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For those who think the NRA does NOTHING to help us...

ufcfanvt

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Oct 8, 2007
Messages
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NoVA, Virginia, USA
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I too am unhappy with the NRA. From WITHIN, we can make it everything we want it to be!

Dem leadership asks for vote to bring DC voting rights to floor AND kill the Amendment to strengthen gun rights in DC. Blue Dogs supposedly feel NRA pressure and vote No

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?print=yes&id=30931

The patently unconstitutional bill to give the District of Columbia a voting representative in the House of Representatives was pulled off the House calendar because -- according to one House Republican leadership source -- they feared that the so-called Blue Dog Democrats would not support it.

The bill was patently unconstitutional because under Article 1, Section 2, only states have representatives, and D.C. isn’t a state. (That idea is reinforced by the XXIII Amendment, under which D.C. voters are allowed to vote in presidential elections, and thus appoint electors to the Electoral College, “…equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State….”)

The Blue Dogs, a group of supposedly conservative Dems who have usually marched to Speaker Pelosi’s drum, were fearful that the National Rifle Association would “score” -- i.e., use the vote to determine its annual rating of gun-friendly (and unfriendly) members the vote on the rule to bring the matter to the House floor.

That same source told HUMAN EVENTS that the rule would have precluded consideration of an amendment -- similar to that approved in the Senate last week -- to preserve D.C. residents’ gun rights.

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) released the following statement a few moments ago after the Democratic Leadership pulled the D.C. Voting Rights Act from this week’s House floor schedule:

“The Democratic leadership repeatedly has made promises for a return to ‘regular order’ in the House, but this is added proof of just how hollow that promise has become. By maneuvering to deny Second Amendment rights to residents of our nation’s capital, Democratic leaders have made it clear that ‘regular order’ and the will of the American people will be respected only when it serves their interests. Americans expect more out of their leaders in Washington than this, and it’s time for both parties to work together to restore people’s trust in their Congress.

Congratulations to the NRA for holding the Blue Dogs’ paws to the fire.
 

Tess

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Doug Huffman wrote:
Only life and above members can vote. There are not "four million" voting members, maybe 4, 000, 000 subscriptions to NRA magazines.

Either we are equal or we are not. Good people ought to be armed where they will, with wits and guns and the truth.
Not true. Annual members who have been members for five or more consecutive years may also vote.
 

spy1

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Jul 5, 2007
Messages
242
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Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
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The N.R.A didn't do anything: (this is from an artlicle linked to FROM the NRA homepage:

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/nra-forces-pelosi-retreat-2009-03-03.html )


"There was no official call to arms, nothing on the NRA website, no alerts floating around. Just speculation among Democrats and Republicans that the NRA would make a procedural vote on legislation that would give the District of Columbia a voting member of Congress a “test vote.”


That means that if centrist Democrats voted with their leadership, they could lose their prized “A-ratings” from the NRA, which many consider essential to keeping their jobs in rural, Southern and Western districts.
So the D.C. Voting Rights Act was pulled from consideration for Wednesday."



On the OTHER hand, G.O.A was all over this (I posted it myself in a number of places) - WITH "Alerts", WITH info on their website, WITH an official "call-to-arms about keeping the amendment included in the House version when it came up for a vote.

So you tell me - who exactly should be getting the credit here again? Pete
 

Chaingun81

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Sep 20, 2007
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Centreville, Virginia, USA
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Actually, it seems that despite all efforts by the GOA and semi-interest-without-much-activity by the NRA, Dem leaders in Congress pulled the bill of the floor due to fear of NRA. So, yes,NRA didn't do as much as GOA and as much as it should do, but they still are far more powerful than the GOA. You know, it takes a big dog to growl for a second to induce due fear, while a small dog canbark for hoursand no one would give a crap - sorry for a blunt analogy.

Just to be fair - i'm a member of both NRA and GOA and i see them both being useful. I'm also not thrilled with the way NRA often compromises and thus i joined GOA as a more radical pro-gun group who would fight harder than NRA and take up some issues which NRA wouldn't touch. However, anyone with a good grasp on reality would realize that NRA is far far more powerful and is still the main force keeping a lot of politicians on notice regarding our 2A rights. Often NRA wouldn't touch an issue not popular enough so they don't screw up their "success stats", but GOA still would. Then GOA promotes it for a while to get enough support among people and then NRA would step in and put their heavy weaponry to use.

My point is that i simply want to keep my 2A rights and therefor i'll support any gun rights group fighting for them. NRA and GOA are not competing against each other, so you don't have to choose - you can support both. All the NRA-haters here really annoy me (even though i understand and often share their frustrations), because dividing pro-gun people and gun rights groups is just giving a great present to all antis out there... :banghead:
 

Doug Huffman

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Jun 9, 2006
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Washington Island, across Death's Door, Wisconsin,
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Tess wrote:
Doug Huffman wrote:
Only life and above members can vote. There are not "four million" voting members, maybe 4, 000, 000 subscriptions to NRA magazines.

Either we are equal or we are not. Good people ought to be armed where they will, with wits and guns and the truth.
Not true. Annual members who have been members for five or more consecutive years may also vote.
Thank you. Where is that written please? I have never heard of that before.
 

Tess

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Joined
Jun 15, 2006
Messages
3,837
Location
Bryan, TX
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Doug Huffman wrote:
Tess wrote:
Doug Huffman wrote:
Only life and above members can vote. There are not "four million" voting members, maybe 4, 000, 000 subscriptions to NRA magazines.

Either we are equal or we are not. Good people ought to be armed where they will, with wits and guns and the truth.
Not true. Annual members who have been members for five or more consecutive years may also vote.
Thank you. Where is that written please? I have never heard of that before.
According to my ballot, printed in the March issue of America's First Freedom, Article III, Section 6 of the NRA Bylaws (which, by the way, we never see .....) says "Lifetime members and annual members with five or more consecutive years of membership, as shown in the Association's membership records, who have attained the age of 18 years and who are citizens of the United States of America shall be entitled to vote."

I have no clue how they verify the age or citizenship requirements.
 

ufcfanvt

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Joined
Oct 8, 2007
Messages
431
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NoVA, Virginia, USA
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Thanks for the good, raw voting info Tess.
Let's not forget that we can vote with our wallets, just like any other business. They may be corpulent and lazy now, but let 1/2 a million or so NRA members call to cancel...
This becomes more possible if they have more members :celebrate
 

Doug Huffman

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Jun 9, 2006
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Washington Island, across Death's Door, Wisconsin,
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Tess wrote:
According to my ballot, printed in the March issue of America's First Freedom, Article III, Section 6 of the NRA Bylaws (which, by the way, we never see .....) says "Lifetime members and annual members with five or more consecutive years of membership, as shown in the Association's membership records, who have attained the age of 18 years and who are citizens of the United States of America shall be entitled to vote."

I have no clue how they verify the age or citizenship requirements.
So a new annual member buys a pig-in-a-poke and doesn't get to see the size of the pig for five years when he attains sufficient status?
 

compmanio365

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Apr 21, 2007
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Pierce County, Washington, USA
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I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The NRA is a BUSINESS, who's bottom line, just like every other business, is to make sure they stay IN business. If the NRA really did what they were supposed to do and prevented infringments on our 2A rights, the NRA would be OUT of business. Instead they push a lot of fear, and send a lot of letters, and make a lot of money. And more and more of our 2A is chippedaway each day. Funny how that works.
 

ufcfanvt

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2007
Messages
431
Location
NoVA, Virginia, USA
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compmanio365 wrote:
I've said it before, and I'll say it again:  The NRA is a BUSINESS, who's bottom line, just like every other business, is to make sure they stay IN business.  If the NRA really did what they were supposed to do and prevented infringments on our 2A rights, the NRA would be OUT of business.  Instead they push a lot of fear, and send a lot of letters, and make a lot of money.  And more and more of our 2A is chipped away each day.  Funny how that works.

This sounds like complaining and Gun-guys aren't SUPPOSED to be complainers.
I'd tend to agree with your assessment. Now let's get to the business of getting what we want out of the lazy giant corporation.
MISSION: devise a plan to incentivise their resolve and tenacity.
1 Solution: http://opencarry.mywowbb.com/forum4/22329.html
I came up w/ one idea. It's everyone's job to come up w/ TWO ideas to achieve the mission before poo-pooing 1.
GO.
 

Doug Huffman

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1) Believe nothing you read or hear without verifying it yourself unless it fits your preexisting world view. In Other Words; be skeptical, the emperor has no clothes.

2) Act as an individual and guerrilla in an isolated cell. Follow no false leaders but only the good ideas that you might hear. Those mixing money/profit/rice-bowl politics are probably more interested in control than gun-control or freedom.
 
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