Tuttle8 said:
I really wonder what peoples' thinking would be if the NRA didn't so some heavy footwork to help out in the Heller case.
Tuttle, you know better than this.
The NRA tried to scuttle Heller. Several times.
-They petitioned the DC District Court to merge the Cato Institute's case (Heller) into their case, so they could drive the argument rather than Cato.
-The got Senator Orin Hatch to introduce legislation in the Senate that would repeal the law in question, thereby making the entire Heller case an issue without standing, so it could not progress through the courts and would be dismissed.
-They petitioned the SCOTUS for an obtuse amount of the argument time, taking away from Gura's time to frame his own arguments, attempting a weaker form of watered down victory rather than the slam dunk that Heller is the groundwork for.
We owe the victories of Heller to Alan Gura, the Cato Institute, and the SAF.
The NRA is even more inept when it comes to Heller, than the much maligned GOA and JPFO.
I pays my money to the NRA for two things:
-My annual NRA RSO credential
-To preserve standing for High Power competitions
Not because of the work they do in Congress or the Courts or the Election system.
I give my money to SAF, Cato and The Heritage Foundation. For local issues, AZ-CDL does a good job, and I've heard that the Virginia equivalent (VCDL) is quite good, too. There's a group in Ohio whose name escapes me right now, of which I've also heard high praise. Buckeye Firearms Association, perhaps? And the California Rifle Association (the guys that run calguns.net, I think) also do good work.
The NRA is too entrenched in keeping the fight going, and not on winning it. We've been DEFENDING the 2A for too long. We need to be ATTACKING the mentality that believes in infringing on the 2A. Which seems to be what much of the current grassroots momentum is driving towards. De-institutionalizing government.