Which RKBA organization to support?

[Walkalong]

Just pick one and do it.

Order from companies who "round up" for the NRA, and do more than just rounding up to the next dollar. $1.29, $2.57, etc. It all adds up.

 

[GEM]

The NRA plus your state organization - like the TSRA for me.

They are the most efficient use of money. Not perfect - of course - I know better on many issues but they'll do.

 

[JImbothefiveth]

I'd say the NRA is the best, and then a state organization.

Just stay away from AHSA! Most of the board of directors are donors to or were members of handgun control inc., and they want to ban private sales and .50 calibers. Before the presidential campaign started, they wanted to ban hollowpoints and "assault weapons".

 

[RPCVYemen]

Just stay away from AHSA!

Just to be clear - not everyone agrees with JImbothefiveth.

If you want to read threads debating the AHSA, here are two existing threads - the moderators don't think we need another (and I agree ):

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=419569

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=405427

I don't want to re-ignite that debate, and won't respond any anti-AHSA posturing on this thread. You can read the two cited threads and make up your own mind.

I am a member of the NRA and the AHSA.

Mike

 

[rbernie]

Just to be clear - not everyone agrees with JImbothefiveth.

But most do, simply because we are willing to engage in critical thought.

AHSA is a shell organization that at best serves no value to the RKBA movement, and at worst is a front for the anti-RKBA crowd. They're of no value to the RKBA movement even under the best of conditions and assuming that their motives are virtuous.

The AHSA sponsors no shooting or hunting events, they provide no shooting or hunters education, and they have virtually zero presence on the legal side other than to offer the occasional press release (usually touting some incremental ban that they support, all in the name of 'reasonableness'). For the majority of their existence, they supported the reinstatement of the expired 1994 AWB. They currently are supportive of classifying any 50 BMG weapon as an NFA item. They also support ending the ability of gun owners to engage in private face-to-face sales.

The "American Hunters and Shooters Association" is neither active in supporting hunters nor active in supporting shooters.

How again do they qualify as a RKBA organization?

 

[CU74]

My signature line lists the organizations I support.

Life member of NRA because they are the 800-pound gorilla inside the beltway. I often disagree with what they are, or are NOT doing, but they are an overall effective voice for our Constitutional rights.

Life Member of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Not a big player, but they provide me with information that I use when writing to my legislators.

The Second Amendment Foundation. Another small player, but they use their money for lawsuits to defend our rights and overturn miscarraiges of "justice". (While NRA got the publicity, it was SAF who filed the lawsuit on New Orleans after citizens had their guns confiscated.)

Kansas State Rifle Association. Well, DUH - I live in Kansas..... The national gun rights folks just cannot address local issues. JOIN YOUR STATE RIFLE ASSOCIATION!

I used to be a member of GOA, but no longer. Their juvenile and overheated rhetoric, combined with their attacks on other gun rights organizations, doesn't do it for me. IMHO, GOA does more harm than good - a personal opinion, yours may be different. (For those who disagree and will rebut expecting an argument, save it for something important - I'm not interested in such a debate.)

 

[stevelyn]

Someone is going to bring up the AHSA (American Hunter's and Shooter's Association) so we might as well toss it on the table. It is an organization claiming to be a viable alternative specifically to the NRA, but somehow supports banning certain types of firearms. The folks that started it come from the anti organizations and their membership is tiny (really tiny) while their visibility is disproportionate to their numbers. They've been discussed repeatedly here and those discussions are easy enough to find

American Hunters and Shooters Association are the Brady/VPC puke's propaganda/psyops/disinformation section with a deceptive organization name designed to pull in the intellectually lazy and big labor Fudds.
They aren't "pro" anything, but towing the Brady line.

 

[travis74]

Start with the NRA

 

[Shung]

NRA ! this is THE day to do it !

 

[Deanimator]

American Hunters and Shooters Association are the Brady/VPC puke's propaganda/psyops/disinformation section with a deceptive organization name designed to pull in the intellectually lazy and big labor Fudds.
They aren't "pro" anything, but towing the Brady line.

They are to today's American gun owner what the Judenrat were to European Jews in the 1940s. They're trying to get you onto the boxcars without a fight. Don't believe them.

 

[texas bulldog]

NRA EZ-pay life
TSRA conditional life

as soon as those are paid off (and i'm paying more than the minimums, that's for sure), i'll start sending money specifically to the NRA-ILA, since that's the aspect of their work i am most concerned with.

 

[JImbothefiveth]

Just to be clear - not everyone agrees with JImbothefiveth.

The NRA agrees with JImbothefiveth on this matter.

and won't respond any anti-AHSA posturing on this thread.

Darn right you won't. You can't, because of the previously listed bans they support, and because almost all of the board members have ties to gun control groups, and because the brady campaign said their goals were complimentary, or something like that.

 

[JImbothefiveth]

From the NRA

The most telling thing about AHSA is its leadership. A quick look at their website shows that Bob Ricker is listed as AHSA Executive Director. Readers will remember that Ricker is a former NRA employee who switched sides and has actively worked for gun control groups for many years now. A few years ago, Ricker was part of an attempt to sell out your rights by brokering a deal with the most anti-gun administration in history. He then appeared with Bill Clinton in a White House photo-op. Most recently Ricker was paid by a Virginia based anti-gun group, where he lobbied to shut down gun shows and put further restrictions on gun owners.

A little further down in the leadership section John Rosenthal is listed as President of the AHSA Foundation. Rosenthal is one of the founders of the Massachusetts based group Stop Handgun Violence, a group that has been a major force in passing some of the most Draconian state gun laws in the nation. Gun laws that Rosenthal would like to see exported to other states.