Desertdog
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Makes me mad enough to bite nails. 
http://www.sierratimes.com/05/03/29/nra_mt.htm
Montana Gun Group Accuses NRA Staff of Malfeasance
Sierra Times - via News Release
Missoula, Montana - The Montana Shooting Sports Association (MSSA) is harshly critical of National Rifle Association staff for conduct MSSA says is killing pro-gun legislation in Montana. MSSA recently had a bill before the Montana Legislature, HB 693, to clarify the right to self defense with firearms. MSSA blames the failure of this important bill on a deliberate determination by a mid-level NRA staffer to undercut the bill by withholding NRA support.
In the February issue of the American Rifleman, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre took a strong stand in his Standing Guard column about employers who fire workers for having a firearm in a personal vehicle, perhaps associated with hunting before or after work. LaPierre said, "It pits corporate policy against the constitutional rights of the little guy, the individual citizen, with the NRA foursquare on the side of individual rights." In LaPierre's March Standing Guard column, he praises Marion Hammer of Florida for advancing the same type of legislation the NRA has declined to support in Montana.
MSSA President Gary Marbut commented, "Despite these strong positions by LaPierre, Randy Kozuch, director of NRA/ILA's State and Local division, actively headed off NRA support for Montana's HB 693, which would have accomplished exactly what LaPierre called for and praised in his February and March columns. This is precisely the sort of SNAFU so common with mid-level bureaucrats in the NRA. Some unaccountable Beltway denizen in the NRA bureaucracy obstructs what both the leadership and membership of the NRA want and need."
Marbut continued, "MSSA is a member of the NRA, maybe the most politically successful organization affiliated with the NRA. We went through NRA channels to seek NRA support for HB 693. Our request stopped cold at the desk of Kozuch, who decreed that the NRA would withhold support for HB 693. Kozuch also took the same stance on MSSA's HB 366, which declares that firearms made and retained in Montana are not subject to federal regulation under commerce clause authority. The NRA also failed to support restoration of funding for shooting range development in HB 2. I'd bet a dollar to a donut that Kozuch is guilty of similar obstruction in other pro-gun states. Such NRA staff obstruction creates more problems for gun owners in pro-gun states than all the gun control groups put together. In this respect, the NRA becomes a problem just like the federal government -- you get some unaccountable bureaucrat dictating state and local policy from a sensory-deprivation chamber in D.C."
"Having declined to support these bills," Marbut stated, "the NRA has also deprived itself of any scorecard issues by which to effectively rate legislators in upcoming election cycles."
"The lack of NRA support has essentially doomed my HB 693 in the Democrat-controlled Montana Senate judiciary committee," stated Rep. Jack Wells, HB 693 sponsor.
Montana's NRA Director, Jay Printz said, "I've been in Iraq for a year, and I'm surprised to return and learn that the NRA is not supporting pro-gun legislation here. I want to know why."
Curtis Oda, (recently elected Utah House of Representatives) noted, "The conduct of Randy Kozuch is not in the best interest of the efforts of law abiding gun owners nor the NRA. His actions have the same effect as sabotage -- no different result than if he were a plant by the anti-gunners."
Montana State Representative Roger Koopman, former employee of NRA/ILA and NRA field staff, commented, "It's a travesty when a key person in the NRA hierarchy is able to derail important, pro-gun legislation. They act like they're the only show in town -- there's an arrogance to that. They end up undermining the efforts of pro-gun activists in places like Montana. This has got to stop."
Montana Senate Judiciary Committee member Aubyn Curtiss opined, "The rejection of this bill on a party line vote doesn't reflect the opinions or wishes of the vast majority of Montanans."
HB 693 has been under development by MSSA for two years, and the Montana Legislature will not meet again in regular session until 2007.
"The NRA needs to end this ongoing embarrassment by simply replacing Kozuch" Marbut concluded.
MSSA is the primary group asserting the rights of gun owners and hunters in Montana. MSSA has obtained passage of over 40 pieces of pro-gun and pro-hunting legislation in the past 15 years.
Reprinted with permission from: http://www.mtssa.org/nrasnafu.phtml
http://www.sierratimes.com/05/03/29/nra_mt.htm
Montana Gun Group Accuses NRA Staff of Malfeasance
Sierra Times - via News Release
Missoula, Montana - The Montana Shooting Sports Association (MSSA) is harshly critical of National Rifle Association staff for conduct MSSA says is killing pro-gun legislation in Montana. MSSA recently had a bill before the Montana Legislature, HB 693, to clarify the right to self defense with firearms. MSSA blames the failure of this important bill on a deliberate determination by a mid-level NRA staffer to undercut the bill by withholding NRA support.
In the February issue of the American Rifleman, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre took a strong stand in his Standing Guard column about employers who fire workers for having a firearm in a personal vehicle, perhaps associated with hunting before or after work. LaPierre said, "It pits corporate policy against the constitutional rights of the little guy, the individual citizen, with the NRA foursquare on the side of individual rights." In LaPierre's March Standing Guard column, he praises Marion Hammer of Florida for advancing the same type of legislation the NRA has declined to support in Montana.
MSSA President Gary Marbut commented, "Despite these strong positions by LaPierre, Randy Kozuch, director of NRA/ILA's State and Local division, actively headed off NRA support for Montana's HB 693, which would have accomplished exactly what LaPierre called for and praised in his February and March columns. This is precisely the sort of SNAFU so common with mid-level bureaucrats in the NRA. Some unaccountable Beltway denizen in the NRA bureaucracy obstructs what both the leadership and membership of the NRA want and need."
Marbut continued, "MSSA is a member of the NRA, maybe the most politically successful organization affiliated with the NRA. We went through NRA channels to seek NRA support for HB 693. Our request stopped cold at the desk of Kozuch, who decreed that the NRA would withhold support for HB 693. Kozuch also took the same stance on MSSA's HB 366, which declares that firearms made and retained in Montana are not subject to federal regulation under commerce clause authority. The NRA also failed to support restoration of funding for shooting range development in HB 2. I'd bet a dollar to a donut that Kozuch is guilty of similar obstruction in other pro-gun states. Such NRA staff obstruction creates more problems for gun owners in pro-gun states than all the gun control groups put together. In this respect, the NRA becomes a problem just like the federal government -- you get some unaccountable bureaucrat dictating state and local policy from a sensory-deprivation chamber in D.C."
"Having declined to support these bills," Marbut stated, "the NRA has also deprived itself of any scorecard issues by which to effectively rate legislators in upcoming election cycles."
"The lack of NRA support has essentially doomed my HB 693 in the Democrat-controlled Montana Senate judiciary committee," stated Rep. Jack Wells, HB 693 sponsor.
Montana's NRA Director, Jay Printz said, "I've been in Iraq for a year, and I'm surprised to return and learn that the NRA is not supporting pro-gun legislation here. I want to know why."
Curtis Oda, (recently elected Utah House of Representatives) noted, "The conduct of Randy Kozuch is not in the best interest of the efforts of law abiding gun owners nor the NRA. His actions have the same effect as sabotage -- no different result than if he were a plant by the anti-gunners."
Montana State Representative Roger Koopman, former employee of NRA/ILA and NRA field staff, commented, "It's a travesty when a key person in the NRA hierarchy is able to derail important, pro-gun legislation. They act like they're the only show in town -- there's an arrogance to that. They end up undermining the efforts of pro-gun activists in places like Montana. This has got to stop."
Montana Senate Judiciary Committee member Aubyn Curtiss opined, "The rejection of this bill on a party line vote doesn't reflect the opinions or wishes of the vast majority of Montanans."
HB 693 has been under development by MSSA for two years, and the Montana Legislature will not meet again in regular session until 2007.
"The NRA needs to end this ongoing embarrassment by simply replacing Kozuch" Marbut concluded.
MSSA is the primary group asserting the rights of gun owners and hunters in Montana. MSSA has obtained passage of over 40 pieces of pro-gun and pro-hunting legislation in the past 15 years.
Reprinted with permission from: http://www.mtssa.org/nrasnafu.phtml
