Opposition to "buyback" programs is what invalidates what the NRA has become

[KingOrfeo]

Opposition to "buyback" programs is what invalidates what the NRA has become

It wasn't always what it is now. There was a time when the NRA was more open-minded to gun-control. But the organization has changed over time.

The NRA formed a legislative affairs division in response to debate concerning passage of the 1934 National Firearms Act,[20] the first major gun control legislation in the United States. At the time, the NRA supported the act without studying its impact on the second amendment, and also supported the Gun Control Act of 1968. The two acts created a system to license gun dealers and imposed taxes on the private ownership of machine guns.[21]

"The Cincinnati Revolution"

Since the 1970s, the NRA has undergone a series of changes, resulting in different groups taking control of the organization and changing its focus away from hunting, conservation and marksmanship to one of Second Amendment advocacy and political mobilization.

The defining moment came at the 1977 annual convention in Cincinnati, known as "The Cincinnati Revolution."[22] Until then, the NRA had focused on sportsmen, hunters and target shooters, and had downplayed issues of gun control. At the convention, the leadership had planned an elaborate new headquarters in Colorado, designed to promote sportsmanship and conservation. Within the organization, an opposition was formed of activists whose whose central concern was Second Amendment rights. The activists defeated the incumbents in 1977 and installed Harlon Carter as Executive Director and Neal Knox as head of the ILA.[23][24]

After 1977, the organization expanded its membership by focusing heavily on political issues, downplaying the roles of hunters and target shooters, and forming coalitions with conservative politicians, most of them Republicans.[25] With a goal to weaken the Gun Control Act of 1968, Knox's NRA successfully lobbied congress to pass the McClure-Volker firearms decontrol bill of 1986 and worked to reduce the powers of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). In 1982, Knox was ousted as director of the ILA but began mobilizing outside the NRA framework and continued to promote opposition to gun control laws.[26] The organization's approached 3 million people by 1984, but internal turmoil continued, as several executive vice presidents were removed.[27]

At the 1991 national convention, Knox's supporters took control of the board, and named staff lobbyist Wayne LaPierre as the Executive Vice President. The NRA focused its attention on the gun control policies of the Clinton administration.[28] Knox again lost power in 1997, as he lost reelection to a coalition of moderate leaders who supported movie star Charlton Heston, despite Heston's past support of gun control legislation.[29] In 1994, the NRA unsuccessfully opposed the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, but successfully lobbied for the ban's 2004 expiration.[30] Heston was elected president in 1998 and became a highly visible spokesman for the organization. In an effort to improve the NRA's image, Heston presented himself as the voice of reason in contrast to Knox.[31]

And now look where that has led.

The Tucson Police Department also held a gun buyback Tuesday. Police want to destroy the 206 firearms turned in to them. But the National Rifle Association says that would violate Arizona law.

<snip>

Todd Rathner, an Arizona lobbyist and a national board member of the NRA, may sue. He has no problem with the gun buyback, but he does have a problem with the fate of the guns once police take possession of them.

"We do believe that it is illegal for them to destroy those guns," he says.

Rathner says Arizona state law forces local governments to sell seized or abandoned property to the highest bidder.

"If property has been abandoned to the police, then they are required by ARS 12-945 to sell it to a federally licensed firearms dealer, and that's exactly what they should do," he says.

That way, Rathner says, the guns can be put back in circulation or given away.

IOW, it now appears that instead of couching the argument in terms of "freedom" or "rights" or "lesser of two evils," the NRA has evolved to the position that a heavily-armed society is something America should have, and any effort to make it less-armed is bad.

This is as if Libertarians arguing for drug-decriminalization were suddenly to start proclaiming that cocaine and heroin are good for you, and the more of those substances we have on the market the better. It would shatter the credibility even of their more-credible arguments.

 

[sethp]

Why would you protest a buy back program? Pathetic.

 

[LadyVer]

I think the NRA has become an anarchist organization, under the guise of freedom and patriotism. Their freedom for the profits for gun manufacturers for blood in the streets. American patriotism and exceptionalism at its finest.

 

[ChinaBandit]

You people are pathetic.

The geni is long out of the bottle.

Further gun legislation will ensure that only the criminals shall possess the weapons you so oppose. You can surely understand that those interested in crime won't participate in some ridiculous buy back program. They will not be stopped in their continual pursuit of fire power either. You live in a world of deception. One that implies that tidy laws and regulations will make us all much safer. It's total bullshit and serves only to place people under further state control and suppression. Take a look at China, does the unarmed general populace stand a chance against whatever tyranny the CCP wishes to impose.

Fuck you all with your gun control!

 

[ChinaBandit]

BTW: The title of the thread is stupid. "invalidates what the NRA has become"? I think King up his ass has his head up his ass. Does he really mean validates what the NRA has become?

Anyway, guns and drugs. It's ridiculous for anyone to deceive themselves into the belief that either can be placed out of public touch and mass consumption.

 

[LadyVer]

You people are pathetic.

The geni is long out of the bottle.

Further gun legislation will ensure that only the criminals shall possess the weapons you so oppose. You can surely understand that those interested in crime won't participate in some ridiculous buy back program. They will not be stopped in their continual pursuit of fire power either. You live in a world of deception. One that implies that tidy laws and regulations will make us all much safer. It's total bullshit and serves only to place people under further state control and suppression. Take a look at China, does the unarmed general populace stand a chance against whatever tyranny the CCP wishes to impose.

Fuck you all with your gun control!

You're in China, according to your profile. I don't much care what you think. Besides, there's plenty of fire power here. But not enough to go to war with the government. And there never will be. Unles you're advocating citizens arm themselves with military grade weapons and machinery which I would find ridiculous. Most Americans are tired of war. We don't need more here at home.

 

[shoulderblade]

The geni is long out of the bottle.



Fuck you all with your gun control!

That is prety well the bottom line.

The NRA has become the spearhead for non reform.

 

[ChinaBandit]

You're in China, according to your profile. I don't much care what you think. Besides, there's plenty of fire power here. But not enough to go to war with the government. And there never will be. Unles you're advocating citizens arm themselves with military grade weapons and machinery which I would find ridiculous. Most Americans are tired of war. We don't need more here at home.

I am advocating that American citizens retain their rights of self defense...And I don't care at all what you think.

 

[ChinaBandit]

That is prety well the bottom line.

The NRA has become the spearhead for non reform.

If gun ownership was banned you think less people would be killed by firearms?

I don't.

You would have a monopoly doing the killing.

 

[LadyVer]

I am advocating that American citizens retain their rights of self defense...And I don't care at all what you think.

You should worry about China. The last thing we need are Chinese advocating for rights, especially when it entails our citizens rebelling against our government. Geeze.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

So far as I know none of Americas mass murderers or serial killers had NRA membership cards on them. Tormented space cadets are usually manufactured by the courts at community mental health centers under the supervision of nutty perfessers.

 

[ChinaBandit]

You should worry about China. The last thing we need are Chinese advocating for rights, especially when it entails our citizens rebelling against our government. Geeze.

You dumb fuck. I am a US ex-pat.

 

[mercury14]

That is prety well the bottom line.

The NRA has become the spearhead for non reform.

I like how they oppose the gun show loophole that like 80% or more of their own members favor closing.

 

[mercury14]

If gun ownership was banned you think less people would be killed by firearms?

I don't.

You would have a monopoly doing the killing.

We already have that though pretty much. Armed citizens never seem to stop these mass shootings....

 

[LadyVer]

You dumb fuck. I am a US ex-pat.

So what? You're still in China. Such language to get a point across. Must mean you don't have a leg to stand on. Boo hoo.

 

[ChinaBandit]

So what? You're still in China. Such language to get a point across. Must mean you don't have a leg to stand on. Boo hoo.

So what?

Living outside of the contiguous United States, or Alaska and Hawaii, somehow makes my voice in the debate less valid?

 

[LadyVer]

So what?

Living outside of the contiguous United States, or Alaska and Hawaii, somehow makes my voice in the debate less valid?

uh yeah. You left, remember?

 

[ChinaBandit]

uh yeah. You left, remember?

I am an American citizen. I own property in America. I am employed by an American company. I file a Federal tax return although overseas tax credited. I served in the US military both active duty and reserve with veteran status from the first Gulf war.

I'd say that pretty much gives me the right to weigh on any issue concerning the US.

Maybe more people will see it your way though...

 

[mercury14]

Obama will not get above 48%.

Take it to the bank.

That sound you hear is the wave of Independent voters about to repudiate one of the worst presidents in history.

The Chinese media is misleading you. Get out while you still can.

 

[LadyVer]

I am an American citizen. I own property in America. I am employed by an American company. I file a Federal tax return although overseas tax credited. I served in the US military both active duty and reserve with veteran status from the first Gulf war.

I'd say that pretty much gives me the right to weigh on any issue concerning the US.

Maybe more people will see it your way though...

Probably not. Since you explained your situation I no longer suspect you of being a buttinski or a communist. We'll just have to agree to disagree on political issues. Which I would rather do than going back and forth telling someone to f off or calling them a "cunt". It just isn't my style, although every once in a while I tell someone they're a misogynist ass.

 

[Lord_Nibiru]

You dumb fuck.

How sweet. There really is no need for venom; especially when our views don't matter whatsoever to the government.

In the UK guns are banned and gun crime is lower.....but violent crime is sky high (EU Commission called us the crime capital of europe) and I understand proportionately higher than in the US. Is it a direct correlation? I really don't know.

What I do know is that governments/civil enforcement authorities promote the idea that guns on streets are dangerous, but massively increase their own armed protection. Sorry but they're not (or shouldn't be) above the law.

I think the police in Britain should be disarmed (that said, I'm more concerned with the mass arming with things like tasers which are used far too often without cause than small/special police units armed with guns).

 

[shoulderblade]

In the UK guns are banned and gun crime is lower.....but violent crime is sky high (EU Commission called us the crime capital of europe) and I understand proportionately higher than in the US. Is it a direct correlation? I really don't know.

I do not know the details here but there are some issues here as to thr definition of violent crime. Apparently the British definition is much broader so a lot of crimes in this category appear in British stats that woukld not appear in US numbers.

 

[ChinaBandit]

The Chinese media is misleading you. Get out while you still can.

What goes around comes around Merc.

I would be very hesitant to join the amen choir and their chorale of death for the GOP. Like life itself, things change in an instant.

 

[mercury14]

What goes around comes around Merc.

I would be very hesitant to join the amen choir and their chorale of death for the GOP. Like life itself, things change in an instant.

I don't think it's the end of the GOP, just the end of a number of the ideas and policies they believe in.

 

[Sean]

I do not know the details here but there are someissues here as to thr definition of violent crime. Apparently the British definition is much broader so a lot of crimes in this category appear in British stats that woukld not appear in US numbers.

Exactement!