There were four or five state groups in Michigan for awhile. I'm not counting one of the "NRA" groups(Michigan pistol associaiton or something like that since it's a shooting club and that's it). I won't count the militia either. All but three folded. One is Brass Roots, which it an offshoot of the libertarian party. I don't like Brass Roots. All they do is complain, whine, and they don't fight smart. They turned off any fencesitter leaning their way. They wanted Vermont or nothing, and the legislature told them to pound sand. They had 10,000 in 94. Now, they can barely fill a room with meetings.
The other is TN-USA. It's a national group, but is strong in Michigan for obvious reasons.(Nuge is from Concord). It's a good group, and they help us on gun issues, although hunting is their fortay. They are better on the education issues than the political, although they are capable of both.
Lastly is MCRGO, which I'm with. We started with 8 people, and now have I believe 28,000. No one is questioning our results. Some hate us because they think we compromised too much on the CCW bill(it was a take it or leave it by Engler - we took it, which is the right decision, especially with the good chance of Granholm as gov and now want to improve it). Right now, we are going for the legal end of the fight by taking Ferndale to Court for banning CCW in certain areas violating the 1990 pre-emption act.(Which I think is a must in any state) We're also looking for a veto-proof majority in the legislature, a new US Senator, Justice Robert Young to go back to the Supreme Court, and for some congressional pickups. I'll come back to this.
3. Now that we have a TOTALLY voluntary dues system in place suddenly money is an issue?
If dues are voluntary, I don't have as much of an issue, but dues are voluntary for any org. No one has to be a member to enjoy the benefits of being a gun owner. For being an MCRGO member, you help fund our group, sue places, get a great newsletter, and elect pro-2a officials. In fact, all our meetings outside the annual one are public and open even to a Million Moronic idiot.
Yes, CC, INC. dues are VOLUNTARY - see paragraph 6 below. Dues paying members do get free gun transfers and guns at COST via our FFL, other than that there is no real difference between a dues paying member and someone who just wants to lend support.
There is one good advantage there.
I don't know ISRA. I looked at their site, and they seem more like a shooter's club than a gun rights group. Their PAC page is only on the links section at the end and is hard to find. The last update I saw there was in January. There is NO information on the 22 faces you need to know there. NONE. That is WEAK, and I'd expect better fron an NRA affiliate. Their layout isn't bad at all. The content sucks.
All of this knowledge comes from the sidelines since I have another org I am busy with...