Friday, April 17, 2009

Why I Left the NRA

You read it right. I'm letting my membership expire. I'm leaving. I'm through. I quit.

No delayed April Fool's, no joke, I'm done with the NRA.And it hurts. I've been a member for the last 13 years. I've been proud of it. I've boldly shown off the stickers, worn the hats, read every magazine they sent me and even had the pleasure of attending three annual conventions (Pittsburgh, Houston, St. Louis.)

But I've had enough of compromise. I've had enough of garbage like this:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/16/AR2009041602694.html?hpid=topnews

That's a link to an article about Obama's stated commitment to an international arms treaty with Mexico. Oh, don't worry! He won't re-enact the 1994 'Assault Weapons' Ban! Instead he'll sign a treaty that subverts the sovereignty of the United States and nullifies our own Bill of Rights.

So what does this have to do with the NRA? Well, they signed off on it, preferring, as usual, an incrementalist approach to an absolutist stance.

Add this to a long list of grievances. My decision was already made, but this makes for a poignant illustration. They supported John McCain. They didn't lift a finger to help Wayne Fincher. They did nothing that I can find for David Olofson. They tried to ride in on the white horse when the SCOTUS overturned the local DC ban, even though they wouldn't touch the case until it looked like a sure win.

They don't call for the abolition of the ATF.

They don't call for the repeal of existing unconstitutional laws, (like GCA 1968 or NFA 1934) instead they call for their enforcement, as though that's some sort of palatable alternative to even more draconian control mechanisms.

They don't get into any fight they might lose. And when they sign away more freedom, they stick out their chin, beat the drums, and tell us it's a victory for freedom. And then they proudly proclaim how cold and dead their hands must be before they give up their guns.

Where's the line in the sand NRA? In some distant and horrific future, I can just see Wayne LaPierre - grayed and hunched, wrinkled and feeble, but with that same over-my-dead-body sneer. Addressing the annual NRA convention in 2021, he defiantly raises a smart gun in the air. It beeps and an LED in the stock lights up in a greenish hue upon recognition of his fingerprints, identifying him as the true owner. He holds up his national gun owner's ID card and a copy of the registration for this particular weapon in his other hand, just so everyone in the crowd knows he's a "law abiding" gun owner. The ATF agents on stage (now required at any gun rights rally, thanks to NRA-sponsored legislation) watch on through dark Ray-Bans, bravely "enforcing existing gun laws". He sidles up to the microphone, and growls, "FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS."

That's the NRA I left. That's the NRA that supported John McCain. That's the NRA that re-writes the truth as they see fit. That's the NRA that will always...ALWAYS back down.

I'm going to the JPFO. Jews For the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. They're for real.

http://www.jpfo.org

I know a lot of people sticking with the NRA. I know a lot of life members who have already paid up. Part of me wishes I were a life member, because then I could send my complaints to Wayne & Co. expecting to be heard. But now I'm just going to be an 'ex'.

I can understand those who wish to stay. For a long time, I held off on leaving because the NRA is just so BIG, and I figured that even if they aren't the perfect gun rights advocacy group, at least they're the most recognized. And the better their numbers, the more effective they'll be, right?

Tell you what. Let me know when the NRA takes back freedom. I'll be first in line to renew.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Welcome to the club.
I came to the same conclusions years ago.
Wake up America!
We don't need more compromise.