Jim Zumbo

[NONYA]

The NRA has turned spinless and I have 0 confidence in thier current structure,they brag about how much money they spend on pro 2nd amendment issues,they should be donating that money to Rep campain funds,they are the ones who really have the power to help.

[Graybeard]

I've been saying it on here and on other sites for years. The NRA today is about our second worst enemy and maybe our number one enemy. The drain away dollars from other organizations that are REALLY making a difference and helping and then stab us in the back. Practically every antigun bill that has passed in the last ten to fifteen years has done so with the tacit approval of the NRA from what I can determine.

They ARE NOT our friends.

[Redhawk1]

Sorry Graybeard, you are wrong!

Every time there are bills introduced the NRA steps in and fights. What happens is, we as gun owners and hunter must make a compromise. It is always the gun owner the has to give up something in order not to loose everything. Sure we don't want to give up anything, but it is obvious you all don't understand the process, one because you are not involved as some of us are.We as gun owners and voters can only do so much, as well as the NRA. If we don't get the backing from our Representatives and Senators we have no option.

OK you have been bashing the NRA for a lot of years, What other options do we have, what have you personally done to fight for our rights?

I know I have not sat on my butt and did noting, I go to Legislative hall and voice my opinion in the open to the public meetings, I get involved in NRA functions that back pro-gun issues. I beat the NRA drum LOUD AND PROUD.

How many of you NRA bashing people actually do anything for our gun rights besides bash the guys trying.
If it were not for the NRA, we as handgun hunter in Delaware, would not have a handgun season, a right to carry permit and many many other gun rights we have. It is the NRA and the legislators that are working together to make it happen.

Who else is doing it for us? What organization are you supporting that is fighting for our gun rights?

[billy_56081]

 The rabid hatred I've personally seen by commucrats, insures me that the NRA Is very effective.

[scout34]

I think that the NRA has come a long way in it's history.  I think that most of us here would agree that that no organization of that size would be able to please all of it's members, and there are policies adopted by the NRA that some of us don't agree with.  I also think that the last 20 years have seen a shift within the NRA from a culture of compromise, closer to one of defender of the RKBA.  It's not perfect yet but like a large ship that is slow to respond, it is slowly coming around.

What the NRA does have is a massive membership and enormous political clout.  As these members learn to communicate more effectively with each other and learn to make their voices heard to previously unaccountable policy makers, the NRA will continue to shift to the right side of the political spectrum.  It will take alot of work and unceasing dedication to our principles.  We will have to stick to our guns  so to speak.

I'm hoping that the powers that be up in the stratospheric halls of power at NRA see how quickly one of the established voices was decried as a traitor to the cause and stripped of his authority to speak for us.  It sends a message.

The next time someone gets a whiff of a back room deal that will throw the baby out with the bathwater, post it here.  The same energy and vigour with which the People responded to Jim Zumbo needs to be utilized to ensure that the NRA and our elected officials are protecting our rights.

[Redhawk1]

Graybeard, answer this one for me. Who was it that exposed the Mayor of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin for unlawfully taking citizens guns? Who took Mayor Nagin to the Supreme court? It was the NRA and the NRA alone. Not one other organization stepped in to help.

I could go on with list after list of all the good the NRA has done. Who else is doing what they have done for our gun rights?

[jvs]

When the NRA policy moved to the right in the early 90's, so many people had a fit that the NRA lost members.  Nobody wanted to be calling anyone 'Jack Booted Thugs".

Then the NRA went more towards the center to try and keep more of its members, which only ticked off the right.  The NRA is in a dangerous balancing act.

The NRA has never tilted towards liberalism and if the NRA would somehow disappear, it would be a very sad day for gun owners in this country.  They may not do everything exactly the way everyone wants things done, but without them, you have nothing.   I guarantee you that much.

Some things they agree to has to be because of possible spite moves by the opposition.  HAving Zumbo writing things like this doesn't help matters either.  I dont believe he, or anyone else, has the  say-so about what firearm people use for LAWFUL purposes.

That's not to say that I would agree with the idiot that would want to hunt deer or any animal with a .50 BMG.  Which is goofy in it's own right.  But to write an article stating that auto-loading rifles are terrorists weapons is totally foolish and inaccurate. 

It's time we get away from the lable the liberal press has put on certain weapons.  They are NOT Assault Weapons, they are Auto-Loading Rifles.  And as long as the press has you calling them the tag they put on them, they have you beaten.  Just hearing the term 'assault weapons' makes some people crap in their pants.

[NONYA]

Redhawk,Mi VHNTR and Billy all i have seen you do is try to create a division between hunters and shooters with your all or nothing aproach,you try to spin hunting regulations into a 2nd amendment issue becuase it involves firearms and you label people antis or anti helpers because they dont fall for your "Im the only one with the right opinion" attitude,its hardnosed extremists like you that devide us as gun owners and hunters.All you do is call names when people dont see things your way,you think you are helping your cause when you treat other 2nd amendment supporters like scum because they have a different opinion on an issue that you have deemed vital to our existance?You are the reason people will never be totally united in our cause,hardliners like you that will not accept some diversity push people away and deny them a chance to help.

[35Rem]

I thought Bill told you two (redhawk and NONYA) to knock it off.  Frankly I'm tired of every thread on here being hijacked by you two guys.  It's a great site and it's a shame it's being degraded by two people that can't get along, or at least take it somewhere else.

Sorry, but it's getting old.

[beemanbeme]

At what point do the "concessions" become retreats?? When do the retreats become an out and out rout?  What concessions has the Brady bunch made to the legal gun owners??  Only when the gun owners have rallied and put the fear of having to get a real job in the politicians mind have they backed off (temporarily) and I don't call that a concession. 

[thxmrgarand]

Count me in the group that believes the NRA is the only outfit we can trust.  I give to individual political candidates but lately when the R party calls (the D party doesn't call me) for $ I tell them that some of their potential presidential nominees scare me so I will send my money to the NRA and let the NRA sort it all out for me.  2008 will be a critical year for gun owners; those who cannot give $ can be just as effective by showing up to make calls, lick envelopes, hand out bumper stickers, etc.  Democracy is NOT majority rule, it's rule by the majority who show up.  Gun owners show up, and we do it best through the NRA.  Zumbo may have had a senior moment and forgot the reason for the 2nd Amendment.

[scout34]

Here is a great editorial that goes to the heart about why we as gun owners got upset by Mr. Zumbo.  This debate is now national news.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1789445/posts

[Graybeard]

Congrats Redhawk, you and your bosom buddy Billy have managed to join the ranks of the sheeeple.

The NRA has compromised every single time they've been faced with a decision. Wayne LaPierre is the worst thing that has happened to gun rights in the US in my opinion. He has pretty much gutten and ruined the NRA in my opinion. Too many times congressmen have said they voted somewhat against their conscious to pass anti gun bills because he told them we as gun owners could live with it so it would be OK.

If you'd open your eyes you could see the truth but with your blinders on you never will. Do some reseach, the truth is really out there as Mulder used to say.

This thread has run it's course and ends now. If you wish to have a discussion on the merits of the NRA start a thread.