Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Bashing the NRA

But where is Shrapnel in the pic? Oops! I don't see him in the pic either. Probably was busy attending the Mitt Romney rally.

I am the NRA, what can you say about yourself?

The difference between you and I is that I don't say much about myself...Chuck.

You don't have time, you're to busy criticising others...

or the NRA

Certainly there are a lot of critiques worthy of making, but time isn't a factor. The difference is upbringing. You're a smart guy...or so you say. You figure it out...you know, for real and not just for an inaccurate deflection. Or not.

Excellent Post EE...To answer 700LH:
It’s beyond frustrating to watch state gun rights being taking away at unprecedented speed. Money giving can salve the consciousness of some, maybe many...And, that’s a good thing giving financial assistance to organization that are in the fight for 2A-both on state and federal levels....

I’m not sure this is a good example (analogy) of what I’m trying to say... I believe we need individuals with a strong voice of common sense and stead fast resolve that 2A and our ability as law abiding citizens that our choices to own a firearm no matter the color, attachment added, name of what it’s called, or what is used to fill it with cartridges, or where we can keep it or carry it, can’t be infringed upon by any state legislation or law.

Some people need a leader to follow- Someone or some organization that brings everyone together under one common banner to make it easier to stand as one against anti-gun laws....Thinking along the lines of the Civil Rights movement. MLK and his minions worked both politically and socially to gather very large groups of people to show Americans they wanted more....And it worked.

We need grass-roots leaders across the US to get people out of their chairs to stand with other like minded in view of the nation with the media taking in the numbers of law abiding Americans saying No! You will not take away, or legislate away our rights to own and carry a firearm. Full Stop!

We need to amass people across the nation in every city and state to show that we as gun owners will no longer be apathetic to anti-gun laws....I’m attending my first state rally this Saturday. I’m not going to get into a ruckus against the anti-gun protesters that will be present...I’m going to add myself as “1” more law abiding, gun owner who’s standing up to say no more.

We needs leaders! 😎

Thank you. I was a voting member of the NRA for a long time but never became a Life member, even though it would have saved me money. I could have even put donations towards that instead and have been a Life member a long time ago. The thing was/is I figured that if I paid for a Life Membership, I had absolutely no hold on the NRA since the purse strings seem always to be the only way to get anybody to listen.

I remember voting for board members and there were a few times that I even knew the guys. Many of them were wishy-washy types that made Mitt Romney or Jeb Bush look like fire-eating heroes of the Right. I know one guy personally who didn't make it onto the Board...and he is pretty well-known. He actually has a job with the NRA. IIRC it was back before the AWB sunseted and he was against "assault weapons". Unreal. IIRC so was Joaquin Jackson, semi-famous modern Texas Ranger who WAS on the NRA Board.

Unfortunately, it appears that insanity and mental handicaps are rampant amongst not only the general voters, but the subset of gun owners also. We are very handicapped by constantly having to fight our own fellows over stuff that should be pre-ordained. Nobody seems to understand that the enemy is laughing at us as they practice "divide and conquer" while we squabble amongst ourselves. To be Gus-like, amongst the humans currently eating the urth, normally the group is much more powerful than the individual, but sometimes the group is wrong and the individual is right and that individual just has to soldier on, being true to his principles, even in a losing battle.

Yep, great post. If you enjoy fiction written by losers.

If your not a member you are part of the problem. Politicians only see numbers of voters. Hasbeen

There is only one avenue to protecting our 2nd A rights. The federal courts, and getting it carved in stone that weapons ownership and possession is an individual civil right. If we pour money into fighting any other place, it is wasted. You can't fight all the blue cities, counties, and states any other way than U.S. supreme court decisions, and until that becomes the focus I'm sitting out.

We better pray that the guys Trump put on there are as good as some here think. We'll see.

I'm sure he appreciates your endorsement, comrade.

Then you’re sitting out until 2A has been legislated away in every state...You don’t see lawsuits going to the SCOTUS until a “Right” has been taken away unlawfully.

Then you’re betting that SCOTUS will affirm the US Constitution as it was written. Gonna be a lot of unarmed law abiding citizens waiting for these suits to make there way before the Supreme Court.

Don’t you think the SCOTUS values the currents of the people? Don’t you think if they see masses of Americans across the country standing together for the protection of 2A on State soil won’t be compelling while writing their concurring paper or a 2A dissent if we lose?

Sitting out makes you appear as one who doesn’t care enough to do any of the heavy lifting...Is that you? 😎

For me, the formation of the ILA in 1975 was the beginning of the end, when the rabid right drove the NRA off the rails. It was over for me. Neal Knox and his ilk co opted what was originally an organization dedicated to improving marksmanship, education regarding gun safety, and promoting the shooting sports into a lobbying organization that richly rewards its leaders and is toxic to our political discussions. I am not alone, as its favorability rating is underwater today. NRA endorsement now actually hurts a candidate's chances of being elected, mostly because it's seen as a radical fringe group more and more.

The NRA has some problems in addition to its declining reputation with voters. Specifically, it's ties to Russia and the 2016 campaign. Talk about stupidity, "patriots" being hoodwinked by Russian spies. From the Wiki:

Investigations by the FBI and Special Counsel Robert Mueller resulted in indictments of Russian agents on charges of developing and exploiting ties with the NRA to influence US politics. The deputy governor of the Central Bank of Russia, Aleksandr Torshin, is suspected of illegally funneling money through the NRA to benefit Trump's 2016 campaign. In May 2018, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee released a report stating it had obtained "a number of documents that suggest the Kremlin used the National Rifle Association as a means of accessing and assisting Mr. Trump and his campaign" through Torshin and his assistant Maria Butina, and that "The Kremlin may also have used the NRA to secretly fund Mr. Trump's campaign."[82][83][84] Torshin, a lifetime NRA member who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been implicated in money laundering by Spanish authorities who have characterized him as a "godfather" in Taganskaya, a major Russian criminal organization.[85][86]

Butina was arrested on July 15, 2018 and charged with conspiring to act as an unregistered agent of the Russian Federation and using Republican operative Paul Erickson for cover and connections as she developed an influence operation designed to "advance the interests of the Russian Federation." The FBI acquired an email Erickson had sent to an acquaintance in 2016 stating, "Unrelated to specific presidential campaigns, I've been involved in securing a VERY private line of communication between the Kremlin and key [GOP] leaders through, of all conduits, the [NRA]."[87][88] According to the affidavit, from 2015 through at least February 2017, Butina worked at the direction of Russian who was a high level government official and official at the Russian Central Bank.[89][90][91] In December, Butina agreed in a plea deal to cooperate with federal prosecutors.[92][93]

In a 2018, in a letter sent to Sen. Ron Wyden and addressed to Congress, the NRA acknowledged it had accepted approximately $2500 in contributions from 23 Russian nationals or people associated with Russian addresses since 2015. In an earlier news interview the NRA's lawyers stated that the NRA had received less than $1000 from only one Russian donor. According to a Wyden aide, the NRA letter would be referred to the Federal Elections Commission.

You gun rights are secure without the NRA. It's a bullsh*t organization raising money by fear mongering and spending it on salaries and fund raising. It needs to die.

The 2AF and Alan Gura have shown a good bit of clout. This is undeniable. There have been moments of unity with them and the NRA and this must continue....

I'm going to think about what you're saying, your position is not without merit and I think in the end we want the same result. My deal is that we are fighting on too many fronts and not trying as hard as we can to take the most defensible hill on the battleground (SCOTUS). I am afraid we're going to end up like Custer at the Little Bighorn and get too spread out and then end up destroyed. My focus would be the presidency and the Supreme court. Remember my Custer analogy, he was spread out and wiped out, while the other 7 battalions took a hill and all the spare ammo and in a military sense won their battle. They survived and the enemy evacuated and retreated. If abortion rights and gay rights and housing rights can be inferred into the constitution the right to keep and bear arms is plainly written into it. If we can't win it there, we're out of business. I don't say your position is stupid, it is just not the way I would direct my efforts if I had the say so, and the only say so I have is my money and speaking my opinion. Respectfully yours