Are we really winning?

[Johnny_B_Goode]

Look, times change, people change, companies change.

Somebody famous once made the following public statement in support of the Gun Control Act of 1968 (Which made it mandatory that guns be sold through licensed dealers, and made it so you couldn't sell a gun to a resident of another state, among other things):


Know who that was? Charlton Heston. The man who went on to become the most famous President of the National Rifle Association, for FIVE terms, and who became synonymous with the phrase, "From My Cold Dead Hands."



Best to consider carefully who your friends and enemies are ... today.

And the NFA of 1958 also transformed the NRA from primarily being a firearms safety group to gun rights advocacy group. I am not going to say it was intentional but the was the way the cookie crumbled. Less than a year later the NRA was busy raising money to fight off the hoard of bills that followed the NFA 1968. It is hard to say the NRA didn't know that similar legislation would follow the NFA of 1968.

Today the NRA has pretty much gotten out of the business of advancing firearms safety training. Sure the NRA still certifies firearms trainers. But nothing new is happening. The NRA firearms training facility is in such a state of disrepair it is almost unusable. A coat of paint at the fort would would do a lot to shut down the rumor mill.

 

[Sam1911]

And the NFA of 1958 also transformed the NRA from primarily being a firearms safety group to gun rights advocacy group. I am not going to say it was intentional but the was the way the cookie crumbled. Less than a year later the NRA was busy raising money to fight off the hoard of bills that followed the NFA 1968. It is hard to say the NRA didn't know that similar legislation would follow the NFA of 1968.

NFA = 1934
GCA = 1968

Today the NRA has pretty much gotten out of the business of advancing firearms safety training. Sure the NRA still certifies firearms trainers. But nothing new is happening.

I'll agree that there are areas that need work in NRA's citizen training system -- check out the thread on SAF's new training association for more on that subject.

But what does that have to do with our subject here?

The NRA firearms training facility is in such a state of disrepair it is almost unusable. A coat of paint at the fort would would do a lot to shut down the rumor mill.

Ok... you lost me. What coat of paint and what rumor mill are we talking about here?

 

[barnbwt]

"The problem with declaring us "winners" on these issues is it seems like victory is often defined by successfully fighting off new legislation. But, in many cases we still haven't gained much ground."

The vast, vast, vast majority of "serious" (even more so "extremist") gunowners are incredibly jaded by the legislative process. We've been brutalized and betrayed so many times through history, even when it appeared we had scored a rare win (FOPA, and the closure of the Registry comes to mind)

"Today the NRA has pretty much gotten out of the business of advancing firearms safety training."
There's a lot less need for it than before. Safe gun handling is now endemic in the gun community, to the point we constantly annoy the crap out of each other about things that are actually perfectly safe.

"And the NFA of 1958 also transformed the NRA from primarily being a firearms safety group to gun rights advocacy group. I am not going to say it was intentional but the was the way the cookie crumbled. Less than a year later the NRA was busy raising money to fight off the hoard of bills that followed the NFA 1968. It is hard to say the NRA didn't know that similar legislation would follow the NFA of 1968."
I always thought it was the '94 AWB that finally got them clued in to the reality of what they were up against. Before that, they were still incredibly besotted with Fudds, and routinely disparaged and threw under the bus the NFA crowd and Tactical (aka "Practical") gun owners. Was it the NRA that got the ammo section of the GCA repealed (I honestly don't know if that one was their baby, but it is seldom listed in the "wins/losses" lists we see all the time)

"Look, times change, people change, companies change."
And sometimes Karma comes into play. Wasn't Winchester the primary mover behind the 922r passage, originally? Ironically, they are now defunct and foreign owned, their legacy merely a name stamped into imported guns subject to the very protectionist laws they once promoted.

TCB

 

[Sav .250]

This is not a sprint. It`s a marathon.

 

[HorseSoldier]

Generally I'd say the trends have been good for gun owners for the most part, with some notable exceptions (Colorado, for instance) in the recent past.

The fact that the Newtown shooting failed to usher in a new AWB or similar suggests the American public is relatively immune currently to knee jerks. Like any other criminal justice issue, though, the concern is always that however idiot proof you make a system, the public, whatever, the universe will provide a better idiot eventually.

 

[GAMEOVER44]

The NRA use to have an Eddie Eagle training DVD for kids to not touch guns. I acquired this for my son for free from them and had him watch it young.