The NRA and You

[Mauser720]

The purpose of this post is to share with all the members what my experiences have been with the National Rifle Association (NRA) and to encourage everyone who is not currently a member to seriously consider joining.

And my reason for doing this is that I think the recent political events have shown how vulnerable our Second Amendment rights are to either being eroded or even completely eliminated.

Prior to this election there was much less concern being expressed about the future of firearms legislation than there is now being expressed. However, it is still not too late to become involved in the preservation of your rights.

One of the best ways to do this is to become a member of the NRA.

A few years ago it was learned that if a state's constitution had an amendment in it that was similar to the Second Amendment in our US Constitution it would be very difficult for antigun politicians in that particular state to pass antigun legislation. In recognition of this the NRA began a grass roots effort in states to ensure that the citizens were given an opportunity to vote on such an amendment to their state's constitution.

The first time this was attempted in my state, I was not involved in the effort. I did sign the petition, but other than that I let someone else do all the work. Ultimately the effort failed because the required number of signatures were not collected prior to the election.

However, this was a wake up call for many people in our state. And the second time we tried to collect signatures I was very involved and so were many other gun owners. I think my little band of signature collectors collected about 3,500 signatures for the effort. The NRA even sent representatives to meet with us and tell us how to go about collecting more signatures. They also established a telephone call center in which a group of all of us made phone calls to all the NRA members and encouraged them to sign these petitions and to vote for the ratification of the amendment if we were able to get it on the ballot.

We were successful in collecting more than the required number of signatures, and we also got the amendment to our state constitution on the ballot at the next general election. We could never have accomplished this without the help, resources, guidance and support of the NRA field representatives who were sent here to work with us.

And the constitutional amendment got on the ballot and was approved by the voters.

Now you might have thought that our politicians would have praised this example of citizen involvement in their state government; however, that was not the case. In fact, our elected legislators were so upset by what we had accomplished that they more than doubled the required number of registered voter signatures for any future ballot initiatives.

I know that some gun owners are hostile to the NRA and are not members for reasons of their own. And I admit that I do get tired of them seemingly always asking for monetary donations. However, they are fighting legal battles all over the country, and it does cost a lot of money to fight these battles. A good example of what they can accomplish is the recent Supreme Court decision in which they were primary litigants, and got the Court to state once and for all that the Second Amendment is an individual right.

I also know that there are many other supposedly pro-gun organizations out there that ask for money. I can't recall any of their actual names, but they are something like this: The Second Amendment Foundation, or The Alliance of Sportsmen for the Preservation of The Second Amendment, etc., etc. I have never actually heard of a single meaningful contribution that they have made to the preservation of our Second Amendment rights. I could be wrong about them, but why send money or join an organization that has no known track record when it comes to actually accomplishing something positive?

By way of comparison, the NRA has an outstanding web site and they will tell you exactly what is going on in your state, or your city, or your county whenever gun legislation or gun related issues are being considered by the politicians. And the NRA will tell you exactly what you need to be aware of and what you need to do.

The NRA will contact candidates for office and incumbents and simply ask them to explain their positions on private ownership of firearms. Their responses or lack of responses are duly noted and reported to the membership. For example in this last election, we had two candidates for a Senate seat. One of them responded to the NRA's survey and the other chose to ignore the survey and not respond. The NRA reported to the membership that such a non-response is often a sign that the politician either harbors antigun views, or does not want the voters to know exactly what their position is on the issue. In this case, the candidate for Senate who did not respond to the NRA survey was defeated.

This is not a unique example of what the NRA is doing. They are involved in situations like this all over America. And with, as I recall, about 4.5 million members they are still our best possible resource for the protection of our Second Amendment Rights.

When any gun owner says something like "I don't now why we did not hear from the NRA on this issue" they are simply admitting two things: (1) They are not a member of the NRA; and, (2) They have not even bothered to check the free resources offered by the NRA.

The NRA is not a perfect organization. Nevertheless, it is still the only organization that has the power, the resources, the money, and a well documented track record of actually doing something to protect your rights.

For information on what you personally need to know about the issues in your area and/or joining the NRA please go to: www.nra.org

Annual membership starts at only $35.00 a year with price breaks for longer term memberships and being over 65 years of age, etc. Membership entitles you to your choice of either one of their two outstanding monthly magazines: "The American Rifleman" or "The American Hunter." And there are a variety of other benefits too, including gun insurance, etc.

I encourage all gun owners who are not already members to please seriously consider joining the NRA for the greater good of all concerned.

Thank you,

Mauser720 - Ron

[tudorbug]

Good information, Ron! Thank you for taking the time to provide this.

As a member of the NRA, I now find it very important that I pay much more attention to their solicitations for funds and respond much more generously.

Very kindly, David

[Luke]

Fully support. While the Supreme Court affirmed the right of a homeowner to own a gun in his/her home for protection, it gave no details about the kind of gun this decision supports.

I hope I am wrong, but it seems to me that a federal law could be passed by this new congress/president to restrict home guns to 22 cal revolvers. That, of course would not apply to the criminal who breaks into the home. He can have an AK-47.

Just my 2 cents.

Luke

[azlaw]

IMHO, the recent Supreme Court opinion, called District of Columbia et al. v. Heller was a real Dusy, as they used to say. A case of first impression of an enumerated Constitutional right - you won't see another one like this ever. It is an opinion in which you need to read every sentence, and the dissents. This ain't over...

My personal favorite out-take:

"The very enumeration of the right takes out of the hands of governmentâ??even the Third Branch of Governmentâ??the power to decide on a case-by-case basis whether the right is really worth insisting upon."

Great stuff.

H

[Edward Tinker]

This thread is closed.