The NRA: A Wing Of The GOP

We all belonged to the NRA when I was a kid--back when it was a legitimate sportsman's organization, before it was turned into a radical right-wing GUNZ RULEZ organization.

To my shame, I joined again briefly back in the '90's because it was required by the local gun club in C'ville--the Rivanna Rifle and Pistol Club. The club was great--it had great grounds, great facilities, everybody was nice...until it came time to re-up, and I told them that I didn't think I could, in good conscience, join the NRA again. Their cover story was that they bought their insurance through the NRA...but I offered to pay for private insurance for myself. It wasn't just that they didn't let me do so...I'm not even sure it was possible. It was that they dismissed the idea in about half a second, and their whole attitude toward me changed. They made it clear that I was not welcome there anymore. Anybody who didn't love the NRA obviously had no place there.

The NRA kept calling me to drum up political support for Republicans for years and to get me to re-up. I would point out that they had become a de facto part of the GOP, and that, given the current derangement of that august party, I could not support them. They always answered that they just supported pro-gun candidates, and it was just a coincidence that they were always Republicans. Among more specific arguments, I told them that I just didn't believe that anymore.

Well, here's more proof: the always-entertaining Wayne LaPierre telling us, in effect, that the very fact that Obama hasn't tried to take our guns shows just how dedicated he is to taking our guns. It is, you see, an axiom that all Democrats are anti-firearm. If the evidence indicates otherwise, then so much for the evidence.

[Link via Drum]