Jeff: I agree, who'd sell their soul for a quarter mill? Now, if they didn't have one to begin with... I first joined the NRA because I was pissed off about Bush banning the importation of a gun I'd been saving for years to buy, the HK 93. I sent them a LOT of money back then. They endorsed Bush for re-election, and I sent them less money. In '94, here in Michigan, a Libertarian candidate for Senate, John Coon, went to great lengths so obtain the support of NRA members, with great success. (The envelope stuffing rooms looked like an NRA convention!) He was doing really well, and the state political experts gave him a real chance of winning... Until the NRA spit in the face of Michigan NRA members, and endorsed Abraham, without even talking to us first. The NRA spent the money I sent them to help defeat David Bonior on radio ads ATTACKING THE MOST PRO-GUN CANDIDATE IN THE RACE. Coon wound up spending the last of HIS campaign funds on ads urging NRA members not to resign their memberships. I sent them less money after that.
The NRA spent most of the '96 campaign flat out lying about Dole's anti-gun record, and urged us to vote for the man who saved the defeated Brady law, and brokered a deal which prevented the "assault weapons" ban from being filibustered. That was when I stopped giving them any money at all.