Any NRA Members Here at DU?

Just curious, I know of one.

The NRA IMO is every bit as responsible for the Republican Bully Machine as the Religious Right. They make gun ownership look bad.

The NRA under LaPierre turned into an arm of the Republican party. It quit being about gun ownership rights at that point. The NRA adopted an in-your-face bullying tone that polarized the issue much more than it was previously, and in doing so it drove away people that might have listened to their arguments. Look at the gun ownership debate and what it became in the 90's and 00's. The NRA media continually trumps up the Dems will steal guns line, much moreso than ever before.

We had some of our own leadership decided that gun control was a political opportunity (Feinstein, Schumer, Lautenberg et. al) and used it very publicly to call for everything from more restrictive regulation to outright bans in the '90's.

More than few folks think Gore's open support for it cost us Tennesee and Artkansas in 2000, which would have made Florida totally irrrelevant, and a lot of other union blue collar voters. And every time a Dem candidate makes the "I protect hunters and hunting traditions speech" it goes downhill one more step.

So LaPierre turned it into a right wing rant, but some of our own teed the ball up high and fat for him to do it.

...the Dems in the 90's stepped right in it.
The national anti gun bullshit in the '90's set up the Republican Revolution as much as the Religious Right, but I agree the Dems played it completely wrong.
They were totally wrong on the issue, they let themselved be portrayed as the party of gun registration/confiscation, a suspicion that still lingers.
You must remember the Right Wing Opposition is composed of people who think Rush Limbaugh is smart and Neut is a genius.

We Dems cannot continue to let the Right Wingers define us.
I used to be an NRA member when it was about shooting, but I left when it became about facist politics.
mark

The same list of '90's congressional leaders are still stumping for another, stricter AWB and more gun laws. They have learned nothing.

We get a steady stream of posters here that really think gun control is a base prinicple of the party and scream for more gun control.

Get ready for another election cycle where the congresssional leaders step into the same trap all over again, and with a candidate that has a measurable gun control background here in Illinois, it's going to be a priority message in the Presidential campaign for McCain to use.

If we hear the; "I support hunters and their traditions", then you know it's code for they still just don't get it. IMHO, It's not going to read well with Union Blue Collar Dems and we could have a bunch of people opt to stay home or vote local only.

but I let my membership expire after I thought they started getting a bit too crazy and irrational (this was around 1992 or 1993 I think).

I am an NRA member. They are the largest organization with the most power to advocate firearm rights.

although a lot of things about them piss me off. The NRA is, as I believe gorfle has stated, the 800 lb gorilla in the movement to advance the RKBA. As such they do us all a great service.
I would like to see them emphasize the 2A more, to the detriment of "hunter's rights". I wish they'd quit with the daily mailings, they could probably reduce my dues if they did.
I used to question their support of, almost exclusively, Republicans but as more and more Democrats support the 2A they endorse more of them.

that people pay to be on?

I'll pass.

But my guess is that a vocal army of pro-gun enthusiasts has more likelihood of preserving our right to bear arms than a hundred times more silent people.

But I don't think there is general support in the country to support anything more than the occasional lapses of the 2nd during Katrina like conditions. Of course the media was mostly silent on this or more would have been a little pissed off.

I'm not bashing them, but I'm just not interested in giving money to the biggest lobby group going, they obviously don't need it.

And like my buddy who is a member says "I don't use the stickers on my house or car, it just tells thieves where to look".

and the wife, too.

IF they would stick to RKBA issues and conservation, we would all be better off... If we would get more Pro Gun Democratic candidates, there would be no excuses for the NRA to be sleeping with the Republicans on anti labor and other issues.... Charleton Heston was a mouthpiece for right to work (union busting) legislation...
I am required to be a member to belong to my rifle club......

"required to be a member to belong to my rifle club"


I can't stand that. The closest club to my house requires it, might drop by on a Saturday when the public can use the range free of charge and ask them "why".

It'd be nice if there were reasonable alternatives, but sadly there aren't (yet). AHSA could have been a good alternative, but didn't even try.

At the state level (at least in my state), they're pretty good. My favorite candidate for NC governor (Bev Perdue, our current Dem lieutenant gov.) is NRA endorsed, FWIW.

Mandatory membership at the gun clubs I belong to.

They have become too GOP, wish to make groups, companies, individuals supporting 2A conform to the NRA's party line (at pain of boycott), and provide a readily-available list of gun-owners to the government.

Their politics aren't always best, but it's only in response to the political pressure guns have been under.

Despite what many think of them they have an important and long-standing tradition in firearms education. Also I need to be a member to be in the gun club I'm in so that I have access to a private shooting range (I don't like public ranges all that much).


What's annoying about them is the mailings. I won't give them more than 10 because they waste so much money on solicitations... they're almost as bad as the Sierra Club.

Renewed this year actually.

My congressional district is served by a conservative, NRA A-rated democrat. My previous two congressional districts in FL were served by conservative, A-rated republicans. You might be noticing a trend here.

Their "American Rifleman" magazine is pretty good if you filter out the political shit, but I'm not going to join a place that uses hysterical fearmongering.

If they ever calm down, maybe. But right now their hatred of the Democratic Party for the Dem's anti-gun policies is too much for me to deal with.

Yeah, it would be nice if the Democrats relaxed about gun control, but I fear that now it would be very hard.

You can judge a person not only by his friends, but also by his enemies. And the way the NRA hates Democratic Party I think makes the anti-gun Democrats proud and justifies their gun-control efforts.

And now that I have it, I kind of appreciate the amount of safety and training programs that are now open to me, as well as competitions I can now take part in.

They really didn't get very active in politics until guns were severely threatened by idiotic politicians.

I'm a life member and competitor in several different shooting sports.

Looks like more fun than a bucket of kittens. I was out today and shot better than I ever have before. I was surprised how well I was shooting my subcompact .40.

And I agree that the NRA would have never felt the need to get into the political arena if there weren't groups of politicians who realized they could secure re-election and a name in history if they scared up enough false alarms and got some ridiculous laws passed.

Pretty sad.

Their lobbyists mostly convey views similar to mine. Brady and VPC, not so much.

They still conduct training for youth (and for not-so-youth)

Membership is a requirement for some competitive events. Not that I am a great competitor, by any stretch of the imagination. But I like it.

:hi:

nt

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have you got riding on this endeavour?

Put me down for $5 (I'll even make it Canadian) on 2 more posts ...

We need a formal organization for 2nd amendment democrats.

The NRA is doing the same thing a lot of evangelical churches have been doing in recent elections - conflating their beliefs with the right-wing agenda.

And in case you're wondering if I'm an anti-: I'm cleaning my Remington 870 right now.