Meet the NRA's Biggest Recruiter

If you want to know why Sen. Dianne Feinstein's assault weapons ban couldn't muster 40 votes -- that's according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who says he will cut the ban from the Democrats' gun bill -- attend a National Rifle Association event in Feinstein's backyard. Though critics like to paint the organization as an out-of-touch haven for angry old white guys, Sunday's NRA "Fun Shoot" at the San Leandro Rifle & Pistol Range was anything but.

I attended a safety and shooting lesson for 12. Half of the group was female -- and white, black and Asian. Four teens showed up with their parents.

Months ago, it was clear that Feinstein's assault weapons ban had little chance of making it through the Democratic-run Senate, let alone the GOP House. Nonetheless, gun control enthusiasts pushed the measure in the dubious belief that the awful Newtown, Conn., shootings would make an assault weapons ban more palatable. But it is doomed. Meanwhile, these efforts have driven some law-abiding Americans into the loving arms of the NRA.

There's a culture clash at play here between people who want to take control of their self-protection and those who want to leave it to the government. "We are our own first responders," NRA instructor Bill Hodges announced as he drilled participants on gun safety. Never put your finger on the trigger unless you're ready to fire. Then he brandished an old photo of Feinstein at a press event holding an AK-47 and ignoring that rule.

The irony here is that Feinstein knows guns. In the 1970s, she carried a revolver after the New World Liberation Front tried to blow up her home. She had a concealed-weapon permit, and she packed when she walked to the hospital to see her ailing late husband.

It was Feinstein who came across Harvey Milk's body after he was felled by gunshot. Her sponsorship of the 1994 assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004, is not born out of a softness about guns.

Still, Feinstein doesn't hear gunshots every night as Leon Blakeley of Oakland, Calif., tells me he does. Blakeley joined the NRA on Sunday. His advice on life: "Own a gun and a fishing pole; you'll survive."

Monty Bindra of Dublin, Calif., brought two teenage daughters because "women need to be able to defend themselves."

Allan Lindsay-O'Neal let me try his AR-15, which he bought before California's 1989 assault weapons law passed. To comply with the law, he later registered it. He showed me a similar rifle that's legal in California to punctuate his point about the superficiality of the California ban.

Lindsay-O'Neal told me he works at 101 California Street in San Francisco, the scene of a grisly 1993 shooting that left eight dead. That brutal crime was the catalyst for Feinstein's 1994 law. "Guns don't have rights," he told me. "People do."

Oh, I thought 0bama had that distinction down cold.

2 posted on 03/21/2013 10:49:22 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)

3 posted on 03/21/2013 11:04:58 AM PDT by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)

I have attended the Fun Shoot at the San Leandro Rifle & Pistol Range in the past with relatives. It is a fantastic group of people there, and indeed is much fun. Safety training, then shooting with various handguns and rifles, followed by food and soda (food and soda is purchased). The volunteers there really go out of their way to be friendly, dispensing good advice on every type of gun and ammo. Great place, great people.

I know a Filipino guy directly who was one of the entourage for Manny Pacquiao. He’s NRA. When Pacquiao had a photo op with Reid before a fight last year, he had a small conversation with Dingy Reid, and let’s just say the NRA has him by his small scrotum. Reid may vote 95% for lefty causes but his office has pics of him with Lapierre.

5 posted on 03/21/2013 11:38:58 AM PDT by max americana (Make the world a better place by punching a liberal in the face)

These tyrants convinced me to join the NRA and the only weapon I own is a Daisy AR 177. It holds about 60 rounds. Maybe more. Maybe less.

6 posted on 03/21/2013 11:49:20 AM PDT by P-Marlowe (There can be no Victory without a fight and no battle without wounds.)

7 posted on 03/21/2013 12:04:26 PM PDT by matthew fuller (Fast and Furious fizzled- Enter Sandy Hook.)

When Lapierre endorsed Reid, it pissed me off. They do deals, getting a big gun park built in exchange for the endorsement. But it got Reid re-elected. I hate hypocrites. Feinstein is another jerk. Always doing back-door deals that hurt our country. They’re all self-serving hypocrites to enrich themselves and get power.

There was a thread 2 years back under archives, I think and a large number of Freepers were laughing at NRA Freepers. One guy uploaded the entire NRA endorsement list and it was mostly liberal Dems hich blew my mind.

9 posted on 03/21/2013 1:13:20 PM PDT by max americana (Make the world a better place by punching a liberal in the face)

“Still, Feinstein doesn’t hear gunshots every night as Leon Blakeley of Oakland, Calif., tells me he does. Blakeley joined the NRA on Sunday. His advice on life: “Own a gun and a fishing pole; you’ll survive.””

I’m not into fishing, but I LOVE THIS GUY!!!

10 posted on 03/21/2013 3:16:17 PM PDT by BobL (Look up "CSCOPE" if you want to see something really scary)

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.