5 ms·

The only reason for wanting to read this is in hope that it alerts everyone about how flawed US gun regulations are and home much there is to do. Also, if this

by thehme 13y ago

The only reason for wanting to read this is in hope that it alerts everyone about how flawed US gun regulations are and home much there is to do. Also, if this "manufacturing" was to be regulated, it would be great to know that gun manufacturer's representative, the NRA, will no longer be needed, if in fact "freedom" is that its members want.

hga 13y ago
The NRA is the gunowners' representative. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Shooting_Sports_Foundation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Shooting_Sports_Founda...) is the "national trade association for the firearms industry..., the organization has more than 7,000 members: firearms manufacturers, distributors, retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen's clubs and media." Whereas individual gun owners, 5 million, a million more than before Newton, are the ones who belong to the NRA, and who, along with the gun owners who listen to us, are the ones who give it such political heft. Hatred towards "the NRA" is hatred towards the most politically active 1/20th of the nation's gun owners . ADDED: Such as me, my father, my brothers, my oldest nephew, etc. You'll have to pardon us if we take this a bit personally. Anyway, confusion over something so basic as who are the major players on the pro-RKBA side is one reason we don't pay much attention to ... negative sentiments such as you express.
- reader5000 13y ago
  The NRA's leadership is dominated by industry: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/01/new-evidence-that-the-nra-might-be-just-another-corporate-front/267244/ http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/01/new-evid... The sole purpose of the NRA is to protect corporate profit: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-weisser/open-letter-to-wayne-lapi_b_3219807.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-weisser/open-letter-to-wa...
  - hga 13y ago
    Why do you find it difficult to believe the two are in near perfect alignment? OK, it was a bit complicated when there were large stocks of military surplus still to be liquidated, the NRA supported both the GCA of '68 but also the later relaxation of imports of military surplus. On the other hand, do you really think the members of the NRA find it damning that one of the Nominating Committee members is "a timber company executive in Alabama" like Mother Jones does??? You think we're a hot bed of hatred towards free enterprise? Very curious that the NRA put George Kollitides on the Nominating Committee because of his history, but it's hardly out of whack to have one manufacturer and one dealer member each; in fact, that sounds about right. Your claim that it having 2 out of 9 members from the industry means they "dominate" the NRA leadership does not stand up to examination. Heck, even the Atlantic article you cite says "the corporate-front theory is still probably too simplistic" and "It's very hard to disentagle the interests of the gun industry from the views of gun rights purists." Indeed: no gun or ammo manufactures rather obviously means no guns and ammo for us to shoot. We've very interested in their health, we're in the same boat, attack them, you attack us. And the NSSF does quite a bit for gun owners in a whole range of areas including the political, although their focus is of course on the industry. As for "sole purpose", I didn't bother to read the cited article, but do you mean the NRA's gun safety efforts, largely credited with decreasing the absolute number of fatal gun accidents by 1/4 at the same time the population and number of guns owned has increased by 1/2, was solely done to protect "corporate profit"? Sorry, I'm not that cynical.
    - reader5000 13y ago
      The gun industry sells an image of masculinity and rugged individualism. The NRA is part of this image, and arguably is the greatest public relations strategy in the history of Western consumerism. Unlike say blue jeans commercials where manly men hang out on their pickup trucks which most people realize is purely for marketing, people really think the NRA and associated marketing is real. All the purchase of a firearm represents is a very slight decrease in the probability that you and the civilians around you will survive tomorrow. Widespread availability of firearms also enables and promotes the terrorism we regularly see carried out in the US, but of course the probability of being personally victimized by terrorism is exceedingly low. So no, gun owners and gun industry interests are not "aligned". Gun industry makes enormous profit on the sale of its image. Gun owners get the benefit of believing they are rugged individuals protecting liberty, at the cost of a couple hundred/thousand bucks and living in a modestly more dangerous society.

by thehme 13y ago

hga 13y ago

The NRA is the gunowners' representative. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Shooting_Sports_Foundation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Shooting_Sports_Founda...) is the "national trade association for the firearms industry..., the organization has more than 7,000 members: firearms manufacturers, distributors, retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen's clubs and media." Whereas individual gun owners, 5 million, a million more than before Newton, are the ones who belong to the NRA, and who, along with the gun owners who listen to us, are the ones who give it such political heft. Hatred towards "the NRA" is hatred towards the most politically active 1/20th of the nation's gun owners . ADDED: Such as me, my father, my brothers, my oldest nephew, etc. You'll have to pardon us if we take this a bit personally. Anyway, confusion over something so basic as who are the major players on the pro-RKBA side is one reason we don't pay much attention to ... negative sentiments such as you express.

reader5000 13y ago
The NRA's leadership is dominated by industry: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/01/new-evidence-that-the-nra-might-be-just-another-corporate-front/267244/ http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/01/new-evid... The sole purpose of the NRA is to protect corporate profit: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-weisser/open-letter-to-wayne-lapi_b_3219807.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-weisser/open-letter-to-wa...
- hga 13y ago
  Why do you find it difficult to believe the two are in near perfect alignment? OK, it was a bit complicated when there were large stocks of military surplus still to be liquidated, the NRA supported both the GCA of '68 but also the later relaxation of imports of military surplus. On the other hand, do you really think the members of the NRA find it damning that one of the Nominating Committee members is "a timber company executive in Alabama" like Mother Jones does??? You think we're a hot bed of hatred towards free enterprise? Very curious that the NRA put George Kollitides on the Nominating Committee because of his history, but it's hardly out of whack to have one manufacturer and one dealer member each; in fact, that sounds about right. Your claim that it having 2 out of 9 members from the industry means they "dominate" the NRA leadership does not stand up to examination. Heck, even the Atlantic article you cite says "the corporate-front theory is still probably too simplistic" and "It's very hard to disentagle the interests of the gun industry from the views of gun rights purists." Indeed: no gun or ammo manufactures rather obviously means no guns and ammo for us to shoot. We've very interested in their health, we're in the same boat, attack them, you attack us. And the NSSF does quite a bit for gun owners in a whole range of areas including the political, although their focus is of course on the industry. As for "sole purpose", I didn't bother to read the cited article, but do you mean the NRA's gun safety efforts, largely credited with decreasing the absolute number of fatal gun accidents by 1/4 at the same time the population and number of guns owned has increased by 1/2, was solely done to protect "corporate profit"? Sorry, I'm not that cynical.
  - reader5000 13y ago
    The gun industry sells an image of masculinity and rugged individualism. The NRA is part of this image, and arguably is the greatest public relations strategy in the history of Western consumerism. Unlike say blue jeans commercials where manly men hang out on their pickup trucks which most people realize is purely for marketing, people really think the NRA and associated marketing is real. All the purchase of a firearm represents is a very slight decrease in the probability that you and the civilians around you will survive tomorrow. Widespread availability of firearms also enables and promotes the terrorism we regularly see carried out in the US, but of course the probability of being personally victimized by terrorism is exceedingly low. So no, gun owners and gun industry interests are not "aligned". Gun industry makes enormous profit on the sale of its image. Gun owners get the benefit of believing they are rugged individuals protecting liberty, at the cost of a couple hundred/thousand bucks and living in a modestly more dangerous society.