imported post
BJA wrote:
As long as they are there for possible legal representation for those who are arrested for unconstitutional laws i will continue to support them. We can only ask so much of an organization like the NRA, there nothing special remember that. The people, like so many on this website are the first line of defense. The NRA is just another outlet for second ammendment protection. We should neverovervaluean entity or group like the NRA.
Just to inform you, I WAS a member of the NRA for 10 years and they DO NOT help gun owners or their members who are arrested or have fire arms illegally seized. At least they did not help me.
In 2006, Harris County Pct 4 Constables pulled up on me and a friend who had pulled into a parking lot due to car trouble. We were asked for ID's, and me being a concealed handgun license holder, gave the officer my ID, and CHL. He told me to put my hands on the truck and removed my Glock 23 from my in-the-pants holster. He then went to his car to run our back grounds. Both of us had perfectly clean back grounds, and he told me to put my hands behind my back and was arresting me for "carrying a prohibited weapon in a prohibited place" which is a 3rd degree felony in Texas.
Now a little back ground on me. I am a criminal justice major and graduated from H.C.C. Police Academy and hold a T.C.L.E.O.S.E. certification from the state of Texas to be a "peace officer" in the state of Texas. The only reason I was not a police officer at the time he arrested me, was because I chose to go back to college and finish my degree so that I would be promoted faster in my law enforcement career.
Anyways, I politely informed the officer that their must be some mistake, and that I am pretty familiar with the law, and would he please go double check in his car on the his computer (which can very quickly pull up Texas Penal Code statues), to make sure he is not making a mistake. He told me to shut up and that he knew the law. I was arrested and spent 3 days in Harris County jail before my family paid my $5,000 bail.
Upon my first day in court, I took my penal code book to the judge that I had from the police academy and showed him Texas Penal Code 46.035 (Carrying a prohibited weapon in a prohibited place by a CHL holder), which clearly stated, "it does NOT apply to walkways, drive ways, PARKING LOTS, parking garages...". He dismissed the case immediately.
I took dismissal papers to Pct. 4 where they were holding my Glock for evidence and after 10 mins the officer in charge of the evidence department told me the district attorney has to sign off on the weapon being released, and she told him "hell will freeze over before he gets that gun back".
So I called the NRA, and to my surprise, they acted like they didn't care. They told me it was a common problem, and that I needed to contact an attorney. I talked to a few different people/branches of the NRA, and got the same treatment. I decided to not re-new my membership.
I ended up contacting Alice Trip with the Texas Rifle Association (who I was NOT a member with) and she was very eager to help. She even contacted Corbin Vann Arsdale (house rep) and Texas senator Dan Patrick, and between the three of them, someone made a call or wrote a letter, that got me a call from the head of the evidence department at Pct 4 and told me "come pick up your weapon and stop stirring up trouble". This whole process was a year after I was arrested. I honestly thought after about 5 months, I was not going to see that gun again.
So for the sake of my fellow gun owners, I personally would not expect a lot of help from the NRA if I was you. To sum it up, I was unlawfully arrested due to the ignorance of a officer who was not familiar with the law, and then after having it confirmed by a judge that there was no case, I had my 2nd amendment rights violated by a district attorney. If that is not a perfect case for the NRA to get involved, I don't know what is.
In my opinion, the people running the NRA are a bunch of complacent cowards. I hope that Ted Nugent does become the new NRA president, because I would gladly re-new my membership then. He has the back bone that we need to stand up for ALL gun rights (just watch his Texas Monthly interview on youtube).