BluesStringer
Les Brers
Figured I'd play off the April Fools joke-thread and talk seriously about leadership at the N R A for a little bit.
So you guys and gals have heard of the NY SAFE Act, right? You may or may not be aware that there are some angry voices in NY demanding it be repealed, demanding Cuomo be run out of office on a rail etc. etc. In other words, they're engaging in political speech, not riots, not murder, not even more than politically rhetorical "threats" like the aforementioned. Whether or not they have the numbers to bring such threats to fruition is a political process question, not a question of manners, decorum, legalities or anything else. They're pissed, they're making some noise, end of story.
And what is the N R A doing to support their right to free speech to make that noise? Read it and weep:
So these weak-kneed powder-puffs who are too afraid to speak a terse word to tyrants are the "extremists" that are supposedly the "800 lb. gorilla in the room" standing firm against the gun-control tide? What has their appeasing drivel gotten us as far as restoration of the rights that they participated in stealing? JPFO has referred to them as "America's largest gun control organization." No less than the American Bar Association Journal exposed their duplicitous fund-raising strategy during the run-up to Heller being heard at SCOTUS. NRA's support for the NFA of '34 is now 80-year-old historical fact, and yet gun-owners whose rights keep twirling down the toilet that is the government overreach that gun-control act started keep sending the money year in, and year out. For what? So you can be lectured to about how to talk nice to tyrants and not scare the sheeple?
Maybe members should better understand N R A's fanatical support for Link Removed which regulates all manner of gun issues from "properly permitting" concealed carriers to regulating how parents must interact with their children on gun issues. When the "Winning Team" consists of the N R A combining with The Brady Campaign, doesn't that just make your member's innards all warm and fuzzy?
I say F the tyrants and F the sheeple. My rights are not up for compromise, and that's the only bargaining chip the N R A has ever played. They are now trying to talk NY gun owners out of the righteous indignation and anger they're perfectly entitled and well within their rights to express to the tyrants in Albany stealing their rights out from under them.
The April Fool's joke thread is only funny because Wayne LaPierre and the rest of the limp-wristed leadership of the N R A is such a joke.
And if you're in NY, go out and make some freakin' noise, as much in protest to your government's tyranny as to the N R A asking you to appease it.
Blues
So you guys and gals have heard of the NY SAFE Act, right? You may or may not be aware that there are some angry voices in NY demanding it be repealed, demanding Cuomo be run out of office on a rail etc. etc. In other words, they're engaging in political speech, not riots, not murder, not even more than politically rhetorical "threats" like the aforementioned. Whether or not they have the numbers to bring such threats to fruition is a political process question, not a question of manners, decorum, legalities or anything else. They're pissed, they're making some noise, end of story.
And what is the N R A doing to support their right to free speech to make that noise? Read it and weep:
BY Herschel Smith
April 1, 2014
April 1, 2014
"In my “Albany Insider” column today, I wrote how Tom King, the head of the state Rifle & Pistol Association, was critical of the increasingly angry and inflammatory rhetoric at pro-gun rallies. King said he fears that the ugliness that has popped up at the rallies is actually hurting the pro-gun cause. He also said it’s time to stop the rallies, arguing that they won’t result in a repeal of the SAFE Act. He wants to instead focus on trying to get the law struck down in the court …"
I won’t post his silly letter, but I thought it would be appropriate to highlight this paragraph.
"Fellow gun owners I submit this to you for your consideration. We will never convert the 22% rabid anti-gunners, we don’t have to convert the 32% avid pro gunners but we must convert a sizable portion of the 46% of those somewhere in between if we want to retain our 2nd Amendment Rights long term. These are the soccer moms, the guys who say I’ve never shot a gun but would like to try it and the people worried about their safety. How do we do that? Not by standing on stage screaming obscenities at Cuomo and certainly at large rallies where people stand on stage, pound their chest and tell the attendees to prepare for war. That frightens the very people we want to attract to our side, the people who will insure (sic) 2nd Amendment Rights for our grandchildren."
As a sidebar comment, the people he wants to attract will not insure (sic) 2nd amendment rights for our grandchildren. But second, this letter is as emblematic of everything that’s wrong with the NRA as I’ve ever seen. It’s the perfect example of how not to think about our rights.
The strategy he advocates is why we’re where we are, among other reasons like loss of our national moral conscience. He wants first to turn to the black robes, and failing that (as it certainly will fail and has already failed), he wants to turn to popular opinion.
Like so many other NRA board members, he wants to be oh-so-respectable and loved by the people. Don’t appear extreme and scary, says he. Never mind the warnings that should be issued to the collectivists should they continue with their pursuit of confiscation and onerous laws and harassment. Never mind that they could be declaring war as an unintended consequence of their lust for power. Don’t be scary to the people we want to persuade....
.....Until the NRA board of directors is as convinced of the foundations of their rights as I am, they will be a weak and neutered organization, fit for nothing much except a good magazine once a month.
(More at link)
The strategy he advocates is why we’re where we are, among other reasons like loss of our national moral conscience. He wants first to turn to the black robes, and failing that (as it certainly will fail and has already failed), he wants to turn to popular opinion.
Like so many other NRA board members, he wants to be oh-so-respectable and loved by the people. Don’t appear extreme and scary, says he. Never mind the warnings that should be issued to the collectivists should they continue with their pursuit of confiscation and onerous laws and harassment. Never mind that they could be declaring war as an unintended consequence of their lust for power. Don’t be scary to the people we want to persuade....
.....Until the NRA board of directors is as convinced of the foundations of their rights as I am, they will be a weak and neutered organization, fit for nothing much except a good magazine once a month.
(More at link)
So these weak-kneed powder-puffs who are too afraid to speak a terse word to tyrants are the "extremists" that are supposedly the "800 lb. gorilla in the room" standing firm against the gun-control tide? What has their appeasing drivel gotten us as far as restoration of the rights that they participated in stealing? JPFO has referred to them as "America's largest gun control organization." No less than the American Bar Association Journal exposed their duplicitous fund-raising strategy during the run-up to Heller being heard at SCOTUS. NRA's support for the NFA of '34 is now 80-year-old historical fact, and yet gun-owners whose rights keep twirling down the toilet that is the government overreach that gun-control act started keep sending the money year in, and year out. For what? So you can be lectured to about how to talk nice to tyrants and not scare the sheeple?
Maybe members should better understand N R A's fanatical support for Link Removed which regulates all manner of gun issues from "properly permitting" concealed carriers to regulating how parents must interact with their children on gun issues. When the "Winning Team" consists of the N R A combining with The Brady Campaign, doesn't that just make your member's innards all warm and fuzzy?
I say F the tyrants and F the sheeple. My rights are not up for compromise, and that's the only bargaining chip the N R A has ever played. They are now trying to talk NY gun owners out of the righteous indignation and anger they're perfectly entitled and well within their rights to express to the tyrants in Albany stealing their rights out from under them.
The April Fool's joke thread is only funny because Wayne LaPierre and the rest of the limp-wristed leadership of the N R A is such a joke.
And if you're in NY, go out and make some freakin' noise, as much in protest to your government's tyranny as to the N R A asking you to appease it.
Blues
