I have been a member of the NRA for over 30 years and a life member for 25 of them. I have seen the changes and confusion surrounding the organization for a very long time.
Small Bore, Many see the NRA as an organization that only caters to the self defense crowd, I believe that this is a misconception. They have many, many other aspects, The Eddie the Eagle program for educating yong people on gun safety, support for firearms museums, legal teams to protect the right to keep and bear arms, support for local gun ownership groups, etc. The publication "American Rifleman" continually has articles about martial weapons dating back to the revolution, articles about gun history, articles about significant individuals within the industry or politics. The NRA is much more than the self defense crouwd.
To Marklart regarding his reasons for letting his membership lapse.
1) I continually receive mail, e-mail and phone calls from the NRA for one reason or another. Do I find them annoying? Yes, I certainly do! But, not nearly as annoying as the "Brady Bunch" or Rosie O'!! I can simply toss the NRA's annoyance into the trash, I wish I could do the same with those that oppose my rights.
2) Yes, some of their attitudes do seem inflexible (I prefer to call them inflexible rather than irrational). Remember they are in a very tough postion by being the ones that wear the mantle of being the spear point in the battle of our 2nd ammendment rights. They have to be inflexible! You have to negotiate from a position of strength, not weakness. While I too disagree with some of the positions and comments by the NRA, those are a tiny minortiy of the total.
3) Political objectivity? I think on this comment you may have it backwards. It appears that the democrat party has abandoned the NRA, not the other way around. As far as objectivity is concerned, the NRA in rating politicians are actually pretty un-biased. They simply rate based upon the individual politician's position on the principles of gun ownership, basically calling a spade a spade without regard to party affiliation. Period. That is about as politically objective as one can get.
I agree with Jim Legg and Lowell. There is strength in numbers and the NRA needs our numbers and support. While other gun organizations may be better suited to one's own opinions and leanings, none have more clout than the NRA. I don't feel that there is a member of this board that cannot afford to be a member of more than one of these organizations but among those, one should be the NRA.
The NRA is the one that is feared by the control freaks while the other ancillary organizations are never given a second thought. We have to support the one that the anti's fear the most and that IS the NRA.
Rant over.
