JohnBT said:
"The NRA threw them under the bus in 86"
Nonsense. You've misinterpreted the facts, if you even read them.
John
I will listen to any reasonable argument, and I stand ready to be corrected. I'll give you a very brief (reader's digest version, in the interest of brevity) summary of some of the facts, and you can tell me where I'm wrong .
FOPA 86 eased some restrictions on the interstate purchase of guns, and added the "safe passage" clause whereby if the gun was legal in your state of origin, and your state of destination, you could travel with it through a state where it is not legal, if it's reasonably secured (in trunk/unloaded/not readily accessible/etc). The Hughes Amendment was a poison pill intended to kill the bill, it closed the registry, effectively banning civilian ownership of new full auto firearms.
This bill passed, without a fight from the NRA.
It is sound strategy to unite all gun owners, be they rifle/shotgun hunters, handgunners, owners of *EBR's*, the idea being that, united, we can fight the creeping incrementalism of the anti brigade. Otherwise, they'll take the EBR's today, the handguns tomorrow, and all firearms a week from Tuesday. Where was that unity when FA was traded away?
When FOPA was poisoned with the Hughes Amendment, it went from being a good thing, to a bad thing. This would have been a good time to start fighting.
I have a small variety of firearms, a rifle, a shotgun, a hand gun, and an AR, and I enjoy them all. I do, honestly, fear that the next time a piece of gun control legislation comes around, they won't fight it, but will compromise, and I'll have to give up the AR, or the handgun, because the NRA supported a bill that gave up rights to that particular type of firearm in exchange for something else. I don't think I'm being unreasonable to fear that this might happen. There is precedent for it, it HAS HAPPENED before. 1986.