USA –-(Ammoland.com)- About 14 years ago, my wife and soulmate said something I disagreed with. So I divorced her. As if that wasn’t enough, about a week later, my kid got a detention at school. So I sold him into a life of slavery with Tusken Raider Sand People. My actions may sound harsh, but I have principles.There are certain issues where I simply won’t compromise!What? You think that’s harsh? Or maybe ridiculous? You’d be right. But that’s exactly the argument I hear from people all the time when the proudly tell me they will never join the NRA again. Ever. So there.
Source: Why It’s Total Bullsh#t You Don’t Join the NRA
Basically, it is your right not to join the NRA for whatever perceived and unforgivable misdeeds it may have committed. But you better have an organization that is as effective, specially at the legislative level or you are just ridding the coattails of everybody else.
Yeah at some point some “extreme purity” becomes a short term hindrance instead of a long term goal.
It is a little dumb – to say the least – to go the “I want Constitutional carry or no carry at all” route.
We *know* that incrementalism is the way to go because that’s how the other side managed to take away people’s rights in the past or in less-than-free states.
I don’t know whether that attitude is “real” purity or just hipster-like smugness (“I’m so hardcore; the NRA is just puss*es”).
I don’t belong to the NRA any longer because I got tired of the incessant “save us the cost of billing you by renewing your membership now” nags starting 3 months into my annual membership. This is the same reason I no longer have any magazine subscriptions. That happened when I got those nags 3 months into 3 year subscriptions I had taken out in an attempt to stop the nags. I was actually considering going to a life membership to avoid those nags and it occurred to me that I decided to not continue doing business with other businesses that piss me off that way and there really wasn’t any reason to continue doing business with NRA if they insist on pissing me off.
The nag is annoying enough but what really sells it is the underlying implication that I’m stupid enough to believe that it’s cheaper to send me an early bill for 7 or 8 months than it is to simply send the bill 2 months before the membership expires. As a business model it apparently is working since they continue to spend money on it. But then Nigerian email schemes work too and I don’t mess with them …
If you don’t want them to call you, don’t give them your phone number. Same with email. As for too much mail, so what? Toss it in the trash.
I’m not saying this to upset you, because my motivation is different. Why do politicians listen to the NRA? Answer: Five Million Members. Are you pro second amendment? Do you want to stop the anti-gunners? Then add your voice to the five million.
I say this to all citizens who are pro second amendment. I say it’s a crying shame that we have 100 million gun owners, and only 5 million people who support the most effective lobby that exists. Shame on you. Join now.
Easy solution:
I let my membership lapse oh so long ago because they kept calling the house and begging for money.
It did not help that the politicians they recommended didn’t actually do anything pro-gun, A+ rating means not anti-gun apparently.
There it sat for years.
I rejoined fairly recently.
I don’t think they’re effective at all in getting anything accomplished Federally. What they are is the giant target that sucks up all the hits from the antis and the media (repetition warning).
That lets other organizations work unhindered in getting lawsuits won. Suits like Heller, that the NRA actually opposed initially.
I’ve a year or two before I get to vote on an annual membership, but a voting I will go. The board has some Fudd to clear out.
I’ve a year or two before I get to vote on an annual membership, but a voting I will go.
If nothing else, ^this^ is the reason to join. Heck, it’s the reason (and pretty much the only reason) I’m considering joining the union at work. Only by being an active member do you have a voice.
If you don’t like the direction it’s going, vote to change it, and get others to do the same. But your vote and voice mean nothing if you’re not a voting member.
And fred & Mcthag are exactly the folks this article is talking about….
once upon a time, i had the same belief. I was a Class 3 dealer and owner of several full auto ‘toys’. the aforementioned organization folded and threw me & my fellow civil rights believers under the bus & no new autos can be made. But the fudds won!
Do i hold a grudge? OH YEAH. but the enemy i know is better than the one i dont know…….hmm is that the right analogy? Anyway, today i am a life member, because as Ben said: “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
If someone doesn’t want to join the NRA, I’m fine w/ that. The mailings et al are annoying I admit and there are some legitimate gripes about their endorsements.
I ask them what organizations they do belong to and what they’ve done to support the cause. SAF, GOA? State level? Hell, Illinois has the ISRA, GSL, and Illinois Carry. Do they write their reps? Papers? Regularly support their local FFL’s even w/ small purchases? Attended rallies?
Most of the time I get a blank stare.
The questions everyone needs to ask are:
1. Does the organization support MY goals, AND is effective?
2. If not, can I change the organization to support my goals?
3. If not, is there an organization that does support my goals that can be effective?
I am at #3 with the GOP.
I have been a life member for more than twenty years now. When I got tired of the fund raising letters, I started sending a letter of my own in their prepaid envelope. It said basically…
“If you want more money from me, start advocating the repeal of the Gun Control Act and the National Firearms Act. Until you guys do that, any money I chose to donate will go to Gun Owners of America.”
I had a stack of them preprinted. After I sent a dozen or so, in their prepaid envelope, they stopped sending me fund raising letters.
If you don’t like the mailings from the NRA, you can call the office and tell them to cease mailings. According to posts on various forums, this actually works.
I rejoined, I even say so.
I want them to be more effective than they are.
SAF originates far more victories than the NRA and I am sick of hearing about how much I hate gun rights by noticing that the NRA doesn’t get much done at the federal level.
Still waiting on that Brady repeal I was promised in 1996, by the way. When was the last time they even mentioned that, let alone introduced legislation?
How about repealing something simple, like 922r? Seems like they should have enough clout to get a nothing law like that removed, especially since it’s not being enforced.
My congress critters don’t give a crap because without a downcheck from the NRA they’ll just ignore my single voice.
Hi Miguel
I usedta’ be a NRA member some years ago…..until at the Charlotte NC bloggers convention they “Denied” Mike Vanderboegh and Dave Codre “Blogger Passes” to the convention???? You may ask “Whiskey Hotel Yankee?????’ Just plain “WHY!!!” They are the two bloggers who “BROKE THE FAST AND FURIOUS SCANDAL RIGHT OUT FROM UNDER THE BATFE!!!!!” Got that???? I don’t know if Mike still talks to them, I know he talks about them!! BTW From years ago Mike mentioned he has a “Life Membership!!” Don’t know if he relinquished it, it is a moot point at this time. Any way, after that, I saw to put my effort with Larry Plat and “Gun Owners Of America” and although GOA does not have the “Following” of NRA we are still a “Voice!!!!”
If Mike and Dave had not put their necks on the line God knows if anyone else would have come forth with that information!!!
I follow Mike and Dave……..
And from another blog…….
As the encroaching darkness of Fascism spreads throughout this Country, I will continue to hold up my small light in the darkness, And if one day “They” come and snuff out that light, so be it. Sometimes, taking a stand for the right thing is the only action a decent person has left.
-Unknown-
from…angrymikeshood.blogspot.com
Got Gunz……OUTLAW!!!!!,
III%,
skybill-out
I guess the way I look at is like the old saying says if you are not part of the solution then you are part of the problem.