THE NEW YORK TIMES OP-ED COLUMNIST : The N.R.A. Is Naming Names
By BOB HERBERT
Published: October 13, 2003
Columnist Page: Bob Herbert
The National Rifle Association doesn't call it an enemies list, but deep in the
recesses of the organization's Web site is a long, long compilation of the names
of groups and individuals that the N.R.A. considers unfriendly.
I'm happy to report that I'm on the list, but my name is truly one among very
many. The A.F.L.-C.I.O. is there, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. The
Children's Defense Fund and the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs are
there. The United States Catholic Conference, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and
the Y.W.C.A. of the U.S.A. are all there.
Among the celebrities on the list are Dr. Joyce Brothers, Candice Bergen, Walter
Cronkite, Doug Flutie, Michelle Pfeiffer, Vinny Testaverde, Moon Zappa and the
Temptations.
Also on the list are the Kansas City Chiefs, Hallmark Cards, the Sara Lee
Corporation, Ben & Jerry's, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City.
I'm sure there's a method to the N.R.A. madness, but to tell you the truth, all
I can see is the madness.
All of the groups and individuals listed are supposed to be anti-gun. I can't
speak for the Kansas City Chiefs or Moon Zappa, but I'm not anti-gun. I think
soldiers, the police and certain other law enforcement officials should have
guns. Civilians, however, should be required to demonstrate a good reason for
having firearms. We should go to great lengths to keep guns out of the hands of
children, criminals and insane people. All guns should be registered. And all
gun owners should be properly trained and licensed.
The N.R.A. sees this as a radical, even lunatic position. So I guess we're at
odds.
I asked Andrew Arulanandam, the N.R.A.'s director of public affairs, why the
list had been compiled and displayed on the Web site. He said, "We put the list
together in response to many requests by our members wanting to know which
organizations support the rights of law-abiding Americans to keep and bear arms,
and which organizations didn't."
I asked what he thought his members would do with the information. He said, "How
they use the information is at their own discretion."
I recently read Jules Witcover's book "The Year the Dream Died: Revisiting 1968
in America." The murders that year of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were
among the great tragedies of U.S. history. Both were killed by freaks with guns.
What is not so well known now is that President Lyndon Johnson tried, in the
aftermath of the murders, to get Congress to pass legislation requiring the
registration of guns and the licensing of owners. The gun lobby fought and
killed that effort, and it continues to fight to the death any attempt to bring
sanity to the manufacture, sale and possession of guns.
Between 1968, the year of Johnson's failure to get his legislation passed, and
2001, the last year for which complete statistics are available, more than one
million Americans were killed by firearms.
No number of gun-related fatalities or serious injuries is sufficient to deter
the N.R.A. from its fanatical course. A former N.R.A. lawyer has admitted in an
affidavit in a lawsuit that distributors and gun dealers have for years been
illegally diverting guns that end up in the hands of criminals, and that the
industry has closed its eyes to the practice.
Instead of fighting to end this threat to the public's safety, the gun lobby and
its allies in Congress are pushing legislation that would protect the practice
by granting special immunity from liability to gun manufacturers and sellers.
The big item on the legislative agenda next year is the federal assault-weapons
ban signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994. Because of a sunset
provision, the law will expire next September if it is not renewed by Congress
and the president. The gun lobby has made it clear that it will do all in its
power to bury the ban. The plan is to not even let the issue come up for a vote.
The N.R.A. Web site and its enemies list (which looks like nothing so much as a
broad cross-section of America) has led inevitably to a counter Web site,
nrablacklist.com, created by a group called stopthenra.com. In addition to
facing off against the gun lobby on legislative matters, the new group and its
site are inviting people to volunteer for a spot on the N.R.A. enemies list.
Ah, free expression.
By BOB HERBERT
Published: October 13, 2003
Columnist Page: Bob Herbert
The National Rifle Association doesn't call it an enemies list, but deep in the
recesses of the organization's Web site is a long, long compilation of the names
of groups and individuals that the N.R.A. considers unfriendly.
I'm happy to report that I'm on the list, but my name is truly one among very
many. The A.F.L.-C.I.O. is there, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. The
Children's Defense Fund and the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs are
there. The United States Catholic Conference, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and
the Y.W.C.A. of the U.S.A. are all there.
Among the celebrities on the list are Dr. Joyce Brothers, Candice Bergen, Walter
Cronkite, Doug Flutie, Michelle Pfeiffer, Vinny Testaverde, Moon Zappa and the
Temptations.
Also on the list are the Kansas City Chiefs, Hallmark Cards, the Sara Lee
Corporation, Ben & Jerry's, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City.
I'm sure there's a method to the N.R.A. madness, but to tell you the truth, all
I can see is the madness.
All of the groups and individuals listed are supposed to be anti-gun. I can't
speak for the Kansas City Chiefs or Moon Zappa, but I'm not anti-gun. I think
soldiers, the police and certain other law enforcement officials should have
guns. Civilians, however, should be required to demonstrate a good reason for
having firearms. We should go to great lengths to keep guns out of the hands of
children, criminals and insane people. All guns should be registered. And all
gun owners should be properly trained and licensed.
The N.R.A. sees this as a radical, even lunatic position. So I guess we're at
odds.
I asked Andrew Arulanandam, the N.R.A.'s director of public affairs, why the
list had been compiled and displayed on the Web site. He said, "We put the list
together in response to many requests by our members wanting to know which
organizations support the rights of law-abiding Americans to keep and bear arms,
and which organizations didn't."
I asked what he thought his members would do with the information. He said, "How
they use the information is at their own discretion."
I recently read Jules Witcover's book "The Year the Dream Died: Revisiting 1968
in America." The murders that year of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were
among the great tragedies of U.S. history. Both were killed by freaks with guns.
What is not so well known now is that President Lyndon Johnson tried, in the
aftermath of the murders, to get Congress to pass legislation requiring the
registration of guns and the licensing of owners. The gun lobby fought and
killed that effort, and it continues to fight to the death any attempt to bring
sanity to the manufacture, sale and possession of guns.
Between 1968, the year of Johnson's failure to get his legislation passed, and
2001, the last year for which complete statistics are available, more than one
million Americans were killed by firearms.
No number of gun-related fatalities or serious injuries is sufficient to deter
the N.R.A. from its fanatical course. A former N.R.A. lawyer has admitted in an
affidavit in a lawsuit that distributors and gun dealers have for years been
illegally diverting guns that end up in the hands of criminals, and that the
industry has closed its eyes to the practice.
Instead of fighting to end this threat to the public's safety, the gun lobby and
its allies in Congress are pushing legislation that would protect the practice
by granting special immunity from liability to gun manufacturers and sellers.
The big item on the legislative agenda next year is the federal assault-weapons
ban signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994. Because of a sunset
provision, the law will expire next September if it is not renewed by Congress
and the president. The gun lobby has made it clear that it will do all in its
power to bury the ban. The plan is to not even let the issue come up for a vote.
The N.R.A. Web site and its enemies list (which looks like nothing so much as a
broad cross-section of America) has led inevitably to a counter Web site,
nrablacklist.com, created by a group called stopthenra.com. In addition to
facing off against the gun lobby on legislative matters, the new group and its
site are inviting people to volunteer for a spot on the N.R.A. enemies list.
Ah, free expression.