Why I joined the N.R.A.

Townhall.com ^ | April 5, 2004 | Mike S. Adams

[Beelzebubba]

It was just after midnight in January of 1993 when John and Tiffany left a party at the Sigma Chi house in Starkville, Mississippi. The band was winding down as the couple walked to their car in the parking lot close to where Highway 12 runs into Scott Field on the campus of Mississippi State University.

When they came upon a man who was trying to break into a car parked near their own, all hell broke loose. Before they knew it, they had been abducted at gunpoint. Words cannot describe the horror that John witnessed before Tiffany’s life was taken. Shortly thereafter, he too was murdered execution-style by the side of Highway 45. Many tears were shed on Monday night when our fraternity met to mourn the deaths of the two young students.

After the murders, I had to endure driving by the murder site every Thursday night at about six o’clock on my way to Tupelo, Mississippi. My band played once a week at a bar in Tupelo called Jefferson Place. That meant that I had to drive by the murder site again on my way home at about two in the morning. The images got to me after a couple of weeks, so I called my friend David and asked whether he was still selling his .357 magnum. It was a model 19 by Smith and Wesson. I bought the gun thinking that it would be better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it.

After I moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, I sold that .357 magnum. At the time, my friend Barry Whitehead told me that selling a gun was always a big mistake. Three years later, when I bought my first house in downtown Wilmington, I learned that Barry was right. Despite rampant crack sales, it took almost nine months to get the police to take an interest in the drug trafficking in my neighborhood. Later, I bought my second .357 magnum and a concealed carry permit to go along with it.

In the three years that I lived in that neighborhood, I rarely “used” my permit by carrying a concealed weapon. Nonetheless, it came in handy late one evening when I was walking in my neighborhood and accidentally stumbled upon a crack deal. When the dealer asked what I as doing there, I simply told him that it was my neighborhood. He smiled and told me his name. I suppose that he knew I was carrying a gun because of my confidence. Two months later, eighteen people were arrested smoking crack in his house. I should know because I arranged the drug bust. I told him it was my neighborhood. He should have listened.

For those who don’t know, the concealed carry laws that have been enacted across the land have had a clear effect on serious crime that most social scientists refuse to recognize. Serious scholars such as John Lott have shown that lives are saved as a result of these laws. Nonetheless, Lott has been shunned by academics more interested in showing their classes “Bowling for Columbine” than in actually saving people’s lives.

Less murder, less rape, and less robbery would be nice unless, of course, it interferes with the liberal desire to take another shot at Marxism. No pun intended, of course.

As an out-of-the-closet gun owner, N.R.A. member, and hunter you can imagine the comments that I hear from disapproving faculty members here at my place of employment. When one colleague learned I was in the N.R.A., he asked why “we” think that everyone should own an “assault rifle.” That discussion ended when I asked him to tell me what an “assault rifle” was. He didn’t know. He just knew he hated them because Dan Rather said they were bad. Oh, the intellectual curiosity.

Of course, giving up my concealed-carry permit and quitting the N.R.A. would never be sufficient to redeem me in the eyes of the anti-gun fanatics here in the ivory tower. My status as a hunter is alone sufficient to condemn me in their eyes. Many of my colleagues who fail to muster compassion for unborn humans are staunch defenders of the local deer population. The fact that the overpopulation of deer causes numerous highway fatalities is of little concerned to them. And most would rather see a deer wrapped around the grill of a Ford Expedition and dragged down the highway than to have it experience a clean, quick death with the help of my Browning A-Bolt.

I know that my membership in the N.R.A. helps to neutralize these extremists, some of whom would outlaw hunting scopes because they are “unfair” to the deer. If you think I am kidding, think again. I have actually heard it suggested in the faculty lunchroom.

Of course, I really don’t mind when the academic anti-gun nuts use the First Amendment to express their opposition to the Second Amendment. Every time they do, I just head down to the local sporting goods store and buy another gun that I don’t really need.

When I joined the N.R.A., I became part of an organized effort to neutralize the wacky ideas of the anti-gun lobby in America. I also believe that the N.R.A. won the last Presidential election for George W. Bush. Even Bill Clinton says so and we all know that guy never lies. He isn’t in the N.R.A.

Some people say that a conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged. Maybe an N.R.A. member is a liberal whose unarmed friends were killed by the side of the highway on a cold night in January.

Dr. Mike Adams (adams_mike@hotmail.com) is the author of “Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel.”

[GrandEagle]

Sense that does NOT make.
Make great sense. I would much rather have an enemy thatI know is an enemy than on on whom I depend, and they fold - shoot me in the back, then make me out to be the bad guy.
To me the perfect setup would be a Democratic President, Just under veto override, solid Republican house, and 50.1% to 49.9% Republican Senate (VP Inclusive).
Total Gridlock!

[GrandEagle]

would be a Democratic President
Well, maybe not. Klinton was an embarassment.
Note to self: Maybe I need to re-think.

[Dan from Michigan]

PLease. Do not STAY HOME. Even if you can't vote for the presidnent race, there's a bunch of local races there that also matter.

Showing up and leave a blank I can respect. That's still a vote recorded by the clerk's office. Staying home doesn't nothing to help anyone and only sends a mixed message at best to the pols.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Good move !
When my son was 16-17 years old, I'd take him and a couple of his buddies to the big gun show at the Minnesota Fair Grounds in St. Paul, knowing full well I'd hear from some of their parents. It was too late; an hour into the fun of gazing at table after table of rifles, pistols and memorabilia (after explaining the rules about don't touch without permission) THEY WERE HOOKED.

[tubebender]

BUMP...

[El Gato]

The NRA has some excellent qualitys no doubt. The greatest of which is that they irritate the "Brady Bunch".

That alone is worth the price of a membership, IMHO.

[Shooter 2.5]

The NRA only had to compromise because of forty years of democratic party control. The NRA started it's fight against the AWB back in the last two elections. They knew we had to have our pro-gun legislators elected in order to stop the ban.

It will be up to the gun owners to see if we can get a clear majority in the Senate like we do in the House. I'm urging all gun owners to vote a straight Republican ballot so we can finally go on the offensive after November.

[Shooter 2.5]

IF you want your gun Rights, get rid of the democratic party.

[Beelzebubba]

Has GW done some things I dislike? You bet. BUT he is president of ALL of America, not just conservatives.

---

So, if it is popular with Ted Kennedy, he can violate the occasional Constitutional provision and his oath of office?

I side with our poor flamed Freeper, who is telling US that Bush has total control of his vote. Kind of like a "doomsday machine", electorally speaking.

I guarantee that if Bush signs (or allows to become law) any AWB extension, I will absolutely not vote for him. Mrs. B already will not be voting, even if AWB is sunsetted, and we were both, "broken glass", donating, volunteering Bush supporters in 2000.

Of course we won't be voting for Kerry, but if our votes mean that Kerry wins, at least we can enjoy some "gridlock" again (and Congressional Republicans can stop rolling on the floor while the President scratches their bellies.). It's not as if Bush's judges have changed the decline of our society (except perhaps for the rate of decline.

Turn up the stovetop flame, and maybe the frog will hop out of the pot. Bring it on.

(Good thread!)

[Beelzebubba]

IF you want your gun Rights, get rid of the democratic party.

---

If only that were possible. I just wish our current President hadn't joined it.

And the old HHHumphrey Dems weren't so bad:

"Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. This is not to say that firearms should not be very carefully used, and that definite safety rules of precaution should not be taught and enforced. But the right of citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard against tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible"

Senator Hubert H. Humphrey (D) Minn.
"Know Your Lawmakers" Guns (magazine), February, 1960, p. 4.

(This quote is often shortened, or reprinted with slight errors. This is the full original quote from the hard copy of the magazine.)

[neverdem]

BTTT

[Billthedrill]

You bring up an excellent point. This wasn't always the partisan issue it has become, and that largely to the changes within the Democratic Party. It wasn't all that long ago that luminaries such as HHH and Scoop Jackson gave our side of the firearms issue at least a fair hearing within that platform. Now the party is split only between those who are overtly for confiscation and those who are covertly for it.

It is this deliberate polarization that has come to define political identities in this country, and is the reason that politics is becoming less colleaguial and more tribal. And it is costing the Democrats dearly, and they know it, but the idealogues who have taken nominal control of that party refuse to approach the matter any other way. And the well of trust has definitely been poisoned by our old buddy B.J. Billy, who posed as a shotgun-shootin' good ol' boy and when given the opportunity showed his true colors in the infamous AWB statement "I'm going to stretch this just as far as I can." Now, even if a Dem does try to come out as neutral on the issue publicly nobody trusts him (or her). Some legacy.

[Shooter 2.5]

If you want to move the country to the Right, get rid of the leftists.

Don't have this fantasy somehow voting for a bunch of communists will magically transform this country into Mom, Applepie and flag wavers.

[A Jovial Cad]

I totally agree. The feud over which groups are "better," NRA vs. others like GOA, simply divides us and helps the libs in their gun-grabs.

[GrandEagle]

The NRA only had to compromise because of forty years of democratic party control.
One can not dispute the Democratic Party's contribution to Gun Control legislation. But at least it is out in the open where you know the battle is on. The Republicans are also very much gun control fanatics. Check out George Bush Sr.'s record. I might remind you that the entire crime bill containing the AWB was dead in committee and only when it's defeat was sure (it would not come to a vote), it was single handedly resurrected on the last day by a Republican, Mr. Bob Dole. We would not even be having this discussion if it were not for him.
My dispute with the NRA is philosophical. They choose to negotiate the rate with which the government illegally removes firearm ownership. If one takes the position that it is inevitable, then this is a justifiable approach. I got tired of supporting piecemeal loss and after many years of the fight and decided that it is time to draw the line and stop negotiating how much we loose this time.
Another position that I dispute is their positioning themselves in the United Nations as a NGO. THe UN uses NGO's to pacify the general population while continueing their moves. Even applying for NGO status acknowleges that they have some kind of authority. I do not acknowlege, nor will I ever submit to the United Nations.

[Shooter 2.5]

Bullsh!t. You haven't watched the CCW Bills where 100% of the Republican Party voted for gun rights. Who introduced the AWB ban? A dem or Republican. Which party voted the most for it? The dems or the Republicans?
Yes, there are a few RINO's but they are also in states where conservatives can't get elected. Dole is from Kansas which doesn't even have a CCW law.

So don't tell me a bunch of crap when you mentioned a dem president can be a good thing.

[society-by-contract]

Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership is a no compromise firearms rights organization

http://www.jpfo.org

[Shooter 2.5]

JPFO is not a lobbying group. They are under an educational tax heading. What I like about JPFO is it's very difficult to argue against personal gun ownership with someone who has a tattooed number on their arm.

Any group can claim they are a so-called "no compromise" group but if they don't do anything, there really isn't much of a point in what they say.

I like all the groups except for one. They haven't figured out there are plenty of gun owners sitting on the sidelines and trying to get members to quit one group for another is wrong.

[rllngrk33]

...Carry permit and SP-101/.357 Mag keeps me warm too.

Sigh, the peoples republic of Md won't let me have a carry permit. (they won't let us common folks have one unless we have special connections)

[GrandEagle]

So don't tell me a bunch of crap when you mentioned a dem president can be a good thing.
I believe that you will find that the ONLY reason I said such a thing was to generate gridlock with both houses Republican. I believe that gridlock is a great thing.
I apologize if I led you to believe that I was positioning for a verbal battle. I thought we were in a discussion. There was a time when I defended the Republicans and the NRA with equal veracity. I then began to pay attention to what they did not what they said.
Much like one of the other posters I am very tired of simply selecting which I believe to be the lesser of the two evils. So far that has been the Republicans on a Federal level. At our state level we have many Dems who are both Pro-Life and Pro-2nd. I've not voted for them because of other issues but they were there.
Personally there are two issues that I have no compromise on. The first is abortion. ANY individual who believes that it is OK to grind up a child and suck them out of Mom with a Vacuum us simply unfit for any public office because they fail to understand the very essence of life.
The second is firearm ownership - there is simply no room for compromise.
And finally, I think that if you will investigate further (I can't speak for every instance, just my own (Alabama) and a few others that I did check into) I think that you will find that the NRA backed CCW bills either strengthened or started the Firearms Owner Identification Card - another compromise. Thats what we fought here in Alabama. The enemies of the Republic could care less which they register - the weapons or the owner.
As far as which party voted the most. Hang on, I'll see if I can get you some numbers. You may be surprised - and then again I may be.

[GrandEagle]

I'll have to dig up the bill number for the 1994 Omnibus Crime bill from the stuff at home.

[gooleyman]

... Total Gridlock!

-----
Not really. Remember that Clintoon did plenty of objectionable things (at least to us Conservatives) by way of the Executive Order. Things that it took a long time for Dubya to reverse. Some still haven't been reversed. Don't ask me to enumerate. My memory isn't THAT good. Maybe someone else can link us to a listing. (Please)

The word "Gridlock" is like the word "is"...well, you know the rest of the story.

[GrandEagle]

Remember that Clintoon did plenty of objectionable things
I agree. Again that is where the Congress had failed miserably in their resposnsiability to prevent the Executive branch from legislating (effectively). That is why I think at least one of the houses needs to be seriously Republican.
I wish I still had all the links I've foud over the years. There is a site somewhere that lists all of the Executive Orders. I foud that Klintoon was not the only one to use them to legislate.
I will agree that GW used them to un-do much of the damage done by Klintoon.

[GailA]

What makes you think that one or both houses won't flip if GW is defeated? We only hold the senate by the skin of our teeth now. People don't generally vote split ticket. They vote straight party line.

[ExSoldier]

"Like I said, AW Ban exists = no support. No AW ban, I vote Republican for life. It is that important to me. I am an ignorant one issue voter. There are millions of us on the gun issue. Ignore us at your political peril.

You are making a mistake here. You're lumping NRA into partisan politics. It's NOT aligned only with Republicans. NRA supports only those politicians who support the Right of law abiding Americans to own and enjoy firearms, including RTC permits. To do this they will and have actively supported with endorsement and funds both Democrats and Independents as well as Republicans.

Get off your DUFF and join the NRA! You can punish the Republicans if you want (and I might if Bush renews the AWB) but I'm a Life Member and an NRA certified Firearms Instructor. Yes, I'm a single issue (albeit informed and knowledgeable) voter, but you can advance the cause as well as engage in the politics. The cause comes first. Support NRA with your donations to the Political Victory fund and the Institute for Legislative action. That's really putting your money where your mouth is because it's not a tax deduction.

[ozzymandus]

The gun grabbers love you, Peetie.

[GrandEagle]

My memory isn't THAT good.
I just HAD to come pack to this point. I had to chuckle because that happens to me many times. You have been in the battle, up to your neck in alligators, done your homework then won or lost the point/bill/etc.
Later I am explaining a position, the memory of the fight fresh but the details of the information getting foggier and foggier and someone who wasn't in the fight says something like "What Bill/fight/position/etc". I know darn well that there is plenty of info to back me up but that was X years ago! I also know that the "prove it" question is valid.
(Smile on my face) - Klintoons abuse of executive orders is not in dispute - I was there too.

[WhiteyAppleseed]

Michigan is just as bad. With 750,000 deer hunters, you'd think they pay attention to what Levin and Stabenow do in the Senate. Many of us voted for Gore because we didn't know where he stood on guns.

Heard on the radio, once today, that a Josh (?) Bush would be in a local town today and tomorrow. Read nothing about it in the paper--they'll probably cover it after the event.

If I could, I'l like to take off work (I can do that--I'm the boss) to visit with him.

[WhiteyAppleseed]

I heard through the grapevine that eventually hunting will be outlawed and government hunters will take care of any over-population problems.

[WhiteyAppleseed]

You asked for it. I'm a registered Democrat, own a bunch of guns and I think the 2nd Amendment has been fiddled with too much already.

[WhiteyAppleseed]

It was only after the death of my brother, a life member of the NRA, that I learned the truth about Gore. Our father passed away a day or two before Election 2000, and though I think my brother voted for Mr. Bush, I voted Gore. Our family was Democrat, our parents held local township office positions.

I was lurking here in 2000, though I didn't learn the truth about Gore until I read back-issues of American Rifleman magazine. Was the truth about Gore posted here? I don't know--if I had learned here what I learned from the NRA publication, I certainly would not have voted for Gore.

[GrandEagle]

I had learned here what I learned from the NRA publication
I did not mean to insinuate that the NRA is somehow an evil organization that is opposed to firearms, pro democrat, or liberal. The original comment that I responded to was something along the lines of "we need to all work together". On many issues I would agree. My disagreement is not with the intent or mission of the NRA. It seems to me that they have conceded the war and are doing their best to slow down the eventual confiscation of firearms. It is simply my opinion, based on my own personal experiences. I do not consider them an enemy at all, I just seriously differ with what appears to me to be the appeasement approach. A lot of good information can be aquired from them.

[WhiteyAppleseed]

What I've been trying to tell people here for some time is that there are probably people who log onto this site, looking for information, or because they heard about it, and the site is somewhat addicting, but while I was here in 2000, I voted for Gore, though I would have cast my vote for Mr. Bush had I known about Gore--which I only learned later--at least as far as guns are concerned--after the death of my brother and after I began reading backissues of the NRA publication.

Gridlock sounds great. So does bed. One of my dogs will be waking me up in 3-4 hours and I have a full schedule tomorrow.

[Law]

Thanks for posting the article.

[Badray]

"...having a CCW wouldn't have help them if they were in a bar, consuming alcohol or on campus. All three of those are against CCW permit guidelines and if found carrying under those conditions, a probable felony would be the result."

It depends on where you are. In PA, none of those are violations of the carry parmit laws. Of course, I am mindful of the people in both environs and exercise caution, but I still carry.

[GrandEagle]

of those are violations of the carry parmit laws.
Wow, really? Even here in Alabama you can not carry in an establishment who's primary business is serving alcohol. I believe that the rules for carrying on a campus have a "with intent to commit a crime" clause in them.

[gooleyman]

...I think the 2nd Amendment has been fiddled with too much already.

-----
OH-H-H, NOW I GET IT!!!! If we elect a DemocRAT (i.e. SKerry) the 2nd Amendment will be fiddled with LESS. We'll wind up with even more gun rights. Why didn't you 'splain that before. All these years I've been wasting my vote vot'n for them dad-gummed Republicans.

Sorry. I'm sticking with Dubya. If the Dems had nominated a Sam Nunn-type, I might consider him...maybe. Especially since Bush has blessed so much new spending (Medicare, Education, etc.) Bush certainly isn't perfect, but then again who is? (That's rhetorical.)

[WhiteyAppleseed]

You talkin' to me?

[WhiteyAppleseed]

These are your words:OH-H-H, NOW I GET IT!!!! If we elect a DemocRAT (i.e. SKerry) the 2nd Amendment will be fiddled with LESS. We'll wind up with even more gun rights. Why didn't you 'splain that before. All these years I've been wasting my vote vot'n for them dad-gummed Republicans.

I 'spect ya'll got yer head so close to the ground that grasshoppers be fillin' up yer ears. 'Cause post #80 ain't got no such woids in it. I 'spect you be puttin' words in my mouth cause I dare to raise my head above the safety of the hole most folk dig fer demself.

Presently, I'll be voting for Mr. Bush, and iff'n I want to take my time changing my registration status, dat be mine own business.

[gooleyman]

... 'Cause post #80 ain't got no such woids in it...

-----
OK, OK, I guess we both have some explaining to do. What did you mean in post #80 when you said,

You asked for it. I'm a registered Democrat, own a bunch of guns and I think the 2nd Amendment has been fiddled with too much already.

My previous post was directed to Peter J. Huss in which I said,

"By the way, Read my Tagline.
I didn't even agree with Ronaldus Magnus about EVERYTHING.
I don't even agree with Rush about EVERYTHING.
I don't agree with SKerry about ANYTHING.
Case Closed."

You know what...just copying and pasting that, I think I get it. You were exposing a folly in my tagline by saying that you were a DemocRAT and we actually DO agree on something...namely that the 2nd amendment shouldn't be touched. Sorry for the confusion. I never claimed to be the brightest bulb in the chandelier.

I would submit to you that you are simply a DINO...a "DemocRAT In Name Only." I'll bet you even believe taxes should be cut more and abortion is wrong too. AH-HAH!!! Thought so...smile. Welcome home.

[WhiteyAppleseed]

Yeah, I feel the force...been invited over to the dark side.

[tiplee]

I currently have a Anschutz Woodchucker for sale if interested. It is in very good condition. I am trying to find out what it is worth. It is a single Bolt 22 with the numbers WC10245.

If interested e-mail me: tiplee@gmail.com

[GrandEagle]

I told him it was my neighborhood. He should have listened.
This is the key!

My .45 has save my life once and kept me from a mugging once.
Anytime one of these nuts talk about disarming citizens, they are saying to me "I wish you were dead."

I take offense to that...

[EdReform]

BTTT

[Joe Brower]

"From the archives" ping!

My take is simple: If you own a gun, you should belong to the NRA. Or the GOA, CRPA, JPFO, etc.! But do something to make a difference.

[mbynack]

I consider the NRA to be one of my most important expenditures. They've done a lot to fight the gun control lobby and to provide training for gun owners.

[blackie]

"My take is simple: If you own a gun, you should belong to the NRA. Or the GOA, CRPA, JPFO, etc.! But do something to make a difference."

Roger that ~ I belong to the NRA, GOA, OFF and Liberty Belles.

[EdReform]

NRA bump!

[uncbob]

My take is simple: If you own a gun, you should belong to the NRA. Or the GOA, CRPA, JPFO, etc.! But do something to make a difference.

That is why I don't have much hope for the future

Over 50,000,000 or so gun owners

The NRA etc should tens of millions of members

Unfortunately only several million are carrying the water for the rest

Cost of membership is not the problem
APATHY and stupidity is

[EdReform]

I have to agree. I gave a neighbor a coupon for $10 off NRA membership and last time I talked to them, they still hadn't joined.

Once my budget will allow it, I'll be changing my regular NRA membership to Life member.

I also belong to SAF.