shinken:
I myself am conflicted over this subject. On one hand I do believe that the NRA is the best voice we have on fighting gun control. But on the other hand, I feel reserved after having read of their aggressive in getting members to renew/donate (some people have said it is a bit too aggressive), but even beyond that it is the NRA's stance with minorities in the nation, or at least some articles I read. Now let me say up front, these are hear-say things and that is why I am conflicted. I am trying to educate myself as much as possible and trying to avoid the agendas of other people and organizations. I am so happy to find civilized discussion such as this one...
The NRA does solicit renewal memberships. I don't know any membership organization that doesn't. Do you?
The NRA does also solicit donations to the NRA/ILA. Federal law prohibits use of membership dues for lobbying or other political purposes, so the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action (the NRA/ILA) is the affiliated organization that works to support Second Amendment activities. But federal law prohibits any of the membership dues from going to the NRA/ILA, so donations from NRA members are among the ways it must raise money.
I don't know what you've heard about those requests being "too aggressive." The NRA doesn't send armbreakers to your home. It sends mail. Tear it up if you don't want it: surely you get junk mail from other sources and have been able to discard it. Use the very same technique with unwanted mail from the NRA. It works. It's also possible to e-mail, call, or write the NRA to opt out of those solicitations. If any of the NRA or NRA/ILA mail is so aggressive that it tries to take over your home and force you into the streets, shoot it: you're a gun owner, your home is your castle, and you needn't allow yourself to be beaten about by overly aggressive mail.
My wife and I respond to every one of them with a donations. We want to support the only effective national organization that helps us to keep and use our firearms. We also recognize that a great many gun owners prefer to let other people carry them, so we try to compensate at least a little for a few of the freeloaders--or, if you prefer, some of the "highly principled gun owners who have excellent reasons for not sullying their hands or souls with the NRA."
Whatever you've heard about "the NRA's stance with minorities" concerns me greatly. I'm an NRA Life Member and if there was an orientation session in which we were instructed to discriminate against anyone I was not informed. I hate it that I'm always the last person to get the word about such things. I haven't discriminated against anyone in decades, and I hope that no one expects me to catch up on all that missed discrimination at this point. I'm just too old to do that. Did your sources explain what minorities I and other NRA members are supposed to discriminate against or is it some blanket kind of discrimination? Some of my friends who are NRA members include Blacks, Jews, Hispanics, and Muslims, and I wonder which minorities they're supposed to discriminate against at the NRA's behest.
I guess I shouldn't feel too bad about not knowing that the NRA has a disturbing stance on minorities. Roy Innis evidently didn't get the word either: he was elected to the NRA Board of Directors for 2002-2005. As National Director for CORE (the Congress of Racial Equality) he's supposed to know about such things. Sandy Frohmann, a female Jewish lawyer, just finished her three year term as President of the NRA. I'd expect her to be more in touch than I am. Robert Reynolds, in this forum as mrreynolds, obviously is flat out of touch: he's a Harlem resident in New York City, an NRA recruiter, and operates
a nice web site that solicits membership to the NRA. He's so good at it that my guess is he'll own the NRA by the time he reaches my age.
The NRA doesn't ask anyone's race, religion, national origin, or other minority indicators or seem to pay attention to such things before or after anyone joins.
I doubt that anyone has asked you whether you belong to some minority group or other, and I doubt even more that anyone cares. The NRA is an organization for gun owners and people interested in firearms and Second Amendment rights.
How about joining the NRA now. You can make an effective statement in support of minorities by joining through Robert Reynolds' web site:
http://smallarmz.info/. Strike a blow for minority rights! Just click the menu item labeled "JOIN THE NRA NOW."