FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions about the NRA from NRA members

Click on the question below to be taken to the answer…

The media says the NRA is a hardcore, no compromise group. Is that true?

If you trust Dan Rather or Peter Jennings to define your political movement, nothing written on this site will change your mind.

But consider this: the NRA has played a part in promoting nearly every major gun control measure that has passed the U.S. Congress. To the media, the battle over gun rights is only sexy when it can pit two sides against each other: Sarah Brady vs. Charlton Heston sells newspapers.

The media also wrongly attributes any activity by gun owners as NRA originated: nothing could be further from the truth.

Back to top

Shouldn’t all American gun owners unite behind one organization?

Yes. Gun owners should unite behind one group, if that organization agrees with gun owners.

If you have joined with the NRA to “unite” you are then a de facto supporter of gun owners registration (the Brady bill), the Lautenberg gun ban (domestic abuse ban), concealed registration (restrictions and tracking of concealed carry permit holders) and numerous other gun controls.

Uniting behind an organization that supports as many — albeit slightly less onerous — gun controls as it opposes might “unite” the gun movement, but in the opposite direction desired.

Back to top

If gun owners don’t accept some light forms of gun regulations (such as background checks), won’t we get worse?

One of our largest problems in retaining our gun rights is that some gun owners — who are supposedly on our side — want to establish gun control before the liberals do it to us.

This is called the “Neville Chamberlain” syndrome. Like the former British Prime Minister, many NRA leaders believe that our opponents at HCI — and other leftist gun-grabbing organizations — will be satisfied after passing just a few of the least intrusive gun controls. This strategy is the chief reason America has moved quickly down the gun control path in the last decade.

It is difficult to tell the Sheriff that a thief stole your ranch when you GAVE the thief half of the ranch.

The NRA is also very concerned with how the media and politicians view them. They believe that by accepting “reasonable” restrictions on our gun rights they will make friends with the politicians and media, which is largely true. Why wouldn’t a politician want the NRA to endorse lesser forms of gun control? It allows a politician to reduce the pressure on both sides — always a goal of elected officials.

Back to top

How did the NRA get this way?

Every force in Washington — politicians, their staff, lobbyists, and the media — pushes advocates toward compromise, and to get along, rather than stand firmly on principle. To an NRA lobbyist, who may be looking for a better job in the future, nothing could be worse than angering politicians who could be your next employer. Standing firmly for principle doesn’t get a lobbyist invited to many cocktail parties.

Many believe that individuals cannot lobby the Washington Beltway because the Beltway is better at lobbying you.

Back to top

Are the state level NRA affiliates good organizations?

As shooting organizations, most are good. As political lobbying organizations, most are worse than the NRA itself. You can tell an organization is a state affiliate because they are usually named “Rifle and Pistol Association,” “State Shooting Assoc.,” or “Sport Shooting Assoc.” Almost all (California is sometimes a notable exception) are well-intentioned shooters who care so deeply about their type of shooting that they will sell out another type of gun owner to keep their own rights intact. Universally, they support “background checks” because they believe it will satisfy our opponents (here’s a news flash: it won’t).

Back to top

Will NRA board members fix the NRA?

Unlikely. The NRA willingness to compromise is deeply ingrained in their entire staff, so it would take a wholesale sacking of Waples Mill to make substantive change. No one is unlikely to consider this wholesale a change.

The size of the NRA’s board makes it virtually impossible to change. And since the current leadership — LaPierre and company — have a stranglehold on the membership of the NRA by being the only source of information to the electing members (through their magazines), there is zero chance of ever really changing that bunch.

Back to top

But isn’t the NRA feared by politicians?

Politicians fear organizations that force them to vote a certain way and threaten their reelection. Unless you are Charles Schumer (who is relatively safe from NRA criticism) the NRA will never attack a marginal politician (the kind of politician who is actually vulnerable to gun owners’ pressure).

Back to top

Should I quit the NRA?

If you joined the NRA to defend your gun rights, you couldn’t have done anything worse. They are more likely to use YOUR $35 to defend a waffling politician than use it to push that waffling politician to vote right.

If you are a competitive shooter who needs to be an NRA member to compete, don’t fall prey to the repeated pleas for assistance from the NRA’s political division, ILA.

Back to top

But who else is out there, supporting our gun rights?

There are grassroots organizations, like the National Association for Gun Rights and Gun Owners of America, who won’t compromise and use grassroots pressure to get things done in Washington. And Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, which can’t lobby issues because of their tax status, can frame issues correctly and speak authoritatively on issues of race. Other organizations like CCRKBA and the Second Amendment Foundation, tend to be in the middle: sometimes they stand firm, other times they are more concerned about looking “reasonable” and therefore support “sensible” gun laws.

If you wish to view a list of tough, no-nonsense gun rights groups, click here.

Back to top

Does the NRA do anything right?

The NRA does virtually nothing right in politics. They do, however, sponsor fantastic shooting events and have some good education programs for hunters and shooters. That, however, is not the same as protecting our gun rights, which is the reason most people belong to the NRA. As a general rule, if you believe our gun rights have been compromised, giving money to ILA (Institute for Legislative Action) only perpetuates the problem.

Back to top

Shouldn’t we always support the lesser of two evils (i.e. Republican candidates, regardless of their position)?

When a reporter asked NRA “A” rated Colorado Governor Bill Owens what gun owners might do in his next election — after he had supported half a dozen gun control measures — Owens quipped, “What are they going to do? Vote Democrat?”

When a political party and its hierarchy knows any advocates (lobbying groups, like the NRA) will blindly support their candidates, the natural tendency is to move quickly in the other direction (away from gun rights). Doing so makes a lobby an adjunct of a political party, hardly the perfect position to advance our gun rights.

Remember, the lesser of two evils is still evil.

Back to top

Is this a ploy by gun control advocates to discredit the advocates at the NRA leadership?

One of the common charges of the compromiser crowd is that critics of the NRA are “plants” who really want to discredit gun owners in general, especially the NRA.

Judge the information on this web site with common sense and your knowledge of history. The gun movement is split, whether we like it or not, so it only makes sense that gun owners hash out their honest disagreements before we do battle with Sarah Brady or her ilk.

Back to top