I have a number of friends and family who
belong to the NRA. They talk about how the NRA has training classes to help
folk learn how to hunt responsibly which I think is a really good thing. But
the things the upper echelon of the NRA says sound just as whacko as they come.
There seems to be a real disconnect between local chapters and the
pronouncements of the leaders of the NRA.
On
Politifact.com there have been 3 recent blogs about the NRA blaming
President Obama for all the sins of the world and saying he will take everybody’s
guns, ban hunting, destroying the second amendment, wants to give animals the
right to sue hunters, is planning major cuts to the federal “Armed Pilots
Program” (well that one is true), and he is sneaking around doing all this “under
the radar.”
In truth, President Obama had done very
little about gun control, which I think is too bad because I believe their
needs to be far more regulation than there is. Gun ranges and gun meets, to
which I have been to very few, but those few scared the crap out of me. Beer
drinking dudes with weapons of mass destruction. Does a household need a
bazooka, and antitank missile, and automatic arms to be safe? One fella down
south told me the only reason we’ve never been invaded is because US citizens
are armed. I just looked at him knowing reasoned response would not work. Too
weird.
What I am disappointed in was Obama didn’t
follow up on his promise to eliminate an amendment requiring the FBI to destroy
records of gun buyers’ background checks and his avoidance of the subject.
One could go on with facts and figures
about the need of gun control b but it seems to be one of those areas where
reasoned argument based on facts have no sway.
A republican former co-worker once dropped his NRA membership precisely because they'd gotten too ridiculously nuts and paranoid, even for him - and he's pretty extreme. He said if you listened to the NRA you'd believe that Hillary Clinton was going to sneak into your bedroom at night and steal all your guns (this was during the Clinton administration). It just got too goofy.
ReplyDelete"One fella down south told me the only reason we’ve never been invaded is because US citizens are armed"
ReplyDeleteIt's a major reason. But far from the only one.
"you'd believe that Hillary Clinton was going to sneak into your bedroom at night "
Actually that is Bill Clinton's nightmare as well, but it probably hasn't come true for decades.
The NRA has gotten everything it has wanted...and still beats the drum. Wanna buy an AR-15? Any gun show. Wanna
ReplyDeletevote? You better have a ton of ID....
At least the NRA got rid of (or keeps hidden away) their
ReplyDeletemulti-page blacklist . The organization is another example on feeding on unfounded fears and a famous hunter
writer that critized them for concentrating on assault weapons and laissez faire gunshows rather that supporting
hunting areas became the victim of one of their smears.
BTW, that blacklist became very popular with thousands
writing and asking to be placed on it....
I tend to not like these weapons. I express my displeasure by choosing not to buy them. Pretty much solves the problem. I don't get bent out of shape over others' preferences being different from mine.
ReplyDelete"Wanna vote? You better have a ton of ID."
Not sure about this comparison. What's a "ton"?