What has the NRA recently done?

[Phil DeGraves]

Publicizing that incident, given enough time, could reinforce castle doctrine all across America

As I remember, they did publicize that incident. But they don't own ABC, CBS or NBC and those leftwingers are certainly not going to publicize it. So exactly what sort of publicity are you advocating and how?
Sounds like to me, that there are a lot of people here that like to complain and do little else. For those people, nothing anybody says is going to change their mind. "Don't confuse me with facts, my mind is made up."

I can understand sturm's resentment, but the NRA of 40 years ago is not the NRA of today and if you want them to protect what is left of the class 3 issue, you can do that by being a member and letting them know how you feel. They are more likely to represent the interests of members than non-members. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. As far as national impact, Bill Clinton said that the NRA was directly responsible for the election of a Republican Congress during his tenure in office as President (and thank God for that, too, as he could have and would have wreaked havoc on our second amendment rights had he had a Democrat majority in Congress.)

 

[homers]

Carry your own weight for once!

Enough already, I getting a bit PO at people who either own guns or claim to support the 2nd amendment yet don't do jack to make sure it's not trampled on!

pay $40-$50 a year, get a friend to join and stop freeloading off the rest of us who are carrying you.

I trust the NRA to most do the right thing, I don't trust Obama and the anti-gun politicians at all.

 

[Vermont]

It sounds to me like the OP was just begging for reasons to join the NRA. If his mind was made up against joining the NRA, he wouldn't have asked the question. Instead of giving him reasons to join, many posters insulted him and ignored his question. It's disappointing, to say the least.

Thanks to those who gave respectful and well thought out answers.

 

[ilbob]

The NRA has several different faces.

One is the NRA itself. Its a group of hunters, shooters and gun owners who have banded together to promote their own best interests. The NRA is the national sanctioning body for a number of different shooting sports (dozens anyway). It trains the coaches and range officers, and runs the leagues, matches and tournaments through a large network of volunteers. It also manages a large number of mostly volunteer firearms instructors, and maintains the means to train and certify those instructors. Tens of millions of people take NRA firearm safety classes every year, including the Eddie Eagle classes for children, self defense classes, and muzzle loading rifle classes (just to name a few of the hundreds of classes the NRA offers). The NRA also supports hunter safety efforts, and supports the maintenance of hunting lands. They also have range development people who help people figure out how to build new ranges, both indoor, outdoor, commercial, and club. This is the more practical side of the second amendment. Helping people to learn to shoot and handle firearms safely and having safe organized activities and places to shoot is pretty darn important to the second amendment.

The NRA/ILA is the political action affiliate of the NRA. Thats probably what you think of when you hear the word NRA. It directly lobbies for the RTKBA and hunting protections, mostly at the federal level, but at the state level to some extent. They also have some efforts to train people in these efforts so there are grass roots volunteers operating in every state fighting the good fight.

There is also a legal defense fund affiliate that pays for legal costs associated with various RTKBA issues.

Don't forget the National Firearms Museum affiliated with the NRA.

There is the NRA foundation that raises money for various shooting related activities, including a lot of youth oriented ones. Got to get the next generation involved.

I've probably missed more than a few things, but all of them directly or indirectly contribute to supporting the RTKBA. Sometimes the indirect efforts are more important than the direct ones.

 

[rbernie]

They are more likely to represent the interests of members than non-members. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

Dingdingdingding!

We have a winnah!

 

[BBQLS1]

Fine and dandy?

Here's what they've done recently....

THEY SETTLED WITH NEW ORLEANS.

They had a black-and-white case complete with video footage of a 70 year old woman getting tackled by the SWAT team, an opportunity to press Katrina as a civil rights violation, an opportunity to point out the REAL reason for gun ownership in this country (exactly instances like post-Katrina), and the opportunity to embarrass the ever-living *&^T% out of a major US city and possibly even have its do-nothing grabber mayor eating out of a dumpster by now.

Instead, they settled for getting a couple firearms back to their original owners.

If that's a victory, then all you us-vs-them types really need to reevaluate where the line is, and what side you're actually on.

There's facts for you... don't let the bandwagoneers get to you, everything you need to make an informed decision is beaten to death every time someone makes a passionate plea begging us to waste our money.

Oh, and NRAphiles, please note that if you pushed membership for educational reasons, I'd be 100% behind you. That is, after all, the original purpose of the group and presumably why they were so asleep at the wheel for the entire 20th century.

What should they have done then? They got what they could back to the owners. They prompted the passing of laws to keep it from happening again. I'm not sure there was much more to be done by the NRA.

The Criminal Prosecution doesn't belong to the NRA.

 

[MaterDei]

Your dad is a member. Have you asked him why it's important to him?

The NRA is ME and others like me. Politicians fear the NRA not because of what they do but rather who they are. Me, others, and hopefully you. The sheer number of gun owners who are active enough to simply join the NRA is where our power lies because we are voters and voters are who the politicians fear and respect, not lobbyists. When an NRA lobbyist steps into a politician's office the politician doesn't see one guy, he sees over 4,000,000 voters.

If you want to join a group other than the NRA that's great but do it in addition to joining the NRA. Join us, we need you.

 

[schloe]

I think the time and money you want to devote to gun owners' rights can be much better spent elsewhere. I'm not a member and I never will be.

You have to remember that the NRA is only interested in fighting for our rights just enough to keep itself around.

 

[sturmgewehr]

Has the NRA dealt with GCA 68 and NFA34 yet?
If so, when? And if not, how much longer til' they do?
NFA 34 and GCA68 are the crux of our RKBA problem.

Repeal the GCA's of '34 and 68? THEY HELPED AUTHOR THEM AND SUPPORTED THEM!.

From American Rifleman Magazine circa 1968.

"The NRA supported The National Firearms Act of 1934 which taxes and requires registration of such firearms as machine guns, sawed-off rifles and sawed-off shotguns. ... NRA support of Federal gun legislation did not stop with the earlier Dodd bills. It currently backs several Senate and House bills which, through amendment, would put new teeth into the National and Federal Firearms Acts." —American Rifleman, March 1968, P. 22

 

[MD_Willington]

They are helping a bunch of us Legal Permanent Residents smack WA State... the only State in the union that discriminates against us...

 

[sturmgewehr]

Where was the NRA when Mr. Olofson (a National Guardsman) was charged and ultimately convicted of being in possession of an illegal weapon? His FACTORY AR15 doubled in front of police officers and he was reported to the ATF who then brought charges against him. The NRA should have had their hired gun lawyers all over that, but they didn't. Now the precedent is set, if your legal AR15 (or other semi-auto) doubles up, you can be charged and convicted of a felony.

Talk about being asleep at the wheel...

 

[jimmyraythomason]

What have we/they,the NRA done? Understand this one fact. Until WE elect government officials who believe that the U.S. Constitution is THE law of the land and honor their oath to protect it. Until we quit voting our pocketbook and vote our convictions then we must rely on the NRA to fight against those that WE put into office to protect our 2nd amendment rights(as well as all others). Until some other RKBA group grows larger and has more clout than the NRA, then they/we are all that stands between US and the loss of the 2nd Amendment(quickly followed by all others).

 

[welldoya]

I was a member of the NRA for many years but let it lapse several years ago. The main reason is I got tired of getting stuff in the mail wanting more money. And I really got tired of those fake polls with questions designed to really get us excited and send them more money. I hate being thought a fool.
I don't really have the extra money to send them and figured all the crap they were sending me pretty much negated my initial $35 a year membership fee so why bother ?
Now, I would join again if they would take that $35 and put it towards doing some good and quit spending it on postage and junk mail to ask me for more money.
I would also kind of like to know the salaries of the top 5 employees of the NRA.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Welldoya. No member dues are used to send out the polls etc. That is done by the NRA-ILA. So unless you contribute directly to the ILA "your" money isn't being used.

 

[Frank Ettin]

...he [Wayne Lapierre] makes more then twice as much as the POUS and it takes...

You can't compare them. In addition to his salary, POTUS gets some pretty neat housing, domestic and personal staff, an office budget, some very neat transportation benefits, personal security and a dandy retirement package.

...Has the NRA dealt with GCA 68 and NFA34 yet? If so, when? And if not, how much longer til' they do? NFA 34 and GCA68 are the crux of our RKBA problem....

And what makes you think that either the GCA 68 or the NFA 34 are vulnerable at this time? If they are vulnerable, why hasn't one of the other RKBA organizations fixed them yet?

I think the time and money you want to devote to gun owners' rights can be much better spent elsewhere....

And what other national RKBA organization has actually accomplished anything?

...I would also kind of like to know the salaries of the top 5 employees of the NRA....

And how much should they be making, based on the going rate for senior executives?

 

[alsaqr]

Has the NRA dealt with GCA 68 and NFA34 yet?
If so, when? And if not, how much longer til' they do?
NFA 34 and GCA68 are the crux of our RKBA problem.

The NRA and all the other pro-gun groups could spend their entire budgets for the next 50 years and the NFA34 and GCA68 would not go away. The best shot we had at it was from 2001-2006: But our fine gun loving friends in congress had no time for our issues.

 

[olyeller]

I fully expect you nra bashers to lobby your local and national representatives yourself.

Unless you can afford to hire your own lobbyists, do all us a favor and chip in for the effort, huh?

 

[X-Rap]

In 34 and 68 what other org. was even in the fight? In 34 FDR and his hacks had the country by the nuggets and could have outlawed then.
In 68 there were 3 high profile assassinations in that decade and gun sentiment was not exactly loving in the general population.
See a trend? I think it is numbers, someone else posted about compromise and I agree. If the NRA had the membership of all the gun owners in the country there would not be compromise because 10s of millions of men and women would be speaking with one voice.
This next administration will be the master of the Bully Pulpit and he will have the media in his pocket more so than any president before.
If any gun owners think he will not use the full spectrum of the government to get what he wants then take leave of us now but the rest of us need to band together in that one voice and show the strength and commitment to defeat what is comming.
The NRA will never be everything to everybody, for me I miss the old Jack Booted Thug days but that turned off some of the more passive members. I have a feeling that phrase will be revived again although probably under regretable circumstances.
And as for the other groups, what have they really done in comparison to the NRA? I'm betting you will find the reason for their lackluster accomplishments due mainly to lack of numbers. Can we at least agree on the numbers thing.
For the price of a few boxes of ammo we can belong to a good national and state org. at the minimum the more the better.

 

[SuperNaut]

All the guys complaining about the mailers must not realize you can opt out.

 

[Frank Ettin]

X-rap, +1.

 

[RPCVYemen]

All the guys complaining about the mailers must not realize you can opt out.

How do you do that? Can you do it online?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[COMPNOR]

These Pro- and Anti-NRA threads seem to come up on a bi-weekly basis.

That's funny, because while it certainly has turned out that way, that was not what this thread was suppose to be about. I was seeking information about what the NRA has recently done to make them worth supporting.

[/quote]
The OP to me sounded like he was already predisposed against the NRA and is just agitating...stirring the pot and causing dissension amongst other members here.
[/quote]

I certainly apologize if that's what you think, because that was certainly not my intent. I'm not predisposed against the NRA. But I'm certainly not inclined to join them either. I was hoping maybe I could get some good information.

If anyone truthfully is seeking information on the NRA there are about a thousand threads on it here already and it is about 30 seconds worth of time using the search function. You can also go to their website. Or Google "NRA" and it will give you several lifetimes of results to pore through. I for one am tired of defending my organization. You're either for it or against it and no one is going to change their minds.

Oh, I've read several of the threads on THR about the NRA. And its mostly people bickering back and forth about why to join and why not to join. Several of the not to join reasons appear to have been done many years ago. Some may condemn an organization for what happened 40+ years ago. I'll be a bit more forgiving. That's why I was looking for what they've done recently. As for googling, my google-fu has never been any good. I was hoping there might exist out there a resource that says "this is what the NRA has accomplished in the last 5 years" or something. Something that was not directly related to the NRA. If such a thing does not exist, then say so. If it does, point it out.

I'm not asking you to defend your organization. I'm asking to be supplied with FACTS, so that I can draw my own conclusions. Sadly, most people in this thread were not helpful, and stuff like this:

Enough already, I getting a bit PO at people who either own guns or claim to support the 2nd amendment yet don't do jack to make sure it's not trampled on!

pay $40-$50 a year, get a friend to join and stop freeloading off the rest of us who are carrying you.

really turns me off. And its not just one member, its a prevalent attitude. Because saying that says that if you're not a member of the NRA, you aren't doing squat(even if you are).

This really was just a simple question that many people are taking way out of context.

 

[SuperNaut]

How do you do that? Can you do it online?

Adjust your account HERE.

If that doesn't work, call them.

 

[Jeff White]

Closed at OP's request.

 

[Mal H]

Closed as requested by the original poster. It has gone too far afield from the original request for information on why to join the NRA.