Apparently there is an incredible amount of butthurt floating about the NRA not making Philando Castile some sort of fallen hero for Concealed Carry rights.
He was not. He was somebody who alongside a rookie cop, made mistakes that led to an untimely death. That is all, a tragedy.
And since when we in the Gun Culture run and act under what the Left and the Media says we are supposed to do? A couple of articles denouncing the NRA for not supporting a black gun owner and a chorus of guinea fowl from our side (allegedly) repeat verse a chorus because …. no fucking idea. This foes farther than the usual “I don’t like the NRA because they don’t give me free kittens and machine guns with my $35 membership.” rant that some gun owners keep pulling. This is dumb tactics by coat-tail riders.
Ladies and Gents: We do not do martyrs, we do Defendants before the Supreme Court. We do not do street protest with our arms up in the air screaming “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot.” We do Lobby Day inside State Legislatures.
And we certainly do not play the Race Game. Not only is unbecoming, it is something the Opposition is really good about it and we do not play to their strengths.
The Gun Control Groups are just waiting for the NRA to say something somewhat favorable towards Philando Castile so they can exploit headlines:
NRA SUPPORTS PACKING HEAT WHILE SMOKING POT.
Wayne LaPierre sees nothing bad in toking and carrying.
What? You think they will not fall to such lows? Are you kidding me? I can’t imagine what other crap their NY City PR firms have ready, but bet your bippy it will be even lower than that.
Now, nobody can accuse the NRA of being stupid. They never say or take a hard stand without careful planning and consideration. Remember Sandy Hook? They endured a week or more of full blast in the Media and even among guinea fowl gun owners and then they had the press conference where “The only thing that stops a Bad Guy is a Good Guy with a Gun.” came to be which included not only civilians, but retired and active PD and Military. The Media and Gun Control lost their minds and made the colossal mistake of not only badmouthing Law Enforcement and Veterans but actually saying they were against security in schools! They lost the American Public right there and Feinstein’s new AWB began to die that day.
So basically: CHILL. If the NRA says something, good. If not, also good.
Stop playing the game set up by the Gun Control Media Machine.
Excellent excellent post Miguel!
It’s a catch-22 for the NRA. They support the cop… ‘RACIST!!!’. The support Castille… drug use/anti-cop.
The best thing is to stay quiet until the next episode of Survivor comes on or the Kardasians do something else for attention.
Unfortunately there is a crop of loud “gun owners” that have “Fuck Da Police” spill too easily out of their lips because that makes them edgy and Sovereign.
NRA has an image problem with blacks and Democrats in general. This is why they can’t get ahead in states with Democrat majorities. By staying silent they are perpetuating the notion that they don’t represent them. They don’t have to make Castile a martyr, but they should say something.
Understand that no matter what the NRA says if not well thought out, it will be manipulated against us. I rather them take the time to say something close to bulletproof as possible or nothing at all.
And it is not the NRA screwing up. it is the bunch of whining jerks that want an answer right now! because reasons. They are being used by the Opposition as proof that the NRA is “deeply divided” and that HQ is out of touch. Why is this important? because they can take that to Congress and stop bills like National Reciprocity. “Hey! See this> the NRA is actually a paper tiger. Even its members are against them just like they are against them on Universal Background Checks.”
Count me in as an NRA Life Member who thinks they should day something. Yes, this is a tough case and it’s difficult to get the messaging right. You’re right about the media. When they’ve supported black gun owners before they were accused of doing so just to virtue signal that they didn’t hate black people. I don’t think they should say “it’s because he’s black.” This case really does disturb me, though. I’ve told my wife that if she’s carrying she needs to not move and ask the cop how he wants her to retrieve her documents of she doesn’t already have them. Police training for that guy was really poor. Or he was just way too jumpy. Ellifritz’s article could almost be the NRA statement. At least the beginning of it.
I agree with Miguel and others that avoidable mistakes were made by BOTH parties in the instance. Philando obviously did not follow the officer’s appropriate instructions, or prevent his movements from appearing as though he was trying to access a weapon, which he had announced that he had authority to have.
My personal actions would (hopefully) include having retrieved all needed paperwork, having it lying on the driver’s side dash, window down, and interior light on (if at night), and both hands firmly on the top of the steering wheel BEFORE the officer reaches my vehicle. Then WAIT for officers’ instructions.
From the video, it was obvious that the officer panicked. That was quite clear throughout the video. You could hear him repeatedly swearing. He was NOT calm and collected. He remained in panic mode even after being relieved.
Here is a question for all to consider: does the NRA have an ‘obligation’ to make an ‘official’ statement on any and all shootings be they involving police or just a generic gang shootout? If that is the case, then they will be spending a lot of time and effort addressing issues that are not pertinent to their missions of promoting responsible gun ownership and gun safety.
I cannot help but think that if they want us to do something, it’s a trap of some kind.
In this case, the driver was found to have a ‘very high’ level of THC in this blood, which does account for the following tragic impaired logic—Driver, “I have a gun and permit”, officer, “Don’t reach for it”….driver, “Oh I don’t have to reach for it cause it’s right…”—–the officer attempts to reach through the car window saying, “No don’t” but then quickly moves back several steps while drawing sidearm and begins shooting.
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Now. fast forward to the officer giving an account of his actions to this superior while the driver was on the pavement receiving medical attention….he says, ‘He reached for something much larger than a wallet” .
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My conclusion: The stoned-out-of-his-mind driver was simply attempting to inform the officer (being of the stoned mindset he has a permit and could in fact freely show the gun to the officer) he was a gun owner and carried see,….here it is…I don’t have to reach for it.
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Tragic Stupid Stoned Ending. “Gun and POT Don’t Mix” For you won’t judge REALITY correctly, which results in a ‘grave mistake’.
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Jury saw this evidence and judged correctly. Any officer would have done the same since they are trained to “Act first and not react last—Action always defeats Reaction.
Great Article! Very nice argument- well thought out and explained. Good examples of how the NRA is so good at what they do.