I just saw a story mentioning that the NRA is up to 4.5 million now. Last I heard, it was at just under 4. http://www.murfreesboropost.com/news.php?viewStory=18071 This is the first I've heard this. Does NRA publish it's membership stats? If the election has added half a million then that's good I guess. Not if you consider that there's what, 100 million gun owners?
NRA's added half a million new members?
- Thread starter Marve
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zombienerd
Member
It probably has something to do with the free membership they've added.
Free membership gives gun owners no reason not to join. I told my entire family, most of them joined up.
Free membership gives gun owners no reason not to join. I told my entire family, most of them joined up.
jljenkins28
Member
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- 6
I just sent off for my 3 year membership yesterday!
chuckusaret
member
Now if we could just get that 5 million organized to contact their Senators, Congressmen, President's staff and the President and voice their support of their 2nd Amendment rights.
TiredOleMan
Member
I saw no need to join the NRA in the 50+ years I've owned guns until Mr Obama & Associates took over, I joined 3 months ago.
SSN Vet
Member
I passed on the freeby membership and ponied up the $....
in my mind... the idea was to back them financially so they can fight Mayor Dailey and hid like minded ilk.
in my mind... the idea was to back them financially so they can fight Mayor Dailey and hid like minded ilk.
I will be blunt about it - I joined the NRA so I could be an inside mole and thus know their secrets and refute them better.
Then I read their web site and magazine and carefully analyzed their arguments. Then I re-upped because I realized they were the only thoughtful group defending the whole constitution, and I and my liberal friends were so wrong - $100k of Ivy league education either misled me, or taught me to thing for myself - you can interpret it however you want! Obviously, this was more than a decade and more ago - as I've been deeply committed to the NRA for a long time. But any thinking person who analyzes our American history thoughtfully and tells you the NRA is a bad thing is just simply not thinking.
I compare it quite equally to the high-school scene in "Starship Troopers." Either you are a citizen who defends the republic, or you just aren't worth giving the vote to. That scene is not about fascism; it's about thoughtful citizenship - no one has ever called the author, Robert Heinlein, btw, a "fascist" - he's a VERY liberal thinker by any objective measure. But that was his honest take on the issue. My personal political theory is that only self-supporting citizens should be allowed to vote. If the government is buying your vote, through salaries or subsidies, you aren't impartial and should not be allowed to vote. That's just common ethics, not bias.
The NRA is about the only American institution operating to protect the constitution and thus avoiding a future civil war or rebellion. They/we are the ones "keeping it real," as they say. All it would take for this country to dissolve into anarchy and open violence is for the NRA members to all turn their heads and look away.
Then I read their web site and magazine and carefully analyzed their arguments. Then I re-upped because I realized they were the only thoughtful group defending the whole constitution, and I and my liberal friends were so wrong - $100k of Ivy league education either misled me, or taught me to thing for myself - you can interpret it however you want! Obviously, this was more than a decade and more ago - as I've been deeply committed to the NRA for a long time. But any thinking person who analyzes our American history thoughtfully and tells you the NRA is a bad thing is just simply not thinking.
I compare it quite equally to the high-school scene in "Starship Troopers." Either you are a citizen who defends the republic, or you just aren't worth giving the vote to. That scene is not about fascism; it's about thoughtful citizenship - no one has ever called the author, Robert Heinlein, btw, a "fascist" - he's a VERY liberal thinker by any objective measure. But that was his honest take on the issue. My personal political theory is that only self-supporting citizens should be allowed to vote. If the government is buying your vote, through salaries or subsidies, you aren't impartial and should not be allowed to vote. That's just common ethics, not bias.
The NRA is about the only American institution operating to protect the constitution and thus avoiding a future civil war or rebellion. They/we are the ones "keeping it real," as they say. All it would take for this country to dissolve into anarchy and open violence is for the NRA members to all turn their heads and look away.
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texas bulldog
Member
that's certainly an interesting post there, oro. i'm glad you kept an open mind!
CoRoMo
Member
+1 there. I signed up my wife and brothers earlier this year under the free membership offer.
And here's a funny corollary to that:
I signed up my other 1/2 under that offer. I stuck the bumper sticker on her politically incorrect Monster SUV (we have it to tow horses and we need it; it's not just a vanity item - do the PC people think about that before crapping on SUV owners - oops, I digress). My thought was it would shake up her PC friends in the Seattle area.
Oops, again I was wrong. I'm nothing if not amenable to admitting my intellectual mistakes! It made us MORE friends because people said "Oh, cool. I am too." Or "I just bought a Springfield Loaded model." These are real quotes. From folks we thought were anti-gun or indifferent to guns. Do you need more friends and neighbors? Put an NRA sticker on your cars or bikes. It draws friends. I was shocked. Heck, it's almost like being in the service, people respect it and thank you for it. I had no idea!
So my point is, don't just BE an NRA member, flaunt it! People will respond positively. I am now convinced for every one NRA member there is, there are like 30 people who want to be but won't do it or are too embarassed. Make it more acceptable to them - especially if you live in liberal enclaves like I have in DC, NYC, and Seattle. (and other cities/enclaves like that.)
Funny thing: My partner was like an ACLU member 15 years ago when she was in politics/government. The ACLU has tracked her every move since then (DC, FL, CO, WA (2 addresses)) for 15 years and kept her on the membership rolls. We have been getting crap from them despite rejecting it for years. Last week we got our "THIS IS YOUR FINAL CHANCE TO RENEW" letter. Thank god. It only took 15 years after ditching them.
I'd really like to see their PAID membership statistics. It only took us 15 years to get off them! I'm not kidding. 15 years!
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Cougfan2
Member
Oro Food for thought. I had never really thought of the Starship Troopers "Citizen" thing that way, but it makes a certain amount of sense. I view many of the current entitlement programs and the now cradle to grave nanny state handouts being pushed as the modern day equivalent of standing outside of the polling place and handing a bottle of whiskey and a $10.00 bill to people and saying "Vote for Me!".
Oops, did I just make this a political thread? Mea Culpa!
Oops, did I just make this a political thread? Mea Culpa!
I am also one of those turn coat liberals as well. I have lots of liberal tendancies, but as a fuller definition of the term deserves, I think it means protecting the 2nd Amendment as well.
One can be brainwashed a bit in school and think guns equal evil doings. There's a bit of anthromorphism going on there, if that's what I can call it, to ascribe to a lump of steel, wood and plastic all sorts of maniacal attributes that doesn't take into consideration the intent behind the use of any gun. That it's fundamentally just a tool, or why hand them out to cops to catch the bad guys after the fact?
When I looked around and saw that my father was a lifer in the Army (retired) and a hunter in his youth, that my uncle owns guns, my brother in law was a former cop and a hunter, all my cousins own guns and hunt (me? not much of a hunter), but all of them are good people. You can't misassociate the fact that guns and very good people can go together and it's not just the gangbangers and evildoers that show up on the media reports to so easily equate violence necessarily with gun ownership. Look at those with whom you keep company who are gun owners and then ask how many of them are bad people? Very few because we are not criminals and have no inclination to be. Guns don't cause violence or evil. People do and will find ways around laws and society regardless of the restrictions on the regular work-a-day Joe.
I also do think it's a case of milieu where those who have had the opportunity to recognize the very best in society and can see them as gun owners as well have an honest appraisal of weapons because they can be used for good....not just for bad. On the other hand, where someone in an urban setting may have never seen, handled or understood that a gun is and can be something other than a tool used by the worst in society only sees a boarded up view of gun ownership that never takes into account the vast majority of good folks who own guns. These backgrounds clash and I think this is where you get the skewed view points.
Not all gun owners wear camo pants and pretent to be in the military or are other than good citizens who happen to enjoy shooting sports, hunting and deem guns to be good tools with which to defend themselves and their families.
Yeah, joined 4-5 years ago and since that time have probably given enough extra moolah to have about 15 year renewals. They do ask for money, that's true. And they may not be the best organization out there, but they are the one that exists on a national level and which can help with the cause of recognizing that the 2nd amendment applies to everyone and showcasing that the people in the organization are good folks who want to enjoy the right to own a gun without it being thought of as something intrinsically bad or malicious.
One can be brainwashed a bit in school and think guns equal evil doings. There's a bit of anthromorphism going on there, if that's what I can call it, to ascribe to a lump of steel, wood and plastic all sorts of maniacal attributes that doesn't take into consideration the intent behind the use of any gun. That it's fundamentally just a tool, or why hand them out to cops to catch the bad guys after the fact?
When I looked around and saw that my father was a lifer in the Army (retired) and a hunter in his youth, that my uncle owns guns, my brother in law was a former cop and a hunter, all my cousins own guns and hunt (me? not much of a hunter), but all of them are good people. You can't misassociate the fact that guns and very good people can go together and it's not just the gangbangers and evildoers that show up on the media reports to so easily equate violence necessarily with gun ownership. Look at those with whom you keep company who are gun owners and then ask how many of them are bad people? Very few because we are not criminals and have no inclination to be. Guns don't cause violence or evil. People do and will find ways around laws and society regardless of the restrictions on the regular work-a-day Joe.
I also do think it's a case of milieu where those who have had the opportunity to recognize the very best in society and can see them as gun owners as well have an honest appraisal of weapons because they can be used for good....not just for bad. On the other hand, where someone in an urban setting may have never seen, handled or understood that a gun is and can be something other than a tool used by the worst in society only sees a boarded up view of gun ownership that never takes into account the vast majority of good folks who own guns. These backgrounds clash and I think this is where you get the skewed view points.
Not all gun owners wear camo pants and pretent to be in the military or are other than good citizens who happen to enjoy shooting sports, hunting and deem guns to be good tools with which to defend themselves and their families.
Yeah, joined 4-5 years ago and since that time have probably given enough extra moolah to have about 15 year renewals. They do ask for money, that's true. And they may not be the best organization out there, but they are the one that exists on a national level and which can help with the cause of recognizing that the 2nd amendment applies to everyone and showcasing that the people in the organization are good folks who want to enjoy the right to own a gun without it being thought of as something intrinsically bad or malicious.
Butter said:
Excellent post, Butter. Plus "anthropomorphism" (sic) is one of my top five favorite words. You get big points in my book for that.
But I think that is exactly the point, and you hit it. People extrapolate their own fears and internal bad thoughts into the tool, and thus anthopomophisize it. We have lots of other ways of saying it more commonly - "guns don't kill people, people do" - but that's the same thing, just less clinically spoken. And then they extend that to project their internal fears into anyone who is an NRA member or supporter. "Hoplophobia" is a real mental disease as I've learned; and some medical professionals are starting to classify it as such.
Here's my one claim to fame: You have probably not seen this move, but it was by a famous director and actor: "Below" by Darren Aronofsky and starring Bruce Greenwood ( if you don't know his name, he's the guy who plaid Captain Pike in the new "Star Trek" movie - he's good). Darren was the guy who made "Pi" years ago and he also made the recent hit "The Wrestler" with Mickey Rourke.
His buddy who helped him write "Below" (one of their intermediate flops between the good films!) asked me to help him understand guns and how they worked so he could write it into the script accurately. Unfortunately, he asked me this after a dinner party in my apartment in NYC.
. I went to the bedroom and brought back a 1911 type pistol, walked him through the manual-of-arms a few times (Condition 1, 2, 3, why there's no "half cock" in acutal use, etc.) a few times while we sat on a couch. After about 20 minutes of this, an English person who was at the party and in the room noticed, and flipped out. She saw there was an unloaded, legally owned and licensed, gun being analyzed in a safe manner and pointed in a safe direction and she lost it. I mean "lost it." Now, let me add two things:
1) the handling of the 1911 by Bruce Greenwood in the submarine movie "Below" are relatively authentic based on ME! (too bad it was a bad movie).
2) This "freak-out" woman is actually a prominent NY journalist, and she's neither American nor open minded to guns, and she's what sets the tenor and tone of our national media debate and dialogue on guns.
It may come as no shock, but despite being close friends for years, she's refused to return my friendly and non-confrontational emails for over 10 years. I'm so no longer shocked.
Hk91-762mm
Member
Im a life member.
2 years ago we went to Philly-and visited the historic section-They now have metal dectors and security-I have my large pocket knife on me .Standing about 10 back in line I take out my knife holding it up I ask the guard--Will This Fly?? She went and got a supervisor Who took one look at my NRA hat and gave me a thumbs up to go through security with it!
2 years ago we went to Philly-and visited the historic section-They now have metal dectors and security-I have my large pocket knife on me .Standing about 10 back in line I take out my knife holding it up I ask the guard--Will This Fly?? She went and got a supervisor Who took one look at my NRA hat and gave me a thumbs up to go through security with it!
DeepSouth
Random Guy
I have been told their membership almost doubled in the Clinton years. I don't know if it is true or not but if it is, I would not be at all surprised to see an even greater outcry this time around.
Oro,
Interesting and sadly, not surprising. Also, not surprising that I can misspell words. LOL
Oddly, my wife is Japanese and her place of birth doesn't have a gun culture, but she grew up in part on Guam and had a good friend whose family owned a gun range there. She grew up shooting a bit here and there and has no particular animosity to guns or their ownership. In fact, she has a few 'toys' of her own. And her sister's husband was a former cop and had been a hunter (they both moved recently to Oregon). From her personal appreciation of gun ownership she sees friends and loved ones, not those for whom a gun is an instrument of evil. Again, experience, education and personal history can pave a way to understanding where only pointed disdain exists without that person ever having stepped foot in the pool.
Interesting and sadly, not surprising. Also, not surprising that I can misspell words. LOL
Oddly, my wife is Japanese and her place of birth doesn't have a gun culture, but she grew up in part on Guam and had a good friend whose family owned a gun range there. She grew up shooting a bit here and there and has no particular animosity to guns or their ownership. In fact, she has a few 'toys' of her own.
And her sister's husband was a former cop and had been a hunter (they both moved recently to Oregon). From her personal appreciation of gun ownership she sees friends and loved ones, not those for whom a gun is an instrument of evil. Again, experience, education and personal history can pave a way to understanding where only pointed disdain exists without that person ever having stepped foot in the pool.StuntHeavy
Member
I too have joined up since the one from 'Hawaii' came about.
Oro,
Interesting and sadly, not surprising. Also, not surprising that I can misspell words. LOL
Oddly, my wife is Japanese and her place of birth doesn't have a gun culture, but she grew up in part on Guam and had a good friend whose family owned a gun range there. She grew up shooting a bit here and there and has no particular animosity to guns or their ownership. In fact, she has a few 'toys' of her own. And her sister's husband was a former cop and had been a hunter (they both moved recently to Oregon). From her personal appreciation of gun ownership she sees friends and loved ones, not those for whom a gun is an instrument of evil. Again, experience, education and personal history can pave a way to understanding where only pointed disdain exists without that person ever having stepped foot in the pool.
Interesting and sadly, not surprising. Also, not surprising that I can misspell words. LOL
Oddly, my wife is Japanese and her place of birth doesn't have a gun culture, but she grew up in part on Guam and had a good friend whose family owned a gun range there. She grew up shooting a bit here and there and has no particular animosity to guns or their ownership. In fact, she has a few 'toys' of her own.
And her sister's husband was a former cop and had been a hunter (they both moved recently to Oregon). From her personal appreciation of gun ownership she sees friends and loved ones, not those for whom a gun is an instrument of evil. Again, experience, education and personal history can pave a way to understanding where only pointed disdain exists without that person ever having stepped foot in the pool.Seenterman
Member
- Joined
- May 9, 2008
- Messages
- 192
Yea that's how they hooked me, now there sending me emails asking to join as a paid member. After my trip to Europe this August I will be joining as a full fledged member and not some commie hippie free member.
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