… a quite balanced account of David Keene’s visit:
Keene said most people associate the NRA with its high-profile lobbying and political activity. In fact, he said, only about 12 percent of its budget goes toward those activities.
The bulk of the NRA’s work involves instructing youth how to use guns safely and responsibly.
A statistic that I’m sure astounds a good many people, including our opponents, who revel in myths about the NRA and its members.
Understood, but since it doesn’t fit the left’s agenda, that particular part of the education will never see the light of day (at least in a positive way).
With hindsight, it is probably a shame the NRA didn’t create a completely separate entity to carry on legislative activities. The two organizations could cross-pollinate as much as they wanted — all sorts of organizations on the left and right do that — but the educational and sporting activities would not be painted with the broad brush that is usually aimed at the political identity. Or, if they were, it would seem like more of a stretch.
This involves more than just general public perceptions. One of the reasons you don’t find me at “Friends of the NRA” dinners is, that even though I know they benefit only worthwhile sporting activities, my past experiences with the duplicity of the NRA’s political arm would keep me gritting my teeth over too much of the table banter. Better that even I had a perception of there being greater distance between the sporting and political entities.
“One of the reasons you don’t find me at “Friends of the NRA†dinners is, that even though I know they benefit only worthwhile sporting activities, my past experiences with the duplicity of the NRA’s political arm would keep me gritting my teeth over too much of the table banter.”
I don’t get this?!?! So the Vertical Integration model that they currently use, you would change to what?
For many people the NRA means guns. Since many people have been indoctrinated that guns are evil, we need to win them over. I have attended many, many Friends dinners, and the table discussions have never turned to breaking up the vertical integration model. To many people sit and say that “they” (NRA) should do something about something, and I remind them as a member they THEY is them. I explain vertical integration and how there are many arms and leaders in the NRA and like any company in the country some leaders are better than others.
We just lost an election. Why? Because we don’t have a high percentage of Hispanic member, black member and woman members. The NRA consists mainly of white men, and we are no the minority. Our 4 million members could not impact the election, because we have not done a great job of being inclusive. That would be my marching orders moving forward to get recruiters in the areas that Obama carried so strongly. Single woman, Blacks and Hispanics won this election, and I bet they are a tiny minority in the NRA ranks.(Even though I know woman have been coming on strong, I am not sure it is single woman.)
I think you would be fighting the phenomenon, that you would have to persuade women, blacks and Hispanics (and others) that gun rights are more in their immediate and long term self-interests, than what they presently perceive as being their compelling self-interests. For an analogy, I’m thinking of past elections when gun rights activists were complaining that union members were being persuaded by the argument, “Which would you prefer to keep — your guns or your jobs?”
Anecdotally: I have a friend who was very active with the Second Amendment Sisters in its early days. She left the organization over what she thought to be a high level of irrationality on the part of its leadership in its de facto sympathies to Republican issues not at all related to guns.
The point of that anecdote being, there was a woman (single at the time) serious enough about gun rights to become a public activist on gun issues, driven away by the “other” issues, that she opposed both on [her] principles, and, what she perceived as her self-interest. I honestly don’t know who she voted for in the recent election, but I’m pretty certain it wasn’t Romney.
Tell me exactly how you would recruit Single woman, Blacks and Hispanics to the NRA.