permafrost Loc: Minnesota

I recall when I was a member of the NRA... At 18, it was the first organization I joined after my first full time job.

I got the Magazine, American Rifleman" I think it was called and frequent conservation information..

Very different then it is now..

this little video gives a short run down of its changing..

https://www.facebook.com/NowThisPolitics/videos/769421426581759/

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

They discovered a new marketing scheme. Remember the gas crunch in the 70's? When speed limits were reduced and new gas mileage requirements set, the oil and car industries started their own fear campaign " the Gov. is going to take your cars, set limits on how much you drive, etc.", thinking it would scare people into demanding a halt to the fuel saving push. It didn't work, but the scheme has been astronomically successful for the NRA..............and the firearm manufacturing business. Why is that after each massacre, gun sales go way up? People are afraid that THIS is the one that tips the balance, so they better buy up what they can now. Where do they get such crazy ideas? From the NRA, who meets each massacre with a "they're gonna take your guns this time" campaign. The NRA won't budge an inch, treating every suggestion as a "slippery slope".............and a prelude to mass confiscations and bans.

What I find remarkable, beyond the lunacy of the day, is the fact that the NRA is a special interest...............and during the recent e******ns, special interests were particularly pointed out as a corrosive influence on politics. Anyone remember Trump saying that HE would be the President that puts the interests of the American people ahead of the special interests? I know the NRA likes to claim that they are representing all Americans, but they are not, in fact, they represent a minority of Americans. I wonder how Republicans would have reacted, had Obama taken an impromptu meeting with planned parenthood...........a day after announcing some new restrictions? Yeah, you know how they'd have reacted - yet Trump takes such a meeting with the NRA, a day after announcing his approval of new gun restrictions.

For someone who claimed he'd take the WH back from the special interests.................. only putting special interest lobbyist's on the payroll, sure seems a strange way to accomplish that promise.

Super Dave Loc: Realville, USA

I get the propoganda.

But why don't you tell us in your words what has changed about the NRA from when you joined.

Then tell us what changed about you.

Crayons Loc: St Jo, Texas

The more the marxist's talk bad about the NRA; the bigger the NRA gets.

son of witless

The NRA is the same as it has always been.

Super Dave Loc: Realville, USA

Yes....

That was my point.

Guns, respect for innocent life, God, traditional marriage, prayer, belief in American exceptionalism, and patriotism haven't changed.

The Democrats just stopped supporting them.

Ricktloml

Sadly, the Democrats have done more than to stop supporting, guns, respect for innocent lives, God, traditional marriage, prayer, belief in American exceptionalism, and patriotism-they h**e these things and work to destroy them

archie bunker Loc: Texas

Facebook again? Really? I thought it was taken over by the Russians.

pafret Loc: Northeast

It would help if after every disaster, which could have been prevented if our policing agencies were doing their jobs, and the lame-stream Media and all the bleeding heart do-gooders didn't scream "Ban all guns". Nothing stimulates gun sales like a pack of morons telling you that one of your essential freedoms is going to be sacrificed to their totalitarian control mentality.

When Obama became President I went out and bought several rifles and handguns. I had been a gun owner but got rid if them when my children were small. I didn't feel the need to have them until Obama was so damned insistent that the government was going to prevent me from getting or keeping them.

Owning guns is the ultimate deterrent to oppressive government. Even if I'm too old to go out and actively use them in defense of my liberty there will always be some young buck who needs a gun to perform in my place.

The NRA represents the five percent or so who care to join the organization but in the larger sense they represent all Americans, who value their freedoms as enumerated, in the Constitution. They fight the battles against stupid local and Federal ordinances, which deprive gun owners of their rights. There are many gun owners who agree with the NRA's positions in most of the gun debates. Small membership does not mean they are a fringe group, in reality they are the activist portion of the mainstream majority.

son of witless

Excellent point.

archie bunker Loc: Texas

He has a sword, so you don't need a gun.

Super Dave Loc: Realville, USA

Still waiting.

permafrost Loc: Minnesota

Good points major,

I had forgotten about that 70s situation with cars etc.. Yet at the time, we had just moved up to this home and spent a lot of time on the road back and forth to the cities..

The rumors put me in many a bad mood.. Yes, a great marketing tool..

JFlorio Loc: Seminole Florida

He can’t. He’s lying again. He’s never been in the NRA. Just a troll.

permafrost Loc: Minnesota

I guess you missed it..

When I joined, the part that was of interest to me and the also was what i paid attention to, was the "how to" articles.. on shooting, reloading, conservation...

And, range design, safety, a lot of that.. evaluation of many guns and their performance..

It was long after I came home that they attracted my attention..

Years.. Decades even.. But they had become a lobby organization and marketing arm for gun manufacturing..

The evaluations I looked at (about 3) did not seem impartial.. The stressed the go out and buy idea...

the main thing they wanted was a pretty pricey membership and donation to present "our" interests to congress..

I can not recall what the subject of the time was.. Around mid or late 70s..

So while my change of mind had nothing with any direction they were moving at the time..

The type of organization was very different..

They had changed from a membership organization to a political/marketing organization..