Posted on 03/22/2005 8:43:47 AM PST by kiriath_jearim
NEWS RELEASE (for immediate release - March 21, 2005)
Montana Gun Group Accuses NRA Staff of Malfeasance NRA Shoots Itself In Foot
Missoula, Montana - The Montana Shooting Sports Association (MSSA) is harshly critical of National Rifle Association staff for conduct MSSA says is killing pro-gun legislation in Montana. MSSA recently had a bill before the Montana Legislature, HB 693, to clarify the right to self defense with firearms. MSSA blames the failure of this important bill on a deliberate determination by a mid-level NRA staffer to undercut the bill by withholding NRA support.
In the February issue of the American Rifleman, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre took a strong stand in his Standing Guard column about employers who fire workers for having a firearm in a personal vehicle, perhaps associated with hunting before or after work. LaPierre said, "It pits corporate policy against the constitutional rights of the little guy, the individual citizen, with the NRA foursquare on the side of individual rights." In LaPierre's March Standing Guard column, he praises Marion Hammer of Florida for advancing the same type of legislation the NRA has declined to support in Montana.
MSSA President Gary Marbut commented, "Despite these strong positions by LaPierre, Randy Kozuch, director of NRA/ILA's State and Local division, actively headed off NRA support for Montana's HB 693, which would have accomplished exactly what LaPierre called for and praised in his February and March columns. This is precisely the sort of SNAFU so common with mid-level bureaucrats in the NRA. Some unaccountable Beltway denizen in the NRA bureaucracy obstructs what both the leadership and membership of the NRA want and need."
Marbut continued, "MSSA is a member of the NRA, maybe the most politically successful organization affiliated with the NRA. We went through NRA channels to seek NRA support for HB 693. Our request stopped cold at the desk of Kozuch, who decreed that the NRA would withhold support for HB 693. Kozuch also took the same stance on MSSA's HB 366, which declares that firearms made and retained in Montana are not subject to federal regulation under commerce clause authority. The NRA also failed to support restoration of funding for shooting range development in HB 2. I'd bet a dollar to a donut that Kozuch is guilty of similar obstruction in other pro-gun states. Such NRA staff obstruction creates more problems for gun owners in pro-gun states than all the gun control groups put together. In this respect, the NRA becomes a problem just like the federal government -- you get some unaccountable bureaucrat dictating state and local policy from a sensory-deprivation chamber in D.C."
"Having declined to support these bills," Marbut stated, "the NRA has also deprived itself of any scorecard issues by which to effectively rate legislators in upcoming election cycles."
"The lack of NRA support has essentially doomed my HB 693 in the Democrat-controlled Montana Senate judiciary committee," stated Rep. Jack Wells, HB 693 sponsor.
Montana's NRA Director, Jay Printz said, "I've been in Iraq for a year, and I'm surprised to return and learn that the NRA is not supporting pro-gun legislation here. I want to know why."
Curtis Oda, (recently elected Utah House of Representatives) noted, "The conduct of Randy Kozuch is not in the best interest of the efforts of law abiding gun owners nor the NRA. His actions have the same effect as sabotage -- no different result than if he were a plant by the anti-gunners."
Montana State Representative Roger Koopman, former employee of NRA/ILA and NRA field staff, commented, "It's a travesty when a key person in the NRA hierarchy is able to derail important, pro-gun legislation. They act like they're the only show in town -- there's an arrogance to that. They end up undermining the efforts of pro-gun activists in places like Montana. This has got to stop."
Montana Senate Judiciary Committee member Aubyn Curtiss opined, "The rejection of this bill on a party line vote doesn't reflect the opinions or wishes of the vast majority of Montanans."
HB 693 has been under development by MSSA for two years, and the Montana Legislature will not meet again in regular session until 2007.
"The NRA needs to end this ongoing embarrassment by simply replacing Kozuch" Marbut concluded.
MSSA is the primary group asserting the rights of gun owners and hunters in Montana. MSSA has obtained passage of over 40 pieces of pro-gun and pro-hunting legislation in the past 15 years.
"Curtis Oda, (recently elected Utah House of Representatives) noted, "The conduct of Randy Kozuch is not in the best interest of the efforts of law abiding gun owners nor the NRA. His actions have the same effect as sabotage -- no different result than if he were a plant by the anti-gunners."
That Kozuch might be a plant was the first thing that came to my mind when reading the first few paragraphs. Obviously there is not much oversight within the organization I belong to!
I got another of my bi-monthly "yearly renewals" from the NRA recently.
I sent them an email asking why I should renew with this constant compromise and sabotage.
the NRA is the biggest and seems to get more done, but man, they sure are going the soft route.
The "vast majority" of Montanans rejected the pathetic candidates and anemic campaigns the Montana Republican Party put forth last fall, thus setting up the ability for the RATs to prevail on a "party line vote". The RATs have manipulated the NRA such that guys just this side of Teddy Kennedy get favorable ratings. Now that the "D" Team is in power, we are reaping what the ennui of the fat cat Repubs has sown. Blame them, not the NRA (and, yes, I both contributed to and worked on campaigns, and I'm an NRA member, so I'm not just sitting on my keister and carping)
Ping to my favorite Leatherneck. Semper Fi.
thanks for the Ping :)
Semper Fi
:-)
The problem is, in the state of Montana the Republican Politicians have done nothing, N O T H I N G to turn back the tide of Governmental regulations and taxes.
If they had they would still be in power and the Dims would be a fast fading memory.
But, they stabbed us in the back and as far as I'm concerned they can rot in hell.
Rest assured that many of us agree with you on "no compromise", and are "fighting back". We are hindered by a couple of factors. First, in many areas, we have plenty of flaming libs moving here from all over (even though California unjustly gets most of the blame). They move here to get away from whatever hell-hole they were in, only to import the policies and attitudes they were trying to escape. In the last ten years, they have practically overtaken the northwest corner of the State. Second, the republican establishment became fat and happy, more concerned with lining their own pockets and "getting along" than they are with doing the right thing. Inertia is a powerful thing, whether physical or political.
Again, I'm not carping, just realistically assessing the situation. My take is that it will get worse before it gets better, but it WILL get better.
Just another example of why I dropped my NRA membership. The NRA has become a money making machine for a few - and has abandoned any REAL efforts at preserving the RIGHT to "keep and bear arms".
Sounds like the NRA has a DU Troll in thier operation.
No. THe NRA would lose half their business were the Second Amendment restored to what it should be. All their Legislative dollars would vanish. They are making big bank off of our fear. They fought against the .357 Magnum as being too powerful. They fought against the .44 magnum for the same reason. They have proven themselves no friend of those of us with AR-15 "ugly black rifles" by rolling over on the AWB and on the Silveria V Lockyer case.
"From my cold, dead hands" proclaimed their figurehead. Now, when it is time to actually take a stand, they take the political way out.
That is why I'm a GOA Life Member. They actually stand by what they say.
I belong to GOA and JFPFO myself. The NRA is better than nothing but stories like this if true shows the mantra has been lost.
What is the Silveria vs Lockyer case? You got me on that one :)
I keep hearing how bad the NRA is.
I keep hearing how any other group is better.
I also continue to hear how some people won't join the NRA.
Now the NRA has backed off from this legislation and for some silly reason the legislation is doomed. Doomed, I say.
Tough. Where is that other gun group that's supposed to be sooo much better? Where the heck are they? Why can't the NRA sit this one out and let that "Better" gun group take over?
Call that other gun group and tell them they have a golden opportunity to succeed where the NRA has failed. Let them step up to the plate.
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