Why I joined the N.R.A.

Townhall.com ^ | April 5, 2004 | Mike S. Adams

[Atlas Sneezed]

It was just after midnight in January of 1993 when John and Tiffany left a party at the Sigma Chi house in Starkville, Mississippi. The band was winding down as the couple walked to their car in the parking lot close to where Highway 12 runs into Scott Field on the campus of Mississippi State University.

When they came upon a man who was trying to break into a car parked near their own, all hell broke loose. Before they knew it, they had been abducted at gunpoint. Words cannot describe the horror that John witnessed before Tiffany’s life was taken. Shortly thereafter, he too was murdered execution-style by the side of Highway 45. Many tears were shed on Monday night when our fraternity met to mourn the deaths of the two young students.

After the murders, I had to endure driving by the murder site every Thursday night at about six o’clock on my way to Tupelo, Mississippi. My band played once a week at a bar in Tupelo called Jefferson Place. That meant that I had to drive by the murder site again on my way home at about two in the morning. The images got to me after a couple of weeks, so I called my friend David and asked whether he was still selling his .357 magnum. It was a model 19 by Smith and Wesson. I bought the gun thinking that it would be better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it.

After I moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, I sold that .357 magnum. At the time, my friend Barry Whitehead told me that selling a gun was always a big mistake. Three years later, when I bought my first house in downtown Wilmington, I learned that Barry was right. Despite rampant crack sales, it took almost nine months to get the police to take an interest in the drug trafficking in my neighborhood. Later, I bought my second .357 magnum and a concealed carry permit to go along with it.

In the three years that I lived in that neighborhood, I rarely “used” my permit by carrying a concealed weapon. Nonetheless, it came in handy late one evening when I was walking in my neighborhood and accidentally stumbled upon a crack deal. When the dealer asked what I as doing there, I simply told him that it was my neighborhood. He smiled and told me his name. I suppose that he knew I was carrying a gun because of my confidence. Two months later, eighteen people were arrested smoking crack in his house. I should know because I arranged the drug bust. I told him it was my neighborhood. He should have listened.

For those who don’t know, the concealed carry laws that have been enacted across the land have had a clear effect on serious crime that most social scientists refuse to recognize. Serious scholars such as John Lott have shown that lives are saved as a result of these laws. Nonetheless, Lott has been shunned by academics more interested in showing their classes “Bowling for Columbine” than in actually saving people’s lives.

Less murder, less rape, and less robbery would be nice unless, of course, it interferes with the liberal desire to take another shot at Marxism. No pun intended, of course.

As an out-of-the-closet gun owner, N.R.A. member, and hunter you can imagine the comments that I hear from disapproving faculty members here at my place of employment. When one colleague learned I was in the N.R.A., he asked why “we” think that everyone should own an “assault rifle.” That discussion ended when I asked him to tell me what an “assault rifle” was. He didn’t know. He just knew he hated them because Dan Rather said they were bad. Oh, the intellectual curiosity.

Of course, giving up my concealed-carry permit and quitting the N.R.A. would never be sufficient to redeem me in the eyes of the anti-gun fanatics here in the ivory tower. My status as a hunter is alone sufficient to condemn me in their eyes. Many of my colleagues who fail to muster compassion for unborn humans are staunch defenders of the local deer population. The fact that the overpopulation of deer causes numerous highway fatalities is of little concerned to them. And most would rather see a deer wrapped around the grill of a Ford Expedition and dragged down the highway than to have it experience a clean, quick death with the help of my Browning A-Bolt.

I know that my membership in the N.R.A. helps to neutralize these extremists, some of whom would outlaw hunting scopes because they are “unfair” to the deer. If you think I am kidding, think again. I have actually heard it suggested in the faculty lunchroom.

Of course, I really don’t mind when the academic anti-gun nuts use the First Amendment to express their opposition to the Second Amendment. Every time they do, I just head down to the local sporting goods store and buy another gun that I don’t really need.

When I joined the N.R.A., I became part of an organized effort to neutralize the wacky ideas of the anti-gun lobby in America. I also believe that the N.R.A. won the last Presidential election for George W. Bush. Even Bill Clinton says so and we all know that guy never lies. He isn’t in the N.R.A.

Some people say that a conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged. Maybe an N.R.A. member is a liberal whose unarmed friends were killed by the side of the highway on a cold night in January.

Dr. Mike Adams (adams_mike@hotmail.com) is the author of “Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel.”

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I would say its a modern version of the Remington "gallery" rifle, that were once common in county fairs and carnivals. At one time, I had a collection of "boy's" rifles from the 1920s, all of them 34-36 inches long in .22 and the oddball .25-20 WCF. I was trying to build a new house in the Twin Cities in 1992 and another collector wanted them more than I did, and I needed cash. I've regretted it ever since.

[Gritty]

some of whom would outlaw hunting scopes because they are “unfair” to the deer

Typical Liberals. I suppose they think instead we should grow claws and long teeth to go hunting?

More than likely, their genuine goal is zero hunting so we can slave away to pay a 100% tax rate to pay for their socialist nostrums and private environmental preserves (which, of course, only they can use).

[gooleyman]

By the way, Read my Tagline.

I didn't even agree with Ronaldus Magnus about EVERYTHING.

I don't even agree with Rush about EVERYTHING.

I don't agree with SKerry about ANYTHING.

Case Closed.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

If somebody doesn't get busy and kill off some of the deer around here, there won't be an undamaged car hood and bumper in the whole county.

[GrandEagle]

another collector wanted them more than I did, and I needed cash. I've regretted it ever since.
Man we have ALL done that!

[Hanging Chad]

"...color me a swing voter (swing between voting Repub or staying home)..."
- - -
Staying at home is almost as bad as voting for Kerry.
Not quite; but almost.

[cruiserman]

When one colleague learned I was in the N.R.A., he asked why “we” think that everyone should own an “assault rifle.” That discussion ended when I asked him to tell me what an “assault rifle” was. He didn’t know. He just knew he hated them because Dan Rather said they were bad.

Very true.

[Tribune7]

bump

[Vic3O3]

good post!

[alarmguy]

Take a Kid to a Gun Show.

I'll be taking my 13yo to the show at the upcoming NRA annual meeting in Pittsburgh.

[GrandEagle]

Sense that does NOT make.
Make great sense. I would much rather have an enemy thatI know is an enemy than on on whom I depend, and they fold - shoot me in the back, then make me out to be the bad guy.
To me the perfect setup would be a Democratic President, Just under veto override, solid Republican house, and 50.1% to 49.9% Republican Senate (VP Inclusive).
Total Gridlock!

[GrandEagle]

would be a Democratic President
Well, maybe not. Klinton was an embarassment.
Note to self: Maybe I need to re-think.

[Dan from Michigan]

PLease. Do not STAY HOME. Even if you can't vote for the presidnent race, there's a bunch of local races there that also matter.

Showing up and leave a blank I can respect. That's still a vote recorded by the clerk's office. Staying home doesn't nothing to help anyone and only sends a mixed message at best to the pols.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Good move !
When my son was 16-17 years old, I'd take him and a couple of his buddies to the big gun show at the Minnesota Fair Grounds in St. Paul, knowing full well I'd hear from some of their parents. It was too late; an hour into the fun of gazing at table after table of rifles, pistols and memorabilia (after explaining the rules about don't touch without permission) THEY WERE HOOKED.

[tubebender]

BUMP...

[El Gato]

The NRA has some excellent qualitys no doubt. The greatest of which is that they irritate the "Brady Bunch".

That alone is worth the price of a membership, IMHO.

[Shooter 2.5]

The NRA only had to compromise because of forty years of democratic party control. The NRA started it's fight against the AWB back in the last two elections. They knew we had to have our pro-gun legislators elected in order to stop the ban.

It will be up to the gun owners to see if we can get a clear majority in the Senate like we do in the House. I'm urging all gun owners to vote a straight Republican ballot so we can finally go on the offensive after November.

[Shooter 2.5]

IF you want your gun Rights, get rid of the democratic party.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Has GW done some things I dislike? You bet. BUT he is president of ALL of America, not just conservatives.

---

So, if it is popular with Ted Kennedy, he can violate the occasional Constitutional provision and his oath of office?

I side with our poor flamed Freeper, who is telling US that Bush has total control of his vote. Kind of like a "doomsday machine", electorally speaking.

I guarantee that if Bush signs (or allows to become law) any AWB extension, I will absolutely not vote for him. Mrs. B already will not be voting, even if AWB is sunsetted, and we were both, "broken glass", donating, volunteering Bush supporters in 2000.

Of course we won't be voting for Kerry, but if our votes mean that Kerry wins, at least we can enjoy some "gridlock" again (and Congressional Republicans can stop rolling on the floor while the President scratches their bellies.). It's not as if Bush's judges have changed the decline of our society (except perhaps for the rate of decline.

Turn up the stovetop flame, and maybe the frog will hop out of the pot. Bring it on.

(Good thread!)

[Atlas Sneezed]

IF you want your gun Rights, get rid of the democratic party.

---

If only that were possible. I just wish our current President hadn't joined it.

And the old HHHumphrey Dems weren't so bad:

"Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. This is not to say that firearms should not be very carefully used, and that definite safety rules of precaution should not be taught and enforced. But the right of citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard against tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible"

Senator Hubert H. Humphrey (D) Minn.
"Know Your Lawmakers" Guns (magazine), February, 1960, p. 4.

(This quote is often shortened, or reprinted with slight errors. This is the full original quote from the hard copy of the magazine.)