how do you feel about the NRA?

[Master Blaster]

If you fail to see the value of the NRA, then read it straight from the head Anti-Gun Horses ass's mouth at the end of this article castigating our elected leaders. I noticed he didn't mention GOA etal:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Once again there has been a mass shooting in the United States, this time in a Nebraska shopping mall. Once again there is no national outcry for gun control.

A 19-year-old man shot and killed eight people and then himself in Omaha, Nebraska, on Wednesday with a semi-automatic AK-47 that police say he stole from his stepfather.

Leading presidential candidates for the November 2008 U.S. election issued statements expressing sorrow and support for the victims. None called for tighter gun laws, which are traditionally left to state and local authorities.

The crime revived memories of a massacre in April at Virginia Tech university, where a student killed 32 people.

There has been a string of such shooting sprees in recent years, but little resonance among national politicians.

The right to bear arms is fiercely defended as a U.S. constitutional right by large numbers of collectors, hunters and advocates of home security, cherished the way civil libertarians champion the right to free speech.

Yet the issue is controversial enough to draw in the Supreme Court, which said last month it would review an appeals court ruling that struck down a 31-year-old ban on private possession of handguns in Washington, D.C.

"Although people who favor increased gun control in the United States are a substantial majority, those who oppose it are far more intense in their opposition and far more likely to vote on the basis of that issue alone," said Bill Galston, senior fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution.

He cited the 1994 elections when the Democrats lost control of both houses of Congress. Some political analysts attributed the rout to backlash against a Democratic-led ban on assault weapons. That law was allowed to expire 10 years later.

"I might want to qualify that judgment, but the fact that it's widely believed and that there is some basis for it is enough to determine political behavior," Galston said.

GUN LOBBY

A Pennsylvania state representative who last month helped defeat a proposal to limit hand gun purchases to one per person per month said he would support tougher sentencing laws for people who acquire and use illegal guns, but that law-abiding citizens should not have their rights infringed.

"I received thousands of e-mails with some of these gun control measures. Once again, it's the right to bear arms and many of our citizens don't want that right taken away," said Ron Marsico, chairman of the state House Judiciary Committee and a Republican.

Besides, he said, no law may have prevented the Omaha tragedy.

Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, disagrees. He said European countries have enacted effective gun control laws and that U.S. politicians are cowed by the gun lobby as exemplified by the National Rifle Association.

"There is the mythology advanced by the gun lobby of the Wild West and the individual frontiersman single-handedly holding off the British and the Indians and the bears simultaneously," said Helmke.

"They've got politicians nervous about anything that's even got the word gun in it."

Helmke the jerk that he is even understands the effectiveness of the NRA
So why dont the other 76 million gun owners understand this???


Please JOIN

http://membership.nrahq.org/default.asp?campaignid=nranews

Directory of local NRA affiliated clubs Search and join one, I belong to two affiliated clubs, much better/cheaper than paying the local commercial range bandits and much safer too.

http://www.nra.org/nralocal.aspx

 

[XDKingslayer]

Guys and gals, be realistic...

Do we all want "No Comprimise?" Yes. Would it be great if the 2A was followed exactly as it's obviously written? Yes. Would the world be wonderful if everything was all wine and roses? Yes.

However...

I quit reading right there.

This is exactly why I put the NRA in the same boat as the Brady group. Both have forgotten those words at the end of the 2A.

"Shall not be infringed."

It seems that most gun owners fall into the group also. It has nothing to do with "being realistic". It's about standing up for what the father's of this country wrote on that paper. It's about standing up for your rights and what you believe in.

I have NO respect for someone willing to compromise on those rights. I won't support anyone willing to compromise on those rights. I won't align myself under someone willing to compromise on those rights.

 

[ArmedBear]

I'm not a fan of trying to incriminate others

So, you don't know what de facto means, then?

Did you read what I wrote about my being registered Libertarian making me a de facto supporter of left-wing policies, given other current realities? Did it not make sense to you?

 

[Brad Johnson]

You said that life is politics. Give and take. However, there was no federal give and take with firearms until 1934. The country was around without it longer than it has been with it. Basically, I'm saying that the compromising is unecessary.

Comprimise is the politics of daily life, friend. Whether with yourself or someone else, everything you do is a comprimise of some kind. Nothing happens, ever, without something else being affected in some way, shape, or form.

Brad

 

[mljdeckard]

another reminder, active-duty military join for free.

 

[SammyIamToday]

So, you don't know what de facto means, then?

Did you read what I wrote about my being registered Libertarian making me a de facto supporter of left-wing policies, given other current realities? Did it not make sense to you?

I don't agree that it makes you de facto anti. Depending upon your views of the 2nd Amendment you could call NRA supporters de facto Antis because they compromise too much. Either way as long as a gun owner is politically active against 2A rights violations, I don't believe that they can in any be de facto anti because they aren't a member in a lobby group.

I also disagree with your Libertarian stance being a vote for socialist authoritarian policies. Your vote is a vote for individual freedom in that case. Dropping down for a lesser of two evils as Libertarians are fond of saying is still a vote for evil.

Trying to polarize the whole situation into you're either NRA or you're an anti is imo intellectually dishonest and only an emotional plea to get people to fall into lock step with the NRA. This from a NRA member.

Comprimise is the politics of daily life, friend. Whether with yourself or someone else, everything you do is a comprimise of some kind. Nothing happens, ever, without something else being affected in some way, shape, or form.

Brad

I don't disagree that compromise is a necessity to working with others and that individuals freely compromise among themselves constantly to work together. I still feel that said compromise is 100% uncalled for when talking about something that is an inalienable right. Especially when the greater part of our nation's history saw that right not violated by Federal law.

 

[petej]

The Omaha shooting took place this week with an AK-47 and NOT ONE peep from the Democrats and liberals about an assault weapon ban. There is one and only one reason for the silence, NRA. If you do not believe it, you are in a purposefully disbelief of the truth.

 

[Soybomb]

Master Blaster I wouldn't believe a word out of the mouth's of the brady group. Helmke saying "its all because of the NRA" carries no more weight than when he says that the gun laws are as they are because a giant gun industry is buying laws with their deep pockets. The elected representative says he hears from his constituents that they don't want gun control laws. I think thats the bigger indicator there.

Someone in the thread also said something along the lines of the nra is the only reason people in the US have guns. I think thats terribly insulting to everyone that works for the pro-gun cause. Voters flooding their representatives with letters, calls, and faxes and holding demonstrations play a role. Everyone here plays a role making THR an inviting civil place for people to explore firearms. Every time you take a new shooter to the range you help out. Every picture oleg makes can help sway someone. Every time someone like Suzanna Hupp or even some of our own members tell their story about how a gun saved their life or could have saved their life they add to the cause. The time you spend on the internet researching statistics to use in discussions with anti's and even the actual discussion time helps further the cause. These contributions need to be respected and appreciated. The people are ultimately the reason gun laws are the way they are. If we want them to get better, we will have to be the ones who put in the work to make it happen. Sending $35 to the NRA and calling it a day isn't going to restore any rights. I'm not saying don't support the NRA either, just that all the gun owners who work hard for what they believe is right deserve a big pat on the back and their fair share of the credit.

 

[TEDDY]

NRA

the poster that stated 1934 was first time for gun control must have his head in the sand.Mass had pistol law in 1906 as did New York.the southern states all had laws prohibiting concealed carry.dream on boys.before ww2 schools had rifle teams[clubs]rifles supplied by the government[22 win 52]William Randel Hearst sponsered postal matches thru the NRA.and many a boy took his gun to school to go hunting after school,the teachers weren't brain washed by socialists then.remember the NRA is primarily a records keeping org.forced into defending gun rights.
for others here you can become NRA life members on the instalment plan,call and ask.
NRA does best when local people band together and then NRA can give advice and supply expert speakers.:banghead:

 

[CAPTAIN MIKE]

Common Sense Approach

Clearly if we don't stand together we have no one to blame but ourselves for the success of the Anti's. The NRA has stepped up to the plate many times and I think its deserves our support and thanks.

 

[Dave Workman]

Anonymous Coward wrote:

Compare the NRA with the ACLU. What would the ACLU have done if the New Orleans Police Department violated the constitutional rights of their citizens (other than the 2nd)? There would have been writs, there would have been court orders, there would have been lawsuits.

Answer me this: What does the NRA do?

You're kidding, right? Either that, or you've been living in a cave for the past two years.
To answer your question: The ACLU did NOTHING about New Orleans. And American citizens are American citizens. Not "their" citizens or "our" citizens. We all have the same rights.

As for what the NRA "did," the NRA marched shoulder-to-shoulder with the Second Amendment Foundation INTO FEDERAL COURT with a court motion and brought those gun confiscations to a halt. I know, I was part of it, and I covered the whole thing for Gun Week.
For the record, ONLY the NRA and SAF took legal action down there, and anyone else claiming credit for stopping the gun confiscations is blowing smoke.

NRA and SAF attorneys even got a judge to hold Mayor Ray Nagin and Police Supt. Warren Riley in contempt of federal court. That's not small potatoes, my friend.

All the while, a lot of armchair loudmouths cranked up the rhetoric on various internet forums and chat lists and did just what you're doing here; asserted that the NRA wasn't doing anything.

Couple of months later, NRA and SAF are again shoulder-to-shoulder in a lawsuit to overturn the gun ban in San Francisco, and so far, we're winning that case, too.


The NRA works with state legislatures to pass CCW and Stand-Your-Ground legislation. They're the 800-lb gorilla of gun rights groups.

Sure, they're not perfect (like some people on the internet evidently think "they" are!) and they make mistakes.

And right now they're fighting a very anti-gun majority in Congress, and just trying to hold OUR ground.

Meanwhile, SAF and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, conduct the annual Gun Rights Policy Conference and the NRA fully participates in that. It's an annual gathering of the "Who's Who" in the gun rights movement. In 2008, it'll be in Phoenix.

I'm an endowment member of the NRA.

 

[Dave Workman]

Teddy wrote:

the poster that stated 1934 was first time for gun control must have his head in the sand.

Yup. In the late 1870s, Dodge City had gun control by not allowing any firearms north of the deadline.
In 1880 Tombstone had gun control...no firearms in town, guns had to be checked with the marshal.

 

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

I fell the NRA is the best pro gun organization we have. But they have room for improvement. I feel that they invest most of their support in the "wood stock hunting" crowd, and don't care much for those of us who like black rifles, or NFA stuff. I'm 24, and I enjoy shooting ARs and pistols and am thinking about getting into USPCA. I guess I am more into "tactical" shooting. I don't see much support for that from the NRA. As a 24 year old, I see the NRA as an organization that puts 50+ year old hunters as number one.

 

[CU74]

- I am a member of the NRA.
- I know what "de facto" means.
- I am personally offended by the comment, "If you aren't with us, you're against us". (What a ceramic container of bovine excrement. So original, too.)
- IMHO, there are way too may folks who are drinking the NRA cool-aid without taking time to engage their brains. (But then, by definition, half of the population is below average.)
- Also IMHO, there are also way too many of us who are drinking the "No Compromise" cool-aid. Wake up and participate in the real world. (Yet again, by definition, half of the population is below average.)
- I see no reason to modify my original post (#26). Instead of ranting and insulting each other, ENGAGE YOUR BRAINS AND BECOME ACTIVE PRO-GUN ADVOCATES. WRITE YOUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES. MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD.

If I just pissed you off, GOOD. Now, join the NRA and write your congress-weasel...........

 

[whofan]

Contrary to the belief of some, the NRA has been championing the cause of the EBR's (evil black rifles) for quite a while.

It has also been championing the cause of the wood stocked Fudd guns.

I belong in both camps and I am about to turn 50. My offspring have limited interest in hunting, but they all (two sons 23,21 and daughter 19) have an interest in black rifles or handguns.

I own two EBR' s and I am a Life Member of the NRA. The NRA is the focal point of the gun rights movement, whether you are a member or not.

 

[Master Blaster]

I fell the NRA is the best pro gun organization we have. But they have room for improvement. I feel that they invest most of their support in the "wood stock hunting" crowd, and don't care much for those of us who like black rifles, or NFA stuff. I'm 24, and I enjoy shooting ARs and pistols and am thinking about getting into USPCA. I guess I am more into "tactical" shooting. I don't see much support for that from the NRA

http://www.nra.org/Article.aspx?id=9836

http://www.nrahq.org/compete/natl-trophy-index.asp#outsbr

The NRA has beem sponsoring Service rifle competitions for about 100 years now
That means the current and past military issue firearms including the Black M-16.
Highpower is dominated by M-16 clones these days, and they promote it starting at the 7th grade level. NRA has put more black rifles into the hands of new shooters than any other entity.

 

[MakAttak]

I fell the NRA is the best pro gun organization we have. But they have room for improvement. I feel that they invest most of their support in the "wood stock hunting" crowd, and don't care much for those of us who like black rifles, or NFA stuff. I'm 24, and I enjoy shooting ARs and pistols and am thinking about getting into USPCA. I guess I am more into "tactical" shooting. I don't see much support for that from the NRA. As a 24 year old, I see the NRA as an organization that puts 50+ year old hunters as number one.

So many NRA members have no idea what the NRA does.

Read what masterblaster linked.

And the NRA doesn't just care for 50+ hunters/shooters, they are making a HUGE effort to encourage youth shooting.

Please people, if you want to be ignorant, that's fine, but don't fault the NRA because of your own ignorance.

 

[SammyIamToday]

the poster that stated 1934 was first time for gun control must have his head in the sand.Mass had pistol law in 1906 as did New York.the southern states all had laws prohibiting concealed carry.dream on boys.before ww2 schools had rifle teams[clubs]rifles supplied by the government[22 win 52]William Randel Hearst sponsered postal matches thru the NRA.and many a boy took his gun to school to go hunting after school,the teachers weren't brain washed by socialists then.remember the NRA is primarily a records keeping org.forced into defending gun rights.
for others here you can become NRA life members on the instalment plan,call and ask.
NRA does best when local people band together and then NRA can give advice and supply expert speakers.

You do know what the word Federal means right? I'm well aware of state gun control issues before 1934. That's not what I was talking about. Heck, until the 14th amendment, it is very arguable that the state's themselves had the right to enact gun control.

 

[aerod1]

I think we should all thank God for the NRA. I am a lifer but still send money on occasion.
No organization pisses off the anti gun crowd and politicians more than the NRA. this tells me they are doing something right.
NRA is a great organization.
Don't like the NRA? OK, then what are YOU doing to help in the fight for the 2A??

 

[Pete409]

I'm an NRA Life Member. NRA has about 4 million members and has considerable clout in Washington DC. While the NRA hasn't won EVERY battle for our gun rights, just think how bad things could be if we didn't have an NRA to fight for us.

At the same time, think how GOOD things could be for us gun owners if all 80 million gun owners joined NRA. Even if only one-half the gun owners in the country joined the NRA, that would increase our membership ten fold.

Do your part. Join the NRA.

 

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

So many NRA members have no idea what the NRA does.

Read what masterblaster linked.

And the NRA doesn't just care for 50+ hunters/shooters, they are making a HUGE effort to encourage youth shooting.

Please people, if you want to be ignorant, that's fine, but don't fault the NRA because of your own ignorance.

So the OP asks how we feel about the NRA, I politely respond, and then get attacked for having the wrong opinions. Nice bait and trap there.

 

[BridgeWalker]

Don't like the NRA? OK, then what are YOU doing to help in the fight for the 2A??

For the umpteenth time, several posters have stated what they do to support the 2A in conjnction with or as a substitute for belonging to the NRA.

If you believe that the only way a person can support 2a rights it by belonging to the NRA, fine, that's your opinion. But plenty of folks do do other things, and some of them have explained in this thread what those things are. Some may be understably reticent to join in a conversation where they will be repeatedly abused and insulted. But lots of people do lots of things for the rtkba other than just join the NRA.

Frankly, I think it is rather bizarre and a real cop-out for folks to claim that all one needs to do to support the 2a is to send in one's $35/year.

Please. There is only so much arrogance that can be sustained on $3/month. Of course, there are life members and significant donors to the NRA and the NRA-ILA, and that is a perfectly valid course of action. But there's also an awful lot of people who seem to think the difference between being responsible patriots and being a low-down, ungrateful, head-in-the-sand loser is $35 annually.

It is just not that black and white.

And this habit of deriding and insulting anyone who is not yet a member of the NRA is *wonderful* way of ensuring that negative perceptions of the NRA are perpetuated and preserved.

 

[macadore]

Good post delta9. I feel that forums like this do as much to promote the Second Amendment as many of the more formal organizations. THR disseminates a lot of information and gives us the opportunity to research and discuss it.

 

[stevereno1]

The NRA is 100% up the A-- of the politicians! That's what they are supposed to do! You may be too young to know about the NRA pressure that shot down Al Gore's attempt to become president in 2000,(he didn't even carry his home state of Tn.) or how Wayne LaPierre, busted up Bill Clinton on national T.V. Calling him a coward, and calling him out on his MANY outragious claims about gun owners in this country, but if you look it up, the NRA has been nothing less than 100% dilagent in protecting our freedoms. You may have not seen this since our rights haven't been seriously attacked in the last 8 years, but if a Democrat wins the white house, you will see a BOOM in NRA activity.

 

[Nightwing]

From what I can tell of the NRA... they are a good group. BUT... I think for the private funding members provide, and the power they COULD have they don't put their foot down enough. For such a well supported organization they should be much more powerful. We should hear from the NRA in the news during things like the Omaha shootings. Of course.... you can't control the liberal media.
I don't know. I plan on becoming a member. Very very soon.