belus
Member
Forgive my pseudo-rant, but if there's any gun forum where a post like this can be seriously considered and discussed it's THR. Hopefully it lives up to my expectations.
(BTW, I'm actively looking for a pro-rights organization I can support, please let me know if you think any fit after reading these concerns.)
After recently receiving my CCW, which took only four days after dropping my application in the mail thanks to Arizona DPS
, I've apparently been put on one of the NRA's mailing lists.
Today I opened a letter entitled the "Truth About Gun Owners (TAG) Poll". I was optimistic that I would be able to tell the NRA who I was and why I do not think they represent me. Unfortunately it was simply a membership application masquerading as a loaded questionnaire.
I'll give you all an idea of who I am - the same information I wish the NRA would have asked for. Perhaps if they invested in gathering information like this about who really owns guns, they'd have more than 5% of the gun owning population among their ranks.
24 year old, white male, unmarried, no kids
I've owned guns since the day before my 13th birthday (H&R Topper in 20ga
)
I own handguns, rifles and shotguns - for self defense and target shooting (I no longer hunt)
Democrat and member of the ACLU
Atheist/Agnostic
Completed college, but still a student
Under $25k/year
County population ~4 million
If questions like these had been on their TAG poll, I would have signed up. It would have signaled to me that they care about accurately representing gun owners.
Instead they seem to focus on creating, in part by misrepresentation and polarization, a voting block that cares about only one issue.
That doesn't cut it for me.
I'm liberal: I care about the whole Bill of Rights.
I'm concerned that the RKBA community gets so tied up in protecting their guns, that they forget about the importance of the Fourth. Who cares if your privately purchased AR or Glock is unknown or unregistered when the legal system can be circumvented by executive order and you can be secretly monitored?
Or what about the Fifth and Sixth? Yaser Esam Hamdi and Jose Padilla were enemy combatants and US Citizens at the same time. The power of a President (Republican or Democrat) to suspend such fundamental rights for whatever gain scares me much more than the thought of another 10 years under an AWB.
The RKBA community claims that the 2A is the foundational clause of the Bill of Rights. It seems like they're feverishly guarding the trunk of the tree while our government cuts all the branches.
Additionally, I support public education and think we should spend more on it. An country of uneducated voters scares the crap out of me. It's much easier for an authoritarian government to gain control over our lives when voters do not have the knowledge or capacity to challenge political decisions. Fascism, as a philosophy, relies upon the masses to support a political and intellectual elite, and we can't allow a gap in intellectual force to develop. (This paragraph is one of the thesis of liberalism, by the way.)
Finally, the gun community seems mute to acknowledge that violent crime is a problem. Why aren't we suggesting alternative ways to combat crime? It seems we should be jumping on any idea which has a reasonable chance of making our world safer - especially if it's unrelated to guns. A lower crime rate overall would take the wind out of the anti's sails. And just imagine the effect if the successful initiative was sponsored or supported by the NRA!
Perhaps it's status-quo bias and because I live in Arizona, an admittedly friendly place to gun owners. But there are only two liberalizations of the law that I would really like to see - both pertaining to CCW holders. I'd like to be able to carry at work (University), and in restaurants serving less than 51% alcohol. I like the existence of FFL dealers, and NICS background checks on handgun purchases.
Pretty much everyone in the RKBA community knows this quote:
I hope they learn this one:
(BTW, I'm actively looking for a pro-rights organization I can support, please let me know if you think any fit after reading these concerns.)
After recently receiving my CCW, which took only four days after dropping my application in the mail thanks to Arizona DPS
, I've apparently been put on one of the NRA's mailing lists.Today I opened a letter entitled the "Truth About Gun Owners (TAG) Poll". I was optimistic that I would be able to tell the NRA who I was and why I do not think they represent me. Unfortunately it was simply a membership application masquerading as a loaded questionnaire.
I'll give you all an idea of who I am - the same information I wish the NRA would have asked for. Perhaps if they invested in gathering information like this about who really owns guns, they'd have more than 5% of the gun owning population among their ranks.
24 year old, white male, unmarried, no kids
I've owned guns since the day before my 13th birthday (H&R Topper in 20ga
)I own handguns, rifles and shotguns - for self defense and target shooting (I no longer hunt)
Democrat and member of the ACLU
Atheist/Agnostic
Completed college, but still a student
Under $25k/year
County population ~4 million
If questions like these had been on their TAG poll, I would have signed up. It would have signaled to me that they care about accurately representing gun owners.
Instead they seem to focus on creating, in part by misrepresentation and polarization, a voting block that cares about only one issue.
That doesn't cut it for me.
I'm liberal: I care about the whole Bill of Rights.
I'm concerned that the RKBA community gets so tied up in protecting their guns, that they forget about the importance of the Fourth. Who cares if your privately purchased AR or Glock is unknown or unregistered when the legal system can be circumvented by executive order and you can be secretly monitored?
Or what about the Fifth and Sixth? Yaser Esam Hamdi and Jose Padilla were enemy combatants and US Citizens at the same time. The power of a President (Republican or Democrat) to suspend such fundamental rights for whatever gain scares me much more than the thought of another 10 years under an AWB.
The RKBA community claims that the 2A is the foundational clause of the Bill of Rights. It seems like they're feverishly guarding the trunk of the tree while our government cuts all the branches.
Additionally, I support public education and think we should spend more on it. An country of uneducated voters scares the crap out of me. It's much easier for an authoritarian government to gain control over our lives when voters do not have the knowledge or capacity to challenge political decisions. Fascism, as a philosophy, relies upon the masses to support a political and intellectual elite, and we can't allow a gap in intellectual force to develop. (This paragraph is one of the thesis of liberalism, by the way.)
Finally, the gun community seems mute to acknowledge that violent crime is a problem. Why aren't we suggesting alternative ways to combat crime? It seems we should be jumping on any idea which has a reasonable chance of making our world safer - especially if it's unrelated to guns. A lower crime rate overall would take the wind out of the anti's sails. And just imagine the effect if the successful initiative was sponsored or supported by the NRA!
Perhaps it's status-quo bias and because I live in Arizona, an admittedly friendly place to gun owners. But there are only two liberalizations of the law that I would really like to see - both pertaining to CCW holders. I'd like to be able to carry at work (University), and in restaurants serving less than 51% alcohol. I like the existence of FFL dealers, and NICS background checks on handgun purchases.
Pretty much everyone in the RKBA community knows this quote:
Benjamin Franklin said:
I hope they learn this one:
Benjamin Franklin said:
