I'll say one thing for the Bradys--they certainly seem to have a good grasp of the level of intellectual sophistication of their target audience.
Apparently the reader is expected to believe that the NRA rakes in vast sums of money from "corrupt gun dealers" (despite the fact that, according to the Bradys themselves, 60% of "crime guns" are traced back to 1% of the dealers--that would presumably be the "corrupt" 1%). The amount brought in this way is much greater and more important, apparently, than what the NRA raises through membership dues and contributions from the 4 million members. The NRA, now flush with the blood-spattered crass lucre from the "corrupt gun dealers," passes much of that money along to "gun lobby-owned lawmakers," who in turn fight the passage of "sensible gun laws" (the ones over and above the over 20,000 gun laws already on the books).
This diagram came from a part of the Brady Bunch called Stop The NRA. They can't seem to get it through their skulls that "stopping the NRA" would do nothing for them. The NRA's 4 million members, plus many other gun rights activists who are not members--because the NRA isn't hard core enough for them, and tries too hard to be mainstream--aren't going to simply give up and go away if the NRA suddenly disappears. The reason that gun rights are not quite dead in this country is the number of people who put their hearts and souls into fighting for them. The various gun rights organizations help facilitate that effort to some degree, but the real power is the grassroots activism of millions of gun owners.
The Bradys have neither those numbers, nor the same kind of passion and commitment from many of the people they do have. And it scares them, so they fight it the only way they know how--with money. Joyce Foundation money (by the way, I recently discovered that another recipient of the Joyce Foundation's gun rights suppression money is Bloomberg's Coalition of Freedom Hating Mayors). They fight it with George Soros' money, and with money raised in hysterical fear mongering campaigns, screaming that those nasty Constitution lovers are going to strike down all the precious gun laws.
The Bradys may raise enough money to "stop the NRA," but that's a long way from stopping the people who treasure liberty--and we're not for sale.
UPDATE: Hairy Hobbit has made and posted a version of the "Triangle" that is definitely worth a look.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
"Triangle of Death," indeed--they can't be serious
Stumble it!
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6 comments:
Just a thought here, but could it be that the "stop the nra" is more a manifestation of the nra's great marketing (bullcrap) than it is their actual effectiveness?
If the nra can fool their own members so easily, fooling the libs would be a piece of cake.
This is just something to think about.
I support the GOA, and am going to support the SAF, but the nra,,,,,?????? I just think they are in it for the money.
I just think they are in it for the money.
You're certainly not alone in that assessment. There's an individual who comments here from time to time for whom I have a great deal of respect, who argues that the last thing the NRA wants is to win the fight, and thus lose their relevance. I'm a bit too trusting (gullible, maybe?) to buy all the way into that way of thinking, but I acknowledge it's possible, and I can't deny that the NRA supports some people, and some legislation, that clearly seem to be anathema to gun rights.
Consider this, though--if the NRA didn't exist, and the Bradys and their allies could concentrate all of their considerable resources against the groups like SAF, GOA, JPFO, etc., would those groups accomplish anything?
I am a member of the NRA, along with most of the other pro Second Amendment organizations. I don't send extra money to NRAILA, but do heavily support the NRA Foundation in it's shooting sports and education efforts. The 4H, Scouts and school shooting organizations are dependant upon monies and training from the NRA to survive. So yes, I support the NRA, and the GOA, USCCA, JPFO, TSRA and others.
As for the Anti's making the NRA the evil face of gun owners everywhere, cool. That may get the less "active" of the NRA members to start writing letters and making phone calls.
JR, the point you make about what the NRA does in terms of training, and in promoting the shooting sports, is a good one.
The more new shooters we have, the longer it will be before we need to use our guns, in order to keep them.
I'm paying on a life membership, despite my misgivings about much of what the NRA does on the political front.
If the NRA won the battle, they wouldn't lose their relevance. They were originally established to teach markmanship because recruits in early 20th century wars, for the most part, couldn't shoot for beans.
After their inception they took on some other very worthwhile programs. Programs that could continue despite the 2A battle being settled.
However after taking up the mantle of a gun rights organization they discovered the "send more money, this job is lasting longer than I thought" system of fundraising. With victory over the anti freedom forces, the justification for the hysterical pleas for more money and donations based on fear of losing our rights, goes away.
Hence, the problem is more profitable for them than the solution and they will do all they can to avoid a solution as evidenced in their attempts to sabotage Parker v. DC.
If the battle were won, NRA would still have important functions and relevance, but not as much fundraising ability as the loss of problem would negate the need for the hysterical letters decrying the perfidy of the other side and the need for more money to fight them.
At present, I cannot support them. I dropped my membership because they betrayed me and the rest of their membership too many times.
I can find people willing to betray me for free. Why should I pay LaPierre to do it?
I was working on another animated hack of that gif but I got sidetracked by computer problems.
Whoever put that original gif together must have been on something. It's a mess.
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