Posted on 07/01/2010 5:17:42 PM PDT by neverdem
The NRA has received a number of questions about blog posts that claim I issued a gag order to NRA board members on the nomination of Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court. This is absurd and wrong.
This claim shows complete ignorance of how the NRA operates. NRA staff, including everyone (myself included) at the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, work for the NRA Executive Vice President, who in turn works for the NRA board, which in turn is elected by NRAs voting members.
Under the NRA by-laws, NRA-ILA has "sole responsibility to administer the legislative, legal, informational and fund raising activities of the Association relating to the defense or furtherance of the right to keep and bear arms, in accordance with the objectives and policies established by the Board of Directors. To carry out that mission, NRA-ILA strives to ensure that the NRAs positions are clear and based on the most accurate information possible. |
The confirmation of a Supreme Court justice is not to be taken lightly. Thats why, when Justice John Paul Stevens announced his retirement in April, I sent an e-mail to NRA board members and staff stating that with the critical case of McDonald v. Chicago still pending before the Court, it is very important that NRA not comment on Justice Stevens nor engage in speculation on potential successors.
Similarly, when the President nominated Solicitor General Kagan to the Court in May, I sent a message to the NRA Board pointing out her lack of a judicial record; noting that NRA-ILA was reviewing all available information; and stating that it is important that we all refrain from commenting until we know more about Kagans views regarding the Second Amendment. Again, I referenced the fact that NRA has a case pending before the Court.
When Ms. Kagan was nominated, little information on her record was available. More recently, the William J. Clinton Presidential Library has released an enormous volume of documents from her time in the White House. NRA-ILA staff has reviewed these carefully and they raise serious concerns. As we said last week:
What we've seen to date shows a hostility towards our Right to Keep and Bear Arms, such as her role in developing the Clinton Administration's 1998 ban on importation of many models of semi-automatic rifles; her note mentioning the NRA and the Ku Klux Klan as bad guy organizations; and her comment to Justice Marshall that she was not sympathetic to a challenge to Washington, D.C.'s handgun ban.
Respect for the Senate confirmation process requires that a nominee be given the opportunity to explain his or her position on critical issues affecting gun owners. Thats why the NRA has been working with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to make sure she is thoroughly questioned on these issues. Once the hearings are complete, the NRA will announce its position on her confirmation.
This is exactly the approach the NRA took last year when we opposed the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor. Early in the process, we expressed our serious concerns about her record. We announced our opposition after her confirmation hearings ended without evidence that she would properly respect our fundamental, individual right to keep and bear arms and apply it to the states. Her dissenting vote in McDonald v. Chicago confirmed that our position was correct.
Unfortunately, false Internet rumors are far too often repeated as fact. Rest assured, however, that the NRA is fully committed to representing the interests of our members and all gun owners in this process and defending the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, as we do in all legislative, legal and political arenas.
Who the hell do you think you are?
Step one: Get rid of Harry Reid
Step two: Help succeed in having a Republican majority in the Congress
Step three: Help elect a conservative pro-2A candidate to fill Harry's job
Step four and five are obviated.
.
I've been a certified NRA instructor and life member for decades so you can KMA.
NRA is wrong on this one and so are you.
And what if we fall one senator short of taking the senate and that senator is Harry Reid? Then it will be the NRA that gave the dems control.
Non-denial denial.
I to will drop the nra nad go with the goa.
I used to be a member of the NRA but dropped it after I had read an article in Backwoods Magazine about other things that they have done to prove that they are a special interest group that is only interested in themselves.
I received my renewal notice and in return I sent that back unfilled attached with a letter stating that I am never going to support their organization in any form and attached the article and a couple of others I found to support my decision. For some reason they never replied back. I guess with 4 million plus members one less member is no loss to them.
I am hoping that more and more people flee from the NRA similarly to the way people who were members of the AARP left in droves. Once the hemorrhaging starts they might reconsider their stances and do some house cleaning. Until then other great organizations such as the GOA, SAF, and RKBA will pick up the slack.
You are 100% dead right on this. There is NO such animal as a pro-life demoRAT or pro-gun demoRAT. They will turn around in a heart beat to betray pro-life or pro-gun issues, and then suddenly pivot again & reverse once Peelowsi or dirty dingy Reid determines that the RATs have enough votes to pass any type of leftist crap they are advancing.
Now I know I am completely ignorant of how the NRA operates.
Is Chris Cox channeling Pelosi?
Rule 11: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it.
Is this the Chris Cox was was a CA congressman at one time or someone else?
Step two: Fail to have a Republican majority in the Congress
Step three: Watch as an antigun leftist fills Harrys job
Step four: Watch as dozens of antigun bills flood the Congress
Step Five: Force the 45 to 48 GOP Sens. to filibuster every bill
Step Six: Finish the job and win the Senate in 2012.
www.sharronangle.com
So, maybe Cox thinks he can get a little soft now that McDonald is over and won? Maybe that’s why we’re hearing the Reid rumors? The NRA’s tact of late really has me bumfuzzled. The DISCLOSE support was basically inexcusable.
If they do back Reid, then the fundraising calls harping on Obama’s agenda will ring pretty hollow.
Shooter always supports the NRA and thinks every other pro 2nd amendment organization is worthless.
He’s apparently ok with their supporting Harry and the Disclose Act.
The NRA is doing a great job at discrediting themselves...
With the number of Members leaving the group, one would think they would take hard actions to reinvigorate their base, instead of shoveling them towards the door with their non-statements trying to justify their actions...
If the NRA supports Reid the organization has jumped the shark.
No matter how much Reid may give lip service to his support for 2A, and no matter what his voting record is, he was still integral in getting Sotomayor and Kagan, who I think is certain to be confirmed may I be wrong, on the bench.
>The NRA is going to have to address the Harry Reid stories.
>If the NRA supports Reid the organization has jumped the shark.
Basically. There’s no excuse for supporting the re-election of Reid. There’s no excuse for supporting the re-election of McCain. Progressives have declared war on America. The day of diplomacy is over.
A different Chris Cox
What's Reid's NRA score since Jan 2009? He voted for the Coburn and Thune Amendments(national park concealed carry and national reciprocity for concealed carry, respectively), but he voted for Sotomayor. I don't know if Reid can vote for Kagan and still get the NRA's endorsement. IIRC, those are the only votes the NRA scored since Jan 2009 in the Senate.
The NRAs tact of late really has me bumfuzzled. The DISCLOSE support was basically inexcusable.
What support? They declined to oppose the DISCLOSE act. I didn't like it, but the Second Amendment is their primary mission. The rats gave them an offer they couldn't refuse. It's as cynical as that. If only the GOP knew how to play hardball like the rats. Then again, even if they knew, it's not easy playing hardball with a bunch of sissy RINOs.
Voinovich and Lugar bailed on the Thune Amendment giving rats like Pryor (D-AR) and Bennet (D-CO) NRA ratings that are falsely elevated. It's trite, but the GOP is the STUPID party. At least the NRA knows how to play hardball.
If they do back Reid, then the fundraising calls harping on Obamas agenda will ring pretty hollow.
What calls have you heard recently? I wonder if those calls will come in 2012.
I thought this was a conservative website.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.