Publicola

More on the NRA:
After getting into a heated discussion with a friend I've concluded that the NRA has some of the best P.R. people on the planet.
The NRA has backed almost every federal gun law (people on the left say it with me - federal gun laws are constitutionally prohibited!) passed since 1934. They are currently backing Project Exile which is a tightening down on enforcing federal gun laws which again, are not supposed to exist.
In most states that have debated a CCW law the NRA has usually backed the most horrible compromised piece of B.S. that could be passed off as a CCW, even when a better CCW was being proposed at the same time.
They back anti gun politicians. No matter how bad a republican incumbent’s record on gun control is, they will ask you to vote for him or her. As a matter of fact, come the next election, look at the NRA's list of recommend politicians, and then compare that to GOA's. GOA rates them: A for extremely pro gun to F for extremely anti gun. Even when there is a choice, most of the NRA's candidates get average or below average grades for the GOA. So there is no fear of voter reprisal from the NRA.
But yet I keep hearing justifications such as these:
The NRA is the biggest kid on the block. So's China: that doesn't mean they're ideologically pure now does it?
The NRA is effective. Yep, they're effective at blowing smoke while they sell you out for a little more political power.
Political power is necessary to preserve our second amendment rights. Yep, but having power & using it for it's intended purpose are two different things.
The NRA has the best chance of winning our rights back. Potentiality is no substitute for actuality. A car has the best chance of beating a horse in a race, but that doesn't mean anything if the driver sits there & idles while the horse is galloping away.


I'll try to make it simple: the NRA is concerned about the NRA. As long as it keeps you thinking it's the best & only chance of getting your rights back, it knows it has you as a member. & the NRA is not above throwing its members a bone. But as far as any progress is concerned, they fight just enough to qualify as a holding action, even though they could do much more. They do this because as long as they aren't gaining ground, or losing just a little ground, then the ones concerned about the second amendment will be scared & will join & renew with the NRA.
Bottom line: If the NRA actually accomplished what they are capable of, they would go back to being a target shooting club with 700,000 members. They don't want that. The execs like the fringes that 5,000,000 dues paying members bring. They don't want to win their way out of a job.
But as I said, they have extremely good P.R. Hell, some of the JPFO's ads have been attributed to the NRA. The JPFO is slightly different, being a non profit organization, but at least they are a no compromise non profit organization. The NRA is so about compromise that they seem afraid to be called too pro gun. Radical extremists can't compromise as effectively. Something about principles interfering with a good deal.
So support the GOA. Support the JPFO. If you want to support the NRA, here's a tip: go ahead & join the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Ownership. You're dollars will be spent a little more effectively & the jump to there from the NRA isn't a long one.