Charlotte, NC

NRA Life Member.



If you aren't a member, you're just a gun rights "freeloader".

Joe