AARP...did I miss something?

Status
Not open for further replies.

hopelessjoe

Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2008
Messages
84
It may have been covered before...maybe not.

AARP is anti-gun, but they are pro "old people''. (Don't bash me, my father is well on his way to being a senior citizen. Mom didn't make it that far. She died at 55)

Now, here is what I don't get.

As a general rule of thumb there are two classes of people that really need the defense that a handgun will provide.

This would be single females and ''old folks''. And, to top it off, there are lots of single female ''old folks'' in this country.

We have seen that there have been numerous times when an old single woman has defended herself from the scum of the Earth with a handgun (usually a revolver) and been the victor after "combat".

Where do do the AARP morons get off on trying to say that ''old folks'' should be disarmed, BUT they should be able to drive without having to requalify for their drivers license after a certain age.

(My father is anti-gun and he believes that mandatory testing for driving skills after a certain age should be required.)

I am not trying to mix one subject with the other, but owning guns for defense is a right and driving is not. (Let's not get into semantics about what is a right...The founding fathers never anything about a right to chose your method of travel...the only said that you have the right to not be unduly questioned while making your way to your destination)

I believe that one group needs guns the most, and that is ''old folks''. And the AARP idiots want them disarmed.

Remember the saying about a building built on a foundation of sand?
 
The more us "old" people become dependent on government services for necessities (defense, medical care, etc.) the more influence organizations like AARP will have "representing" us.

The biggest fallacy sold to Americans is that Big Business (which includes Big Non-Profits) are competitors or antagonists to Big Government. Big Biz LIKES Big Govmt. All those rules and regulations makes it impossible for the individual or small business to compete or even function without the "help" of a big biz representative.

AARP loves to recruit "victims" of Big Government that they can then fleece for annual "dues" for protection money that wouldn't be needed if AARP wasn't using that money to lobby the Govt for even more socialist programs.

They may have started off with a noble mission, I have no idea, but they eventually found there was a lot of money to be made scaring folks and then selling them "solutions" or representation.
 
The only reason I can think of for being an AARP member is that my wife likes the magazine. I have frequently had the same question as hopelessjoe has asked, and I am afraid that bogie and Run&Shoot are correct.
 
Look. AARP was once an organization that really represented the retired folks.

Then, some liberal-minded folks saw the large checking account and hijacked the organization and used it to support a liberal and an anti-gun agenda.

Anyone would be deceived to think that the AARP actually represents retired folks. They solicit funds from retired folks to fuel their political agenda. It was a brilliant hi-jacking though.

/
 
Forget what the AARP started out to be, it ain't that anymore and hasn't been for many years now. All the AARP is now is another large insurance business and a little PAC work around the edges.

I was a member for ONE YEAR, that's all it took to learn who and what they are.

The AARP are social/political liberals with all the baggage and bogus claims liberal groups always include in their pitch. I mean they say they "speak for old folks" but not really, they don't give a hoot for old folks except as a means to make some really big bucks for themselves. Their corperate positon is that they need not attempt to learn what old folks want or need, they are liberals and it's their heavy responsiblity to TELL us what we want and need, and most of that is more insurance from them and a bigger liberal government to support their business.

My old poop "insurance" needs are now in the hands of the Humana outfit. Humana is much better, over all, than anything directly from Medicare OR AARP! And Humana doesn't rob my piggy bank to lobby congress for silly frills and give-aways or attack my Constitutional freedoms like AARP does.
 
From What I Have Been Told...

...AARP was founded by two guys in an office. They use the numbers of their membership (expanded by changing the name from American Association of Retired Persons to AARP and selling memberships to anyone age 50 or older) to push their own entire "progressive" agenda. To my knowledge, they have no membership meetings or any other mechanism to determine if their members actually support those policies. The Wikipedia article on AARP points out that several sources have criticized AARP's lobbying activities and some have cited conflicts of interest with its membership to to AARP's financial interest in the insurance policies it sells.
 
I go with what several other posts have stated: AARP may have started out as an honest attempt to represent older people on topics where they share common interests and needs. They still do some of that, and it serves a purpose. Along the way, however, they discovered that marketing insurance to an audience which trusts them is profitable. And yes, they claim to speak for millions of members without bothering to find out what those members really think.

Back to the original topic: I would have to question the wisdom of encouraging someone who has never owned a firearm to get one when they are past a certain age, possibly heading into some of the common failure modes of oldsters. I watched my father slip into alzheimers and would not have wanted him to take up shooting late in his life. My mother remained mentally quite sharp, but as her body deteriorated and she had to live with ever increasing pain and frustration, there were days when she probably would have been tempted to shoot herself, me, or one of her caregivers.

The idea sounds good, but until you have lived with the reality don't assume that it would work as expected.
 
I tear up everything they send me. They are on their own agenda without a care as to their members thoughts.
 
Folks, once again I have learned something very valuable from THR. My wife and I are nearing that age where we will be elegible for AARP membership. This thread has educated me about what AARP is all about. Needless to say I will not be joining!

Thanks Friends!

KK
 
They started sending me stuff when I turned forty...go figure. Somebody in the office couldn't count or figure dates, I guess.

Luckily I already knew about their liberal tendencies from an article in the American Rifleman. Since I was stationed in Washington, D.C. at the time, I dropped by their office and told them to take me off their mailing list. Haven't received anything from them since and next month I turn 60. :)
 
They started sending me stuff when I turned forty...go figure. Somebody in the office couldn't count or figure dates, I guess.

I'm thirty-five and just received some correspondence from them last week about joining. I wish I still had it, but I laughed and threw it in the trash.
 
Visitors to my home will find a white trash receptacle just inside the door. In variably it will contain some recent mail solicitation or door flier. Unopened mailings from AARP are on the rise (I just turned 50) and they are often the contents mentioned by visitors who query 'why?'

I smile, pat the bulge in my shirt that is my sidearm, but say nothing; that speaks volumes.
 
I get stuff from them frequently. I take their postage paid return envelope and send them some of the other junk mail I get. Sometimes I just seal the empty envelope and drop it in the mail. They still have to pay the postage on it.
 
From AARP itself:

AARP MEMBERS ARE THE IDEOLOGY OF AARP

AARP is not a monolithic organization. With 35.5 million members from all walks of life and political points of view, AARP is as diverse as America itself.

To build consensus on AARP public policy positions, at the state and national level, we rely on input from our members. Our all volunteer Board of Directors approves our national policies, based on recommendations from our (also) volunteer National Legislative Council. Activities and policies in the states are guided by volunteer state legislative councils. We constantly inform our members of our stance on a variety of issues important to them, and they constantly tell us what they think.

Through surveys, polls and other communications vehicles including our AARP The Bulletin, AARP the Magazine, our website and special mailings, we provide members with detailed information, and they respond. We also hear from members through their letters and phone calls as well as their comments on the AARP website.


What We Actually Stand For ...

Gun Control

AARP believes in the Constitutional right to bear arms. But to make the nation safer, we must do what we can to keep guns out of hands of children and criminals. AARP supported the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, which went into law in 1994 with bi-partisan support, but was allowed to expire this year.

AARP supports measures to eliminate firearm possession by juveniles, convicted domestic abusers and those under domestic violence restraining orders.


Here's a link to the whole thing, produced after an O'Reilly show was critical of the organization and its positions on a host of issues:

http://www.aarp.org/research/press-center/presscurrentnews/a2004-12-10-oreilly.html
 
Everything we get from them, and they've been sending me junk for the past 20 years or so, goes into the garbage. My wife and I are both retired, but I wouldn't send them a plug nickel. Their propaganda notwithstanding, they're an anti-gun organization.
 
Does anyone have a link to their (AARP) stated policy on guns? :confused:

I also understand that they are anti-gun, but by being a member I get a 10% discount on my house insurance (that's many many times the amount of the dues). If I have some documentation on their anti-gun stand, I'll be VERY happy to attack them on it. :fire:
 
Back to the original topic: I would have to question the wisdom of encouraging someone who has never owned a firearm to get one when they are past a certain age, possibly heading into some of the common failure modes of oldsters. I watched my father slip into alzheimers and would not have wanted him to take up shooting late in his life. My mother remained mentally quite sharp, but as her body deteriorated and she had to live with ever increasing pain and frustration, there were days when she probably would have been tempted to shoot herself, me, or one of her caregivers

While I could never condone the shooting of an innocent care giver...I certainly condone the right to end one's life...Yes, I believe that suicide by firearm is just fine. Everyone has a breaking point.

There was a young man on this board who killed himself at a young age with his beloved milsurp handgun (you know who he is if you have been here long enough) and I really believe that he died with a smile/frown on his face.

He didn't want to die, but he was ready to and he had chosen a favorite weapon to do the job

I am so angry at those who would declare that suicide is a straight path to hell....

Tell you what...

You shoot yourself to end your pain and then you can come back to tell us if heaven or hell is real....

Oh...that's right...the dead don't talk to the living....

Give the old folks their guns and let the chips fall.

If a responsible child needs to take away mama's firearms then so be it... but, let's not disarm them as a general policy.

I don't know about you, but I look at my favorite firearm from time time and I realize how much I will miss it after I am dead and it makes tears fall from my eyes.

I am not kidding. It makes me cry when I really contemplate my mortality because me I won't be be able to play with my favorite toys for eternity.

Take your disarming of old folks somewhere else...
 
AARP also claims higher ground on "uniting" the voting public. This is their Divided We Fall campaign. AARP's suggestion is to socialize everything. Whether this is good or bad depends on the person.
 
The AARP started sending me stuff when I was 49. This is the letter I sent them after they persisted:

Dear Mr. Novelli,

I am in receipt of your letter reminding me that I “haven’t yet registered for the benefits of AARP membership, even though I am eligible”.

There is a reason for my not registering and it’s not forgetfulness. I have observed AARP’s far left advocacy and agenda for a while now and disagree vehemently with all of it.

You came to AARP talking about ‘leading Social Change’, legal advocacy and policy change. Why does taking care of Seniors require such a drastic overhaul of our law and society? Particularly in the ways listed below. Are you exploiting AARP’s numbers and budget to advance your ideology?

I have seen a list of issues now advocated by AARP. These include:

AARP magazine’s honoring Liberal activists advocating Abortion and Church ‘Reform’ (which really means bowdlerizing faith so that it can’t disapprove of some peoples’ behavior) :George Soros, who tried to buy the 2004 election and who really should be a James Bond villain; Ted Turner and Steven Spielberg. Not a conservative in the crowd.

Physician assisted suicide That’s a great way to care for seniors, authorize their doctors to kill them. It wouldn’t be that far a step from the patient requesting it to the doctor deciding it.

Pushing embryonic stem cell research and downplaying adult stem cell research. Why favor one that requires the taking of a potential human life?

Gun Control. As I age, I know I’m not as strong and fast as I used to be. Why should I be required to engage teenage to twenty something muggers while unarmed? They’ll probably outnumber me and they will be armed. They don’t follow laws, remember? In nature, the creatures without fangs or claws are lunch – like bunny rabbits.

And last, you made Harry Belafonte one of your people of the year. This individual is rabidly anti-American, and before you went to using the acronym AARP solely, you used to be the American Association of Retired People. Then Harry made his demented, hateful and racist comments last August about ‘house blacks, tyrants and Nazis’. Instead of naming him a person of the year, you should have given him the name of a mental health specialist who could help him. It would be very revealing of your views and aims if you named him despite or because of his radical views.

In short, I am convinced you and your causes are very bad for the country I spent 24 years in uniform defending. I will not sell out the country’s best interests for a few dubious benefits and discounts. Judas got 30 pieces of silver, and came to regret it.
They say with age comes wisdom, and I am going to send this latest AARP application to join the first in the recycling bin.



Not Yours

MikeG

p.s. Bill O'Reilly has had his issues with AARP too. He mentioned a Conservative group with the same benefits. Forgot the name though.
 
AARP is a liberal organization with liberal agendas using the money old people send them to promote and lobby.Some of their agendas are even anti-old people. And, as the OP says, they are hard core anti-gun.

Just google AARP Liberal to see some of the comments/articles against them.
 
The AARP are anti gun-as if that would keep them safe from predators. Ironically they are often the first targets.
Ive seen many Elderly die in traffic accidents that would have been prevented if they hadnt been able to obtain a drivers liscense without physical exam...guess who one of the biggest opponents of those exams is...
 
This has really drifted off topic, so I'll attempt to bring it back.

I already knew AARP was a big liberal socialist organization, but when did they go anti-gun. I would love to see a press release or commercial or something. FWIW, I'm 23, so I got another 10 years or so before I start getting their recruiting mail.

I think my dad is, or at least was, a member just for the discounts, but I don't know if he still is.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top