Posted on 02/01/2013 10:06:02 AM PST by neverdem
After President Lyndon Johnson signed the Gun Control Act of 1968, many anti-gun politicians looked forward to the day when they could completely ban the sale and ownership of firearms and perhaps even confiscate those already in private hands.
--snip--
Anyone who doubts this need only look at what happened in the literally bankrupt city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, last week. The organizers of the largest outdoor show in the country, the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show, announced that they would not allow the display or presence of the firearms the president likes to demonize as assault weapons. Within days, more than 300 vendors withdrew in protest as the NRA and others urged Second Amendment supporters to boycott the event.
Soon after, show organizers announced it was being postponed indefinitely. This was the largest outdoor show in the country. It draws a huge crowd every year and according to local estimates, about $80 million won't be arriving in the pockets and coffers of the pro-Bloomberg, anti-gun mayor of Harrisburg now.
As the battle over restricting Second Amendment rights continues, other elected officials under pressure from the Obama administration to ignore the feelings and deep beliefs of some of their constituents will learn a similar lesson.
Hundreds of self-proclaimed gun advocates didn't believe Obama was anti-gun based on his first term and wrote the NRA saying we were using scare tactics to have our way: Now they know.
Second Amendment supporters are in no mood to give those who would deny them their rights a pass and will vote in the next election in the same united way they responded to the insult leveled at them by the organizers of the Harrisburg show.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
“I do not trust them to advocate on my behalf. They are too willing to compromise our rights.”
Considering by their own 1968 admission in their own Rifleman magazine that they were behind the 1934, 1936, and 1968 gun control laws I don’t trust them, either. They were the ones that coined the phrase “sporting purposes of firearms”. They NEVER stood for firearms in the context of the 2nd Amendment; they always took the “sporting purposes” stance until only recently. Let’s see the NRA get rid of the 1934 NFA and the 1968 GCA that THEY were instrumental in getting into place. We haven’t seen them lift a finger in that regard.
Who's "us"? NRA doesn't stand for National Republican Association, FYI.
For the last 7 years you've been on here saying that forty five (45) years ago, in 1968, their magazine admitted to helping pass gun control acts then and in 1934 - seventy nine (79) years ago.
Since then, you've claimed this as proof that the NRA would come out in support of any gun control regulation that might come to the forefront and claim they are stopping any worse legislation. That is, that they would "compromise." And, for 7 years, you've offered only your own vapid speculation, and for 7 years, rejected any argument that the NRA-ILA was formed after 1968, et. al.
Fine. Let's put all of that behind us. Because for the last 6 weeks, your 7 year long tirade on the NRA has now been put to the test, and instead of you recoiling into silence about how completely wrong you were, you double down on your own idiocy! It's like watching Saddam Hussein's Ministry of Information. It's truly mind-boggling how clueless you look.
December 14, 2012 was the date of the most horrific gun crimes ever to hit this nation. Maybe not the most deadly, but the one that tugged at our nation's heartstrings more than any other - innocent, young children getting shot and killed point blank by a ravenous evil madman. The response was swift, and the mechanics of the anti-gun lobby swung into motion. Decades of laws that have failed in the past were brought to the forefront, none of which would have stopped Newtown, of course, but I digress. Millions of moms who had no stance on the issue were brought to tears and anger by the biased media.
And one week after the event, what did we see? If we were to believe your theory, it would have been a press conference by Wayne LaPierre agreeing that "something needs to be done to stop gun violence" and that they will work together with those on Capitol Hill that everyone can agree on. BUT WAIT! That didn't happen! Wayne LaPierre rightly stared down the biased media, called them out, looked Code Pink in the face, and stated that GUN LAWS WILL NOT SOLVE THIS PROBLEM. In other words, he did the exact opposite of what you've been ignorantly carping for 7 years!
And thus, the NRA has been pilloried in the biased media and by hack politicians as having "blood on their hands." Week after week, NRA execs have been on Capitol Hill, the Sunday talk shows, cable outlets, and in newspaper editorials getting the message out that additional gun laws won't solve this problem. They didn't put their foot out, see LaPierre get attacked, and take a step back. They fought, like they have been saying they have done for years, for our gun rights. Behind the scenes, we can be sure they are on the phones with politicians who have benefited from them in the past, reminding them that the time to pay back that favor is now - you think Harry Reid doesn't know this?
And now we begin to see that the gun control cabal is fading. Their persistence and consistency is working, because their message is better. They are getting the word out that "assault weapons" are just cosmetic features with no connection to how 'deadly' a weapon is. They are getting the word out that a "gun show loophole" is nothing other than Americans having the right to free trade. And most of all, the media are coalescing around a universal background check, thinking that might be the consolation prize in this whole battle - the NRA has come out against that, too.
In short, everything you've said for 7 years has been blatantly wrong. And instead of congratulating them on being the public face of the 2nd Amendment at a tremendously emotional time, you stick to your two-track recitation of "1934 NFA!" and "1968 GCA."
We showed them the true power of “We The People” - now if only “We” could follow up with a massive march on Washington DC.
Cash flow, folks.
Being a “Benefactor” member of the NRA, I have toplay devils advocate to the trend I’ve seen over the last ten or so years in that tghe National organization along with “some” state affiliate organizations have tended to trennd torwards the safety blanket of protecting “hunter’s rights” more than the overall gun owning community that may not be hunters at all...
The non-hunter is more likely to be the very advocates of opposing ANY gun-control legislation or regulation at ALL levels of government, more than the NRA and its affiliates give lip service to...
I happen to fall into the latter group because I do not hunt, but if I had to , I’m sure I could manage the task...
So in the spirit of protecting ALL gun-owners, no matter what your involvement or motivation is to protect the Second Amendment, I have to say that the hunting community needs to step up more than being a mere benefactor of those that would protect the overall purpose of the Amendment in question...
I know that may come across as being rather short and harsh towards the hunters in our midst, but I stand by my observations and conversations I have had with many of the heavy hitters in the NRA and my state’s affiliate organization...Much to a lot of dissagreements I know are out there to my analysis/observations...
I cannot say I am much aware of CodeToad’s assertions about the NRA’s involvement in the 20th centuries gun-control acts, and I will dive into these assertions with my own inquiries and research in the organizations lobbying and participation in these issues...
Again, I can only say in my own experience I have seen a bias towards a hunter’s only mindset over the last ten years that has me concerned that the overall direction by the NRA and the state organizations has been extremely shortsighted and perilous to us all...
If anything my input has been to protect (within the NRA and TSRA) that overall protection of ALL gunowners, dispite what, in my opinion, has been a factional misdirection of effort to protect one segment of the gun-owning community...
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