the Origin of the Gun Lobby, or Could The Media Help Us?

[Hand_Rifle_Guy]

As a point of interest, the NRA is NOT a civil rights organization.

Or I should say,weren't.

The NRA's role as "the gun lobby" was MANUFACTURED by the media in the sixties. Before that, is was a gun club whose purpose was to promote civilian marksmanship so as to make the U.S. more difficult to attack in times of war.

Before the media started blathering about "the gun lobby", Congress CONSULTED the NRA about provisions of the 1968 GCA. Before that, they asked for help on the 1934 NFA. "We need informed opinions, and the NRA knows guns." I can't remember who said that, I'll have to look it up. Anyhow, when the media started griping about how the gun lobby and the NRA were opposing gun control (which they weren't, beyond helping frame the law in some sort of usable fashion.), the members started griping at the NRA officials that they weren't doing enough to preserve their rights.

Behold, the birth of the gun lobby! The NRA had a fun time learning the ins and outs of Washington, as they had never done any lobbying before!

So I suppose we owe the media thanks, for building themselves an opponent early on in their cause to repair America. (Like it was broken. Sheesh! )

Maybe we could recruit them to unify us now. They might could do a better job than foreign terrorists, at least they're Americans, however deluded they might be.

Most of this story is paraphrased from a book published in 1972 by the NRA called "Gun Control". They put it out after the '68 GCA to document gun control up to that point, and their role in it. They were somewhat aghast at what had happened, and wrote it down so that no one would forget. A little naive, in hindsight.

[TheBluesMan]

No matter who protests, testifies, lobbies, demonstrates, speaks or marches; if they are pro-gun, the media will portray them as "NRA" people.

"The NRA" is the media's catch-all phrase for people concerned about their Second Amendment rights. That is why the public still thinks that the NRA-ILA is the "no compromise" lobby in Washington.

BTW, the NRA is *still* a great organization for teaching marksmanship, safety and promoting responsible firearms ownership.

[Hand_Rifle_Guy]

Well, I didn't mean help directly. I was more thinking of galvanising the outrage of the 80,000,000 apathetic gunowners who can't be bothered to stand up fo themselves.

And once upon a time, I read about a law wherein politicians could be held liable in civil court for conspiring to deprive people of their rights. Am I remembering this right, or did I smoke my lunch? Seems apropos for the miserable Kaliforny situation.

And for the Klinton/Reno gang.

Hope is cheap...

[Brett Bellmore]

Yes, there is, or was, such a law, but you'd first have to get a federal court with jurisdiction over California to admit that the 2nd is a civil right.

[Hand_Rifle_Guy]

Right. Where'n Hell is that A.C.L.U. when you need 'em...

[dZ]

time for the American Freedom Foundation to issue a report!

[Jim March]

Quoting:

"And once upon a time, I read about a law wherein politicians could be held liable in civil court for conspiring to deprive people of their rights. Am I remembering this right, or did I smoke my lunch? Seems apropos for the miserable Kaliforny situation."

Ya, Federal Code 42USC1983 for civil rights violaitons and I think 1985 or 6 is the conspiracy part.

Here's the good news. This can be applied to "denial of right to EQUAL PROTECTION" even in an area of law that's not considered a "fundamental right", such as CCW in the Fed 9th Circuit.

The bad news: equal protection problems get judged by different standards based on whether or not the government screwing is happening along racial lines or not. And a white dude such as myself cannot even COMMENT on racially disparate treatment even if I'm also being shafted.

This was a major issue in my second case, in Fed court. I live in a town with a large black/Latino population. Like other such towns in my county, every resident of my town (regardless of race) was excluded from the CCW program. But I wasn't allowed to discuss the racial implications of what was going on, even though I'd been affected.

So I lost.

The solution is minority co-plaintiffs. And there WILL be a "next time" .

[Skorzeny]

I noticed that sometimes the popular media labels the NRA as the "powerful gun manufacturers' lobby."

I always thought that the NRA was a grass-roots (individual memership funded) Second Amendment organization while the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) was the lobby for the manufacturers.

How come the media doesn't jump all over on the NSSF? Could it be that the NSSF bends whichever way is necessary to represent the financial interests of the makers while the NRA represents the rights issues?

Skorzeny