Saving the 2A from the NRA

Image credit:  P.J. Deneen

The last three years have been exhausting. This post is a release of some of the pent-up frustration I have with the NRA and the Republican Party, one I voted with in large part for almost the last 20 years.

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Are you looking for a gun club that claims it's all about guns and gun rights but does the following?

1. Hires a spokesperson who puts KKK hoods* on British kids' show cartoon characters while screeching about her personal issues with diversity not just through her own social media BUT ON NRA TV!  Update 6/26/2019:  NRA cancels NRA TV and Dana is out, but keeping #1 here as a reminder to NRA to not be stupid by staying on the hate route.
2. Has a board member in the form of a certain older rocker who encourages people to shoot Democrats.
3. Forgets that gun owners cross the racial, political, religious, gender identity, sexuality, age, appearance, able body/disability spectrum.
4. Promotes armchair warrior blaming the victims of rape because, "Well, if she would have just had a gun..." or worse, go along with RWNJ and pretend most rape accusations are false and she should've "just kept her legs closed."
5. Seems to forget that said rape is most likely to occur from someone the victim knows and sometimes lives with but continues to promote toxic male culture instead of addressing issues of domestic violence through a realistic lens.
6. Promotes culture division instead of gun owner unity which must include gun owners with different political and social views if the second amendment is to survive.
7. Endorsed Trump for president who's the most obvious con perpetrated on us in our history with no record of being pro-gun, who in fact said, "Take the guns first, go through due process second" and bans bump stocks WHICH PRESIDENT OBAMA DIDN'T EVEN DO!
8. Allowed itself to be infiltrated by at least one person who pled guilty to acting as a Russian agent.
9. Hires a president with a highly questionable past. Fires that president when the NRA turns out to be even too corrupt for him.
10. Gives lip service to being pro mental health in regards to mass shootings, but that usually means blaming the Dems for the state of affairs instead of looking at their part in cultural issues surrounding mental illness.
11. Pretends they care about diversity as long as you don't have a socially progressive opinion which is when all of a sudden we should just stick to talking about guns because "We don't bring politics into this."
12. Philando Castile FFS.
13. Fosters an attitude that everyone else is a soy boy, snowflake, what have you, but seriously appear along with President Trump, his family, and most of the Rs in Congress to be some of the biggest snowflakes in the country.



Source: imgflip

14. Focuses on sending negative messages to perceived enemies (social liberals and minorities) instead of positive messages to the members they've chased away and potential members they've kept away.
15. Supports the Republican party which stokes anti-immigration fears against people south of the US border who if Republicans would stop and think about it may be inclined to be pro-2A and pro-social conservatism IF THE NRA AND REPUBLICAN PARTY WEREN'T FULL OF SUCH F%@#ING RACISTS! No amount of "but Colion Noir" negates this.
16. Also fosters another Republican talking point of fearing the Al Qaeda but not Y'all Qaeda, incels, or white nationalists even though they make up the majority of mass shooting perpetrators at least since Trump took office. A terrorist is a terrorist whether foreign or domestic, a person of color or white.
17. Spends millions on executive salaries, trips, advertising, and lobbying instead of spending more than just what's needed for appearance's sake on fostering a love of guns and hunting in urban areas where it's truly needed to unite gun owners.
18. Really should just be collectively thrown in the dustbin of history.

And that's just the stuff I could come up with off the top of my head. What's that? No, you don't want to belong to such a club? Neither do I. I did belong, however, as I thought pro-gun meant we were on the same page. Around 2007, I attended a promotional event for the NRA at Cabela's where the topic was mainly how we have to protect our rights from the leftist gun grabbers. During the presentation, there was a Q&A period where a Michigan Militia member asked if he could hand out flyers. The presenter stated that the NRA doesn't get involved in politics other than the 2nd amendment and would rather he didn't (he did though, and this isn't a jab at militia members but the hypocrisy of that NRA presenter).

They. Don't. Do. Politics. She. Said.

Source: Reaction GIFs.

The world knows that's crap. I saw the direction they were heading before Trump was the Republican nominee, but his NRA endorsement solidified their hypocrisy, racism, and misogyny, and I haven't rejoined. I've been guilty of falling for the NRA's nonsense and regret any part I played in spreading their division. I had a positive experience with the Women on Target program. I'm sure others have had good experiences with local programs, but nothing makes how the NRA behaves nationally okay. I believe all of the 18 points mentioned above spell destruction and demonstrate leadership that only gives a damn about itself and keeping up a tough guy appearance.

What's the alternative? There are other gun groups if you're so inclined. I'm cautious to recommend some as I don't know enough about their ideology. Please do your own research before you join, especially on their social media just to get a feel for how the leadership behaves or better yet local events if they have something going on near you.

There are some that are left-leaning and/or more socially inclusive. The Liberal Gun Club, LGC, seems just as pro-gun as the NRA without ignoring the realities of domestic violence or catering mainly to a dying demographic. Despite their name, they do seem open to people of different political persuasions, but they are honest about who they are politically up front. I agree with the stances they take on the issues, especially root cause mitigation which they explain as meaning:

"...that we believe solutions should be based on addressing the root causes of violence rather than looking at the symptoms of violence, which are targeted for treatment by some through blanket bans or other window dressings." ~ Liberal Gun Club

For a detailed explanation of root cause mitigation, please see the entry on the LGC website. It's well worth a read.

Update January 2023 to put in list form and add more groups (yay!):

• I don't know how active the LBGTQ geared group, Pink Pistols, is but you can look for a local chapter near you here or 
• Check out the newer group Operation Blazing Sword
• Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JFPO)
• Black Gun Owners Association
• National African-American Gun Association
• Second Amendment Foundation
• Firearms Policy Coalition  
• Latino Rifle Association
• Huey P. Newton Gun Club (named after the co-founder of the Black Panthers)
• I don't know of a Muslim gun owners group, but of interest is This is What It's Like to be a Muslim-American Gun Owner and Armed and Muslim in America.
• Again, the Liberal Gun Club
• Socialist Rifle Association
• Native American Gun Rights Organization (Note that this is a description of the organization. I can't find an actual website. Please post in comments if you know of one.)

I don't know the politics of all of these groups or how much they interact with the NRA. Some people may feel it's a necessary evil. Others don't want to have anything to do with a group that supports the GOP or NRA, so do your own due diligence. I even found one reference to a former (?) member of Pink Pistols speaking at an alt-right rally.

A note to the incredulous about that last sentence. You can be pro-gun and not pro alt-right. You can be pro-America, pro-gun and a Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, or any other political persuasion. You can also be a hateful jackass and fall under any combination of labels. This isn't hard. Why do people make this hard by trying to put people into boxes?

I used to think the GOA was far to the right of the NRA on gun issues but normal otherwise. Nowadays, they seem on the social same track pushing a mix of guns, the Christian Bible, white nationalism, and the militia as the only true American way much like their dominionist founder.

The very public argument between North and LaPeirre isn't the first sign of trouble in gun paradise. There have been rumblings from within for years as to the direction the organization has taken. I wish we weren't this divided on every issue as a country including guns. It's completely unnecessary, and the NRA is hugely responsible for bringing us to this point. I believe the NRA's peak time is over due to their own blindness and greed. Some of us would say it's long overdue. Maybe you think I'm one of the many who want to burn the NRA to the ground. My answer is I'm not the one holding the matches. The folks with the matches yelling, "What matches? There are no matches!" are. They're also the ones who've been dousing themselves and the rest of us in gas for years.

Image credit: P.J. Deneen

*Regarding #1, this is, of course, a reference to the fact that the KKK was originally formed by Democrats in the South yet conveniently leaving out the history of the last 150 years of a party switch on civil rights issues since then.

© P.J. Deneen