Wish I could have put it that eloquently. As for the 2nd amendment march- thank-you for going but I personally feel marches aren’t where it’s at today- no matter how many people show up it always seems to be marginalized in the news- even Fox news- the only coverage I saw was on CNN and it was a static camera pointed at the stage, showing a few people with Gadsden flags milling around. My preference is to attend my official’s events whether it be the golf outing last Fri. for my state rep, meeting with Boehner’s staff at the local town hall or making the occasional telephone call when necessary. I feel it is that personal contact that makes a difference. I am an Endowment NRA member- but I have never asked them to do all of my talking for me. In my opinion they are another tool in the toolbox. I did have to clean up the bathroom after the Reid lovefest though.
I suppose if you were so inclined you can come up with a legitimate excuse for avoiding doing anything. While the NRA has been playing chess and contemplating their next non-move the anti-gunners have been attacking on all fronts.
Losing in court is always a possibility but that has never stopped anti gun groups from bringing lawsuits or passing bs gun laws. If you really believe that your cause is just than fight for it. If you lose in Court you turn to the legislative process for redress. I can’t imagine the ACLU being shy about litigating an important issue, and they lose with some regularity but it doesn’t keep them on the sidelines like the NRA.
With all due respect, I don’t think you understand the realities of the political and legal situations here. You won’t be able to understand the NRA’s position unless you know that until very recently the prevailing academic and judicial interpretation of the 2nd amendment - and I’m badly paraphrasing here - was that it protected the rights of state militias, NOT individuals, to bear arms. It took a sea change in academic legal thinking to get the paradigm to the point where today the accepted consensus view is that it protects an individual right. 20 years ago that was not the case.
That said, if 20 years ago the NRA or anyone else had brought the Heller suit and taken it up to the highest court in the land, there is a fair chance they would have lost and the Brady Bunch’s interpretation of the 2nd would be stare decisis - an incorrectly decided case that would probably be upheld as precedent for the forseeable future. That means Game Over and precious few limits on state legislatures from banning individual ownership of firearms. The NRA was right not to take that chance. If they got gun-shy over Heller, that’s understandable if not commendable. Gura is a genius because it worked, but if it hadn’t…
You say that if you get a bad court decision you can turn to the legislature. Fair enough. That would have worked in Texas. It wouldn’t have worked in New Jersey. The NRA’s “do nothing” approach - which focused on local and state governments to great effect - at the least didn’t screw us all before the political and academic tide turned to the point that Heller was even a possibility.
I don’t think the anti’s have been that successful on all fronts. the AWB sunsetted, the Brady bill isn’t exactly a catastrophe, no gun show loophole closing law has been passed, and more states than ever issue CCW permits - and Heller is the cherry on top. We’re doing pretty well.
Very well put, some people just can’t seem to grasp the situations that come up now and in the past. If the Heller case would have lost and with the Supreme Court these days you just don’t know what is going to happen.
As bad as Reid is, he’s better than the guy next in line, Schumer.
It must be great to be as smart as you. You’ve apparently got it all figured out while us stupid people can’t grasp the complexities of the issue.:rolleyes:
Come out of NJ and take a look around. You think gun control groups are attacking on all fronts? They are retreating on all fronts dude! More states than ever before have shall issue ccw. More people than ever before own so called assault weapons. A Democrat douchebag in Washington tried to introduce a AWB bill in our state legislature after the tragic murders of some cops and about a thousand people showed up to protest him at the Capitol. It was defeated in committee, PARTLY BY DEMOCRATS. Washington Ceasefire and the Brady Campaign are reduced to trying to protest Starbucks for letting people carry openly in liberal Meccas like Bellevue and Seattle!
Far from “playing chess, contemplating their next non-move” the NRA has been fighting - and winning if you ask me- the battle for our RKBA. People point to setbacks suffered nearly 20 years ago or more as evidence of a losing battle and ignore the last 20 years of victories on all fronts.
…because, as I’ve stated, they have the overall tenor of government and the courts on their side. They can have as many bites at the apple as they want. We don’t have the same advantage.
As I said, this is chess…not checkers.
The NRA’s reticence was warranted…and we came down to 1 swing vote and a decision that still leaves lots of room for stupid gun laws.
So these micro stamping, 50 cal bans, one gun a month restrictions, smart guns, ammo surcharge, reloading component surcharge, H.R. 45, H.R. 257, and literally dozens of other anti gun measures introduced or considered at both the state and federal level over the past five years amounts to a retreat? You really need to pull your head out of the sand if you really think the anti gun groups are running scared. They have changed tactics and they still attack on all fronts. Either through the passage of law or through litigation they are as active now as they have ever been.
I didn’t get a memo on my desk of any of these becoming law in my state…i did however get a bazillion emails warning me about them being on the radar. Not sure how the NRA is supposed to keep from getting anti gun bills into consideration. Most of this crap doesn’t make it out of comittee.
I think what he meant to say is that it is finally starting to swing our direction with heller and a probable a 5-4 victory with Mcdonald on the way. I also heard a certain state is going to be able get suppressors & conceal carry is starting to expand, etc.
Gun control is certainly a topic most anti-gun elected official do not want to talk about if they are in fear of losing power…thank you nra members
There are two groups that attack the NRA and they are Do nothing GOA members (if you know anything useful that GOA has done please put it up), the Brady bunch or Liberal anti gun infiltrators that in other forums we used to call Trolls.
Somebody should have lost his mind to attack anybody on our side specially the NRA that in a very calculating method has done huge improvements to our right to keep and bear arms, the other organization that does a lot and is very effective is CCRKBA and the 2nd Amendment foundation.
I find it also very interesting that the same people that attack the NRA have done absolutely nothing that they can show that has benefited our rights and these are the same people in many instances that attack Hannity, Beck, Palin and many other conservatives on our side.
Even assuming that they do not get the immensity of the problem we are facing, the changing times, the amount of work and money it takes to fight the anti gunners, the number of members that are needed (There is strength in numbers that is why the constant recruiting), why we need to be inclusive of hunters, target shooters and trap and skeet shooters (there are many more hunters then combat handgun shooters and the fact that divided we fall) I find it very short sighted and simplistic to attack each other when the enemy is out there unless the enemy is Us.
I am a Life member of the NRA and a member of the CCRKBA/and 2nd amendment foundation and proud to be one, I will also join GOA if you can show me one good thing that GOA has accomplished during the last ten years except shooting their mouth and labeling our supporters as F’s.:rolleyes:
This thinking is precisely why the National Rifle Association membership will never likely fully realize the potential of the NRA, or the Second Amendment…When one holds an organization in omnipotence - beyond criticism - beyond reproach, then all is lost. Look at the multi-million dollar office complexes, look at salaries, look at advertising revenue, look at the relationship with China, subsequent merchandising and please highlight how effectively the National Rifle Association is using it’s money - OUR money to fight anti-gunners…Then please go back and read my post highlighting major NRA failures and state how those points have advanced our cause…
Not everyone who “attacks” the National Rifle Association are “do nothings”…I’d bet I could challenge you with exactly how much I do individually to stand up for the 2nd Amendment. I’d be willing to wager, that my postage stamp count, E-mail count, phone call count and boots on the ground count, would be hard to match…There is a third group of people who challenge the NRA: People who actually choose not to guzzle the fruity punch and dare to question…
I think the F’s the GOA gives out are far more honest than the NRA ratings. However if you want to go down the “chess not checkers” line of thinking then perhaps giving people who are in favor of AW gun bans something other than the F they actually deserve makes sense. If by placating Nevada voters that Harry Reid isn’t all that anti-gun, he doesn’t lose as many voters to that issue and promises(or hints at) to not push for, allow out of committee, or talk about another AWB or something along those lines. If that’s the reasoning the NRA has for not giving people like him an F then that makes slightly more sense. However, I think it’s still nice to know who is legitimately on my side…so I give everybody money.
No body is holding the NRA beyond reproach, but to expect the NRA to create miracles in certain political climates when the country is in the wrong mood or the liberal anti gunners are in a huge majority or the SCOTUS is full of liberals is a completely unreasonable demand. But if the eighty million gun owners would join the NRA and take an active role including voting for pro gun candidates instead of the likes of Obama we would be a force to be reckoned with.
You working individually for our rights is commendable but it is like a fart in the wind on top a mountain, no body cares but a group fart in the middle of Congress is something that gets things done that is why the old saying divided we fall united we win.
So you want people that are working for your rights to get paid very little and to maybe work out of a mobile home? man you are ignorant of how this world works if that is what you want to spend for people working full time for you then the quality of the people you get will be worth what you pay for this is not a communist country.
If you don’t like the people at the top of the NRA then join, run and vote to replace them.:rolleyes:
I despise Harry Reid more then most in Congress but by what I heard the only thing he has been doing right is his stance on the gun issue, if you ask me I still would vote him out.
I remember in another forum debating the same issue with another “all or nothing now, do nothing self righteous person” that was saying he will join the NRA when the NRA repeals the 1968 GCA.
My question to him was that he wanted to do absolutely nothing and reap the benefits of all the time, work and money that us NRA members, CCRKBA members would invest to solve the problem and then he would come to the table and reap the benefits.
The hell with him as I told him there also, what a selfish, self righteous prick that wants to do nothing, contribute nothing, just sit on his ass and wait for everybody else to do everything for him and when its done he will contribute his 25 dollars a year for a membership fee, screw him (and believe me but the rest of the 76 million gun owners fall into this category also).
But who are the worst ones the ones that are so self righteous that not only they do not do anything but keep vociferating against the ones that are doing their best.:rolleyes:
Hey asshole since 2001 I have donated a just a little less than $10,000 of my hard earned money to pro second amendment candidates and groups including the NRA. I don’t blow my own horn on internet message boards because it seems vainglorious, but I am sure as hell not going to sit around and let some loud mouthed douchebag on the internet tell me that I an a do nothing self righteous person. So pat yourself on the back over your $45 annual membership to the NRA. Far better people than you have given far more to our cause without being an insufferable prick about it.
Now to respond to you in kind will lower me to your level, the level where the sewers flow where you came from. I did not include you in the response in particular, if you took it personally then the shoe must fit.
I really feel sorry for you because it seems like you grew up without proper education and parental guidance, and the only internet commando (douche bag) is you, because only people like you use foul language when they are hiding under the bed and think they can not be found.
By the way did you get the title rubberneck deep throating people?
KNOCK IT OFF OR I’M REPORTING MY OWN THREAD. ridiculous.
WOW, WTF Over