Category: Gun Rights Organizations

This article in the Daily Caller is reflective of the rhetoric you often encounter from NRA and others when it comes to Obama’s record on guns:

As a state senator in Illinois, he supported a one-gun-a-month limit on gun purchases, supported laws making it illegal to use a gun for self-defense, and opposed laws that allow law-abiding citizens to get permits to carry guns on their persons. As a U.S. senator, he supported bans on high-capacity magazines and he supported the assault weapons ban. And at the same time, with a straight face, he claimed to support the Second Amendment.

This is, of course, all true. But there are nine very important issues with Obama left out there, and those issues are named Scalia, Thomas, Alito, Roberts, Kennedy, Kagan, Sotomayor, Breyer, and Ginsburg. Five are in favor of the Second Amendment, and four would likely erase it from the Constitution given the chance. That chance comes down to one of those five, two of which are in their 70s, not retiring or dying in the next four years. To me this is the most important issue we face. Everything else literally pales by comparison.

Let’s turn to some of Wayne LaPierre’s rhetoric at CPAC 2012, laced with words like conspiracy, but I think, unfortunately, without making a solid case as to exactly why Obama is such a threat to the Second Amendment if he gets a second term. I’m glad that Wayne did go on to mention the Court, if only to smear Kagan and Sotomayor, but I don’t think Wayne really got to the true magnitude of the threat. The entire speech is unfortunately unsophisticated and simplistic.

One of my great criticisms of Wayne’s rhetoric is that he’s poor at tailoring it to specific audiences. This speech for CPAC, which is full of highly engaged young conservatives, is something you’d deliver to a room full of blue collar senior citizens at a gun club. The CPAC audience can receive, and is probably eager for, a more sophisticated political message – something I know Wayne is capable of delivering because his roots go back to being a policy wonk.

I’m reminded of a humorous story Bitter tells, when Wayne came to visit her college — the first time that NRA had ever spoken at a women’s college. Her particular school had a very high percentage of international students which, along with many of the domestic students, made International Relations the top major at the school. In addition, more than a quarter of the student body studied abroad for at least a semester during their time in college. Wayne’s speech focused pretty heavily on “faceless, nameless, unelected UN bureaucrats.” That’s a good message for gun owners, but many of the members of the audience called those same bureaucrats Dad or worked for them during their last internship.

The problem with NRA’s messaging lately has been that they are continuing to speak to the membership they had a decade or two decades ago with the same platitudes that have always worked for them, while probably simultaneously wondering why the average age of their membership is so high. NRA needs to reach different audiences, and that means tailoring NRA’s messaging to the specific audience the message is being delivered to. I believe that for NRA to enjoy continued success, it needs to be able to speak to the suburbanite in a business suit as readily as it speaks to the retired farmer. The NRA of the 21st century is going to necessarily look and operate very differently than the NRA of the 20th century. Maybe if I have some time later, I’ll lay out what I think the 21st century NRA should probably look like.

From the newswire:

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Feb. 9, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — MEDL Mobile, Inc. (OTCBB:MEDL.OB - News), an incubator and aggregator of mobile technology, announced today that it has been Licensed by the National Rifle Association (NRA) to develop mobile entertainment technology strategy for the organization, starting with its first entertainment shooting app which through various methods promotes gun safety via a series of educational information within a gaming environment.

“We wanted to provide current and future shooters with an entertaining way to learn about gun safety, so we partnered with MEDL Mobile to create an experience in which users engage in target practice at the NRA Headquarters shooting range, enter tournaments, compete online and invite friends to participate, all while learning important firearms safety information along the way,” said Mike Marcellin of the National Rifle Association. “The app will even allow users to look up state-by-state gun regulations and other helpful information, all within a fun, interactive game environment.”

“The NRA needed a way to interact beyond its 4 million active members, an enormous following that may not otherwise engage with the organization — until now,” said Andrew Maltin, CEO of MEDL Mobile. “Reaching a very large membership and communication to supporters are a few of the many challenges a mobile strategy can help a business or membership organization overcome.”

The NRA’s first interactive mobile game app is expected to debut in the spring of 2012.

I’ll be interested to see how this works out. Most online video games that involve shooting are either combat games or hunting games. It’s going to take a good bit of creativity to create a game that’ll attract people to play. Shooting is a lot of fun to do yourself, but watching other people shoot is like watching grass grow, and I’ve not found a huge number of shooting games that aren’t combat-based that are really addictive. Like I said, I think it’ll take creativity, and hopefully this company NRA has hired has the chops. I’m skeptical that “look up state-by-state gun regulations” and “ all within a fun, interactive game environment” are two things that are going to successfully go together.

That’s the best picture I’ve seen in a while. I just wish there was an extra zero on the end of that.

I am currently running an ad for the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund, which you will notice right under my normal ads on the right side bar. We heard they were a bit short on funds during the NRA Board Meeting, so I offered to run an ad for them for free until Annual Meeting. Unlike my other ads, I can encourage you to click on that one to make a donation to CRDF. The work CRDF does is unbelievably important right now. Not all of it is legal trial work. Much of their work is academic in nature, and CRDF has been instrumental in building the scholarship on the Second Amendment, and turning academics around into recognizing the nature of the right as individual. I encourage everyone to give as much as you can. Any donation is targeted, and does not go into NRA’s general fund. It will go directly to support building good case law, and funding the research necessary to lay the groundwork for the next big case.

The Joplin-Independent notes that the NRA event in St. Louis this year is expected to break records. It’s certainly possible, since the current record holding event was the last time NRA was in St. Louis. It’s good to be heading back there for an election year event. Part of all the hoopla surrounding the NRA Annual Meeting is a flexing of NRA’s grassroots political power, in demonstrating to elected leaders that NRA can get 60 to 70 thousand people to drive or fly hundreds and thousands of miles to attend. Our opponents can’t even get that many people not to go to Starbucks for a day.

This year, NRA board candidate Scott Bach also decided to put together a video highlighting some of his work on behalf of gun owners in the last few years. Take a look at it, and I think you’ll see why we consider him worth your support.

If you’re an NRA voting member, you should have received your ballot magazine in the mail by now. If you did, then you can go right back to our endorsement post and fill out the little circles next to the names of all of those fine gentlemen.

However, I be a good number of you are about to start commenting and emailing that you never got your ballot this year! Type and rant away…please. Unless you belong to one of the following groups:

• You live in Hawaii. (I’m jealous.)
• You went green (or simply hassle-free) and get your magazine digitally.
• You just recently became eligible to vote.
• You don’t take a magazine at all.

This isn’t the full list of exemptions, but it’s the overwhelming majority. I’m in this category because of the digital subscription.

Anyway, we all get our ballots by first class mail, and the first mailing is going out on February 1. So, provided Congress doesn’t say to hell with it and shut down the USPS, your ballot should arrive sometime shortly after this date. I presume that members in Hawaii get their ballots by first class mail because of the snail’s pace mail at other classes can take to get out there.

For anyone who has recently become eligible to vote or will become so before the “deadline” in mid-February, there will be another first class mailing towards the end of February.

If you are not in any of those categories and your February magazine has not yet arrived, give it a little extra time. It’s not impossible that mail is moving a little slower right now, as it has been for us for the last couple of months. I would say that if you still haven’t received it by February 4, give NRA a call and inquire. You will probably need to ask to speak with the Secretary’s Office about a missing ballot, but they may have procedures for their standard member number phone folks to handle it with so many different kinds of ballots now going out thanks to the digital subscriptions.

I am almost always happy to see it when candidates for the NRA Board of Directors try new ways to engage with NRA members. There are certainly enough empty seats on the Board, and there are many who you simply won’t ever have the chance to engage with if you don’t live in their state.

Anyway, David Coy put this together for his 2011 run, but I think it’s an introduction worth sharing this year.

It’s that time of year again. As you start to receive the ballots for the NRA Board of Directors Elections in your mailboxes, we hope you’ll consider casting a vote for some of the candidates we believe contribute something unique to the Board.

***Scott Bach – Newfoundland, New Jersey

When most gun owners have given up on New Jersey, Scott has stayed to fight. He defends gun owners regardless of their interest – .50 caliber bans, bear hunters, collectors who want the freedom to buy more than one gun a month, and many more. Scott is the Executive Director of the Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs, the state organization leading the fight for gun rights in the Garden State. He’s an attorney who has used his skills and network to defend both the First & Second Amendment. When a public school was caught sending home anti-gun literature, he sued to mandate that pro-gun literature be honored in the same way. When NY/NJ Port Authority police locked up a Utah man for lawfully traveling with firearms, Bach put the resources of ANJRPC to work to sue the officials who unlawfully arrested him in violation of federal protections. Through ANJRPC, Scott also works with competitive shooters and manages a large shooting range. Their member clubs have trained Olympic shooters. He is also a member of state groups in seven other states, actively supporting their efforts with what he has learned from the political and cultural fights to preserve gun rights in New Jersey.

Scott also gets new media and the importance of embracing new technology to advance the issue, and at one time, he launched his own blog on the Star-Ledger’s website to counter the anti-gun Bryan Miller. He has done interviews to discuss his thoughts on how new media can be leveraged to advance the Second Amendment and develop the shooting sports as well as where he saw the push for our rights headed in light of Heller the last time he ran for the board. He notes that the ANJRPC range may have been the first in the country to offer its members free wifi in the clubhouse.

***Joseph DeBergalis – Buffalo, New York

Joe DeBergalis is a career law enforcement professional fighting for gun rights in New York as Vice-President of the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association. He’s also a competitive shooter in pistol, rifle, and shotgun sports, as well as a certified instructor.

DeBergalis has put his background to good use by serving as the Chair of the Education & Training Committee, Vice-Chair of the Action Pistol Committee of the Board. He’s no slacker politically, either. He’s the Election Volunteer Coordinator for four New York Congressional Districts and the District of Columbia. On the new media front, he’s a moderator at AR15.com and Match Chairman of AR15.com/Rockcastle Shooting Complex Pro AM Three Gun Championship.

It’s worth noting his work in New York, and not just because it’s a challenging state. Other pro-gun leaders in the state have heaped praise on Joe for his efforts there, and that speaks volumes for his usefulness in serving the pro-Second Amendment cause. Here’s his take on what gun owners could do to get more people involved in our community.

***Jeffrey Crane – Annapolis, Maryland

As President of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, Jeff Crane knows how to make sure hunting & shooting sports aren’t overlooked by Congress. He currently serves on the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council that advises the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture on agency activities that related to our the hunting and shooting communities. He has recently been serving on the NRA’s Hunting and Wildlife Conservation Committee and the Government Affairs Committee for Safari Club International.

In his role with CSF, Jeff also oversees sportsmen’s caucuses in 38 state capitals. Some are more active than others, but they’ve played an important role over the years not just working on hunting policy, but also worked on general gun issues in their states. The caucuses are a vehicle to help organize friendly lawmakers and get them talking about the issues.

I realize that this is heavily hunting, but that’s because it’s his background. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t “get” the Second Amendment or gun ownership for self-defense or the shooting sports. Considering NRA has to have a well-rounded board to represent all parties interested in our rights, we believe that Jeff would make an absolutely great addition to the Board to represent hunting rights and the shooting sports while making sure that the core issues in the Second Amendment debates are heard by leaders.

***David Coy – Adrian, Michigan

If there was one thing we have heard in the last year from board members, staffers, and people who pay attention to the needs of running NRA as an organization, it was that David Coy, an accounting professor from Michigan, needed to be put back onto the Board of Directors. Unfortunately, he was just under 2,500 votes shy of re-election last year, and he passed on running a campaign for 76th Director to someone else. That’s not because he is unwilling to serve, though.

His biography doesn’t sound nearly as exciting on the shooting front as some because his financial background is most needed on the Audit & Finance Committees. In other words, he contributes to the areas that keeps NRA running, not just the fun stuff at the range. (Though, he has also served on shooting sports committees, too.) The strengths we had highlighted to us over and over by so many people were his knowledge subjects of accounting, financial reporting, and internal control procedures for non-profit organizations. Besides the number crunching, he’s also active in the political battles as an Election Volunteer Coordinator.

***Joel Friedman – Pasadena, California

As the 76th Director, Joel has had to run twice in the last couple of years, and he could use the help to secure a three year term on the board. We sat down with him in Pittsburgh and talked about various issues, namely the struggles of gun owners in California.

He plays well with other organizations, as evidenced by this endorsement thread by several folks involved in Calguns. Based on much of the history you can find on the web, Joel has been involved in the many sides of this issue that need attention & support in a state that is otherwise so frustrating to gun owners. Whether it’s the NRA Foundation & shooting sports & youth programs supported by the Friends of NRA or the legislative battles at the state level, you can find he’s been involved at every level.

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As always, there are plenty of good people on the ballot. Just because we did not list someone here does not mean they aren’t worthy of a seat on the board. These are people we have either worked with directly or know enough about their contributions to the organization that they stand out and deserve your vote.

In the next few weeks, we’ll put up videos from the candidates and more.

I attended the NRA Board of Directors meeting this weekend, and anyone interested in the general commentary can check my Twitter timeline. But there was at least one topic I thought worthy of a longer post.

Susan Howard of the Public Affairs Committee made an important point to the rest of the NRA Board of Directors when she gave her committee report on Saturday. She felt it was time for the board to tell their own stories about what they do and how they are involved with the movement to protect our rights. Susan reported that she talked to both Wayne LaPierre and Chris Cox about some kind of page or site to really meet your NRA board of directors and get the information on what moves them to serve and stand up for the Second Amendment.

Personally, I say that it’s about damn time. Susan argued it was time to tell the stories that show we’re really the good guys. I think this is a good lesson we can apply more in the broader movement, too.

The anti-gun groups will try to say that if you care about the safety of your family, you’re just paranoid. We need to make sure that we counter with the fact we care about the safety of our families because we love them, and we will do what we must to protect their lives. The best way to counter it isn’t to argue with those groups. It’s to tell others who are undecided on the issue why we’re good folks who can be trusted to safely exercise our rights.

When it comes to the shooting sports, we can apply the same ideas. Anti-gunners will try to say shooters are just compensating for something else, but we know that recreational shooting is fun. The best way to counter it is to tell non-shooters why about what that great time at the range, along with an offer to get them out there to see for themselves. We’re the fun folks, and that’s our story to tell.

As much as we’ve mocked Meet the NRA before, this kind of project should really be CSGV’s worst nightmare. When our people start showing that they are normal folks who simply believe in the Constitution, want to defend their loved ones, and know how to safely have a great time at the range, it will be a perfect illustration to how out-of-touch the extremist anti-gun groups really are with average Americans.