NRA is up for renewal 2019 yea or nay?

[JAKIII]

^^^^what he said.

...boy named Sue.

[K.C.]

I've decided to not renew. I'm tired of giving up ground. If there would be a radical change to the organization then we'll talk. In the mean time I'm hoping the GOA will take the throne or should I say Wayne Lapierres seat at the table and say NOT ONE MORE INCH!

[57springer]

I've decided to not renew. I'm tired of giving up ground. If there would be a radical change to the organization then we'll talk. In the mean time I'm hoping the GOA will take the throne or should I say Wayne Lapierres seat at the table and say NOT ONE MORE INCH!

^^^^^

[bamboomaster]

I get tired of trying to figure people out, their motivations, their machinations.

As I read the article over in the bump-stock thread, it sounds like the NRA may have been playing a little 3D chess. Push an easily manipulated POTUS into doing what they knew he couldn't do--an executive ban on bump-stocks. With the idea that it would appease the grabbers long enough that they'd lose interest. Considering how much evidence exists of the ATF saying "we can't ban these" it should be short work in court using their very own analysis to shut down their new edict.

Or was it the NRA and Trump working together to throw the dog a bone--attached to a fishing line? "Ooooh, you missed it by that much" as the bone is yanked away by the courts.

I don't know, and that's the problem with schemes and why I don't like scheming. I don't want to analyze your apparent motives versus your true motives. Figure out what your end game is. It's fine for a TV show or movie when it all gets wrapped up in a nice little bow. Real life is too messy for such games.

For now, I'm going to assume Trump decided bump-stocks were bad and banned them unlawfully. I'm going the assume the NRA rolled over and gave away something without a fight to head off more comprehensive legislation. I'll stay mad at them without proof of the above. But it's going to keep gnawing at me.

Most folks who have spent some time on the range and never bought a bump stock know they can easily accomplish a similar rate of fire (and more like 12 ga. buckshot accuracy) using just a rubber band previously used to secure a bunch of asparagus. Thankfully, they haven't thought to ban asparagus sales.

Trump knows what he's doing.

FWIW, he's pulling the military out of Syria to redeploy them to Africa because China has a considerable economic interest in their investments there - and will end up owning most of the continent when they default on massive loans that will never be repaid. Hence, the reason for his "trade war" with China to turn off the faucet for the billions of dollars the US gave China in trade surpluses that eventually found their way to substantial investments in Africa.

But I'll address this in another thread....

[Gunowner99]

I'm at the highest level of life and will let my finances recoup for while now ha ha! Not a lot of mailings lately it seems.

[ditch]

If I wasn't life member already, I'd not renew.

I stopped sending them money long ago though because they just aren't serious about gun rights.

I support GOA instead.

[ray h]

I've been an NRA life member for a couple of years now, I was an annual member for a few years before that. I'm glad I'm a member, the NRA may not be perfect, they may play politics sometimes but in this day and age we need someone who's good at politics. That all being said, you guys are right, the NRA is getting kind of "watered down". I still think they are needed and I still think we as gun owners are in a better place because of them and without them we would be SOL. So you all may not like everything they do but at least give them credit for the many positive things they have done. If I weren't a life member I would continue renewing because we need an organization with the political power they have, and the more power they have the better off we are. If bump stocks are your only gripe with them you really need to reconsider just how important bump stocks are to you, important enough to stop supporting the most powerful lobby organization we have?
Anyway the best solution is to support both the NRA and GOA.
It's time to put your money where your mouth is. I just now bought a life membership of GOA even though I doubt they will be around the rest of my life, it's still money well spent for now.

[internet troll]

I've been an NRA life member for a couple of years now, I was an annual member for a few years before that. I'm glad I'm a member, the NRA may not be perfect, they may play politics sometimes but in this day and age we need someone who's good at politics. That all being said, you guys are right, the NRA is getting kind of "watered down". I still think they are needed and I still think we as gun owners are in a better place because of them and without them we would be SOL. So you all may not like everything they do but at least give them credit for the many positive things they have done. If I weren't a life member I would continue renewing because we need an organization with the political power they have, and the more power they have the better off we are. If bump stocks are your only gripe with them you really need to reconsider just how important bump stocks are to you, important enough to stop supporting the most powerful lobby organization we have?
Anyway the best solution is to support both the NRA and GOA.
It's time to put your money where your mouth is. I just now bought a life membership of GOA even though I doubt they will be around the rest of my life, it's still money well spent for now.

I agree with most of what you said, but the negativity about the NRA and bump stocks is not that that bump stocks have been banned and the NRA is not trying to stop an infringement on the 2nd. It’s not about a random piece of plastic that a lot of gun owners have disdain for. It’s that they actually called for and endorsed an infringement that has me pissed at them and that groups like the GOA now have to spend time and money to fight an NRA endorsed infringement of the of the 2nd.

Like I said, I agree with most of what you said and have said so in this thread and others, but the NRA does deserve to be thrashed and questioned over this in my opinion and I totally understand why people are turning away from the NRA. The NRA does have a responsibility for the 2nd and it’s paying members. If they choose to do things that hurt the 2nd.... they have to understand people are going to walk away from them.

And I hate to see this because they do currently have a lot of power and have done a lot of good imo. But a lot of people do not like to be stabbed in the back (from their perspective).

[ray h]

For anyone who hasn't read it and questions the NRA on what they have done, here is their statement on WHY. As I said earlier in this thread, it's all about keeping the Democrats off balance.
For the democrats it's always about "The NRA did this or that, The NRA are baby killers, blau, blau, blau. This was a bone to keep the liberal mouths shut, and it's a bone that 99% of gun owners don't give a rats ass about.
There's a reason the quarterback takes a few steps backwards before throwing a pass, give up a couple of yards to put yourself in a better position for the pass. Maybe we lose bump stocks today and gain suppressors tomorrow.

"These devices came to national attention in October 2017 after the horrific attack in Las Vegas. As multiple media accounts correctly pointed to at the time, there was overwhelming legislative support for proposals that went far beyond these specific devices and some that could have potentially jeopardized all semiautomatic firearms. Rather than sit back and watch a legislative over-reaction, the NRA asked Congress to let ATF review its prior determinations on bump fire stocks.

Some have used our October 2017 statement to claim that NRA supports ATF’s final rule, but as NRA-ILA’s Executive Director Chris Cox noted only days after our statement was issued, “We don’t believe that bans have ever worked on anything.”

We also made this clear in our comments to ATF on the proposed rule earlier this year. In our comments, we further advised that ATF should at a minimum make an amnesty period available to deal with the fundamental inequity imposed on law-abiding gun owners who purchased their bump fire stocks in good faith reliance on prior ATF determinations. We continue to pursue the availability of a period of amnesty with the administration.

While there can be disagreement on legislative strategy, it’s important to remember that we will soon face a hostile, anti-gun Congress led by Nancy Pelosi. It’s critical that all gun owners unite and prevent the Bloomberg-bought Congress from dismantling our Second Amendment freedom."

[wanneroo]

Again the media is always going to smear and classify the NRA how it wants to. Thinking this appeases them is not in line with factual thinking as the media continues to smear the NRA as they always do. I've yet to hear any left wing wacko or media outlet change their stance on the NRA due to caving in.

Totalitarians don't go, oh gee the NRA supports reassessing prior ATF determinations of bumpstocks and hence making 500,000 gun owners felonious individuals without compensation, wow, we'll just leave them alone now. That's not how the real world works. It might work that way in Fantasyland or some Mr. Rogers Make Believe Land, but not in the real world.