There are people out there who not only think the NRA doesn’t care about gun rights, they actively, for some reason, don’t WANT to believe the NRA is a good organization for gun owners.

I think it’s a combination of only a superficial knowledge of the political process and unreasonable expectations about what you can get out of it in the current climate. “The NRA isn’t effective, so I won’t ever join” is something I hear a lot, but the NRA’s effectiveness is proportional to it’s membership! In the early 90s, the NRA was weak. You can see where that got us.

I’m always very reluctant to bash other pro-gun groups, even when they piss me off, but GOA was spreading a lot of crap about this bill, and making sure everyone know NRA was behind it, before there was even language available. I have no problem with GOA finding a niche where they have some synergy with NRA, but as soon as they start trying to weaken it, they are helping to slit our own throats.

I don’t know what GOA’s membership is, but given their financial statements, it’s not very high. I’m guessing about 20,000 to 30,000. So while the unreasonably anti-NRA crowd drives me nuts, they are pretty clearly a small, but very loud minority in the gun owner community. And, of course, not all GOA members, probably not even most of them, are like that.

Of course these are also the people that must think that cults are okay, the newspapers can print lies and yelling “Fire!” in a crowded movie theater is cool. Since to think otherwise would be in direct violation of the first amendment.

and yeah, I completely and totally admire you and heypete for attempting to insert reason into a discussion about this on livejournal.

Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.