I used to be an NRA member, before it became a shill for the gun industry. I even earned their Sharpshooter award with nine bars. I have nothing against guns or shooting. That said, what the NRA wants is often diametrically opposed to what gun owners actually want.
…Here are 5 key issues that divide the LaPierres at the top of the NRA food chain from their 3 million (or 4 million, depending upon the press release that day) members:
1. The Gun Show Loophole
Currently, in over 30 states, one can walk into a local gun show and purchase a weapon from a “private seller,” who does not have to conduct any kind of background check. For example, a .50 caliber sniper rifle, which can take down a helicopter. The NRA has fought to block any and all efforts to pass a federal law closing this infamous gun show loophole, as well as any efforts in the states (but remember, they are anti-crime!).
Timothy McVeigh was once one of these “private sellers” on the gun-show circuit, and everyone from the Columbine killers to members of Hezbollah have obtained firearms this way. Not surprisingly, just like most other sentient beings (including 85% of gun owners not in the NRA), 69% of NRA members, when polled by conservative Republican Frank Luntz, think this loophole should be closed.
2. Terror Gap
If you are put on the U.S. terror watch list you cannot board an airplane. You can, however, still purchase guns and explosives. According to the Government Accountability Office, “From February 2004 through February 2010, 1,228 individuals on the watch list underwent background checks to purchase firearms or explosives; 1,119, or 91 percent, of these transactions were approved."
NRA members understand this even if their leadership stubbornly tries to protect the gun-ownership rights of terrorists (but they’re patriots I tell you!). 82% of NRA members think this gap should be closed… [emphasis added]
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Picture credit: Wide World of Stuff
This is a small excerpt from a large article with two of the five key issues. For much more, I encourage you to click through to the source.
Yesterday, I outlined gun regulations I consider necessary, so I won’t go there again today, but we need to realize that neither party will be willing to take on the NRA four months before the elections. Therefore, we need to keep this issue in mind and hit it hard in December.
As I reflect on the Aurora tragedy, my thoughts keep returning to Michael Moore’s interview with Charlton Heston in the wake of the Columbine tragedy. Note that on two occasions Heston appealed to racism. First he referred to the founding fathers as “wise old dead white guys”. Then, he tried to attribute the level of gun violence in the US to “mixed ethnicity”. I’ll leave you with that clip.
10 Responses to “NRA -vs- US Gun Owners”
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Heston was suffering from early Dementia at the time of this interview– Fully agree with you here- we also dropped our NRA memberships when it became clear we did not agree with their agenda–
Like and appreciate guns–but I do not think we have an unqualified right to purchase or own the high caliber weapons that are appropriate to warfare–
Further – I think the standards for ownership and permits/license should be federal , not left to the states—; and I know that is an arguable position
Phyllis I agree. When I lived in NYC, that had a ban on handguns at the time, I was the only person I knew That did not have one brought in from another state.
"I used to be an NRA member, before it became a shill for the gun industry. I even earned their Sharpshooter award with nine bars. I have nothing against guns or shooting. That said, what the NRA wants is often diametrically opposed to what gun owners actually want."
Very distressing as a former Marine Law Enforcement Officer, I sold all of my guns before my first child was born…
That is the act of someone who understands gun violence.
"Five measures, none of which would violate the very broad reading of the Second Amendment recently given by ultra-conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia; all of which would have an immediate impact in terms of making our families safer, in a country where 34 people are murdered by guns every day–or one Virginia Tech every single day of the year. "
Thirty-four people are murdered daily which is the equivalent to one Virginia Tech every day!
Why is it that when we hear about mass shootings — École Polytehnique, Montréal; Virginia Tech; Columbine; Aurora, Colorado; Tucson, Arizona — we are enraged and start thumping about gun control etc, yet we remain dispassionate about gun control the rest of the time? If there are 34 murders using a gun each and every day in the US, and that is the equivalent of a Virginia Tech, then society certainly has its priorities in a twist.
I suppose the reason is that we don't hear about all the murders, only the select few that involve well known people or celebrities, or those that are in our own little world. Perhaps it is the difference between looking up at the night sky and seeing the stars, and looking at the Milky Way from space. I don't know. But reading that last part of the article certainly hit home.
And then there is the NRA. The profitable gun lobby for the arms dealers. I was appalled that the NRA was rating legislators not too long ago on a particular vote (I can't remember which one) and some Democratic legislators voted with the Republican/Teabaggers because they didn't want a bad rating. That certainly told me all I wanted to know about the real 2012 NRA — too much money, too much influence, and too much power.
Too much indeed.
I have guns in my home and see nothing wrong with that. I do see something wrong with the lax laws we have in this country regarding guns. The politicians are so fearful of the NRA lobby that they will say nothing to offend them before any election.
Exactly!
I saw a picture of 2 flintlock pistols on the web. The caption read:" This is what the forefathers meant when they gave the right to bear arms"
I agree. There is no reason for assault rifles except for killing people.
I agree!