Who's Afraid of the NRA?

The National Rifle Association must be hurting. They look like chumps the way they were reportedly played by the Russian spy Maria Butina. It will be a fascinating chapter of the Mueller report to learn if and how the Russians infiltrated the NRA to launder money into and wreck havoc on the 2016 election. I suspect the NRA must be scraping the bottom of the barrel for supporters because recently I’ve received not one but two “Registered Documents” from them. Legal fees ain’t cheap.

The NRA urges me to fill out an important-sounding “National Gun Owner’s Action Survey” with vapid questions about the “individual right to own a firearm” with the usual Fox/Trump implicit bias phrases like “anti-gun media.” And they urge me to manifest my commitment to the NRA by renewing my membership. (I should note that I’ve never been a member and don’t own a firearm.) Thirty bucks for one year (normally $45. Wow.), $75 for three (that’s a $100 savings!), or $100 for five (here you save $150. Extra bullets!). You also get to choose from among four different NRA magazine publications. And guess what else? A free “razor sharp” bowie knife!

Listen to this rhetoric:

“Now is the time to fight back. Now is the time to DRAW A LINE IN THE SAND and put the gun-hating political elites on notice that you will NEVER surrender one inch of your freedom.

The victims of senseless shootings and their families and friends surrender way more than one inch of their freedom because of lax and inconsistent laws around gun ownership. And corporate lobbyists like the NRA pretty much define the political elite. They pump money into our politics, clouding the eyes and softening the spines of all but the most principled politicians. So shut it.

“NRA is the one firewall standing between your Second Amendment freedoms and those who would take them away.”

To me, the besieged argument falls flat. It’s effective though. Fear and anger are powerful “weapons” when it comes to selling stuff. My thoughts? The NRA is pretty proud of itself. Wow, the one firewall. And if an amendment requires a firewall, maybe it’s time to take a hard look at it and update it for modern times.

Here’s my take on the gun thing. I’m disinterested in owning a gun. I believe that violence begets violence and that by owning a weapon I will invite calamity. But that’s my personal opinion. I’m okay with others owning handguns for protection and shotguns for hunting. It’s like abortion. If you’re against it, don’t get one. But when you factor in the bump stocks, the scopes, the semi-automatic, military-grade hardware -- stuff that isn’t really about self-protection -- that’s when you lose me. Why can’t that stuff be banned? And then your typical American-style mass shooting can just be a regular murder.

Meanwhile, it seems like enacting permit-to-purchase laws makes the most sense. Gun owners should have to demonstrate competence before their right to bear arms kicks in, and running a universal background check during permitting seems sensible. This ought to be administered through police stations or through specially licensed shooting ranges, taking the burden off gun sellers. Sellers would simply check your permit. Driving permits/licenses is analogous, and no one argues that people shouldn’t have to jump the hoops of knowing the rules of the road before they are allowed to drive on it. Imagine if the Automobile Association of America put all their money into electing officials who were against driver’s licenses. It’s absurd. And that’s the problem with the NRA: although there is merit in defending the 2nd Amendment, the public face of the NRA is loony. They should lead the charge towards responsible gun ownership, not simply shilling for manufacturers by suggesting that more guns should flood the institutions of our country (schools, places of worship…) instead of fewer. Clown car stuff, but not funny. Clown cars aren’t that funny either. Bad metaphor.

Hey adults, let’s be sensible. We don’t need to take everyone’s guns away. We don’t need to strike the 2nd Amendment. We don’t even need to gut existing laws. So why the bowie knife?

One more thing... in response to last week's terrorist shootings at two mosques in the town of Christchurch, New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today announced responsible changes to her country's gun laws. This is what leadership looks like.