A union shop is trying to paint NRA as being anti-union on some pretty flimsy evidence. Their argument essentially goes like this: John McCain votes against unions, and NRA supported John McCain. NRA endorses politicians. National Right to Work Committee endorses politicians. NRA often endorse the same candidates as NRTWC, therefore NRA must be anti-union:
McCain is the NRA-endorsed candidate for president. He supported a national right to work law, which the fiercely anti-union National Right to Work Committee has wanted for years.
The NRA is cozy with the NRTWC, which also pushes hard for state right to work laws.
The NRA claims it is pro-gun rights, not anti-union. Yet the NRA and NRTWC often back the same candidates. Almost always, those candidates are anti-union like McCain.
Union leaders have generally resented the influence of the NRA over union rank-and-file. As someone who lives in a pretty heavily unionized area, I can tell you that influence is real. I can also tell you there are plenty of union member gun owners who will vote against their Second Amendment rights, and work to keep pro-union, anti-gun Democrats in office. But I’ve never met one of those who felt like it was an easy choice for them.
The great irony is, I’ve never heard of NRA being all that cozy with NRTWC. In fact, because a lot of other right-of-center groups in DC don’t really appreciate how NRA throws its weight around (and usually gets its way), my impression has been that their disposition toward NRA is a bit more hate than love. Maybe instead of smearing the NRA with flimsy accusations, the unions ought to put pressure on the Democratic Party leaders, particularly urban areas, to drop the gun control shtick.
Hat tip to our friends at CSGV, who never met a smear about NRA they wouldn’t repeat, no matter how untrue or ridiculous.
UPDATE: Looks like it’s an old article. A reader pointed out the date on the comments. I figured it might be recent given McCain opening his mouth about his “perfect” record.
Heh. Apparently the CSGV still has me blocked from their Twitter feed after Libelous Ladd’s defamation spree that started with the assault on Tango’s peas*. I guess they don’t understand that their public tweets are exactly that, public. While they can keep a user from seeing them when logged in under the blocked account, that doesn’t make their tweets invisible. I guess the prospect of logging out of twitter or using another browser that isn’t logged in to Twitter never occurred to them.
I usually prefer to just view screen caps at DOOT or Gun Free Zone since their posts are better after they have been filtered.
* Hmm… That makes me think of Peas, Love & Ammo.
The anti-union thing’s been Ladd’s latest kick w/ the ‘right to work’ states tending towards being firearm friendly and the firearm companies talking about bailing on the anti-gun states.
It’s looking like he’s having to really dig to try and find anything.
Markie Marxist sez: “Those union members belong to us! We own them and their votes! How dare the NRA try to influence our people! We tell them to vote Democrat, and that’s what they’d better do, if they know what’s good for them! Those union members don’t need to vote their gun rights; they need to shut up and vote how we tell them to vote!”
This is not exactly a smear. It it untrue and a distraction from NRA’s mission. But if it were true it would be positive.
I was a union member for over 35 yrs and have been an NRA member for nearly that long. I have voted conservative and pro-Second Amendment that long. Never have let the union tell me how to vote, i think for myself.
I’m with David. I’m a union member, good and bad, but I always hate when they tell me how to vote.