AlexanderA seizes the opportunity to trash Wayne LaPierre on the basis that he is merely "playing to the base" but doing nothing for "outreach" when he made the valid point that socialism and gun control (i.e., people control) have always been familiar bed-fellows. I would suggest that having the opportunity to be an NRA member for ten bucks a year does a lot for "outreach" if that's really what AlexanderA is concerned about.
To begin with, I'm a life member of the NRA and have been for many, many years (since the 1970's).
Regardless of how inexpensive membership is, it's still not going to attract as many people as it could, if the organization is associated in their minds with the Far Right. The current leadership has charted that course of alliance, and I believe it's a huge mistake.
Liberalism (now "Progressivism") is the source of the anti-gun venom and anti-gun crusade. To diminish gun control requires diminishing the source.
I disagree vehemently. Liberalism,
per se, is not against guns. What has happened is that antigun zealots have hijacked the Democratic Party. That has caused a chicken-or-egg situation in which pro-gun people have migrated out of the Democratic Party, leaving the antigun zealots in an even stronger position. But liberalism, as a philosophy, is not responsible for this.
I've been a proud gun owner, a proud RKBA advocate, and a proud progressive practically my entire life. And I take great offense at the things Wayne LaPierre has been saying.
(Now the moderators can close this thread down.)