The Heart of the Matter

I noticed in the comments over at Kim’s:

At the same time as HB89 was introduced in the House, the NRA bill – SB43 – was introduced in the Senate. This bill would allow employees to keep a gun locked in their vehicle in company parking lots while they were at work. GCO not only did not oppose this bill, but offered support for it as well.

While HB89 made its way through the House and was passed by a fairly large margin, SB43 brought about very focused opposition from two very large and well funded lobbying groups – the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and the insurance industry. Business and insurance companies feared the lawsuits that might result from a shooting and specifically and massively focused on defeating this bill. They succeeded and SB43 was voted down in the Senate.

At this point, HB89 was in committee in the Senate and it looked very favorable for passage by the Senate as well. The NRA then focused their lobbying efforts on amending the GCO bill – HB89 – by adding the wording of SB43 to it GCO politely and strongly urged the NRA to leave the bill alone so it could pass and was completely ignored.

So HB89 was not really the NRA’s bill, they hijacked it (yes, I used that term deliberately). And once they added SB43’s wording to it, it was also doomed to fail. The amended bill never left the committee, which is why it was already on the docket at the beginning of this year’s session, picking up where it left off last year.

Read the whole thing.  This is an unfortunate circumstance, for certain.  Georgia activists aren’t the first state level group to get pooped on when NRA decides it has different priorities. Sometimes NRA is going to sacrifice a state or local issue for the sake of it’s national agenda.  It sucks, but I don’t know how to change that.  NRA can’t always put its priorities on hold to accommodate everything a state or local group wants to accomplish.  That was a case where it was either going to be NRA who had egg on their face or GCO.  I don’t blame GCO’s feathers for being ruffled over this, but it’s not irreparable damage.

I still stand by my analysis that the “private property” clause in HB 915 jeopardizes HB 89.  I had made the assertion that this seemed deliberate.  That would not appear to be the case, according to GCO and the legislation’s sponsor.  NRA is going to be particularly sensitive to clauses that could be grounds for a court challenge to their parking lot bill, which is practically a guarantee if it passes.

4 thoughts on “The Heart of the Matter”

  1. You don’t call this betrayal? What happened to your position on incremental restoration of rights?

    I have noticed that when you must choose between loyalty to the constitution and civil rights or the NRA you always support the NRA.

    That is not a gun rights activist or pro-gun leader, that is an NRA loyalist above all else.

    Now, that is your right. I would not begin to tell you that you cannot do such or be such. But I would appreciate it if you just quit pretending.

  2. I still believe in that. I don’t think anyone here is advocating that Georgia’s carry laws not be fixed. NRA has decided that the parking lot bill is a priority. I actually don’t agree with them on that, but I understand their reasoning and respect their position on the matter.

  3. Sebastian, I have a lot of respect for you. You seem to be a very reasonable, wise, and responsible person…but I fail to understand your seemingly vested interest in supporting the NRA no matter what.

    No organization is perfect and no organization is going to agree with you, me or anyone on every issue. That’s fine. However, you clearly recognize this situation as “unfortunate” but doggedly maintain your support for it.

    As straightarrow says, this is nothing less than a betrayal of Georgia gun owners for the NRAs own political gain. You stated yourself that the NRA has staked its reputation on getting this legislation passed…which is more damaging to one’s reputation: sacrificing your own selfish wants for the needs of your constituents, or throwing your constituents under the bus in order to advance a high profile, but inferior, agenda?

    I don’t know about you but that pretty much defines betrayal as far as I’m concerned.

    I’m not saying that you should completely abandon the NRA or become as vocal a critic as some other bloggers but damn, man…can’t you be a LITTLE bit critical ONCE IN A WHILE? The fact that they can count on the slavish support of their members no matter what is what enables them to throw state level groups to the wolves with no remorse or repercussion. Most members offer that slavish support simply because they are unaware of what is going on outside their own little rice bowl. You cannot claim such ignorance. Your support is not based upon ignorance…you seem to be an upstanding, honorable man…so how can you possibly support such a dishonorable action by a group that supposedly represents you???

    I just don’t get it.

    As for me…I’m writing an email to the NRA voicing my opinion on this matter today. I wonder if they’ll reply this time?

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