All that said, I enjoyed this book very much, I learned a great deal, but I am more uncomfortable with the state of things. Maybe THAT is the lesson the author intended. I think he succeeds.
I think that this is the crux of the pro GOA positions in many threads. Anyone who's being honest has to recognize recent NRA accomplishments. But many of the perpetual NRA apologists deny the numbers both within and without its ranks that wish for a more fundamental, "less compromise" position from the NRA.
Many years ago, I read a very interesting book titled "Culture of Fear" by Barry Glasner. This book is HORRIBLY anti, but it, along with Levinson's "Freakonomics" provide some very interesting perspective on the way the world works in general. Ironically, Glasner uses the very methods he condemns (fear as a sales/motivational tool) to attack firearms and firearms ownership within his very own book. Regardless, a central theme among Glasner's book is that fear is the ultimate sales tool. We see fear driving everything in life. It is the ever present motivational tool behind advertising, the media, and politics. We are so inundated and bombarded by fear-based marketing, that it's become status quo. Many organizations capitalize on fear nearly exclusively. The gun lobby, and the anti-gun lobby are among the absolute worst. I have an mail folder full of: "The sky is falling, there's a maniacal killer around every corner, and we have GOT to pass laws to protect us from these animals. Please send your donation to...." Conversely, I have an NRA folder which contains a pile of messages from the NRA saying: "The sky is falling. Brady's on the rampage. You're going to lose your rights to defend yourself from the maniacal killers around every corner. The constitution is at stake. Freedom is at stake. Duck hunting is at stake. Please send your donation to..."
There are two common denominators in these messages. The first is fear. Fear of criminals. Fear of loss of rights. The second is the use of that fear for solicitation of cash. It's my opinion, that the absolute WORST thing that could happen to the Brady bunch would be a complete banning of civilian ownership of arms. Conversely, the absolute WORST thing that could happen to the NRA would be the repeal of all US gun control laws. Now, of the two organizations, the NRA is better positioned to actually survive financially should they somehow, accidentally, via external influences, or otherwise manage to fully accomplish their goal. The NRA does not have all of its eggs in one fear-driven law-dependent basket.
I realize this sounds tinfoil hat, but if you consider it, it at least seems like a mildly plausible explanation for the apparent NRA attempt to derail Parker. And I think a lot of people have bought into this conclusion. And those people are LIVID with the NRA right now. Perhaps justifiably. Perhaps not.
