Other considerations to consider when discussing who really won what in regards to HR2640 is what the NRA gains from this politically. It won’t just be the Brady’s who can declare victory. If anything, Brady is more of a loser here.
For one, you have pro-gun guys like Boucher, who are Democrats, and who represents the district Virginia Tech is located in. He’s a good guy on guns, so he’s not going to want to stiff us, but he also needs to be seen as “doing something” in regards to the tragedy. There are a lot of politicians who are in that boat right now. The NRA has now given those folks something that they can take home to their districts and say “We strengthened the federal background check system” to the people who demand action, and can say “The NRA said it was OK because we’re giving people a chance to clear their name let them buy guns again” to their RKBA constituents. Those are a bunch of legislators who, right now, probably feel pretty good about the NRA, and will be a lot more willing to listen the next time NRA comes calling.
From a political point of view, if I were working in NRA federal affairs, I would view this as a good opportunity to build some rapport with certain factions of the Democratic Party, rebuild some old relationships and maybe make some new friends. We’re probably going to be dealing with a Democratic Congress for a while, whether we like it or not. It’s good to have a working coalition that can help the gun rights movement move forward, or at the very least not move backwards. A lot of the moderate dems will really appreciate this deal, and that’s something to build on. Politics is very much an “I’ll scratch your back today, if you’ll help scratch my back tomorrow” game. It sucks that we have to do this with our constitutional rights, but it’s the game we’re stuck playing for now.
The problem we have is that many people believe that _any_ support of _any_ gun control legislation is completely and total wrong.
Of course these are also the people that must think that cults are okay, the newspapers can print lies and yelling “Fire!” in a crowded movie theater is cool. Since to think otherwise would be in direct violation of the first amendment.
and yeah, I completely and totally admire you and heypete for attempting to insert reason into a discussion about this on livejournal.
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Cults are covered under the first amendment to a very large degree. At least until they start pissing off the ATF ;)
Inserting reason in a LiveJournal discussion is always a bit of an exercise in futility :) But the anti-NRA attitude on there pisses me off. I don’t mind people criticizing NRA, they certainly deserve some, but they at least deserve to have fair criticism from gun people.
There are people out there who not only think the NRA doesn’t care about gun rights, they actively, for some reason, don’t WANT to believe the NRA is a good organization for gun owners.
I think it’s a combination of only a superficial knowledge of the political process and unreasonable expectations about what you can get out of it in the current climate. “The NRA isn’t effective, so I won’t ever join” is something I hear a lot, but the NRA’s effectiveness is proportional to it’s membership! In the early 90s, the NRA was weak. You can see where that got us.
I’m always very reluctant to bash other pro-gun groups, even when they piss me off, but GOA was spreading a lot of crap about this bill, and making sure everyone know NRA was behind it, before there was even language available. I have no problem with GOA finding a niche where they have some synergy with NRA, but as soon as they start trying to weaken it, they are helping to slit our own throats.
I don’t know what GOA’s membership is, but given their financial statements, it’s not very high. I’m guessing about 20,000 to 30,000. So while the unreasonably anti-NRA crowd drives me nuts, they are pretty clearly a small, but very loud minority in the gun owner community. And, of course, not all GOA members, probably not even most of them, are like that.