Interesting history of the NRA

[UtahPete]

http://theweek.com/articles/761135/s...ticle_2-761135

[wyliec]

Slow day today?

[UtahPete]

Slow day today?

[Bob Denman]

Thanks for posting a link to this article. I haven't read through it yet; I hope that is accurate...

[UtahPete]

Thanks for posting a link to this article. I haven't read through it yet; I hope that is accurate...

I was hoping that someone would, as objectively as possible, verify the story. I haven't studied the NRA in depth but it kind of squares with my understanding of how it transformed from a sportsman's organization into a second amendment lobby.

[Bob Denman]

I'm only using a smartphone tonight: I'll take a closer look at it tomorrow.

[Cavman]

From the NRA website:
https://home.nra.org/about-the-nra/

[UtahPete]

From the NRA website: https://home.nra.org/about-the-nra/

Didn't bother to read it. I'd like to know what forum members think.

[kep-up]

Didn't bother to read it. I'd like to know what forum members think.

Of course you didn't bother to read it. It represents the side of the issue you don't want to know about.

[UtahPete]

Of course you didn't bother to read it. It represents the side of the issue you don't want to know about.

It is their own marketing hype. I'd like to know from long-time NRA members if they agree with the article concerning the history of the NRA.

[Bob Denman]

That "History" is factually inaccurate...
It states facts; but not why the events occurred...
I remember the "Cincinnati Revolt": they never mentioned that the damage done to the organization by it; has been reversed.
The past is the past: The NRA now looks to the future.

[Bob Denman]

I will clear up one more of your "facts"
Harlon Carter's conviction for that death was overturned... it was a case of self-defense. The jury did not receive proper instructions about that.
(The kid that he shot, had pulled a knife on him...)

[UtahPete]

That "History" is factually inaccurate...It states facts; but not why the events occurred...

I don't understand. You seem to be contradicting yourself here. It's either factually accurate or not.

[Bob Denman]

If you choose to limit me to just two over-simplified response: it's completely inaccurate!

[UtahPete]

If you choose to limit me to just two over-simplified response: it's completely inaccurate!

I'm not limiting you to anything. Maybe you could list the inaccuracies for me?

[Fatcycledaddy]

I'm not limiting you to anything. Maybe you could list the inaccuracies for me?

Bob, don't waste your time.

[UtahPete]

When was the NRA founded?
In 1871, by two Civil War veterans in New York — one of them a former New York Times reporter. They, along with the National Rifle Association's first president, Union Gen. Ambrose Burnside, hoped to improve the dismal shooting abilities of the average Union soldier. (Yankee troops fired 1,000 rounds for every bullet that struck a Confederate soldier, according to an official study.) Their original mission focused on hunting, conservation, and marksmanship; there was no mention of protecting the Second Amendment right to bear arms. Indeed, for nearly a century, the NRA actively lobbied for gun control — ​co-authoring gun restrictions with the government right up until the 1970s. "Historically," says UCLA law professor Adam Winkler, "the leadership of the NRA was more open-minded about gun control than someone familiar with the modern NRA might imagine."

What restrictions did they endorse?
The NRA backed the nation's first federal gun laws after the Prohibition Era, when tommy gun–wielding gangsters warred in the streets of Chicago. The National Firearms Acts of 1934 and 1938 placed heavy taxes and regulations on machine guns, sawed-off shotguns, and silencers; prohibited felons from owning weapons; and required gun owners to register with the federal government. NRA leader Karl T. Frederick not only endorsed the legislation, he went so far as to state, "I have never believed in the general practice of carrying weapons. I think it should be sharply restricted and only under licenses."

How long did that position last?
Right through the 1960s, when assassinations and street violence rocked the nation. When it emerged that Lee Harvey Oswald had used a rifle purchased via an NRA mail-order advertisement to assassinate President John F. Kennedy in 1963, NRA Executive Vice President Franklin Orth backed the banning of mail-order sales. And when members of the Black Panther Party marched on the California Capitol carrying shotguns and rifles, the NRA supported state legislation prohibiting "open carry" in public places. "There's no reason why on the street today a citizen should be carrying loaded weapons," said then-Gov. Ronald Reagan. After gunmen assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, Congress passed the Gun Control Act of 1968. The law imposed various new restrictions, including on the shipping of guns across state lines.

When did things change?
By 1968, there were rumbles of rebellion against gun control within the NRA. Though the organization supported the Gun Control Act, it blocked attempts to include a national gun registry and a requirement for all gun carriers to hold a license. Then in 1971, federal agents shot and paralyzed longtime NRA member Kenyon Ballew during a gun raid at his home in Maryland. Anti-government sentiment surged within the ranks, and hard-liners became increasingly impatient with the leadership's "soft" stance. Things came to a head on the night of May 21, 1977 — known in NRA lore as the Revolt at Cincinnati — when gun-rights radicals stormed the group's annual meeting in Ohio and demanded changes to the governing structure. The old guard was ousted, and new Executive Vice President Harlon Carter, who had served time for shooting dead a Mexican teenager, spelled out the new approach: "No compromise. No gun legislation." The NRA would become an organization "so strong," said Carter, "that no politician in America mindful of his political career would want to challenge [our] goals."

How did it build its power?
The NRA began grading politicians from A to F on gun-control legislation. Those with the best report cards were given campaign money; the rest earned the wrath of the NRA's ballooning membership, which tripled following the Cincinnati revolt. Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) complained of a "litmus test every five minutes." The leadership adopted a new motto — "The Right of the People to Bear Arms Shall Not Be Infringed" — and waded deeper into the culture wars, fueled by the spread of Waco-inspired conspiracy theories about gun-confiscating government forces in black helicopters. Each piece of gun legislation was framed as the first step toward total disarmament, driving members to the ballot box. By 2000, new NRA President Charlton Heston was challenging Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore to pry Heston's Colonial-era musket "from my cold, dead hands." Gore lost the election; a year later, Fortune named the NRA the most powerful lobbying group in Washington.


What about recent years?
Led by Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, the NRA continues to exert huge political influence. In 2013, when support for universal background checks rose to 91 percent after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the organization blocked congressional efforts to pass background-check amendments. The activism of its 4 million members is perhaps its strongest asset. Gun-rights supporters are four times as likely to have donated money and written a politician about the issue as gun-control advocates, according to one study. Those members are unmoved by stories about their early leaders' support for gun control. "Then was then," said one NRA supporter recently, on Guns & Ammo's online forum. "Now is now."

The corporations calling the shots
The NRA used to tout its independence from gun manufacturers — branding itself as the century-old voice of average-joe hunters and sport shooters. Today, though, the organization bolsters its funds with million-dollar donations from 22 different gun makers, including Smith & Wesson and Beretta USA. The NRA received up to $52.6 million in industry donations between 2005 and 2013, according to one report — and from some gun and ammo companies, it makes $1 from every purchase. The gun manufacturers' influence is clear: Today, the NRA's answer to every mass shooting is more firearms — even in schools and churches. "Today's NRA is a virtual subsidiary of the gun industry," said Josh Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy Center, a gun-control organization. "While the NRA portrays itself as protecting the freedom of individual gun owners, it's actually working to protect the freedom of the gun industry to manufacture and sell virtually any weapon or accessory."

[SPECTACUALR SPIDERMAN]

HEY, what's wrong with a tommy gun? the second amendment says i can own one!!

[UtahPete]

HEY, what's wrong with a tommy gun? the second amendment says i can own one!!

Interesting that the 2nd amendment meant something else up until the 70s.

[Bob Denman]

Pete,
If you want me to teach yo History: you're gonna have to pay for it: just as if I belonged to the Union!

[UtahPete]

Pete, If you want me to teach yo History: you're gonna have to pay for it: just as if I belonged to the Union!

I didn't ask you to teach me anything, Bob. I thought I'd give the opportunity to refute the facts in this article.

The upshot of it is that the NRA was, for over 100 years, an organization promoting the safe and sane ownership and use of long guns for sports shooting, not for self-protection. As late as Ronald Reagan's administration, there were prohibitions on certain guns and a general agreement, even within the NRA, that open carry and concealed carry by the general public was unnecessary and should be restricted. The NRA morphed into its present form and began promoting mass ownership of guns as a second amendment 'right' only about 30 years ago.

Is there something inaccurate about this narrative?

[Bob Denman]

"Never try to teach a pig to whistle..."

I should have remembered my own advice...
I'm done with you on this topic... go preach your anti-Second Amendment elsewhere: the Heller decision is still intact!

[MEP]

"Never try to teach a pig to whistle..."

I should have remembered my own advice...
I'm done with you on this topic... go preach your anti-Second Amendment elsewhere: the Heller decision is still intact!

Good decision. This is nothing more than baiting dressed up to look like something else.

[ThreeWheels]

"Never try to teach a pig to whistle..."

Can I use that quote ??

I've always said something similar, but more long winded:
Who's a bigger fool. The fool ? Or the one who argues with the fool ?

I like yours.

What's this thread all about ? This is another thread where half the posters are on my ignore list, so I can only read the parts of it.

[UtahPete]

"Never try to teach a pig to whistle..." I should have remembered my own advice...I'm done with you on this topic... go preach your anti-Second Amendment elsewhere: the Heller decision is still intact!

Why so touchy on this topic?