NRA Sells Out Again

From PPH

The Rocky Mountain Gun Owners criticized the National Rifle Association for cutting a deal with the anti-gun advocates in Congress. In an email Dudley Brown, Executive Director for RMGO, exposed the NRA’s sell out of our 2nd Amendment rights.

According to the Post, "Senior Democrats have reached agreement with the National Rifle Association on what could be the first federal gun-control legislation since 1994, a measure to significantly strengthen the national system that checks the backgrounds of gun buyers."

The email goes on to say, This system, which assumes you are guilty and requires you to prove your innocence before exercising a God-given, Constitutional right, has delayed and denied countless Coloradans attempting to make legal firearms purchases.

If Congress and the NRA have their way, things are about to get a whole lot worse. In a deal the Post calls "a marriage of convenience for both sides," and NRA lobbyist Chris Cox calls "good politics," the failed National Instant Check system is poised to be expanded even further.

Too many people believe that whatever the NRA says is gospel, and nothing could be further from the truth. So we asked Dudley Brown to explain what separates the RMGO from the NRA.

“In short, it can be summed up that the NRA likes to kiss politician butt and RMGO likes to kick it.”

He went on to explain why the RMGO is a no compromise gun advocacy organization while the NRA is a political operation.

The NRA raises money by talking tough against gun control all the while they support it, and the candidates who vote for gun control.

Undoubtedly, there are good NRA programs. But their political division -- ILA, or Institute for Legislative Action – is the reason most people join the organization. That division, however, is one of the main reasons America has an expanding list of gun controls today.

Here are thethee main points some people call the NRA the "largest gun control organization in America":

1. The NRA supports Gun Control

The NRA, while being known as the flagship group to defend gun rights, has been involved in gun control at the margins for decades.

Of the major federal gun control legislation that controls/regulates firearms today, the NRA has openly or privately been involved in passing the legislation:

1934 National Firearms Act - Puts incredibly onerous restrictions on the purchase and possession of "machine guns", suppressors, etc. (which are now termed "NFA weapons"). The NRA actually wrote this legislation.

1968 Gun Control Act - Created the morass of paperwork a firearms purchaser must now undergo, as well as dug the ATF deeper into an area our constitution prohibited it from going. http://www.keepandbeararms.com/information/XcIBViewItem.asp?ID=3247 has quotes from NRA's own publication.

1986 McClure-Volkmer - Misnamed the "Firearms Owner Protection Act", this law stopped firearms manufacturers from transferring any fully auto weapons into citizens hands. To buy a machine gun in America (there are currently 366,000 legally owned select fire weapons in private citizens' hands in America), you must now pay a minimum of $10,000 (for an m-16), whereas previous to this supply limiting act you could buy one for $200. Again, this was an NRA-supported and created act.

1994 Brady Act - Some give Sarah Brady the credit, but they should chalk this Gun Owner Registration System to the NRA. http://www.rmgo.org/brady.shtml has a synopsis.

2. The NRA supports anti-gun candidates

In Colorado, this is as easy to prove as looking at the NRA's ratings each election. Former Republican State Senator Dottie Wham, who killed every concealed handgun bill she came across as chairman of the Senate Judiciary, received the NRA's "A" rating. In 1995 Republican State Rep. Russ George ran a bill (with Sen. Wham) to make carrying concealed without a permit a felony (it is now a class 2 misdemeanor). As a reward (for that gun control and for voting against the two concealed carry bills offered in 1995), George was given the NRA's highest rating and asked to carry their concealed carry legislation.

In recent elections, the NRA endorsed State Rep. Dale Hall in a primary against Scott Renfroe (now Colorado's most conservative State Senator) for St. Sen. District 13, despite Hall running a bill to give the federal ATF more power to make arrests based on state charges.

3. The NRA often opposes true pro-gun legislation

Then-State Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (now chairman of the Second Amendment Caucus in Congress) was threatened with lowering her legislative grade by an NRA lobbyist who didn't want a vote on Vermont concealed carry legislation (i.e. no permit
required, which is law in Vermont and Alaska).