how do you feel about the NRA?

[paintballdude902]

i have grown up with the belief that the NRA is in the pocket of 90% of the govt.

and that they get gun control laws put into legislation so they can get more members and more donations.

i dont support the NRA however i do see the need for a support of our gun rights

we began talking about this today in my U.S.History class today and my teacher is a big supporter of the NRA, it got me wondering how do many other progun people feel about the NRA.

So how do you feel about the NRA?

 

[righteousbarbarian]

personally, i think the whole idea of lobbying is what is wrong with America, but perhaps working within the system is the best thing to do until it changes.

 

[rbernie]

I do not believe that they deliberately stack the deck to justify their own existance.

The NRA has plenty to do on the sporting side to not NEED to work the ILA side.

 

[phaed]

sellouts

 

[wally]

I every gun owner joined the NRA and sent $1 to the ILA every year we wouldn't be worrying about gun control.

If we don't hang together, we most certainly will hang seperately -- famous Patriot.

--wally.

 

[Acheron]

I think that the NRA does a lot to further itself, not my right to bear arms.

I don't support the NRA, and most likely never will.

 

[Hank Dodge]

I'm an NRA life member, and have been for many years. When I first became active in the shooting sports, joining the NRA was a priority. As the years have past and more restrictive laws enacted, I still see the need to support them. I will say that I have not been entirely impressed with their stance on some issues of late.

Firearms ownership is more than about hunting. It is an individual right that should not be infringed. The ongoing efforts to regulate possession of arms is senseless in my opinion. An honest men with a weapon is an asset to society. What will it take to wake up these politicians and other special interest groups?

 

[Blackfork]

Life Member

I'm an NRA Life Member and a TSRA Endowment Member. I don't think either organization does the best thing ALL the time, but I'm putting money behind my beliefs. I wouldn't belong to either if I thought it was a scam.

Full disclosure: As a competitive shooter you HAVE to belong to the NRA and your state CMP sanctioned organization for a classification card.
That said, I am far above the level of financial commitment required for keeping a classification card.

I think everyone who is interested in the Second Amendment needs to back some organization...GOA, NRA, TSRA, JFPO, et....with dollars. There certainly is plenty of money, the courts, the LEO agencies, the media, et, stacked against us.

Don't be a freeloader.

 

[ilbob]

I think the NRA does a lot of good. It is also a little self serving, like every other organization out there.

There is no other national gun rights group that has done much of anything to enhance gun ownership, even if the NRA has been imperfect.

 

[ShunZu]

Polarization has always been a time-proven method of creating wealth for those in that business. Just look at the media if you have any doubts....

Pro vs con Abortion
Pro vs con Social Services
Pro vs con Illegal Immigration
Pro vs con Gun Rights

While I've been an NRA member for over 30 years, I feel their "boogeyman-is-gonna-getcha" mentality a little over the top. I still shoot competitively and most DCM/CMP/Service Rifle matches require a membership in your state's rifle association as well as the NRA. SO, I do. But I have to admit that their spam gets old...

They have a valid message -- and that is, if you want to go to sleep and lose all your rights, go ahead... and don't whine when they're gone. But honestly, the NRA let Bush Sr.'s ban on imports happen... they let Clinton's insanity go unabated, and they had little effect on how many of our vintage Garands, M1 Carbines and '03's got destroyed through those years. Need we mention the crazy assault weapon ban, magazine limitations, the "nasty" bayonet lugs that Congress said drug dealers were using? All during those years, the NRA kept screaming the sky was falling.... yet, I still have the same rifles I did in 1968, I still have 30 rounders, I still have an AR... and (gasp!) my old favorite pre-64 Win 70 that today's media would surely classify as a sniper weapon. Its only victims have been coyotes... but I doubt CNN would make that distinction.

Are we better off? Consider the source, take it with a grain of salt, and continue to enjoy your rights. When it REALLY gets bad, you'll 1) know it, 2) have to DO something about it, and 3) put that bumper sticker on your car that says "From my dead, cold hands...."

Until then, realize that stress shortens your life.

 

[Vonderek]

I just renewed my membership today and upgraded to a Life Membership. 'Nuff said.

 

[burrhead]

Check my sig line.

 

[.38 Special]

While I've been an NRA member for over 30 years, I feel their "boogeyman-is-gonna-getcha" mentality a little over the top.

I guess that goes for me too. I'm a life member and if I weren't I would sign up. There's no other organization that is as effective at blocking anti-gun legislation. It's just that sometimes they can be every bit as shrill as Rosie and Sarah and the rest. Seems like every issue of Rifleman is packed with breathless exhortations about how "Never before have our rights as law-abiding gun owners been in such immenent peril" etc., etc.

Guess that's the way these things work, but it does get tiresome...

 

[RH822]

Life Member here, The NRA is the strongest and most effective gun rights organization we have. I have supported them for the past 25 years and see no reason to stop now.

RH

 

[tinygnat219]

We'd be a lot worse off without 'em.

 

[mgregg85]

how do I feel about the NRA?

Warm and fuzzy inside. They aren't perfect but they are the best game around for defending our 2A rights. Badmouthing them without a good reason seems to only really help the brady bunch.

 

[Winchester 73]

I recently upgraded to life membership like Vonderek.
They're far from perfect but without them our gun rights would have been stripped away years ago.
No other organization is feared by the likes of Clinton,Schumer,Kennedy,Durbin,McCarthy, et alia like the NRA.
They are the 800 pound gorilla these hoplophobes have looking over their shoulder 24/7.
Its also important to support GOA,SAF,JPFO and all the other legit 2A defenders.

 

[easyg]

The phrase "what have you done for me lately" comes to mind.

Once upon a time, I think they probably did some good.
These days, I don't think they really care about our Constitutional rights at all.

 

[Kingcreek]

Life member. The NRA doesn't always do things the way I would like to see it but where would we gunowners be today if there hadn't been an NRA all these years?
My question to anybody that doesn't think the NRA deserves thier support:
Just who do you support?
I think the most common honest answer is "nobody".
In which case, I say, "You're welcome."
Saying you are Pro-Gun but not supporting somebody on our side of the fight is LAME.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

I'm a Life member of the NRA and a member of TSRA. I also support other RKBA organizations like SAF, NRA-ILA, and NRA-PVF.

The NRA is far from perfect; but like any organization it can't be any better than its members. Personally, I second the opinion of whoever said "Join some RKBA organization." If the NRA doesn't work for you, then join the one that does; but don't just stand back and do nothing.

For that matter, don't just think that because you belong to NRA, GOA, SAF or any other group that you can now sit back and do nothing besides send in $30 once a year and keep your rights. At the end of the day, the only people to blame for losing our rights are our fellow gun owners and ourselves. If the votes aren't there in the first place, neither NRA or GOA can make them appear. It is up to us to put the right people in Congress to start with.

 

[davepool]

I am a life time member because they are the best thing going for us at this time. I am getting a little concerned with thier tactics lately, I get regular mailings with "the sky is falling" " the Democrats are coming" tone. I'm a life time member because I believe in the cause, not because i'm scared of the Democrats..... well maybe i AM scared of Shillary

 

[Beatnik]

The NRA does do a lot of good.
It is ALL centered on teaching programs.
If I could be a member of the non-profit teaching part, knowing that I'm not financing the lobbying machine at all, I'd do it in a second.

They do not represent me politically.
I used to think that if they ever got their act back together I'd rejoin - although in a pre-internet age, who knows what shenanigans they were up to, so it may never have been on the up-and-up for all I know.

That's before I got their FINAL NOTICE letter.

Am I a debtor now?
Are they Columbia House Record Company?

To whatever brain surgeon thought that one up: congratulations, you screwed the NRA out of another member for my hopefully 40-50 more years.

 

[Thernlund]

The NRA is a political organization run by politicians. As evidenced by their displeasure over Heller, they will sell you out in order to further what THEY feel is best. This is no different from any other jaded politician or political organization. They'll tell you what you want to hear, but ultimately, they know best.

So shut up and pay your dues and let them do the thinking. You're just a citizen. You're not capable of understanding all the complexities of gun control and fighting it.


-T.

 

[ROMAK IV]

I support them when I agree with them and don't support them when I don't agree with them. Out of ALL the pro-gun organizations, the NRA is by far the most influential. Another thing in their favor, is the fact that antigun organizations are far more militant than they appear to be. Only the VPC is honest about their intentions, and it will chill your soul to read those. Which is why I still wonder what the NRA was thinking when it tried to push this mental health gun control bill through Congress. Authoring the law that replaced the Brady Bill was a big mistake, and we are stuck with essentially, federal approval to purchase a gun. All this cooperation with the gun control lobby, has just gotten the NRA just more slander from the antigun lobby.

 

[geekWithA.45]

I have incrementally upgraded my membership through the years, these days I'm an Endowment Member. {All y'all lesser members need not genuflect. }


I am well aware, sometimes painfully so, of the limitations and controversies of the NRA, but I have to say that they're the boogeyman we need, and despite the various legitimate criticisms, they've pretty much done their job.


They're big.

They're clumsy.

Their cash begging machine is annoying, and it sometimes seems that's their main activity.

But at the end of the day, they are an 800 lb gorilla who can be electroprodded and banana'd into doing something useful, commanding respect and fear like few other organizations.