[QUOTE=Cassius;3044817]The NRA makes a good amount of money off of the gun industry, but when you look into it, a significant portion of that appears to be from NRA “round up” purchases or similar programs, which tend to be voluntary opt in things for purchasers. The best information I can find is that membership dues are about 45%+ of its income, with individual donations making up another 24% or so of its income. Due to the way they are structured it is a little hard to tell, but from what I can tell it still seems as though the NRA is much more of a grassroots organization than Everytown/Moms/Other Random Orgs that make it appear as though there are lots and lots of little groups popping up all over the place. When HUFFPO criticizes your organization for lacking transparency, being centrally funded by billionaires, and doing business with the nonprofit version of shell corporations, that is telling. The coverage everytown/Moms get for their bloody flag waving reeks of insider media access, too.
And this is anecdotal so take it for what its worth, but at the protest events I have observed in the DC metro area, I think most telling is how gun control people seem to always be bussed in from somewhere else, given materials to use, clothing, food, etc . . . whereas the pro2A people always seem to carpool in from wherever on their own some and usually pay their own way. Again that is anecdotal to my experience.
Just to be clear: I do not support the NRA in its current state or much of its messaging, but they have some amazing programs that I would hate to see go away. And no other organization is ready to step up and fill the void when DNC/rich people finally fracture or outright destroy it. I donate to causes I best identify with, only two of which are gun related at the moment (American Suppressor Association and Second Amendment Foundation).[/QUOTE]
I think what’s wrong with the NRA is that they are in bed with some really, really sleazy mass media organizations of, let’s just say, questionable integrity. So now they use similar tactics, smears, including smeaing the actual survivors of gun violence. WTF? Charleton Heson, in Flint Michigan, after Columbine??? “From my cold dead hands”, he said. But the cold dead hands are the children’s in these school shootings, not him. He died peacefully, in Beverly Hills.
The NRA uses the same tactics as those other unmentionables: fear of government (unless of course it’s your candidate). “THE GOVERNMENT IS COMING FOR YOUR GUNS” type fear mongering is worse than anything I’ve seen elsewhere. At least the Sandy Hook, Colorado, Parkland survivors etc are coming from a place of real victimhood, they were traumatized by gun violence and suffer PTSD until the end of time.
So when Dana “I used to be an average Youtuber” Loesch tried to scare me with Otherism bullshit so I might clutch my AR-15 tighter at night, kiss my .223 rounds, and donate to the NRA…
yeah I’m done with the NRA. The idea of it is great, but talk about missing the forest for the trees. They could be championing the debate! They could be educating and enlightening the victims, and helping get common sense gun laws put in place. But they don’t, because it’s easier to scare everyone that the US is one night away from a Kristallnacht where everyone’s guns and bullets are rounded up by commies. That’s such a pipe dream, it would take someone like Dana Loesch to try selling it.