Posted on 07/27/2012 7:59:28 PM PDT by marktwain
Six months from now, as the shock of the "Dark Knight" shooting fades, America will likely have no new gun-control laws to prevent such tragedies from occurring again. The credit - or blame - for that inaction will belong to the National Rifle Association, one of America's strongest political interest groups.
How did the NRA gain such influence over American politics? Surprisingly, it happened overnight.
The NRA was founded after the Civil War by two Union soldiers - one of whom was a reporter for a newspaper known today for its opposition to gun rights, the New York Times - who thought the poor shooting skills of servicemen from the North unnecessarily prolonged the conflict. The NRA was formed to improve marksmanship training to better prepare American servicemen to fight future wars.
Although today's NRA is known for its antigovernment rhetoric - Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive vice president, once called federal law enforcement officers "a jackbooted group of fascists" - the early NRA was weaned on government subsidies. Its first rifle range was financed by a government grant, and over the years the NRA has been singled out to purchase surplus military firearms at discounted prices.
In the early 1900s, the NRA began to flex its political muscle - in favor of gun control. NRA leaders helped draft the Uniform Firearms Act, a piece of model legislation enacted by dozens of states to restrict the carrying of firearms in public. The law required anyone who wanted to carry a concealed weapon to first obtain a permit and imposed a waiting period on the sale of handguns.
"I have never believed in the general practice of carrying weapons," said Karl Frederick, the organization's former president. "I think it should be sharply restricted and only under licenses."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Good synopsis, thank you.
You are welcome.
Thank you Matt.
so true.
Logic is something leftists abhor.
well said
The collectivists like to believe that opposition to gun control stems from an evil special interest group, when in fact it stems from an overwhelming majority of American citizens.
The Norwegian State’s Communist broadcaster (one of the only two in the game, the other one is the Party broadcast), was seriously bitter that the assault on the US 2nd amendment had failed.
Expect more from Norwegian labor.
Karl Frederick, who Winkler is so effusive about was a classic upper class insider. Here is a short biography:
Besides his competitive accomplishments at the 1920 Olympics, Karl Frederick captained the U.S. Olympic shooting team in 1948. He later became president of the National Rifle Association and a vice-president of the U.S. Revolver Association. Frederick attended Princeton, graduating in 1903, and then entered Harvard Law School, from which he earned an LL.B. in 1908. He made his career as a practicing lawyer in New York City for many years. He was also active in environmental causes, serving as chairman and president of the New York State Conservation Council and as a senior board member and Vice-Chairman of the executive committee of the American Forestry Association.
He was one of those people who believed the masses should have some liberty just not to much. The NRA was for a long time the preserve of TR types that were concerned about the decay of marksmanship skills as one of a number of issues that NE upper class WASP statists worried over in the late 19th century. The people should be encouraged to learn how to shoot so they could be used to fill the militia to defend the country or suppress hoe grown revolution, not that the 2nd Amendment was what it is, an expansive grant of liberty which is only in part to enable the state to defend itself against invaders but also that the states could defend themselves against aggression from the national government and the people could defend their liberties against any government state or federal that infringed them. TR was contemptuous of the wide grant of liberties the Constitution bestoyed and he and people like Fredericks and Pinchot felt the people had to be led from above by their social betters and a class of experts and the masses shouldn't presume to have to much freedom as they were incapable of exercising the control necessary to keep liberty from turning into license and anarchy.
The NRA today is a 2nd Amendment oriented organization sort of. It is to much a part of the Beltway culture and is to wiling to compromise with the permanent bureaucracy on gun rights issues. The NRA should have moved to Colorado or somewhere west of the 100th Meridian as was once proposed.
Today the President of the NRA is , and I don't know how the insiders pulled it off, the squishy so called conservative David Keene the long time head of the ACA. The ACA declined steadily into irrelevancy under Keene and the good thing about his NRA tenure is that NRA presidents generally don't serve multiple terms any more. Keene is a pleasant and intelligent man who lacks any sort of combativeness and I never heard of him having any particular 2nd Amendment interest prior to his candidacy. Further their are strong rumors that Keene is a not so well closeted gay. That makes him a typical inside the beltway bent personality who can be guaranteed to fold at a critical moment.
If gun rights are important to you belong to the NRA but join Gun Owner's of America. They are the real deal.
When the mental hospitals come back, the tragedies like we just experienced will decrease. Until then, we live with it. Thank you NRA for championing the 2nd Amendment. The 2nd Amendment had nothing to do with Aurora, Co. Not confining persons who endanger society is the problem.
“The theater was a gun free zone. Nobody in the theater carried a gun, even those holding a concealed carry permit.”
I’m afraid I would have to ignore that “gun-free zone” crapola.
You know, for all their anti NRA rhetoric by the lefties. It is not the NRA they are afraid of, it is the American people who own guns which the NRA speaks for.
“The NRA was founded after the Civil War by two Union soldiers - one of whom was a reporter for a newspaper known today for its opposition to gun rights, the New York Times..”
I see that the author neglected the fact that it was General Ambrose E. Burnside that founded the NRA.
adam winkler is some sodomites “brown eyed girl”.
LLS
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