“Phoenix man rejoins NRA and ACLU” interesting solution to protect ALL civil liberties.

[jody]

“Phoenix man rejoins NRA and ACLU”

To protect my rights under the Second Amendment as well as the First, I have recently rejoined the NRA and have renewed my membership in the ACLU.

Despite a recent Supreme Court decision, the Obama administration seems bent on restricting gun owners' rights and abusing the state-secrets privilege in civil litigation to hide governmental wrongdoing.

The civil-court system in Maricopa County is especially harmful because it routinely rejects the pleas of minority litigants as nuisances, leaving us with the unacceptable options of silence or violence.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Without the NRA and the ACLU to protect everyone's rights, all of us will be in trouble. –

Richard Gayer,Phoenix

[Hello_Kitty]

1. 'us with the unacceptable options of silence or violence. ' WTF?!?

This person is admitting that he's considering violence.

[PavePusher]

11. Umm, you do realise that in the historical context the Second Amendment...

was written in, that is the whole point?

[Euromutt]

16. If you had to live in the same county as Sheriff Joe Arpaio...

...and his merry band of brownshirts, violent resistance to the government might start looking like a viable option to you too. Especially if you were--or looked--Hispanic.

[FLAprogressive]

2. K&R

[sybylla]

3. I guess this might work if you believed

that the NRA protected anything but the gun companies rights to sell whatever the hell they want to anyone they want.

And before anyone thinks I'm some anti-gun nut, I own several, have carried my own gun into the woods every year to hunt since I was 12 and let my NRA membership lapse about 10 years ago when it became clear the organization had been taken over by people with addictions to blueing and a fiendish hankering for "cop killers."

[jody]

4. Interesting perspective and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence is wasting money distributing

its report "The NRA: A Criminal's Best Friend — How The National Rifle Association Has Handcuffed Federal Gun Law Enforcement".

The Violence Policy Center is also wasting resources distributing such reports as "Guns for Felons: How the NRA Works to Rearm Criminals ".

Personally, I wish ACLU would honor its mission statement "The ACLU is our nation's guardian of liberty, working daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country" and not exclude the Second Amendment as it does.

If ACLU protected the Second Amendment as it should because it covers a pre-existing right just like the First and Fourth, then it could be a viable alternative for those who support all civil liberties and not just a single right like NRA.

[Caliman73]

5. I agree

It would allow the NRA to return to its original purpose of teaching firearms safety and marksmanship instead of acting as a lobby populated mainly by conservatives.

[gorfle]

6. Why?

It would allow the NRA to return to its original purpose of teaching firearms safety and marksmanship instead of acting as a lobby populated mainly by conservatives.

The primary function of the NRA these days is to protect our Constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Firearms safety and marksmanship don't mean much if you can't exercise that right.

Liberals can be pro-firearm, too, you know. The NRA is pretty apolitical. Both of my Democratic representatives in Congress last election were well-scored by the NRA. Yes, there are, unfortunately, more conservatives in the NRA and the NRA endorses more conservatives than liberals. This would change easily if more liberals would embrace the second amendment.

[eqfan592]

7. It's funny to me...

...that progressives complain about the NRA endorsing more conservatives than progressives, when the simple, and sad fact, is that more conservatives are pro-2a than progressives. If you want the NRA to endorse more progressives, then we should start putting forward more pro-2a progressives in elections. Otherwise, there's no point in complaining about it.

[benEzra]

9. WTF is a "cop killer"?

And before anyone thinks I'm some anti-gun nut, I own several, have carried my own gun into the woods every year to hunt since I was 12 and let my NRA membership lapse about 10 years ago when it became clear the organization had been taken over by people with addictions to blueing and a fiendish hankering for "cop killers."

WTF is a "cop killer"?

If you're talking about Kevlar-piercing handgun ammunition, that was banned 23 years ago by a law the NRA helped write.

the gun companies rights to sell whatever the hell they want to anyone they want.

How about the right of mentally competent adults with clean records to purchase and possess non-automatic, non-sound-suppressed NFA Title 1 civilian firearms under .51 caliber, plus over-.50 shotguns? Because that's what the gun control issue is about.

[PavePusher]

12. "...sell whatever the hell they want to anyone they want."

Can you explain to me how that works? Lots of stuff is restricted. What are you concerned is sold that shouldn't be?

"addictions to blueing" I don't understand what you are trying to say here either. ?

'a fiendish hankering for "cop killers."' Are you claiming the NRA is promoting criminals and their actions? 'Cause I've never seen any proof of this. Cite?

[Treo]

14. Question

That the NRA protected anything but the gun companies rights to sell whatever the hell they want to anyone they want.

Does that not also mean that the NRA protects the right of the average citizen to buy whatever the Hell they want from whoever the Hell they want?

IOW unrestricted freedom of both RKBA and free enterprise? Why is that bad?

[kilo729]

8. Not a good plan to join the ACLU if you believe in gun rights...

seeing as they're against individual ownership of weapons.


http://www.aclu.org/crimjustice/gen/35904res20020304.html

[benEzra]

10. They're coming around.

Their Jerry-Falwell-esque reasoning on the 2ndA isn't consistent with their view of the other Amendments. A number of the state chapters are vocally pro-2ndA, and the national ACLU has gradually been softening its prohibitionist line. There is hope, IMO.

[harvey007]

13. He should have joined a Liberal Gun Club

NRA lost its credibility in the last election. Fortunately, there are liberal alternatives.

Lest there be confusion -- the club below is not the gun club in Liberal, Kansas.

http://www.theliberalgunclub.com/

http://www.gunlovingliberal.com/

[Treo]

15. The Liberal Gun Club

Supports:

Registration
The AWB
Banning concealed carry
waiting periods
Magazine capacity bans

Why do I want to support them?