A friend of mine in DC occasionally sends me (or Tweets at me) articles that he wants my opinion on. Yesterday, it was an op-ed piece from the New York Times titled, “I Hunt, but the N.R.A. Isn’t for Me” by Lily Raff McCaulou. My buddy wanted to know, as a “lady hunter” what I thought about this. And I am curious what YOUR opinion is… are you a card carrying member of the NRA?
As I read the op-ed, I agreed with many of her points, For hunters like me, hunting isn’t ultimately about the gun. It’s about wildlife and the land that sustains it and I’m a hunter and a sportswoman. I own guns, but not for self-defense but I also have to wonder if her stats are truly correct “the most comprehensive national survey of firearm ownership to date found that only 35 percent of gun-owning households say they hunt. Even then, the N.R.A. would represent only about one-third of all hunters in the United States”
I don’t know a lot (or anything really) about the NRA. The only thing that comes to mind is Charlton Heston, with the gun above his head, yelling “From my cold, dead hands!” And I know that is not me. I love my gun… I snuggle with my gun while I am in my tree seat, but there is only one gun at my house, and it’s not mine.
So – there are many of you out there that have a lot more knowledge and thoughts on this topic. What do you think? Does McCaulou have a solid argument? How separate are the NRA and hunting? and is that good or bad? I would love to know what you all think.
Simply put, the NRA supports everything I believe in when it comes to the 2nd amendment.
Everything has a lobby today, so I'm fine that I support an organization that helps guard against policymakers whose prefer to regulate more and more and more.
The NRA supports hunters even though a lot of hunters do not necessarily support the NRA.
Get ready for some interesting banter, you may have loaded a gun here.
DEDH
There's no question that the NRA does good work on many fronts. But I personally cannot support them because one of their former board members is a 16-time (I think that's the right number) convicted federal firearms trafficker here in Maryland. NRA funds were used to defend him (unsuccessfully) in court, originally about 100 individual charges of selling handguns with no documentation. That's right, NO DOCUMENTS. NO PAPERWORK. In at least a half dozen cases, the guns he sold were traced to murders in the Baltimore heroin trade.
While this NRA board member's federal charges were pending, the NRA was flying him around the country to attend donor events, advertising his appearance as "2nd amendment warrior Sandy Abrams." If you're looking for case studies on "why people have a stick up their ass about guns in America," this is one of those kind of reasons.
In all fairness I do have to state that once he plead out to how ever many dozen federal firearms trafficking charges, the NRA did in fact remove him from their board of directors.
But I have to flatly say this: with so many great pro-2nd amendment and pro-hunting groups out there who spend money responsibly, and knowing this about how the NRA spends *our* money in my own backyard, how could I ever support them?
Definitely prompts me to look into it. I own a few guns, and while i don't obsess over it, the thought of not having the right to have them sickens me. in that regard I’m glad there are organizations working to keep our rights intact…but me, much like you, am more focused on hunting…my guns, like my bow, is a tool i use for my passion, if i didn't hunt, i probably wouldn't own guns. That being said, i hear what River Mud is saying, there is some bad stigmas out there with the NRA. So like i said, this is prompting me to do some homework. I guess in any case it is irresponsible to be "on the fence," i certainly don't want to teach my kids to not have convictions to something! touchy subject, good post!
I think that's one of the things I can't wrap my brain around. No single person can tweak our Bill of Rights. When Obama was elected, there was this big push to go out and buy guns because he was going to take that right away… he can't. I feel like the NRA tries to use scare tactics to gain publicity and while it works, I think it is off message.
I don't buy the logic about taking guns away, for me it's about the role of government in how they legislate, execute, and judge around the 2nd amendment. One restriction or a thousand, I don't want to see what I regard as the erosion of the 2nd amendment.
There are powerful players who aspire to see greater gun control, I do not want to give an inch when they want to take one inch at a time or the whole 63,360. Don't forget ammunition, that's a target as well.
I'm surprised a hired blogger from the left hasn't chimed in, or at least a volunteer.
And an article I saw on Twitter: http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/field-notes/2012/05/power-decline-economist-proposes-nra-dominance-myth
i remember when he was elected and everyone was out stocking up on guns n' amo for fear it would all be taken away! i have to admit, it got me thinking a little bit, but i didn't stock up on shells!
Interesting article!