I signed up for a years membership in the NRA this month. I had never been a member although I had used the American Rifleman’s articles while I was instructing marksmanship in the Army in the 1960′s. I guess I joined up for the magazine not for the politics.

Carving out special exceptions is not, in my opinion, equal protection under the law… the question is will a judge apply the special exception to everyone else or will it be thrown out so that everyone is treated equally? Who’s appointing judges at the moment?

Sigh…

But then again, considering Meg Whitman is the competition, what difference does that make?

is a very large and very complex organization that is involved in firearms training,(every police department has NRA certified instructors), shooting competitions, range development, grants for gun related programs, wildlife program support, hunter education, firearms safety program, etc. Political lobbying is only a part of its agenda.

Many of its members are the old line, lunch pail, union member Democrats that the Party has left behind. Also, in having to interact with governments on all levels in support of the programs listed above, many of those governments are controlled by Democrats and the NRA is compelled to be, or appear, non-partisan.

While I personally believe there is really no such thing as a reliable pro-gun Democrat vote, I also understand that the NRA does not have the luxury of sharing that view.

the NRA long ago dropped all of their righteous indignation when it came to encroaching on gun owner rights and have now become only about the dollar. Appeasement is their new mantra and it will not change until all of us who supported them over the years withdraw our support and money and go to the new groups that stand strong on important issues.

Every single conservative and gun owner should stop payment on their membership ASAP. The Heston days are long gone and will not be seen again in the NRA.

When you start throwing out others to the wolves chasing you in the hopes of being spared, all you do is speed you demise.

When our institutions who owe their position to the sacrifices of generations past decide to put self-interest and comfort ahead of standing for freedom and rule of law, then that society soon descends into the dark night of tyranny.

Be it 1930s Germany captains of industry allying with Hitler or ancient Rome’s Senate eating their own or the Anglo-Saxons paying Danegeld, the words of the Gods of the Copybook Headings do not change.

I’ll echo Erick in saying that GOA is a great organization. The NRA really just hasn’t been the same since Charlton Heston’s death.

When Citizens United was decided, Wayne LaPierre called the ruling “a defeat for arrogant elitists who wanted to carve out free speech as a privilege for themselves and deny it to the rest of us”. Today, the NRA staff have become the arrogant elitists seeking to carve out free speech as a privilege for themselves.

They are pragmatists.

They have supported Democrats like Snarlin’ Arlen, Harry Reid and other fools that could hardly be considered “conservative” if they thought it could benefit their cause, you do the math.

I have never supported the NRA and wish Ted Nugent and several others best wishes in wresting control from the fools that make these decisions but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

FWIW my father has a lifetime membership and I have watched the NRA since the 70′s so I do have a pretty good grasp of their politics and direction. I personally will never become a member of the NRA because they would support Caligula as long as he was ‘right’ on their pet projects.

I was literally minutes away from joining the NRA on-line when I saw this post. I am now the newest member of GOA. Thanks, RedState!

Support Conservative Judges in NC:
Judge Barbara Jackson for NC Supreme Court (www.judgebarbarajackson.com)
Judge Rick Elmore for NC Court of Appeals (www.judgeelmore.com)
Judge Sanford Steelman for NC Court of Appeals (www.judgesteelman.org)
Judge Ann Marie Calabria for NC Court of Appeals (www.judgecalabria.com)
Dean R. Poirier for NC Court of Appeals (www.poirier4justice.com)

that I received my monthly direct mail piece from the NRA legislative action committee soliciting a donation.

So, in bright red ink across the reply I noted “I’ll start donating to the NRA again when you clowns stop endorsing ultra-liberals like Ted Strickland and Tim Walz in MN CD-1.

If they endorse Walz again, I’ll use that as my excuse to drop my membership replete w/pithy letter.

I wrote a rep I know there. This is her response:

“Here is the article we posted today stating that we endorsed Ted Strickland.

http://www.nrapvf.org/news/Read.aspx?ID=13897&T=1

There are many reasons we endorsed Ted Strickland over John Kasich. Here are some.

During his tenure in the U.S. House, Ted Strickland never earned a PPC grade lower than an “A”, and he earned an “A+” three different times.

As Governor, Ted Strickland signed “Castle Doctrine” self-defense reform legislation and comprehensive concealed carry reform into law.

In contrast, John Kasich’s voting record resulted in his grade going from an “A+” in 1984 to an “F” in 1994. John Kasich voted for gun bans (specifically the 1994 Clinton semi-auto assault weapons ban), in favor of restrictions on gun shows, and in support of a ban on interstate transport of handguns.

Ted Strickland has proven to be a friend to the NRA. While we understand that Kasich’s views have changed here is our approach to grading:

NRA is a non-partisan and single-issue organization. When considering candidates for endorsement, our political action committee, the NRA Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF), reviews several aspects of a candidate’s campaign. In addition to determining a candidate’s position on the Second Amendment and firearms ownership rights, we also review other factors such as viability, likelihood of making a runoff, campaign strategies, methods and staffing, and, finally, whether or not a candidate has a possibility of success in a particular district or state. Obviously, some districts are so one-sided in relation to partisan politics that support for any other candidates or parties would be fruitless and wasteful.

The NRA Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF) considers many factors when grading and endorsing political candidates. First and foremost is a candidate’s demonstrated record on firearms, hunting and civil liberties issues relative to firearms and hunting. We support incumbent officeholders who have a record of supporting Second Amendment rights, building a relationship of mutual trust with them. Our grades and endorsements are then reported to NRA members via our Political Preference Charts (PPC), which are either included in NRA’s magazines, or mailed directly to members prior to Election Day.

It is important, as a single-issue organization, to form alliances on both sides of the aisle. Please visit www.nrapvf.org to see that NRA has endorsed candidates from both major political parties.

The NRA’s first and foremost responsibility lies in defending firearms freedom as guaranteed by the Constitution. Therefore, we cannot as, an association, take stands on issues which do not directly relate to the right to keep and bear arms. As you can appreciate, the NRA’s constituency is universal. In protecting the right of law-abiding citizens to own the firearm of their choice, NRA-ILA draws allies from every point of the political, social, racial, religious, geographic and economic spectra. Since our members are powerfully united on this single issue, our strength is enhanced by not being involved with other issues or with party preferences that could split our base of support.

I hope this answers your question. Please feel free to let me know if you have any other questions.”

I believe they endorse the Senate Majority Leader as well.

Our job is to defend the RKBA. If the NRA is not successful in that, the rest of the conservative movement isn’t going to be worth much.

I have no problem if this leads to disagreement, but condescencion is uncalled for.

but, that does NOT mean I’m going to vote for just anybody they support.
I know why they do what they do and yes I agree it’s more than just guns to me too. But, when it comes down to it they hit harder on my 2nd amendment rights then anybody else. I’m a Christian but will vote for a conserative ANYTHING (Jew,Morman etc) before the likes of so called christian Jimmy Carter regardless who endorse’s him. We who are members of the NRA do think before we vote.

I really wasn’t aware of the problem until after I had already committed to sponsor a table plus at our local fundraiser like I have previously done. It surfaced around here in the context of NRA being friendly to Harry Reid, I haven’t read that they will endorse him, yet, but a Google search reveals disturbing results

If there was ever a case where “too big to fail” might be true, it’s here. But rather than slamming NRA, and possiblly harming its ability to protect our 2A rights, shouldn’t we be trying to help change its policies from within, while supporting the other apparently effective, but smaller, gun-rights advocate groups? If that’s what “Uncle Ted” is up to, I’m all for it.

It’s in their best interest to support a bipartisan group of lawmakers so they don’t get screwed when one party runs the show like they did during the first two years of the Clinton administration. You don’t think Obama would want to do what Clinton did with the “assault weapons” ban? His hands are tied because there are enough pro-gun Democrats to stop him. As crappy as some of those Dems are on other issues, that’s for the voter to figure out in the voting booth.

The one that’s curious to me is McShame over Hayworth, McShame’s gun record is lukewarm at best. JD is pretty solid on guns. Anybody figure that one out?

Part of the problem with single issue organizations is that they protect their cordoned off area on the deck while the entire ship is sinking. In the end everyone ends up on the bottom of the ocean equally…

In my business, I routinely ask my directors the question: “What have you done for me lately?” I encourage them to ask the same question to me.

Sadly, if I apply this standard to the NRA they fail to satisfy.

To paraphrase Reagan, “I have not left the NRA; the NRA has left me.”

It is likely that not many others on Red State recollect Neal Knox’s revolution at the NRA these many decades ago. When I first joined the NRA it was an organization primarily of, and for, the target shooters. The general attitude of the BoD could have been summarized as “Gun Bans? No problem as long as they leave my target guns alone.” Sadly, there still are many people who have a similar attitude (those hunters who believe “Who needs an ‘Assault Weapon’ anyway?” come to mind).

“What has the NRA done for me lately?” It may be that “livefreenh” believes the answer is nothing. And he may be one of those who has that “similar attitude”, or not. But if he believes that in the absence of the NRA Dear Leader and friends would have absolutely no desire to re-enact the Clinton Gun Ban, and more, he is sadly mistaken. Being the gorilla in the room on the firearms issue IS doing something for us all when it dissuades the Democrats from bringing forth anti-gun legislation for votes.

While I would enjoy having the NRA supporting all my particular political positions (and they do support Jeb Hensarling, my Rep and Rick Perry), I think it is more important that they remain the gorilla on firearms. Is their record perfect? Hardly. Is the NRA more effective on firearms protections than any other organization in the US? Absolutely. Which other pro-gun organization is a recognized UN NGO, able to keep an eye on what the totalitarians in the UN are attempting to snare us into? You know the answer is none.

And I wouldn’t be a member of AARP at any price. The AARP is a Progressive political organization which snookers people with “benefits”. I may be a “geezer”, but I’m not “greedy”.

the NRA when they refused to back the heller case I thought what the hell am I paying dues for? And when the AARP started touting and loving the health care plan I called, raised holy heck and dropped them like a hot rock. I even went so far as to tell them I was going with AMAC www.amac.us.
It’s ok to link here to a conservative web site right? lol

“The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”
Thomas Jefferson

No one should be too terribly surprised by this turncoat maneuver by the NRA, but it is worrying nonetheless: Ted’s best friends are gun owners’ worst enemies.

Time and again, Ted’s put in anti-gun politicians into positions of power here in the Buckeye State. The current Lieutenant Governor, Lee Fisher, has actually said that he’s not seen a gun control bill he hasn’t liked. His current running mate, Yvette McGee-Brown, has said that she disagrees with Ted about guns (and is therefore anti-gun). The list goes on and on. Check it out at http://www.turnaroundted.com/nra

It’s absolutely ridiculous!

That said, if this doesn’t damage the NRA’s credibility, their endorsement of Harry Reid over Angle does. Wow.

The NRA is the gun association for those who believe in gun control. GOA is the one for those who don’t. Even though Hostettler and Stutzman both had 100% pro-2nd Amendment voting records (Hostettler at the federal level and Stutzman at the state), the NRA without officially endorsing him chose to favor Stutzman by giving him an A+, while they gave the much more conservative Hostettler an A, even though Hostettler’s background as a champion for gun rights is much more impressive. Hostettler had the backing of Gun Owners of America.

Why was that? One reason was probably to punish Hostettler for shutting down the Clinton & Wesson deals of the 90′s, which were basically a sneaky way for the Clinton administration to use its awarding of government contracts to manipulate gun manufacturers into making guns according to the “safety” standards that the administration was not able to succeed at getting passed legislatively. But Smith & Wesson was a big beneficiary of that move by the Clinton administration, so they didn’t like Hostettler’s meddling. And when push comes to shove, the NRA answers to the big gun manufactures, not the Constitution.

the NRA suppoted Parker Griffith, a turncoat opportunist if there ever was one, against staunch conservative Mo Brooks in AL.

That kind of thing is troublesome to me, a lifelong NRA member.

on Sotomayor and her assertion that citizens do not have the right to defend themselves? They chose not to oppose her nomination and now we have another liberal lunatic on the court.

I am not only a Life member of the NRA for years, I am a Life member of the SAF, NYSRPA, CCRKBA and memeber of S.C.O.P.E. – NY.

Since we (groups) are all connected and inter-twined, are are of these groups now the same? I think not, in fact we are all out for the same thing!

It all depends on how you look at the glass on things – you know: Is it half full or half empty!

Then there’s all the other groups to pop in on like GOA, the Sportsmans Federation and all like groups to see that we are all working on the same thing.

Don’t start th bickering amongst ourselves for that is what the opposition wants!

Can’t we just eat some pork and shoot some terrorists?