Today I joined the NRA thanks to David Hogg

J

johnelmore

New member
I guess I was too lazy or just made excuses in the past, but I thought now is a great time to join the NRA so I took the leap. What made me join was David Hogg and the March For Our lives protest. It was pretty obvious the rallies were not about school safety or firearm safety, but an outright attack on politicians and the NRA.

Neither the politicians nor the NRA had gone into a high school with a rifle and murdered 17 people. Instead, it was one crazed individual who probably should have been in some type of mental institution. If I might ask the question...despite multiple calls to law enforcement and the FBI why wasn't that individual at a mental institution? The answer is we truly have a flawed mental health system that needs to be overhauled and reworked. No doubt there are many people out there that should be evaluated and that crazed individual seemed like he should have been top on the list.

Furthermore, the Sheriff of Broward County is clearly neglect in his duties. I have no experience in law enforcement, but I think its obvious that a school resource officer should be a young aggressive character with some type of tactical training or experience. The officer assigned to Parkland seemed to be a bit lacking in that regard and someone who shouldn't have been assigned to that post.

To be honest, Mr. LaPierre seems a little bit wacky to me at times. I kind of think Dana Loesch should assume his area of responsibility. I looked past LaPierre's wackiness and came to the conclusion he is the only guy that seems to be standing up for the 2nd Amendment. While everyone on the news seems to be wavering, LaPierre has always been rather solid and steadfast. I do look forward to the day that someone like Ms. Loesch will assume his duties.

I have to thank Mr. David Hogg for motivating me into action just like all those Democrats who knocked on my door waking me up telling me I had to vote early. I remember that day when they knocked on my door and normally I would be a bit angry because I work in the night. Instead I smiled, got up, jumped in my truck and voted for Donald Trump. To be honest I never vote and it was nice that someone knocked on my door to remind me what I had to do.

Thank you to the Democrats, thank you to David Hogg. I would have never voted nor joined the NRA if it was not for your sincere efforts. I am truly appreciative of your work.
 
I read an article about this exactly. I can't find it again, but the gist was that the students might have made headway in their efforts if they'd stayed with the original script and stayed with their immediate impacts.

Now that they've gone full Bloomberg with quotes like 'When they give us that inch, that bump stock ban, we will take a mile," they might only "awaken a sleeping giant." Might be people that would have been ok with something but are not ok with their mile and are now supporting the NRA and the like.
 
LaPierre has the right ideas and isnt a bad person. Its the way he communicates. I think it might be that time for him to retire and put in someone different.

Communicating and spokespersonship is an artform. You need a certain person for that role...
 
I seem to recall certain movements making donations in Mike Pence's name to organizations he did not support.

Maybe its time to do that for the NRA
 
I rejoined last week for the first time in a few years. My only regret is not using one of the sites where you get the free duffle bag or knife :p
 
zoomie said:
Now that they've gone full Bloomberg with quotes like 'When they give us that inch, that bump stock ban, we will take a mile," they might only "awaken a sleeping giant." Might be people that would have been ok with something but are not ok with their mile and are now supporting the NRA and the like.
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I hope and pray that this will prove to be the case.

I have a daughter who recently graduated from high school and who is still in college. I certainly have nothing against safe schools. That said, the current student uprising is, to me, absolutely polarizing, and I am NOT on their side. It's not entirely the kids' fault -- they are young and basically naive, they have not had any education into what the Constitution really is, what it says, or what it means. They are being used as pawns by the anti-gun movement, and they (the kids) are too dumb to see it.

I get that they want to feel safe. But they DON'T get that banning guns won't -- can't -- guarantee that.
 
Life has always been rough after high school or even college for most people. There is a certain struggle to become employed or trying to live off a entry level job income. These students see this as their opportunity to be someone and go somewhere with their lives. I have no doubt after they graduate high school they will be provided a very generous income by different sources and they might even get book or movie deals. Therefore I wouldn't say they are pawns or being used. They know exactly what they are doing. What they are doing is aiming for a book deal or a movie or getting a big job with some organization or political figure. Any way you want to look at it that's a much better existence for most people after high school.
 
I have some reservations about the NRA. LaPierre has been more than a little tone-deaf to public sentiment in his remarks & their timing in the past. That said, I'm a member. The NRA is pretty much the 800-lb gorilla in gun laws. I need to just break down & buy that lifetime membership. Of course, I also need to make a fresh donation to the NRA-ILA and join some of the other 2A groups, too.
 
I'm still a member, but I do agree that LaPierre is not exactly the best face. I also remember my senior year in high school, routinely getting a "talking to" due to my "Charleton Heston is my president" bumper sticker on my binder.
 
Like many others, I have mixed feelings about the NRA. Recently renewed my membership after a good number of years because of current events. Spats is right, they ARE the 800 pound gorilla. I don't agree with all of their leadership, and I am with everyone on LaPierre... but truthfully they are the big boy and the one that already has the framework in place to carry the load in this fight.

And it seems like all of our discussions about the NRA here lately focus on what the NRA-ILA branch is doing, or spokesman quotes on gun control, or other such political relations that the NRA deals with. While it is a very important part of what the NRA does, let's not forget that it is first and foremost a firearms training and safety organization. They do a LOT more than lobby congress. Almost every state's law enforcement firearms instruction has had influence from the NRA. Hunter safety courses in many states were a combined effort of NRA and State wildlife officers. The NRA helped tremendously in training snipers in preparation for WWI, and it's quite likely that much of what those NRA instructors taught back then is still embedded in current doctrine. Their "Eddie Eagle" program makes an effort to promote gun safety with children in the home. They do SO much more than just lobby for our gun rights, and we don't need to lose sight of that like I did at one time.

I briefly became disenfranchised with the NRA myself. I have come back around and seen the light.
 
Like many here, I was also a disappointed NRA former member. I joined many years ago, then I became disenchanted with LaPierre and certain aspects of the NRA and I dropped out for a number of years. And then I rejoined, not because I wholeheartedly agreed with their approach, but because the politicians in Washington pay attention to the NRA, and 5,000,001 members is one more than 5,000,000 members. And then, a few years back, I upgraded to life member.

So I'm a life member. It appears to me that LaPierre of late has made some effort to be a bit more on point and less abrasive/antagonistic in his public statements, so maybe he's learning. And I may be in a minority of one, but I am NOT a fan of Dana Loesch. I think it's good for the NRA to have an attractive woman as a spokesperson, but I don't think Dana Loesch is the right person for the role. She comes across (to me) as being just as abrasive and tone deaf as LaPierre used to be.
 
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let's not forget that it is first and foremost a firearms training and safety organization
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This an important point. The concealed pistol license training requirements in MI are effectively handled by the NRA. By being able to "hand off" these requirements in the legislation they avoided a hot topic legislative issue (how much training is enough) and helped pass our current minimally restrictive licensing.
 
This whole tragic, painfully tragic, incident was the result of failures of the system that was supposed to protect innocent lives. Apparently schools are not as secure as they could be. An expensive proposition, yes, but we spend trillions on other crap. Why not spend trillions on building new schools that can be secured.
Nevermind really, I was about to wander.

This was not the fault of the NRA, even if you hate the NRA, the organization had nothing to do with this event. Legal law abiding gun owners had nothing to do with this.

WhAts the point on spying on civilians if they can’t stop these acts.
 
Why not spend trillions on building new schools that can be secured.
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How many school shootings (or other violence that could result in death) are acceptable in a year? As long as the number is 0 the goal is likely unattainable. You simply cannot secure to zero. Those who are going to hold up every school shooting regardless of what measures we take as a fault of gun policy alone know this.

And... do we really want to send our children to something that approaches a prison for a school in the name of keeping them safe? What level of fear and dependence on the system, regardless of how invasive, do we want to condition our children to?
 
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