I caught this tweet by Alan Gura yesterday and I am a bit surprised about the childish tone of it.
The whole bad blood started because one (1) article in NRA’s First Freedom where apparently not enough laurels were tossed to Alan Gura for the Heller decision. Apparently Gura’s ego could not take it and things escalated after that to the point it is open season (again) on the NRA and people on the side of the Second Amendment are sounding like the Brady bunch .
The NRA has played it cool and stayed away from the antics. Unfortunately this has only encouraged Gura and others to actually say stupid stuff like that tweet. Alan, you did great with SCOTUS, but you did not do all the work and neither did SAF. The NRA laid the field for you and had been working on that field for many years. It was the NRA that got people to vote for Pro-Gun members of the Senate under a Pro-Gun president who gave you Justice Roberts and Justice Alito ensuring a Supreme Court that would rule in your favor.
Because I do not care how good you are, you wouldn’t had a chance in hell with President Gore, a Democrat-majority Senate and Liberal Supreme Court Justices.
If I wanna see prima donas throwing temper tantrums there is always Bridezilla on TV. All of us are working towards the same goal, if we cannot be nice to each other, let’s be mute.
We must, indeed, all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.
Benjamin Franklin
If I understand things correctly, the bad blood started long before that article. NRA tried to derail Heller in favour of their own suit (which never made it to SCOTUS), and then when Heller looked like it might succeed managed to attach themselves to it. Eventually, they claimed credit for its success with little or no credit given to Alan Gura and SAF.
They did something similar with McDonald, except when it got to SCOTUS they also managed to steal a good chunk of his time for the oral arguments (against his objections).
When they do give him any credit at all, it’s either almost a footnote or obviously done grudgingly. While NRA does deserve credit for a lot of the historical setup, they have always been very hesitant and timid when it comes to court cases, and they have handled what should be a symbiotic relationship with Gura and SAF very poorly. I’m not surprised at his resentment, or that he’s letting it be visible. He has reason for the first, and the second is only human.
Heller was one huge gamble. Now it seems like a sure thing because it went our way but at the time nobody (Gura included) said it was a sure thing. Only after the hearing was in motion and Justice Kennedy started asking question, the mood about the case changed. Incidentally nobody (and I mean nobody) thought Justice Kennedy would come out so strong in favor of the 2A.
The NRA is in the business of sure things, not taking chances and specially in a case which, if gone the wrong way would have determined that the Second Amendment was NOT an individual right.
Again. Gura and SAF did a great job but cannot claim that thy did all the work. SAF is a think tank that was pretty much isolated form the day to day rough and tumble of politics & working to elect a Executive and a Legislative that would select and confirm judges favorable to our cause. It was not its job anyway but NRA’s which carved a smooth path for Gura and the rest. The NRA is well within its right to claim victory in both Heller and McDonald because without the NRA’s work, the SAF would still be writing papers about the 2A and Gura might still be working for the State of California.
The NRA-ILA has worked at cross purposes with Alan Gura for years. Do you know why the case originally known as Parker is called Heller? NRA’s poor spoiler case lost standing for everyone but Heller. Go read Seegars and the Parker appellate decision.
Then, when CGF and SAF sued DC for adopting California’s handgun roster, NRA sabotaged that claim too. There are many more examples. NRA almost always tries to consolidate it’s cases with Alan to take them over. Not only does he have to fight government, he has to fight NRA-ILA too. Amusingly he beats both of them almost every time. If you rurally want more examples, I can show you, but you can also see what all the NC guys said about NRA’s attempt to moot the Bateman case there just this past spring.
The current hostilities are over NRA trying to mess with GRPC. GRPC I scheduled a year in advance. All of a sudden NRA has decided to have a competing event. They’re forcing ISRA to play along. This is the second time in the last few months they’ve forced ISRA to do something against their will. The first was when ISRA was forced to file a competing IL carry case and actually made off with some of SAFs plaintiffs. Don’t get me started about NRA intentionally rushing a less quality carry case in CA ahead of the SAF/CGF challenge.
Now with all that as a background, can you tell me what NRA’s legal victories are? Heller, McDonald, and Ezell seem to me to give Mr Gura some credibility on this.
There is one thing we can all take comfort on. NRA is out messing up the timing of NSSF’s preliminary injunction motion in their challenge to ATF’s multiple rifle reporting rule. Read #8 of the ATF’s motion to delay and remember who is representing J&G.
-Gene
Two addendums to my comment above.
First, iPads drive typos…
Second, I’ve done a little digging and I overstate the IL carry situation above. Things were a bit fluid that week. I don’t want that error to take away from the other points.
-Gene
Just curious, what would have been a more appropriate tweet covering the actual situation? Gura did a fairly good job I thought given he had 140 characters to work with.
Yeah – the NRA does do a lot… Yep, I’m a member. However, that doesn’t mean that the NRA doesn’t sometime act like some spoiled bee-otch because there’s another popular girl at the dance. The NRA doesn’t like to share the spot light, period. The NRA may have done a lot to set the stage for Heller and McDonald, but because they didn’t actually argue those cases, they really can’t claim that victory, can they? Kinda like the crew of Apollo 10 mission (it was a dry run for the actual landing scheduled for the next mission) claiming credit for being the first men on the moon when it was the crew of Apollo 11 who actually accomplished that feat.
I don’t know how “cool” I’d be if someone’s always trying to ‘jack me.
The NRA may have done a lot to set the stage for Heller and McDonald, but because they didn’t actually argue those cases,
NRA was not in McDonald?
YEP – The NRA was at McDonald… however, they were NOT the petitioner.
When the case went to the SCOTUS, Gura and the SAF were the petitioners, and the NRA listed as respondents.
In the transcript (http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/08-1521.pdf), it reads:
“ORAL ARGUMENT OF PAUL D. CLEMENT ON BEHALF OF RESPONDENTS NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION, INC., ET AL.,
IN SUPPORT OF THE PETITIONERS”
It was the SAF & Gura’s case, plain and simple. The SCOTUS gave 10 minutes of Gura’s 30 minutes to the NRA, against Gura’s objections (see http://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/McDonald-opp-to-NRA-arg-motion.pdf). Gura wanted to argue the 14th Amendment’s Privileges or Immunities Clause, whereas the NRA wanted to focus on the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment. Kinda like “I don’t give a crap what your legal strategy for this case is, I’m pushing mine, even though it’s not my case”. Nothing like working at cross purposes, outcome of the case be damned.
Listen, like I said before, the NRA has done a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to the 2nd Amendment, but when it comes to giving props to others, the NRA acts like a bitch.
And refresh my memory, SCOTUS decided McDonald under Privileges or Immunities (Gura) or under Due Process Clause (NRA)?