Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/02/28/the-nra-actually-used-to-suppo.html
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But now they are shilling for the Russians & are all in on killing innocent Americans, doesn’t really matter what they used to be…
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1977 is the key date to remember for the birth of the modern NRA. That’s when an internal coup installed a racist murderer named Harlon Carter as the organisation’s leader and set it on its course to becoming the right-wing lobbying body for the firearms industry it is today.
Obligatory additional reading for anyone thinking that a Democratic candidate should take one red cent from these scumbags:
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Check out today’s “Intercepted” podcast with Jeremy Scahill.
Turns out the NRA loved gun control especially when it came to African Americans. (Especially the black panther party - NOT the “new” black panthers which is a totally different thing)
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I would hope their members could pull them back from the insanity that they have embraced.
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The idea of black people with firearms has always made right-wingers very nervous. BLM could really do us all a service by instituting neighourhood “copwatching” patrols featuring open carry of AR-15s. Within 24 hours we’d see the NRA and GOP politicians scrambling to institute gun controls like Reagan and the California GOP did in 1967:
Don’t hold your breath. The members the NRA really serves are the manufacturers, and the dues-paying individual members are conservative rubes who think they and the Second Amendment are the org’s primary concern.
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Do check out the podcast…it was quite informative
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I’m not, but there’s always hope that (the collective) “we” can make a difference. Saw this last night and it brought me hope.
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There was also this good news:
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Heck, as recently as 1999 Wayne LaPierre was saying they wholeheartedly supported “Gun Free Schools.” They’ve gone so far off the rails that they think their own positions from 20 years ago are unacceptably extreme, let alone their positions from 50 years ago.
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Please post transcripts with videos.
- I can read faster than most people can talk
- Text lets me back up and re-read something quickly
- You might actually have people who are deaf using this site.
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I love how the NRA can bad when they support gun control because it was “racist”, even though I challenge any one to read the 1968 law and tell me which law you feel is NOT “common sense” gun control. I don’t think you will find a single law in that bill that one would say should be repealed. I’ll wait. (Though I acknowledge that some of the black radical groups were PART of the reasons for these laws, I still challenge any of you to point out which part of the law you would have repealed today.)
Also during that time, there were NRA groups helping blacks in the South set up their own chapters during the 60s. If one looks into the actual history of state gun control laws, one will see that most of them were racist in nature and Jim Crow laws. Examples would be getting Sheriff approval for buying a hand gun.
Since the leadership change in the 70s they have been a hard line rights group. I will admit their sky falling propaganda is hyperbole at times, but at the same time sweeping, restrictive laws can be voted in at any point, thus their vigilance is prudent. I also admit their spokes people are some times way off base. But others aren’t.
The reality is, no matter what branding one wants to put on the NRA, since the leadership change they haven’t supported a single racist charged gun law. So while I am sure some members of the NRA are racist, the charge they are some racist org is baseless ad hominem. It is why radicals like Killer Mike is a member (or at least was up to a few years ago) - he may not agree the rest of the members on a bunch of other politics, but they are all on the same page about their rights.
Lastly, blaming the NRA for other people misusing and abusing firearms, is like blaming the ACLU that Nazis have a right to free speech.
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Obviously false
I know I know fake news …
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I assume you meant the link to the Mulford Act to refute my statement, and not the personal opinion post?
So - The Mulford Act. Are you saying you support the rights of a person to open carry a loaded firearm? Then we are in agreement! If you don’t think they should be allowed to open carry a loaded firearm, then I have to ask why you are supporting a racist gun law?
But as I said, since the leadership change in the 70s, the NRA hasn’t supported laws like this.
Which was put into place (gasp) Because of the black panther party. I’m assuming you know that right…or is there more revisionist history going on in that head of yours you’d like to share.
Oh wait you mean overtly… rather than it’s every day dog whistle demeanor?
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Did you miss the line where I said: “Though I acknowledge that some of the black radical groups were PART of the reasons for these laws”? Or are you intentionally being obtuse?
So while I’d be fine if the Mulford Act or the 1968 Gun Control act were repealed, the question I have is - would you or anyone else calling for “common sense” gun laws? If so - then welcome to the team! If not, then why are you supporting laws that obviously was in reaction to (at least partly) people like the Black Panther party?
Curiously the majority of their members still support gun control. Particularly when you poll specific policies without politicized language.
Many of the NRA members I know are only members because the NRA is considered the only game in town. They run the safety and training classes. Target shooting competitions. They handle all shooting related activities for scouts. And I constantly hear from members about how the national organization is different than the on the ground membership. Or complaining about the organization backing/enabling manufacturers and corporations over their membership.
It strikes me that if these frustrated members would leave. Either start their own more functional thing. Or join one of the smaller less insane groups out there. The NRA would see a big check to its influence.
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While the Mulford Act preceded the right-wing NRA coup by a decade, the right-wing racist mindset that inspired that hypocritical “change of heart.” has only hardened in the GOP as a result of the Southern Strategy and has become the standard line for the NRA’s national leadership since 1977.
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Um, I know that’s just a thought, but I’d guess that many BLM members would respond to such a suggestion with something like, “Thanks but no thanks, we’re fighting for our own lives over here. Care to join us, for once?”
Reminds me of people pointing out that the largely white women’s marches and #metoo and such have been comprised of people who don’t often show up for other marches.
Again, I know it was just a thought, but enlistment calls issued to those who have their own battles to fight – battles in which those doing the calling to another battle typically have little active interest – don’t really come across well.
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Yeah, to be clear it’s more a hypothetical to point out the hypocrisy of the NRA and GOP politicians on the issue of black people with firearms. BLM pulling a Huey Newton move in 2018 would likely end up with a lot of dead and wounded African-Americans.
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