NRA shows signs of decline, even in Trump’s America

[Reptile]

But the group isn’t letting up on its adversarial and sometimes snarky tone
The influence of the National Rifle Association, the nation’s highest-profile Second Amendment-rights organization and a longtime powerhouse against gun-control laws, is showing signs of potential decline.

The NRA’s own tax forms show a dip in revenue. And even as the group, now under the leadership of new president Oliver North of Iran-Contra fame, continues to spend big money on federal lobbying and political campaigns, its opponents in the gun-control movement, after decades of ever more deadly mass shootings and seemingly random incidents of gun violence, have been on the rise.

During the 2018 midterm elections, for example, gun-rights groups spent some $9.9 million on outside political efforts, nearly all of that from the NRA, while gun-control groups invested a record high of $11.9 million, according to a tabulation from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Continues...

NRA shows signs of decline, even in Trump’s America

 

[Drix]

No shit.

The NRA doesn't represent the people anymore. They promote divisive politics, extol solely the republican party, and hand away freedoms like bump stocks without event using it as a tool for a concession. They're a room full of grumpy old white men who need hearing aids and can't smell the winds of change through the cigar smoke.

 

[JoseyWales]

 

[Love Machine]

Also, Ollie North as the president? Really?

 

[Drix]

Also, Ollie North as the president? Really?

Caters to the room of deaf old white men I was talking about.

But then again, those are the guys who made out like bandits before f***ing over the economy, so maybe they're just targeting their donors really well, they certainly have more money than the younger generation.

 

[Zappa]

How do they define "decline" ???
Because they spent less money lobbying last year than the anti's ???
Membership is currently at an all time high.

 

[snax]

Pisses me off thst we even have to do this shit.

 

[garandman]

Roll Call - Media Bias/Fact Check

 

[MassPete]

I'm an NRA Patron Life Member. Also a member of GOAL. Also a member of 3 local Rod and Gun Clubs. Also an NRA Instructor. Please stop bashing the NRA. They piss the Liberals off on a daily basis. We need to stick together, or We are our own worst enemies.

 

[HARRYM]

No shit.

The NRA doesn't represent the people anymore. They promote divisive politics, extol solely the republican party, and hand away freedoms like bump stocks without event using it as a tool for a concession. They're a room full of grumpy old white men who need hearing aids and can't smell the winds of change through the cigar smoke.

What other f***ing party do you think they should lobby? The party of Pelosi? The Party of Johnson/Weld? I swear to God there are some stupid f***ing gun owners out there. Jesus f***ing Christ, I'm outta here for awhile before I get a permanent ban.

 

[BrianWilson]

They're a room full of grumpy old white men who need hearing aids

Say what?

 

[Fritz the Cat]

I am an NRA Life Member. I became a member back in HS. I agree they can't represent all gun owners as I am sure many of their members are Fudds. Hell, many of the members at my local club are Fudds and my club requires a membership to the NRA. I have had the "who needs a black rifle" argument on the trap field as the Fudds know that they will be dead before anyone bans their Citori.
So, yes we need to stick together.

 

[not new guy]

The NRA is only one of several armies fighting on our side in the war for gun rights.

 

[headednorth]

No shit.

The NRA doesn't represent the people anymore. They promote divisive politics, extol solely the republican party, and hand away freedoms like bump stocks without event using it as a tool for a concession. They're a room full of grumpy old white men who need hearing aids and can't smell the winds of change through the cigar smoke.

Nice to see we're using the lefts terminology to demonize ourselves. "Old white men"? Where'd you pick that up? HuffPo? WTF?

 

[nstassel]

Caters to the room of deaf old white men I was talking about.

But then again, those are the guys who made out like bandits before f***ing over the economy, so maybe they're just targeting their donors really well, they certainly have more money than the younger generation.

I'd like a large hot coffee with cream please.

 

[whacko]

I am an NRA Life Member. I became a member back in HS. I agree they can't represent all gun owners as I am sure many of their members are Fudds. Hell, many of the members at my local club are Fudds and my club requires a membership to the NRA. I have had the "who needs a black rifle" argument on the trap field as the Fudds know that they will be dead before anyone bans their Citori.
So, yes we need to stick together.

Here's the catch......."stick together" is a relative term. I pay my dues to the NRA......nationally it's all we have.....and if that card in my wallet pisses off just one liberal control freek that makes it worth the cost of admission. However.....I damn sure have my disagreements with how the NRA counducts itself lately. They constantly let opportunities slip through the cracks......and some of the scare tactic ads are just f***ing stupid. Your not going to win antis over or get new members with their stupid social media ads. They guys in here posting about life membership.......member of 3 gun clubs....NRA certified this and NRA certified that need to wake up. The NRA pistol and rifle courses taught by the old white dudes are dying a painful wimper of a death. Know how many people attend the NRA pistol course and rifle course at my club? Close to zero.....constantly cancelling them due to no interest.......yet sig academy and other training venues practically have a wait list. The courses have not done any changes to keep up with it's prospective members. The NRA has done alot......past tense mind you......and blindly accepting what the NRA is doing is not going to secure our rights going forward. The NRA needs new leadership......they truly do.

What's the NRA done for me LATELY?

 

[Spanz]

nra has a few pretty big failings.
for one thing, it has completely failed at getting millenials into the shooting sports, so nobody is ready to carry the torch.
.
Maybe as a consequence of this, the NRA leadership is all old white males. It would be a lot harder to dump shit on the NRA if Pink Pistols, the AARP members, Gays, Legal immigrants, were all represented and testifying.

And my recurring rant: What exactly has the NRA done to help us here in MA? We are living under 2a tyranny, and yet i do not see the NRA bringing up any lawsuits....supporting gun friendly politicians here

 

[atmay]

What other f***ing party do you think they should lobby? The party of Pelosi? The Party of Johnson/Weld? I swear to God there are some stupid f***ing gun owners out there. Jesus f***ing Christ, I'm outta here for awhile before I get a permanent ban.

There’s been more new federal gun control in the last 2 years of this term than there were in the 8 years prior.

Just sayin’.


If I wasn’t already a life member with the NRA, I would’ve stopped renewing my membership a few years ago.

 

[Wildweasel]

Nra is footing the bill for the lawsuits against Maura- GOAL Donates $50K To NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund the 50K goal donated in this article is only a drop in the bucket.

 

[HARRYM]

nra has a few pretty big failings.
for one thing, it has completely failed at getting millenials into the shooting sports, so nobody is ready to carry the torch.
.
Maybe as a consequence of this, the NRA leadership is all old white males. It would be a lot harder to dump shit on the NRA if Pink Pistols, the AARP members, Gays, Legal immigrants, were all represented and testifying.

And my recurring rant: What exactly has the NRA done to help us here in MA? We are living under 2a tyranny, and yet i do not see the NRA bringing up any lawsuits....supporting gun friendly politicians here

Do you have any f***ing clue as to how much the NRA has helped out COMM2A, any clue what so ever?

 

[HARRYM]

There’s been more new federal gun control in the last 2 years of this term than there were in the 8 years prior.

Just sayin’.


If I wasn’t already a life member with the NRA, I would’ve stopped renewing my membership a few years ago.

So do you think the the fact that the Democrats have gone full bore Communists, half of the Republicans are gun banning RINOS and the Libertarians put a gun banning Liberal on their ticket may have led to this? This Country is on the verge of Communism and there seems to be no shortage of those willing to take out their manginas and take a whizz on the NRA..... I'm sure this will work....

 

[atmay]

So do you think the the fact that the Democrats have gone full bore Communists, half of the Republicans are gun banning RINOS and the Libertarians put a gun banning Liberal on their ticket may have led to this? This Country is on the verge of Communism and there seems to be no shortage of those willing to take out their manginas and take a whizz on the NRA..... I'm sure this will work....

You’re the one worried about which party any of these people belong to.

And there’s no shortage of us who aren’t fans of the NRA because the NRA sucks. Plain and simple.

Yeah, sure...they toss a bunch of money here and there. And they piss off liberals? Oh wow. Such accomplishments.

The NRA doesn’t effectively represent a lot of us. The NRA is your racist uncle that hunts deer, and talks about armed revolt when he’s good and liquored up, but then goes ahead and makes sure he complies with every law that’s ever written. Because, you know....being a “legal” gun owner is important! Because...reasons.

 

[Deleted member 67409]

nra has a few pretty big failings.
for one thing, it has completely failed at getting millenials into the shooting sports, so nobody is ready to carry the torch.
.
Maybe as a consequence of this, the NRA leadership is all old white males. It would be a lot harder to dump shit on the NRA if Pink Pistols, the AARP members, Gays, Legal immigrants, were all represented and testifying.

And my recurring rant: What exactly has the NRA done to help us here in MA? We are living under 2a tyranny, and yet i do not see the NRA bringing up any lawsuits....supporting gun friendly politicians here

I'm going to have to disagree with this.

First, "millenials" are a pretty big group. It's (I believe) anyone born from 1988-now. Demographic trends predict more movement into cities and more education-required service jobs. That means less people living in the more rural areas (think the world outside 495, not Newton). Less people living out in the woods means less hunters, less gun owners, and less young people at the gun club except for families. The NRA has zero control over population demographics. In demographics they can work with, like young veterans or young people who aren't urban, the NRA does ok but could improve. However, the NRA has never really been something every gun owner is a member of. There's what, at least 300 million guns in the country but between 5 and 6 million NRA members? My member number is 206,976,XXX. There's no way in hell the NRA has 207 million members. That would be roughly 3/5 of all Americans.

Second, owning guns and competing in the shooting sports is expensive. Older people with more stable jobs and investment portfolios simply have more money to buy guns, ammo, reloading equipment, gear, and travel to competitions. The average college student loan debt burden is $30k, but this varies regionally due to different costs of attendance in say Massachusetts versus Idaho. With law students, the average loan debt is $140k. To pay off $140k in debt, you're either going to be broke until you die or you're going to have to have a very high paying job that effectively ties you to the desk for 12-18+ hours a day. You're not going shooting with that kind of workload. Again, this is largely beyond the NRA's control.

On your other point, when I go to legislative hearings, I see the Pink Pistols (and other LGBT members of the gun community), the old folks, and legal immigrants (usually Eastern Euros). They're not en masse, but there's simply not that many gay conservatives/libertarians or immigrants who have an interest in shooting. For every guy from behind the former Iron Curtain, how many raging socialist immigrant doctors are there?

 

[HARRYM]

"The NRA doesn’t effectively represent a lot of us. The NRA is your racist uncle that hunts deer, and talks about armed revolt when he’s good and liquored up, but then goes ahead and makes sure he complies with every law that’s ever written. Because, you know....being a “legal” gun owner is important! Because...reasons."

Likely one of the most disturbing things I have ever read here.

 

[HARRYM]

What rock have you been under wrt the NRA and the shenanigans they've foisted on us?

Lets start with their support for the '34 GCA

They supported closing the MG registry back in the 80's

They vehemently opposed Heller v DC and only got on board when their attempts to stop the case failed and it was clear that they were going to WIN and what a black eye it would be if the NRA were found to be on wrong side......that would cost them money/influence

They've supported bump stock bans as well as red flag laws.....

In NH and other states including Pa we've had the NRA Rep threaten senators with bad ratings if they supported good bills.....as I recall the year was 2011 and we had veto proof super majorities in House and Senate.....the House passed by a veto proof margin a constututional carry bill, a stand your ground bill (which pretty kelly ayotte opposed as AG to gov fLynch.....a portent of things to come when she got elected to senate)...........and a third bill iirc revolving around the ward bird mess..

Hohenwarter pulled shenanigans and scare tactics and finally threatened senators with bad ratings to get them to drop the bills for the year.......what a douche nozzle......he's pulled similar shenanigans in Pa in past as well

So respectfully take your NRA pom poms and go do a rah rah cheer somewhere else

So says someone is part of the problem.

 

[HARRYM]

What rock have you been under wrt the NRA and the shenanigans they've foisted on us?

Lets start with their support for the '34 GCA

They supported closing the MG registry back in the 80's

They vehemently opposed Heller v DC and only got on board when their attempts to stop the case failed and it was clear that they were going to WIN and what a black eye it would be if the NRA were found to be on wrong side......that would cost them money/influence

They've supported bump stock bans as well as red flag laws.....

In NH and other states including Pa we've had the NRA Rep threaten senators with bad ratings if they supported good bills.....as I recall the year was 2011 and we had veto proof super majorities in House and Senate.....the House passed by a veto proof margin a constututional carry bill, a stand your ground bill (which pretty kelly ayotte opposed as AG to gov fLynch.....a portent of things to come when she got elected to senate)...........and a third bill iirc revolving around the ward bird mess..

Hohenwarter pulled shenanigans and scare tactics and finally threatened senators with bad ratings to get them to drop the bills for the year.......what a douche nozzle......he's pulled similar shenanigans in Pa in past as well

So respectfully take your NRA pom poms and go do a rah rah cheer somewhere else

You still hiding under your bed, head wrapped in Aluminum Foil, waiting for "them" to come and get you while still pretending NH is a RED state....

 

[Spanz]

Do you have any f***ing clue as to how much the NRA has helped out COMM2A, any clue what so ever?

i have not heard of a single instance.
So, how much actual money HAS the NRA given to goal/comm2a?

if you can tally up a few million bux, i will change my mind

 

[HARRYM]

You want to take another wag at the grammar of your last statement?

Ya, I'll put in who when you admit you are a brainless twit.

 

[sweetride]

The first rule of media: report what you want to happen and push it until everyone believes it and makes it happen. Why is anyone taking this seriously? It is pure propaganda and not supported by any facts or statistics

 

[SgtHal75]

The NRA needs it’s Alexandria Ocasio Cortez