For Americans tired of NRA bullying.

[Brian37]

I did it today and you can call too.

The following number is to to capital hill in DC, if you are tired of Columbine, Newtown, theatre shootings and church shootings ect ect.

Call capital hill @ 202-224-3121 and demand they stop allowing the GOP/NRA to obstruct gun safety laws.

[Minimalist]

Good idea.

[Gawdzilla]

Gun laws work in the civilized world, they might work here.

[Gawdzilla]

Called and let the Congressman's staffer know that within five miles of the Congressman's house there are six people who own more than 300 guns each. Taking it local.

[Jackalope]

Call capital hill @ 202-224-3121 and demand they stop allowing the GOP/NRA to obstruct gun safety laws.

You'd be better off writing your congresscritter - and I mean an actual letter not email.

Aside from that, there's a very simple reason why the NRA is as influential as they are, and it probably isn't what you think.

After an incident like Orlando, Newtown, or Columbine, people are rightfully outraged and there's an outpouring of support for congress to do something - albeit temporary. A few weeks or months after the incident, the pressure has significantly died down - until the next one happens.

I used to be on the mailing list of NRA, GOA, JPFO, et al. There one thing that all of them have in common, the advantage that they all share, is that they are constantly reminding their membership to pressure their Representative and Senators - and send donations - even when the issue is not in the public eye.

NRA has a few million claimed members - and while that may be small relative to the population of the USA, their membership dwarfs that of the active membership of the gun control lobby (HCI, BCPHV, et al), is very organized, and they work very hard at it.

I saw the John Oliver piece last night as well - and he's absolutely correct - you have to keep up the pressure. Otherwise, you will not beat them.


They work very hard at it.

[Brian37]

Maybe as individual groups yes. But the outrage has never left, it is a lack of unity and organization. And just like economic issues over the past 36 years dems keep losing because we don't unite and think long term. But we do have the numbers, and with the unity they can be stopped.

I'll say this about guns too, it really is no different to me every time I hear an atheist say "what's the use" about atheist voices. Our voice is far bigger than it was back in 01. So with guns, and stopping the GOP/NRA obstruction, it isn't even close to gun sanity people not having big enough numbers, we simply need more unity and better tactics.

You don't have to remind me of the cycle, I know far too well what that cycle is. We simply have to be smarter about how we do things.

[The Grand Nudger]

Until the anti-gun lobby learns a little bit...about guns, they're going to be repeatedly embarrassed by the gun lobby -even if they organize and get the donations-.  That needs to happen, if we want to see sensible gun law reform in our lifetimes.

[Minimalist]

Maybe not.  Here's hope.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/20...ights.html

Why the Next Supreme Court Is Poised to Roll Back Gun Rights

Nuts like the NRA have advanced a radical interpretation of the Second Amendment for the past few decades, but politics and legal thinking signal a return to traditional jurisprudence.

[Cecelia]

The problem with fighting the NRA is that they're simply against Gun Control of all kinds. They paint a picture that the opposition is going to take all their guns. It's a ridiculous assertion that creates fear among their members, and brings in quick donations. The Republican Party of course has been running with the same strategy for years. Opposing the NRA is difficult because those who want regulations can't agree on what regulations we want. It's a complicated issue. And they're not going to make it easy for us. That's why they use propaganda to keep laws that forbid the CDC from doing research on gun violence and gun control.

The opposition needs to start firing back at the NRA directly, rather than focusing on gun control. Attack them directly. Point out their horrible stance on things like gun safety. They advocate keeping guns hidden rather than locked up. This isn't a safe practice, especially if you have kids in the house. I know I would refuse to let my kids go to someone's house if they had a gun, and didn't keep it locked up. they could be painted as the no responsibility association. To the NRA it's just a horrible accident if you leave your kid around a weapon, and he gets it and shoots himself. People want to go after a woman for not watching her child at a zoo, after getting a gorilla killed. But apparently it's too much to ask that someone go to jail for leaving their weapon in a place their kid can get it, and then they shoot themselves. Apparently this is okay. I suppose it's a trend, because it's also okay to deny a child medical care and use prayer instead. If these were unborn fetuses instead, there would be outrage.

They'll be quick to place the blame elsehwere-- they tried video games, but found that didn't cut it with gamers. Yeah, you're kind of outnumbered by people who play video games given that almost everyone has played video games (oh, and there's not that many of you to begin with, and gamers are a passionate lot). So then they shifted their focus to mental health. Of course--they won't actually do anything about the mental health system in this country. That's another focus for an attack against the NRA. They claim mental health is the real issue, then do nothing to improve mental health issues in this country. They say they'll support reasonable fixes to our mental health system, but haven't actually proposed anything. They certainly aren't out there fighting to make sure that our mental health system gets fixed. They're too busy making sure politicians don't expand background checks.

Defeating the NRA wouldn't be hard if gun control wasn't a complicated issue. But it is. That's why they don't want the CDC doing research into it. Kill it before it even becomes an option that most people can agree on. They know how hard it is for people to agree on these issues. If you want to defeat them, you're going to have to go after them on everything they do. Hold their feet to the fire, and don't stop hitting until they're down for the count.

[The Grand Nudger]

Maybe not.  Here's hope.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/20...ights.html

Why the Next Supreme Court Is Poised to Roll Back Gun Rights

Nuts like the NRA have advanced a radical interpretation of the Second Amendment for the past few decades, but politics and legal thinking signal a return to traditional jurisprudence.

It was a good call, imo, not to hear that case.  It would be a giant, embarrassing clusterfuck for gun control advocates and no ones rights -however you might determine them, are being infringed upon.


Some people seem to think Conn has a gun ban, they certainly like to -say- that they have an assault weapon ban, but they don't...so what is there to appeal?  Machine guns are legal in Conn.  Open carry is legal in Conn.  Concealed carry is legal in Conn.   What they have is a restriction on sales of -newly manufactured- semi-automatic rifles of a particular set that they have defined as "assault weapons" despite there being no actual assault weapons on their list; and high capacity magazines (which you can legally own but not, legally, fully load).  All previously existing rifles, even within that lazily defined set, are grandfathered in...as are out of state rifles brought in by private owners or gun dealers.   


They say these laws are targeting those firearms used in violent crimes, but it's clear that they aren't..in that pistols are a-ok and so is open and concealed carry.  It's also clear that a law that can be defeated by a piece of scotch tape is going to be ineffective at what it aims to do, whatever that actually is.  It might deserve mention that I have a little sears model .22lr that is illegal, if fully loaded, under this law...but an -actual- assault rifle that isn't.


 Now, they -did- have the chance to do something meaningful.  There was a provision in the bill that would have directly addressed handguns and handgun permitting. It was written out, and what they ended up with, due to ignorance on the part of gun control advocates regarding firearms and the relentless pressure of the pro-gun lobby..was a law that applies to no one, nothing, and cannot be sensibly expected to do what they say it will because everything that might have done that was omitted in the final draft.


This is "gun control" – american style. Sigh.   This is -exactly- why gun control won't work in this country...as inexplicable as that may sound to australians or brits.  We're apparently incapable of writing well informed and sensible legislation....and I don't expect that to change until the NRA and anti-gun loons both come down out of their perches in wonderland.