What is the NRA up to these days?

[Norman Alexander]

http://time.com/5578963/donald-trump-arms-trade-treaty/

How can those NRA members breathe with their noses so far up Trump's ass?


Except ban bump stocks in his first gun grab and mock the civil rights of gun owners when he says he would take guns from those who are imagined to be bad people prior to any due process.

Ranb

As far as I can tell, that now-unratified treaty had exactly zero to do with US citizens' 2A rights. It was to do with arms exports. But just by saying "guns" a lot in a sentence and "stopping" something theatrically, they cheer his ass.

How frigging thick can you get. Now we know.

 

[thaiboxerken]

I thought the 2A was the right to arm foreign governments.....

 

[Lurch]

So I wonder if a side effect of unrestricted arms proliferation is more guns in "******** countries" driving more asylum seekers to the US and ramping up the "crisis" on the border.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

The Federal Election Commission is being sued in court for failing to enforce campaign finance laws against the NRA, who it is alleged used shell corporations to donate 9,259 times the legal limit to the Trump campaign

 

[thaiboxerken]

The Federal Election Commission is being sued in court for failing to enforce campaign finance laws against the NRA, who it is alleged used shell corporations to donate 9,259 times the legal limit to the Trump campaign

That kind of thing is only illegal if donations go to Democrats.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

I thought about making a new thread, but this one seems appropriate.

The NRA is some serious turmoil right now. There have been accusations of severe mismanagement and self enrichment by senior leadership of the organization. It's difficult to briefly summarize the nature of the controversy and danger the organization faces.

There is a very thorough piece by The Trace (a gun control news site) and The New Yorker. https://www.thetrace.org/features/nra-financial-misconduct-ackerman-mcqueen/

To summarize as best I can:

- Accusations of extremely incestuous relationship between the NRA senior leadership and its chief PR firm, Ackerman McQueen including accusations of conflicts of interests, inflated billing, questionable accounting, wild budget overruns, and so on.

- Ousting of NRA president Oliver North (reported to be pulling 1 million salary from Ackerman)

- Investigation of non-profit status by NY state, threatening tax exempt status of the organization

- Massive boondoggle and financial loss related to ill-conceived self-defense insurance that was offered (briefly) by the NRA and quickly found to be illegal.

- NRA suing NY state over said illegal insurance scheme.

- Claims of general financial difficulty of organization due to various unforced errors above.

It should be noted that Ackerman, the PR firm, is responsible for nearly all of the extreme PR campaigns run by the NRA in recent years. Breitbart star Dana Loesch technically works for the PR firm, not the NRA.

With a little luck, hopefully this controversy results in these extremists and grifters getting purged from the organization.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

NY State is reported to be investigating illegal money transfers from the NRA to the Trump campaign using shell companies.

 

[ponderingturtle]

How can those NRA members breathe with their noses so far up Trump's ass?

What else do you expect from an organization that's primary contemporary reason to exist is to funnel russian money to republicans?

 

[ponderingturtle]

I thought the 2A was the right to arm foreign governments.....

Of course, why else would they choose Ollie North?

 

[The Great Zaganza]

There is a huge divide between the NRA membership and its leaders.
I'm convinced that a majority would back North over LaPierre if given the choice - which of course they aren't.
The people at the top have ruined the NRA, financially and possibly legally.

 

[Upchurch]

There is a huge divide between the NRA membership and its leaders.
[...]
The people at the top have ruined the NRA, financially and possibly legally.

My sense is that this ball started rolling decades ago.

 

[Toontown]

Maybe Butina put the Russian mind meld on the upper echelon, and now they've started acting in the capacity of a Russian indoctrination asset.

 

[Segnosaur]

There is a huge divide between the NRA membership and its leaders.

Is there really that big of a divide?

Yes, its true... the NRA itself is pushing policies that opinion polls show aren't always shared by its membership. But, those members have still decided to stay members, and every time the NRA sounds the alarm (regardless of how bogus it is) they seem to get a lot of response from their members.

I mean, if the NRA is really that far out of touch you would think more people would have abandoned it.

(In a way, its like a Trump supporter saying "I'm not racist..."... a claim hard to accept when they throw their support behind Mr. "Mexicans are Rapists" McBonespurs.)

 

[Norman Alexander]

Is there really that big of a divide?

Yes, its true... the NRA itself is pushing policies that opinion polls show aren't always shared by its membership. But, those members have still decided to stay members, and every time the NRA sounds the alarm (regardless of how bogus it is) they seem to get a lot of response from their members.

I mean, if the NRA is really that far out of touch you would think more people would have abandoned it.

(In a way, its like a Trump supporter saying "I'm not racist..."... a claim hard to accept when they throw their support behind Mr. "Mexicans are Rapists" McBonespurs.)

Do the membership actually know what is happening at the top of their little clubhouse? And if they know, do they care?

 

[Travis]

Do the membership actually know what is happening at the top of their little clubhouse? And if they know, do they care?

I think at this point NRA membership is more of a Cartman like protest to spite the libs more than being in any kind of concrete agreement on actual policy.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

Is there really that big of a divide?

Yes, its true... the NRA itself is pushing policies that opinion polls show aren't always shared by its membership. But, those members have still decided to stay members, and every time the NRA sounds the alarm (regardless of how bogus it is) they seem to get a lot of response from their members.

I mean, if the NRA is really that far out of touch you would think more people would have abandoned it.

(In a way, its like a Trump supporter saying "I'm not racist..."... a claim hard to accept when they throw their support behind Mr. "Mexicans are Rapists" McBonespurs.)

Any poll of NRA membership shows the same support for closing gunshow loopholes, mandatory background checks and support for safety innovations as can be found in the general population. Only LaPierre is screeming that this would violate the Constitution.
And why not? NRA members have their guns; they don't want obviously dangerous and unqualified people getting some.
If the NRA was run more like a union instead of a gun manufacturer lobbying group, they would help make guns safer to buy, keep and use.

 

[ponderingturtle]

Any poll of NRA membership shows the same support for closing gunshow loopholes, mandatory background checks and support for safety innovations as can be found in the general population. Only LaPierre is screeming that this would violate the Constitution.
And why not? NRA members have their guns; they don't want obviously dangerous and unqualified people getting some.
If the NRA was run more like a union instead of a gun manufacturer lobbying group, they would help make guns safer to buy, keep and use.

Then why support a lobbying group that is at odds with their policy agenda, including getting all upset and refusing to vote for people who try to enact the policies they "want"?

 

[crescent]

Any poll of NRA membership shows the same support for closing gunshow loopholes, mandatory background checks and support for safety innovations as can be found in the general population. Only LaPierre is screeming that this would violate the Constitution.
And why not? NRA members have their guns; they don't want obviously dangerous and unqualified people getting some.
If the NRA was run more like a union instead of a gun manufacturer lobbying group, they would help make guns safer to buy, keep and use.

Often there are catches though. On mandatory background checks, for example, a majority (ETA: of NRA members) will support them - but many will only support them if they are "instant" background checks that take an hour or less, and many want them to be free (they don't want to have to "pay to exercise a constitutional right").

NRA members won't support background checks that might take longer to do, and they don't want to need to pay for them, they want that to come out of general tax appropriations. They will also generally reject most any measure introduced by Democrats due to mistrust. So they will support some forms of universal background checks if those measures are introduced by Republicans. Republicans will never introduce those reforms unless they are tied to reductions in gun regulation elsewhere, such as concealed carry reciprocity, or by banning longer duration background checks in states that allow or require those - both measures are guaranteed to be opposed by Dems.

 

[ponderingturtle]

Often there are catches though. On mandatory background checks, for example, a majority (ETA: of NRA members) will support them - but many will only support them if they are "instant" background checks that take an hour or less, and many want them to be free (they don't want to have to "pay to exercise a constitutional right").

Exactly they support the idea of background checks but any bureaucratic apparatus to actually bring that about is right out.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

Well, looks like the NRA is nothing more than a device to transfer dues and donations to an advertising and lobbying firm.