Paul is calling the candidates to action. You have to figure after two mass shootings, if he can’t get even Hillary to talk about gun control, times are bleak indeed for the gun control movement.
Face is Paul, the Democrats have run from the issue. Don’t get me wrong, I still think Hillary is your best friend ever, but she knows that if the Parker decision goes the wrong way (i.e. the way you want it to) that gun owners will be very motivated, and very pissed. No Democrat is going to go out on that limb!
You also have to figure it’s probably frustrating as hell for them to not have a single legislative achievement at the federal level in 14 years. They try to push a bill, after the worst mass shooting in our nation’s history, that makes so many concessions to gun owners that the NRA doesn’t have any problem with it, and they still can’t get it through Congress because the Brady name and cause have become so politically poisonous that even a whiff of their involvement is enough to send Congress running.
They may be desperate but that is no reason to let up on them. They will never get it. . . Once we get them on the ropes it is time to finish them, no room to play nice with this gang of nuts.
Heres hoping the SCoUS gets it right this time and ends it. Time to stop gutting the Second Amendment and the rest of OUR Constitution!
Per John Ds comment:
As soon as the “enemy” goes down, the next critical course of action is to make SURE they’re down for good.
I don’t think the gun control movement is ever really going away, but it may have to reinvent itself once again.
Paul’s theory is that if a madman is forced to use a bolt-action hunting rifle with a sack of small clips, it will take him a bit longer before he runs out of victims. This will give his terrified victims a few more moments of life before being shot. Also, they’ll die more humanely — since (unlike military ammo) hunting rifle ammo is designed to put its target out of its misery extremely rapidly.
My theory is that people should be able to shoot mass killers.
Once we get the Brady Bunch down, we need to start trying to take out the NRA. They are as dangerous to the Second Amendment as the others. They’ve become nothing more than a money making machine trying to keep themselves in a job. Wayne’s in bed with Carolyn McCarthy and Chuck Schumer. He also took a paycheck of $950,000.00 in 2005. They’ve done NOTHING to protect the 2nd lately.
And Tony…
If the NRA does nothing to protect the 2A, and in fact, threatens it as much as the Brady Campaign…. then why do the most rabid gun control activists cite the NRA as public enemy number one, and so fear its influence? Something does not compute with that.
All of the pro-2A groups have their shortcomings and all have their strengths. If you don’t like the NRA nor agree with some of their positions, then by all means work with other groups. But don’t work against the NRA…help guide them. Your post is the type that divides, and divided we will fall. You may be quite sincere and I don’t fault you for your beliefs, but what you suggest is anything but productive.
Carl:
I have the right to speak out against those that I feel are doing harm to the Second Amendment. I will work against any body that I feel is not upholding the Constitution of the United States. My intent is not to divide. My intent is to get people to think and spend their money where it will be most effective and not be used to line the pockets of the staff.
I admit I exaggerated the actions of the NRA a bit. I am a member of the and have been for a few years now. They are very good at training people in the safe handling and use of firearms. That is something this country needs. However, they should not compromise with those that wish to eliminate firearms from this country. Why did they try and derail the Parker v. D.C. case? I’ve contacted them on several times through their website about different things that they have done that bother me. The latest is their lack of speaking out against “Maximum” Mike Sullivan’s nomination to the BATFE. I have never received any response from them at all. If they can’t even respond to a paying member, why should I expect them to care about anything other than making cash for themselves.
I do support other Second Amendment groups. Most of those have spoken out against those that mean to do harm to gun owners. They’ve not compromised with anti-gunners such as McCarthy and Schumer. I’ve always received responses from them when I’ve had questions. They don’t spend money unnecessarily sending me 6 or seven request for money each year. I feel they spend the money I send them responsibly and for the purpose that it is intended.
I understand, Tony. And your points are well-taken. Keep up the good fight, on all fronts.
Tony: Just found this release by the Violence Policy Center (and like many others, bankrolled by the Joyce Foundation in Chicago).
Is it conceivable that the NRA, the “big bad gun lobby” supported this bill because they knew they could pull the wool over McCarthy’s eyes? The VPC is none too happy…they state: “…the bill is now nothing more than a gun lobby wish list. Once a solution, the bill is now part of the problem.” The problem to them, of course, is people owning firearms.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,245656.shtml
Why did they try and derail the Parker v. D.C. case?
Because there was a strong belief among many NRA attorneys that the case would lose, and we’d end up with precedent saying the second amendment is not an individual right. Now that the composition of The Court has changed, this is less of a concern. I think this was a mistake on their part to try to scuttle the case, but I understand why they did it. It wasn’t to keep the issue alive, it was because of a genuine and very real fear we might lose.
The latest is their lack of speaking out against “Maximum†Mike Sullivan’s nomination to the BATFE. I have never received any response from them at all. If they can’t even respond to a paying member, why should I expect them to care about anything other than making cash for themselves.
Who did you e-mail? And how long ago? I’ll call them on ignoring a member. Let me know.
Also, remember that the NRA has a function outside of lobbying – it wouldn’t go away (and in many ways would become more relevant to everyone) were SCOTUS come back with “what part of ‘Shall Not Infringe’ didn’t you understand?”
Wayne’s the president of the whole NRA, not the NRA-ILA, right? If so, his job’s not going anyplace even if we roll back to 1933.
Carl,
Thanks for the link. I saw something like that earlier. The current state of the bill is thanks to Senator Tom Coburn and his hold on the bill. I still think that the NRA is a capable organization, they just need to stop compromising. If I didn’t still believe in them, I wouldn’t be a member.
Sebastian,
I click on the “Contact Us” link on the nraila web page. I’ve sent at least two dozen messages without a single response. I called once on the NICS “improvement” bill and they gave me the BS about helping vets get off the list. This may be true, but as with all things Government, this particular section of the bill will never be funded so it will never be able to be used. The new amendments may help that, but I haven’t had a chance to read the final version. I just think compromise is a bad way to behave. I’d much rather full draconian, blatantly Unconstitutional laws be passed so that Americans will wake up and take back this Country from the Tyrants that are destroying it.
Wayne is essentially the CEO of NRA. Chris Cox is head of ILA. Both positions are hired by the board, so in some sense they are co-equal. Chris doesn’t have to worry about his job any time soon. This political issue is never going anyway. We’ll be fighting for our gun rights for as long as we have them
Yeah, I don’t know where that form ends up going to. Their BS about getting vets off the list isn’t really BS though. This bill actually does do that. The funding thing isn’t an issue, because this is a funding bill — the entire purposes of it is to allocate money to these programs. It would take another Act of Congress to defund these programs, which everyone, including the NRA, would fight as a gun control measure.
Compromise is a necessary element of the political process, and you can’t really make any progress without sometimes having to do it. Shall issue concealed carry is a compromise, but I think most would argue it was a good one. We didn’t get here in one fell swoop, and we won’t win our rights back in one fell swoop either, and some of these fights are going to take a major attitude change among the public to win. But hey, it can happen. We’re a lot better now in that area than we were ten eyars ago. A lot better.
I realize that there will always be those that wish to deny us our rights, but if Parker/Heller v. D.C. is successful, many anti-gun laws across the country will likely fall. I just have a feeling that greed is rampant in the upper ranks of the NRA and they feel this would cut down on their ability to raise money through fear. If anyone thinks that Wayne or Chris are worth $950,000.00 a year, I think they are mistaken. I’m all for capitalism, but as we’ve seen in corporations recently, capitalism mixed with greed is not good for anyone.
I know an ex-member of 10 years that still gets a monthly or more mailing from the NRA. That’s 10 years of wasted postage just on this one person. I’m a member and I get many mailings a year. They have my email address yet they choose to waste postage sending me paper mail. This rings of mass marketing like the NRA is more interested in making as much money as they possibly can. I just wish they would spend the hard earned money that I give them on issues rather than using it just to attempt to make more money.
We didn’t get here in one fell swoop, and we won’t win our rights back in one fell swoop.
We never lost those rights, we just were to weak to exercise them. We don’t have to gain them back, we just have to be strong enough to exercise them. I do my part in that exercise, we just need to get more people to realize that Government can’t take those rights away. They are God given and the people retain them. We the people need to change this and stop depending on others to do it for us. A court case said that the Government could not charge person to exercise their rights, but I sure didn’t get my CCW for free. Sure they said the charge was for paperwork, but it is a charge just the same.
Never judge legislation by the good it will do if administered properly, but by the harm it will do if administered badly. That is a quote, but I can’t remember from whom. I can’t remember at the moment, but I know there have been instance of bill like this related to other things in which the relief part was not funded so there was never any relief given. Similar to the Marijuana tax stamp. You could posses Marijuana if you had a stamp issued by the Government, but the Government never issued or intended to issue the stamp. I’m not promoting drug use, just using it as an example. If you trust our elected officials to abide by any compromise, you’ve lost before you’ve begun.
And if you can’t compromise, you can’t do politics. “Politics is the art of the possible” – Otto von Bismark.
If you can’t do politics, you can’t function effectively.
We never lost those rights, we just were to weak to exercise them. We don’t have to gain them back, we just have to be strong enough to exercise them. I do my part in that exercise, we just need to get more people to realize that Government can’t take those rights away. They are God given and the people retain them.
I understand the point about rights being retained even if government infringe on them, but you can tell the politicians not to take away your rights all you want, they aren’t going to listen unless they either want to, because they agree with you on the issue, or you can threaten them into submission by putting them at risk for being defeated in the next election.
As much as I’d like to think I could get my right to possess a machine gun back by exercising it, the only thing that’s really going to accomplish is to land me in federal prison for several years.
Good leaders cost money. Wayne La Pierre and Chris Cox could probably earn far more money doing something else.
Good leaders cost money. Wayne La Pierre and Chris Cox could probably earn far more money doing something else.
They definitely could. It’s worth remembering that James Baker left ILA to strike out on his own on K street.
Bad leaders cost money too. We’ll just have to agree to disagree on compromise. The status quo is going to destroy us!
The status quo favors the RKBA forces right now – with 2/3 of respondents to a recent poll believing that normal folks should be permitted to own handguns.
Move too fast though, and we risk having a backlash happen similar to the reaction to, say, gay marriage…