NRA, and wasted membership dues

[Fremmer]

What has he done? Well, let's see, um, obama, pelosi, and reid controlled the government for 2 years and the nra prevented them from implementing so-called "sensible gun safety " laws that would have infringed on my constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

Your ignorance about executive compensation is amazing.

 

[Kendahl]

About 4 months into a years membership they are sending renewal paperwork.

This is very common with magazine subscriptions even if they aren't due to expire for another two or three years.

I continue to receive catalogs from mail order businesses I haven't patronized for several years. Whatever profit they made out of me has been eaten up by printing and mailing expenses.

 

[wkumatt]

I'm fortunate that my extended family has more land than they can hunt themselves. Over the years several family friends have been invited to hunt... As long as you show Uncle Bob your NRA membership on your way to the stand.

There is no patience here for those that don't contribute to this cause.

Sent from my PB99400 using Tapatalk 2

 

[12131]

There are how many gun owners in the US? About 80 million or so? And how many are NRA members? About 4 million or so? What a shame! All I hear is the same old tired excuses of not becoming members. It disgusts me!

 

[travisd]

It's funny how people here can bite someones head off if they say anything bad about the NRA or in this case if they don't. Or if they would disagree with any little thing. Does it really encourage anyone to actually join? Say someone whose on the fence about joining. These NRA threads always seem to drag out the low road people. More people might be willing to join if they were not bullied into it. I can understand not wanting to join seeing the kind of people who always get on these threads. Not very high road at all IMHO

 

[AlexanderA]

I've noticed that the volume of junk mail I get from the NRA has dropped off lately. Maybe they're listening to the complaints.

 

[shiftyer1]

I don't mind junk mail, all i have to do is stop at the mailbox and i have bbq kindling. Some i read but all end up in the fire. If i had a paper shredder I'd make liter fit the chickens. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't do it if it cost more than it produced.

 

[shootniron]

It's funny how people here can bite someones head off if they say anything bad about the NRA or in this case if they don't. Or if they would disagree with any little thing. Does it really encourage anyone to actually join? Say someone whose on the fence about joining. These NRA threads always seem to drag out the low road people. More people might be willing to join if they were not bullied into it. I can understand not wanting to join seeing the kind of people who always get on these threads. Not very high road at all IMHO

I believe, in this case, the op did have negative comments.

Heres part of my hang up with them, my friends who are members recieve more wasted junk mail from them a year than anyone else. Its hard for me to throw into the till when I know they will waste thousands if not millions on garbage, and pay out huge $'s to people I hardly see unless its a big tv spot.

Is this a positve comment?

I can understand not wanting to join seeing the kind of people who always get on these threads.

Yeah, I know, cause most of these folks are very serious about protecting their right to own guns and some folks, perhaps even you, have a laid back approach that allows others to pay the way for them and expresses an absolute lack of understanding of what is required to have success in our political process.

 

[JFtheGR8]

I am a member of both the NRA and the ISRA. They are the only ones aggressively fighting for my gun rights in my opinion. Very much worth the price of membership.


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[Ivy Mike]

A big powerful lobbying organization is not a cheap item. It costs money to buy influence in our government.
Advertising is a relatively cheap way to get new members to contribute to a political movement.
That's why they send so much junk out. That's why LaPierre gets a nice fat salary (which is smaller than the salary of many other execs) for running a successful lobbyist group.

 

[Flopsweat]

As a member of the NRA I'm a bit embarrassed by the behavior of some of my fellow members. If the OP doesn't like the junk mail, good for him. There are plenty of ways to support our 2nd Amendment rights other than sending money to the NRA. So suddenly he is beneath contempt? Bah. You want to encourage people to support the NRA, that's great. You want to chastise people for not supporting it, well then you start to sound a lot like some of the more adamant anti-gun people.

While we're on the subject, if you don't like the NRA's junk mail, you can ask to be put on the Do Not Promote list. Contrary to any rumors this does not prevent you from getting a raise or new job title.

Also, NRA-ILA does the legal and political stuff. NRA doesn't - they're a non-profit organization. A donation to NRA-ILA (like for example the MidwayUSA round-up) does more (IMHO) to help our cause. Not that the NRA doesn't have some terrific programs, just be aware which is which.

 

[theCan]

Gun Owners of America is more moderate and fact based. It's smaller, and so much manage cost more closely.

I do have to imagine that asking for more donations works out in the end. $10-20 donation, 1 in 10 donate.... It works out.

 

[Neverwinter]

Membership comes with insurance benefits, and discounts/services.
Just because you've never used them doesn't mean they aren't valuable.

 

[Sav .250]

Have heard /seen this arguement before. In fact many times. Always somebody complaining about this or that. Don`t join. That way you won`t be bothered by requests for money or other help but you`ll be rewarded with all the benefits the NRA has battled in the trenches for free of charge.
$35 to join up. A little "junk" mail. Life sure can be tough.

 

[TAKtical]

I dont consider it to be junk. If I did wish to stop recieving great deals and informative news letters, Id ask them to stop sending it and they would.

 

[19-3Ben]

I'm curious, and asking this as a genuine matter of curiosity before this thread ends up getting locked.

To those who feel that non-NRA members aren't carrying their own weight, are you upset that the person is not specifically a member of the NRA, or it is just not being a member of a 2A advocacy group?
To put the question more clearly, let's say hypothetically that I am a member of JPFO and SAF, but not the NRA. Would you consider me to be doing my part?

 

[45_auto]

To put the question more clearly, let's say hypothetically that I am a member of JPFO and SAF, but not the NRA. Would you consider me to be doing my part?

Yep.

However, my guess is that 99.999% of the people who complain about the NRA have never heard of and have no idea what JPFO and SAF are.

I'm a life member of all 3. Cost me less than the price of one gun ($150 SAF, $300 NRA, $500 JPFO). But I guess that makes me stupid to some people for supporting the country I swore an oath to defend from enemies both foreign and domestic (I voluntarily did 4 years in the Army back when people used to spit on us for being in the military).

It's been my experience that if someone doesn't understand why they don't need to defend their rights, there's not much point in arguing with them.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Yes, I opted out of some NRA email and junk mail services. However, The American Rifleman is worth the price of membership by itself.

However, I let Handgun Control Inc keep me on their junk mailing list as long as possible. It had to cost them something.

 

[JoeMal]

You can go online and check a box that says you don't want to get mail from them. A simple phone call does this, too.

Not a very sturdy argument to hate the NRA IMO

 

[powell&hyde]

Take a look at the benefits the NRA offers for it's members. I have been a lifetime member for many years and like said in the above posts, you can use the mail you get from them as kindling, trash or opt out. http://www.nra.org/benefits.aspx

 

[Birch Knoll]

To put the question more clearly, let's say hypothetically that I am a member of JPFO and SAF, but not the NRA. Would you consider me to be doing my part?

The NRA is the big dog, the indispensable organization. But JPFO and SAF are worthy organizations as well. I also support SAF, and I've meant to join JPFO... hang on a second... there, I'm a member.

Yes, you're doing your part.

 

[BSA1]

I am not a member, first off.

What pro-gun organizations do you belong to if any?

Heres part of my hang up with them, my friends who are members recieve more wasted junk mail from them a year than anyone else.

That is a simply amazing figure. My mailbox is full of junk mail from lots of other advertisers.

I obviously agree with them 99.9% of the time but fear they have gone the way of big gov't, and more concerned with $ and paying out their salaries.

So you are really objecting to someone making more money than you.

Tell me what Wayne LaPierre does to earn a salary package of $1.281 million a year? (that is a # I just pulled off the net, last I heard it was $650,00ish) I personally, maybe, heard him once in the last year on fox news, maybe.

Why do you care? You are not a member.

On the flipside it seems anti's are always on the news spreading misinformation.

You mean like you are doing now?

I dont want this to be just a hate NRA thread I want to know more.

This is a Liberal buzz word if there ever was one. You stated your reasons why you don't believe in being a member so you want to argue.

 

[230RN]

We orta have an NRA-Junk-Mail-Request-Not-To-Send-It-All-Orgs-Do-It-I-Even-Disagree-With-My-Own-Church-On-Some-Things-As-Well-As-My-Own-Wife-800-Lb-Gorilla-Join-Any-Pro-2A-Org sticky.

I'm not signing this one so nobody will know who posted it.

 

[berettaprofessor]

I obviously agree with them 99.9% of the time but fear they have gone the way of big gov't, and more concerned with $ and paying out their salaries. Tell me why I am wrong,

You won't join or monetarily support an organization that you agree with 99.9% of the time?...:banghead:

Okay, I'll tell you why you're wrong. You're trying to find any reason to justify to yourself why you're so doggoned cheap you won't pay the dues to support one organization that works to keep you able to enjoy that which you enjoy.

I get no junk mail from the NRA at all. I'm not so lazy that I couldn't find the spot on the website to opt out of all the mailings. And while I'd like to see LaPierre as poor as me, he's running a multi-hundred million dollar budget and I'm not.

As someone said, you don't want to join, fine. But then stop benefitting from riding their coattails or at least stop griping about them.

 

[ZeSpectre]

!!!RANT WARNING!!!!
Seriously, when people claim to be supporters of our rights, and claim to be responsible enough to own/use firearms, and then can't be bothered to deal with a little junk-mail (which, as has been demonstrated earlier in this thread) I have to wonder how capable and responsible they really are.