They stopped performing their primary mission, which is why others have quickly taken their place to defend the right of the people to keep and bear arms.
Their primary mission was training and education, they only got into politics when it turned out to be a cash cow, and that was their downfall. It just had a long tail of money making first.
safety training no less. basic gun safety and security was one of the biggest things the NRA did until they transformed into a lobbying org for the arms industry.
They got into politics after a string of federal gun control bills became law; most notably the NFA and Gun Control Act of '68. Suddenly there was a need to protect the right to keep and bear arms and they were in the optimal position to do it. Then they got greedy and others have thus taken on the mantle.
That's not quite the story. Or it is, but only in the broadest of strokes.
The real story boils down to Harlan Carter, and his bullshit.
See, prior to 1968, the NRA did get involved in politics. They were consulted on gun regulation, and even had a hand in helping to write the NFA and Gun Control Act of '68.
This pissed off Harlan Carter, who was a racist, unrepentant murderer, and former head of the US Border Patrol, into staging a coup for the control of the NRA leadership.
He then instantly started running the NRA as the propaganda arm of the gun manufacturers, and was paid handsomely to do so. It's also when the NRA "got into politics".
It's also when they somehow collectively forgot about the second half of the Second Amendment.
It was a straightforward matter of using guns responsibly such as financially supporting ranges and providing training. Things that should happen in a society that’s going to have guns around. Stopping black people from having guns started popping up when the Black Panthers realized they had gun rights, too, and started using them. That was much, much later in the organization’s history, and is when they started being directly involved in politics.
Now it’s so deep down the right-wing rabbit hole that its original mission is barely worth talking about, even though they still technically do it.
20% of gun owners (including me) claim to lean or be Democrats. That’s a fifth of possible customers you’ll never get a penny from. 44% claim to be or lean republican and the remaining 36% didn’t swing either way or didn’t answer. I’m sure a lot of them also have moved on to more inclusive organizations like you’ve said.
Gun safety and ownership shouldn’t be a political thing, but the NRA makes it one every chance it gets. Like, from my understanding, they’ve been quietly uppity on preventing smart guns from being sold in the US for years now for no reason.
Same. I realize the politicians voting against gun rights are almost all Democrats, but the NRA needs to quit being political and stick to the topics instead of demonizing half their potential membership.
The “gun show” loophole is the “I want to sell my gun to someone who isn’t a firearms dealer” loophole.
Terming it a gun show loophole makes legislators go after gun shows as if dealers are selling firearms there to anybody without a background check.
It also leads into legislation like the recent proposal for preventing non-dealers from turning a profit on gun sales( many guns increase in value over time, discouraging private sales in general)
What most people can agree on is universal background checks for private sales, but because of weasel words the conversation is poisoned.
Yeah, I call it the gun show loophole because that’s the common phrasing, but I see your issue with the phrase. Do you have a preferred name for it?
I personally still think any gun sale should be facilitated through an FFL whether directly or as a third party for the purpose of background checks being done.
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