Reply #11: The problem with the NRA is that it is the concealed weapon.

[RaleighNCDUer]

There is a core group of extremists concealed within the facade of a sportsman's organization. Most gun owners, even most NRA members, are reasonable people who would rather keep guns out of the hands of criminals and psychotics. If it were to return to being the libertarian organization that it was for many decades after its founding, it wouldn't be a problem. The extremists, however, have infiltrated and subverted it, and given it over to the far right.

The NRA didn't object in the 20s (or was it 30s) when restrictions were placed on automatic weapons and sawed off shotguns. The 2nd Amendment was never a serious issue before the 1960s. It was commonly accepted that the mention of a 'well regulated militia' was in the 2nd Amendment for a reason, and that controlling some aspects of gun ownership was a vital part of the government's duties of providing for the general welfare of the public, when that ownership was routinely being abused by criminals.

There are many ties between the far right elements of the NRA and older rightist organizations of the 60s, like the John Birch Society, the KKK, and the Minutemen.

I think all responsible gun owners should avoid the NRA like the plague. As the NRA itself claims, one of the first things Hitler did was to confiscate the citizenry's guns. And who, in the country, has a comprehensive list of millions of gun owners?

Start your own gun club. Abandon the NRA.