The NRA is a Republican Organization

I rarely catch Maddow's show, but I generally enjoy it when I do, and this bit on the NRA's endorsement of Romney is excellent.

We were members of the NRA when we were kids, back when it was still a sportsman's organization, rather than a right-wing political organization. As I've confessed before, I joined up again for a year while I was living in Charlottesville, and the only shooting club in the area required membership--ostensibly because it bought insurance through the NRA...though it became clear later that that wasn't the only reason. Non-NRA members simply are not welcome at the Rivanna Rifle and Pistol Club, except as guests.

Anyhoo, my conscience wouldn't let me sign up again the next year, and I got kicked out of the club...but the NRA kept calling me for years. I'd explain to them that I couldn't join b/c they'd become shills for the GOP, and oh my, did I ever get into some fights with the guys who called. Oh, how they'd insist that the organization was just supporting whomever had the more permissive gun policies, regardless of party. That's false, and anyone who has any contact with the NRA knows its false.

But never has it been so clear as this year. An organization choosing a candidate exclusively on the basis of his having a more libertarian position on firearms would have to choose Obama over Romney; the NRA, however, is, as I may have mentioned, a Republican organization, dedicated to supporting Republican candidates. Accordingly, they are supporting the Republican this time, despite his having clearly supported restrictive firearms laws in Massachusetts. The Obama administration, however, has made no moves to make firearms laws more restrictive.