Folks around here bitch and moan about regulations, lists, requirments from .gov, but joyfully submit to an organization that routinely elects people who throw certain legal guns under the bus. When the light is shined on said people, how often are they immediately tossed on their arses?
Once again, the NRA cannot legislate. They only do what they can to change elected officials minds. In 1986, rather than everyone losing much of their 2ndA rights, the NRA pushed a compromise that only limited the manufacture of Class III weapons for civilian purchase. They didn't throw any guns "under the bus", they saved ALL our guns from registration, and probable confiscation. Full auto people can still buy full autos, and the rest of us can still go to public lands or private clubs and shoot our guns.
Here in California, we cannot buy new guns chambered for .50BMG. Not because the NRA tossed them under the bus, but because NOT ENOUGH GUN OWNERS VOICED OR SENT THEIR ANGUISH TO SACRAMENTO. Most gun owners simply said..."Where's the NRA?".
We said....where the hell are you?
The NRA has
never berated anyone for not joining, but has lost many legal fights because they
didn't have the membership horsepower to bear against the anti's.
Look at the AARP, millions of their members back legislature that improves SSI, insurance for the elderly, retirement needs, ADA regulations, and Sansa Belt golfing pants (ok, made that last one up). Rarely does any Congressman or Senator want to butt heads with the AARP....because they have the member horsepower to back their lobbyists. Yet, there is no Constitutional clause that says you have a right to
anything after you stop receiving a paycheck.
It's not enough to know we have a 2ndA that avows a God given right to self preservation and personal liberty. It's not enough to simply go to a range to exercise that right. It's not enough to be a lone voice in the wilderness, contacting your legislatures...what Sen/Con will listen to a "gun nut"? You would cry a blue streak if your cable TV was deemed a national shame, with unnamed scholars and "scientists" declaring the programming causes crime and murder, and outlawed private transmission of shows and movies while only allowing the government to produce TV for licensed viewers.
Yes, that is a bit of fantasy....but not for gun owners. 'If I could, I would outlaw all guns; "Mr and Mrs America, turn them all in!"' Dianne Feinstein has no illusions about the 2ndA, she wants to crap on it, and you. Constitution be damned. She is far from the only one that has the ability and forum to push their anti-freedom agendas, an agenda that gives not one damn about you or yours. Do you think Charles Schumer knows or cares who you are? He DOES know the NRA, he DOES know the horsepower they bring to the halls of Congress at every anti-2ndA vote brought up....he also knows that the NRA can be divided on gun issues---
real hunters don't use assault weapons, duck hunters don't need 30 round "clips", the Police are outgunned by machine gun wielding crooks that bought them from gun shows, etc....hey, it worked on a certain famous writer for Field And Stream....and it works on the less informed.
But what are they afraid of? Lobbyist horsepower, like the kind that the NRA has brought to bear on occasion (1994 elections ring any bells?). GOA is a fine organization to join, but it is without the membership batting average of the NRA. But, and it is indeed a BIG but...
...the NRA does not pass laws. The "people" we elect to bring OUR voices to Washington DC do. Because of that, the NRA must be big enough to have the loudest voice of all. Sen/Cons live and exist solely for votes for them and their ideas, so it's up to you to bring your vote to bear on the protection of your personal liberties, and the 2nd Amendment.
The NRA can be, and should be, the most feared lobby on the hill. Feared because WE will not ignore any attempt against our freedoms by those who feel they know better than us how we should live.
I'm the NRA.
