I have my problems with the National Rifle Association. It is VERY good in training new firearm owners and hunters, and teaching children to stay away from firearms with its Eddie the Eagle school programs. It is also very good at teaching women and minorities to learn the lawful and safe ownership and use of firearms. And, even its detractors, like Bill Clinton and George Stephanopoulos, say that the group is unmatched in its ability to lobby state and federal lawmakers (remember that Clinton lost Democratic control of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994 after he helped adopt the Federal Assault Weapons Ban just weeks before the midterm election).
Buuut, the NRA has a difficult time staying out of social and moral matters. While describing itself as a "single-issue group," its opinion nonetheless dives randomly into same-sex marriage, abortion and immigration matters (ask me about how NRA board of directors member Ted Nugent publicly fawned over my LGBT Second Amendment group only to trash it to me behind the scenes). Most of all, it forced its way into a few U.S. Supreme Court cases about the Second Amendment which were, until then, the sole work of others. In other words, the NRA threw its muscle around and many believed that it might jeopardize the Court opinions. It is that kind of corporate ego that many, even its members, despise.
Now, as to the idea that "the NRA seems to have the reputation among non-members of being comprised solely of racist, sexist, evil, old white men[.]" The answer is simple street politics. For every conservative Republican who sees all less-conservative voters as dim-witted red-diaper doper babies, every liberal (oops, "progressive") Democrat sees all less-progressive voters as chaw-chewing pick-up truck drivers. Neither image is founded in truth, of course. But, that is the reason street politics works. Toss some red-meat around to your respective base voters (the kind who end up donating great huge wodges of cash and votes to the red-meat tossers), and you, too, can get elected dog catcher.
When Americans figure out that they have successfully been trained to act as the gladiators in the collossia of their own making, they will finally cooperate with each other to turn their anger at the real dangers to our nation.
07 Jan 2016, 10:09 am
