Archive for the 'National Rifle Association' Category

Politico.

The National Rifle Association has laid off more than 60 employees in recent weeks, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

Unless that number includes Wayne, the number will continue to grow.

Wayne, do the right thing and step down.  Only then can the NRA recast itself as a true gun rights organization designed to protect and defend the God-given rights of Americans.

As opposed to what the NRA is today, one which supported the NFA, the Hughes Amendment, the GCA, the bump stock ban, universal background checks, and red flag laws.

And if you’re an honorable man or woman still on the board of directors of the NRA, we have to question why?  Or we have to question if you’re really an honorable man or woman.  Take your pick.

News from Alabama (via David Codrea).

An Alabama state lawmaker has introduced legislation that would create a statewide database for Alabamians with concealed carry permits.

The process that the state implements currently isn’t secure enough, according to state Rep. Proncey Robertson (R). Currently, the application process for a concealed carry permit is overseen by each county’s sheriff’s office.

“When you go in there and you give them your personal information, addresses, Social Security numbers, date of birth, all this sort of stuff to put on that, it’s sitting there in a very nonsecure location,” Robertson told an Alabama Fox affiliate.

The bill would also allow Alabama residents to be issued lifetime concealed carry permits.

BamaCarry, a pro-gun group in the state, is against the proposed bill.

“They need to back off of trying to regulate people who lawfully carry weapons,” Eddie Fulmer, a member of BamaCarry, told the network.

He couches it in such protectionist terms, doesn’t he?  Lifetime permits.  Nonsecure.  All an excuse for more regulation.

Sometimes I seriously wonder what’s wrong with Alabama.  I know Mike Vanderboegh had problems with Boss Hogg, and even more problems.  But there’s more you should know from David Codrea.

So what the hell is this?

And how are the excuses being made for it any different from arguing for national records consolidation?

Anybody else getting a little tired of Fairfax giving green lights and promoting existing Intolerable Acts?

So your NRA supported this?  You don’t say?  Some astute reader should make a list of the gun control the NRA has supported, for example, AWB, the NFA, the Hughes Amendment, the GCA, the bump stock ban, red flag laws, UBCs, etc., etc., with URLs to prove it all.

Any takers?  Fill up the comments with URLs of NRA gun control.  Have at it.  Let’s have the full list of crap they have supported.

Examiner.

The 2020 general election is still months off, but at every Friends of the NRA event that First Vice President Charles Cotton attends around the country, members are rushing up to him to urge that the National Rifle Association get involved early.

“We’re hearing it now,” he told me at the NRA-sponsored Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Cotton said members are “always” coming up to him to ask, “Are you guys on top of this? We want to help.”

“That’s what we’re constantly hearing,” he said.

[ … ]

But the Virginia vote “has been the biggest wake-up call for the whole country that I’ve ever seen,” he added, laying out the NRA’s 2020 agenda.

Uh huh.  “On top of this.”  Like they were “on top” of that rally in Richmond as they sat on the sidelines and watched (or perhaps Wayne was too busy taking his suits to the cleaners to pay attention).  What, did the NRA wait until people started begging, hoping that would bring in more money?

There there’s this tidbit.

And Justin Anderson, the marketing director for one of the nation’s largest gun stores, Hyatt Guns of Charlotte, North Carolina, said that 2020 will push lots of people into buying guns. So much so that he has ordered a record shipment of AR-style rifles.

“We’ll be ready to help those good people who wish to demonstrate their Second Amendment rights,” he said, adding, “Any of the current Democrats vying to run will be good for business!”

Prices are going to start creeping up soon.

David Codrea.

As just one prominent example, it makes no sense for NRA to give superlatives to Marco Rubio for what he does with one hand when what he does with the other undermines all of that in the long run. He betrays us on things like chain migration, unnecessary worker visas, refugee and asylum fraud, illegal immigration rewards, and a “path to citizenship” for illegals. To present him as our great friend in light of supporting a 70% Democrat influx is indefensible.

But the NRA has been doing indefensible things ever since its inception.

I’ll tell you what.  Get rid of Wayne and his suits.  Get rid of all of the other senior staff.  Get rid of most of the board of directors, especially Marion Hammer and Tom King.  Begin anew by opposing immigration (because they vote 70%-80% gun control).  Oppose things like bump stock bans rather than actually suggesting them.  Oppose universal background checks rather than actually suggesting them.

Start behaving wisely and prudently with membership money.  Score every vote that even comes close to testing the waters on immigration and new gun control measures.  Never compromise (compromise means giving anything).  Only lobby to get things for gun owners.  Oppose any new controls on MSRs.  Oppose red flag laws instead of actually suggesting them.  Spend money to throw out gun control politicians.  Begin the long march towards undoing the GCA and the NFA.

Then we’ll talk.  Otherwise, the NRA is just harming the cause as I see it.

News from Virginia.

Richmond, VA–You’re going to be angry when you hear the crap that’s coming out of the NRA today.

In an article posted just today by Reuters, a spokesperson for the National Rifle Association in Virginia stabbed gun owners in the back.

While 30,0000 or more gun owners are traveling and gathering at Virginia’s Capital at great expense–and no small risk to their safety–the NRA is offering to compromise.

NRA official Daniel J. Spiker made the repulsive comments in an article posted earlier today:

“Anti-gun billionaires who invested millions in the 2019 Virginia elections expect a return on that investment,” said NRA official D. J. Spiker.  “The NRA is fully prepared to work to defeat Governor Northam’s gun grab – but also work to find compromise.”

It’s an all too familiar compromise.  Who really expected the NRA to fight on the side of liberty and God-given rights?  Really.  Answer that question.  Who among us?

But be aware, Ralph “Kill the babies and give me all your guns” Northam.  If you swagger around telling everyone that you and the NRA compromised to achieve “gun safety laws,” to most of us that merely means that communists cooperated with betrayers.  In fact, any bill supported by the NRA will likely be opposed by the rest of us merely because it was supported by the NRA, if not for other reasons.

NRA.

As the Nation’s oldest civil rights organization, we recognize civic engagement as a virtue not a vice. Liberty is reliant upon the participation of free people, and this includes the vast number of  citizens and communities who are lawfully exercising their rights under the First Amendment to defend their freedoms under the Second. It is the tyrannical nature of politicians that triggers sanctuary, not the other way around. The NRA has steadfastly defended freedom for nearly 150 years, and we have no intention of suppressing virtuous voices against governmental oppression—censoring is what our opponents do.

I had not run across this before, likely due to the fact that it says nothing.

Can you imagine a more tepid, frightened, worthless statement by anyone on 2A sanctuaries?

Perhaps if they had made a stronger statement, Wayne would have to leave his Dallas mansion and come to Virginia and be a part of the movement.  He might not get to use his perks if he actually had to do something like this.

And notice carefully how no one in the MSM has been able to say that this is some sort of NRA-led rebellion, because clearly it isn’t.  They’re sticking their finger in the wind to see how all of this settles out.  If it succeeds, they’ll try to take credit for it.

Via WiscoDave, NY Post.

That’s why y’all keep begging for more money, isn’t it Wayne?

Hey, I have a suggestion.  I’ll do the job better, and for 1/3 of the pay.  What do you say?

News from New York.

The head of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association said the sale of ghost guns is a growing problem.

“These ’80 percent’ guns are providing a way for prohibited people to buy a firearm,” Tom King of the NYSRPA said, referring to people who don’t have a gun permit or are otherwise prohibited from possessing a gun.

He said self-assembled guns provide a way for competition shooters to make a custom-fitted firearm. Such weapons should have serial numbers and be registered — and any new legislation should consider such a provision, he said. But it appears increasingly, King said, people trying to evade the law are the ones buying and selling self-assembled weapons.

“It appears what was meant to be something for competitive shooters and serious shooters to build their own unique firearm may be turning into a criminal enterprise,” King said.

I don’t see Tom King as a quisling or coward.  I think he is a gun controller, an enemy of liberty, set out to do everything in his power to destroy recognition of God-given rights.  Sometimes it comes in the obvious form like it does above, sometimes it’s more discrete.

Fellow gun owners I submit this to you for your consideration. We will never convert the 22% rabid anti-gunners, we don’t have to convert the 32% avid pro gunners but we must convert a sizable portion of the 46% of those somewhere in between if we want to retain our 2nd Amendment Rights long term. These are the soccer moms, the guys who say I’ve never shot a gun but would like to try it and the people worried about their safety. How do we do that? Not by standing on stage screaming obscenities at Cuomo and certainly at large rallies where people stand on stage, pound their chest and tell the attendees to prepare for war. That frightens the very people we want to attract to our side, the people who will insure (sic) 2nd Amendment Rights for our grandchildren.

Whether it’s working to increase regulation, or make gun owners and their protests toothless, either way, his actions are those of an avowed enemy of God’s laws.  And take careful note, Tom King is a current member of the NRA board of directors.

Also see Tooling an 80% Lower Receiver.

Via David Codrea.

The National Rifle Association’s executive vice president and CEO, Wayne LaPierre, has named Jason Ouimet to serve as executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA). The NRA Board of Directors unanimously affirmed Ouimet’s selection at its recent board meeting.

Unanimously affirmed.  Has anything happened in the world lately that the NRA board hasn’t unanimously affirmed?

Good grief.

So take a look at David’s links to this guy’s dealing with Len Savage.  I don’t trust him.  Besides, Len Savage is a friend of TCJ, and when you take a swipe at a friend, you take it at me too.

That’s just the way I roll.

Politico.

I’m a long-time gun rights proponent with pretty solid credentials. I lobbied for the NRA. I am the president of the Independent Firearm Owners Association and I even gave Ronald Reagan his first shooting lesson with a customized AR-15 when I ran the Firearm Industry’s Trade Association in 1992. I am also someone who has worked successfully on bipartisan gun control measures, specifically a child safety lock agreement supported by Bill Clinton, which explains in part why I am also a former NRA lobbyist.

So now that he’s established his creds, let’s take a look at what he’s proposing to mend the wounds that America suffers.

Today’s current gun control mantra is “universal background checks.” The Brady law passed in 1993 mandated background checks for gun purchasers at retail gun shops. These transactions are commercial in nature and generally between strangers—the firearms dealer and the buyer. Twenty years ago, the firearms industry (and even the NRA) supported these checks at gun shows as well as retail gun shops, but the original legislation extended only to federally licensed dealers, with no attempt made to extend that jurisdiction to nondealers. Today, you’ll find gun owners support background checks for all commercial transactions. That includes gun shows, flea markets and internet sales purchases. Strangers can’t possibly know the backgrounds of the buyer and these checks can prevent the unintentional transfer of a gun to a disqualified individual.

But when the word “universal” is used, gun owners rebel. Why? They don’t want to be turned into criminals for giving a firearm to their wife, their kids or their parents without a background check—which is exactly what they fear could happen if a law mandates background checks for all gun sales in the U.S.

So why not extend the Brady background check to all commercial sales, including gun shows, internet sales and flea markets, while carefully and responsibly crafting exemptions for relatives, friends and co-workers whom the seller has personally known for more than a year? And in cases where there is some doubt about the relationship, let’s encourage people to get the checks by giving them the same liability protection when crimes are committed with those guns that retail dealers have now. Compromise, that dirty word, means we both get something in the transaction that’s useful to us.

With these exemptions in place, opposition would be diminished, and legislation based on sound policy not “gotcha politics” will more easily be enacted. Most importantly, disqualified individuals would find it harder (though admittedly not impossible) to obtain guns. Isn’t that what we seek?

So right out of the gate, he proposes a compromise.  Extend the background check to all sales.  Give up person-to-person sales as long as there is an exemption for family gifts.  In other words, universal background checks.  Just don’t call it that – it’ll get everybody on my side riled up.

“Red Flag Laws” are getting a lot of attention, but I prefer the term Gun Violence Restraining Orders (GVROs). Something about the words “red flag” reminds me of “red herring.” But there’s a good reason for them. The theory behind this initiative is that people sometimes give us useful signals that they intend to commit violence—whether it’s against themselves or others—and if we act upon those signals by removing their guns we might sometimes prevent tragedies. But gun owners have legitimate fears that the system can be abused to their detriment. In order to amplify the good and minimize the bad, we need to build safeguards against a surveillance state that, in the wake of 9/11, has proved susceptible to overreach. If the process becomes punitive, not salutary, faith in the stated objective is defeated and people loss more respect for the laws and any changes are seen as new retributions to be opposed from the get go. A detailed description of a workable and fair policy can be found in David French’s article “A Gun-Policy Measure Conservatives Should Consider” from National Review of February of last year.

So, let’s put a few things in places to keep the Leviathan state from overreaching and prevent abuses, and we’ll support these confiscatory policies.  David French says so.  And so does he.

Sheesh.  With friends like this, who needs enemies?  Is it any wonder with “Lobbyists” like this, we’ve been compromised almost to the point of no return?