NRA_we need more money

[black ridge]

I was a member of the NRA for a while and I finally got enough of the constant mail asking for money. The straw that relly broke the camels back was when they were gonna have a drawing for an all expence payed trip on Africa safari with Wayne Lapierre. I work for a living and I know that I will never get to Africa hunting and thats fine. That money they spent on that trip was not coming out of my pocket for someone else to get to do what I will never get to do. So someone please explaine to me how an African safari helps our right to keep and bear arms.

 

[caseypj]

People enter the drawing, one lucky man wins, the NRA has now made more money than it cost for the Safari.

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

Did it ever occur to you that the majority prizes were probably paid for/donated by the long list of sponsors listed on the safari page and not membership dues?

One would think that after stewing about this for two years before posting, that's right, the drawing closed two years ago, you would have considered such a possibility.

 

[mnrivrat]

NRA's work on the RTKBA is only part of what they do. They are, and have been involved in the shooting sports since their begining. That includes hunting, target shooting, safety & marksmanship programs.

I'm not sure in my mind wether a African hunting trip is the best cheese to help fundraising efforts, but it might be. I know that more people play the lotto when the prize is larger .

I haven't always liked the fundraiser efforts myself, but I do see a use for them, and like them or not, they bring in revenue.

 

[black ridge]

The NRA is a fine ORG but for the working class people its kinda out in left field. It seems like the money never ends.

 

[black ridge]

Also everybody I talk to has dropped there membership for the same reason.(MONEY)

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

Also everybody I talk to has dropped there membership for the same reason.(MONEY)

If you can't afford $10 a year for the "no magazine" membership, times must be pretty tight.

If you are talking about the extra solicitations, all it takes is a phone call or an email and they'll take you off the list.

 

[Animal Mother]

I am absolutely certain that the NRA raised more money during that promotion than it spent on the Safari trip, that is how promotions work. There are very few lobbying groups as powerful as the NRA. The NRA doesn't get its power from some huge corporate interests, but from millions of working class men and women who believe in freedom.

If you don't like the NRA's constant requests for donations please do the following (from the NRA Membership FAQ):

Q: How can I reduce the amount of mail I receive from the NRA?
A: Simply email us at [email protected] or dial 800-NRA-3888 and request to be placed on the "Do Not Promote" list. This will significantly reduce the amount of mail you receive without affecting important mailings, magazine service, or your membership renewal.

I think I need to make that my new sig line.

 

[wherestheham]

The NRA might not be perfect, but no large organization is.

There is great power in numbers.

Remember: "United we stand, divided we fall."

 

[black ridge]

O.K. thats good enough. I guess im just looking at it the wrong way. It bothers me that we need a multy million non profit org to stand up to the government for us. I just cant give procedes to that, so ill let it go. Thanks for the answers.

 

[ToadPS]

No big organization is ever going to be able to please all of its members.

That's just a simple fact of life.

However, without the NRA our use of guns would have been severely curtailed by now.

If everyone that owned and used a firearm bought the $10 annual membership each year, just about the cost of a box of 9mm ammo, we wouldn't all be so worried about what this new administration and Congress are going to attempt to do to our gun rights.

Estimates are that 25% of adults in the US own guns; THAT my friends is a huge constituency, a very large voting block. Join the NRA; join other groups as well. But let us all unite behind at least one organization that is a recognized presence in the halls of Congress.

Numbers talk in government.

 

[black ridge]

TOADPS. you are 100% right about the numbers. But ill bet you Mr LAPierre is pulling more than 35000 a year.

 

[jcwit]

Well if the NRA spending money on a trip instead of defending your 2nd adm. rights just send $30 m( dues)to your Senator or Rep asking them to fight for 2nd rights and see how it goes.

 

[ToadPS]

Tell ya what... if LaPierre can safely lead us through the next eight years without another AWB, microstamped bullets or a repeal of the Heller decision, I'd say he's worth millions a year, wouldn't you?

For pity's sake... Wall Street Bankers get millions for screwing the entire economy.

Bottom line is that there currently is no other organization that has the power that NRA has in DC. None. There are other good ones, and we should join those as well, but there are NONE RIGHT NOW that are as equipped to defend our 2nd rights as the NRA.

So.... why aren't the entire 25% of adult gun owners in America members of the NRA?

$10/year for the no magazine membership.... a box of shotgun shells, a box of 9mm pistol rounds, a half a box of good rifle rounds per year. How can anyone figure that it's not a good idea to join? It's damn cheap and it's is currently the most effective organization for gun rights on Capitol Hill.

 

[Clarence]

I just upgraded my Life membership to Endowment membership for $200.

I figured the NRA might be able to use a few extra bucks in the next couple of years.

 

[distra]

Instead of complaining about what the NRA does with the money, join the second ammendment foundation or gun owners of America. Just sitting there doing nothing, but complaining will not help our cause. The way I see it is if you aren't willing to help protect your rights now you might as well take your firearms to the nearest PD for voluntary confiscation.

Remember: "United we stand, divided we fall."

+1000

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

But ill bet you Mr LAPierre is pulling more than 35000 a year.

I would hope so as most people attended college or learned a useful trade skill also make more than $35K a year.

Wayne LaPierre was paid a salary of $666,491 in 2006 and got another $56,198 in other benefit payments.

That same year they brought in $165,496,153 in revenue (not counting the NRA Foundation and perhaps others)

Why would any of us be surprised that a corporation with over $165M in revenue is run by someone making over $35,000?

Good executives require good salaries. Even the true believers can be swayed away by money. You keep good people by paying them well.

 

[black ridge]

I just dont know ladies and gentlemen. I always look at big business as the enemy. I always think we are gonna get screwed over in the end by any money ORG. I mean this country this day in time is being built on stealing and its a sad -sad thing that things are the way they are. Just being cautious.

 

[TimRB]

"I was a member of the NRA for a while and I finally got enough of the constant mail asking for money."

It would be interesting to check the archives to see how long THR (or *any* pro-gun forum) can go before someone starts a thread whining about how mailings from the NRA have ruined his life. My wife and I can measure our daily mail in pounds, and usually only one or two pieces of that is first class mail.

Throw junk mail away! Sheesh--how hard can it be to do that?

But anyway, black ridge, don't you worry about a thing. The other NRA members and I will continue to do our best to preserve your gun rights for you.

Tim

 

[John828]

TOADPS. you are 100% right about the numbers. But ill bet you Mr LAPierre is pulling more than 35000 a year.

Try about twenty times that amount. He probably makes about $700,000 a year.

I, OTOH, make about $35,000 a year, and I guarandamntee you that you don't want me running the show. We need smart folks at the helm. Smart folks make a lot of money. Don't muzzle the ox while it's ploughing the fields. Or treading wheat or whatever they say.

 

[JDoe]

Call me crazy but when anyone comes onto a pro-gun forum and immediately starts bad mouthing and complaining about the NRA I get a little suspicious about their true motivations.

 

[black ridge]

It sounds to me like you all would empower a baker to no end if you were starving. Dont stand behind something stand beside it.

 

[John828]

Don't feed the trolls. I am finished. I thought we might have a two sided conversation but nope.

 

[Old Fuff]

I've been an NRA member for well over a half century...

I can remember the good times before 1968 when the NRA was most interested in promoting hunting, target shooting and gun collecting.

But then after 1968 and we got president Lyndon Johnson who declared war on the NRA because they wouldn't knuckle under. Johnson wasn't one that ever took prisoners, but going after the NRA was one of the biggest mistakes he ever made for his Democratic Party, and he made some whoppers.

If it wasn’t for the NRA I could have saved some money, because the guns I was able to buy wouldn’t have been there. In numbers, the U.K. National Rifle Association is relatively small, and because of that look what happened there.

The same thing could have happened here – but it didn’t, and if you have any doubts go look and see what the Brady Bunch and they’re buddies have to say about the NRA and what their plans are now.

The truly sad thing is not what the NRA has to do to raise money, but the fact that they have too do it. Since 1968 we have been in a war with America’s left-wing wana’be-socialists who would see each and every one of us disarmed. And our spear point in that war has been the NRA.

From my perspective, if some folks have to be begged for money– especially now that the fight has become so critical, and the NRA need all of the financial support that they can get… Well those folks can just go away, ‘cuz somehow the rest of us will get the job done. The pure fact is that some of us are in this for the long haul, and some just want to go along for the ride.

End of rant.

 

[black ridge]

Listen folks I didnt mean to piss anybody off. Its great that there are ORG out there to PROTECT OUR RIGHTS it just makes me mad that we have to pay somebody to do that and pay them so well. Your never relly sure where the money goes. THATS ALL IM TRING TO SAY.