Before everyone gets all hot, bothered and indignant about Wayne-o’s attempt to out-trump Trump at the CPAC conference, I’d like to point something out. Let’s remember that it’s been a long time since the NRA dropped any pretense towards being a gun-safety organization or a sportsman’s organization or any other kind of organization devoted to what we call the ‘shooting sports.’ Because unless you want to define ‘sports’ as wandering around with a gun in your pocket to protect the neighborhood from some kind of terrorist assault, you’d better look elsewhere to join other folks who just want to have fun with their guns.
The NRA is now contributing to the political debate with arguments that range from a warmed-over version of The John Birch Society (you’re right, Ladd Everitt) to the usual insurrectionist rhetoric of the dumbest militia-type groups. And if you think I’m being extreme, just listen to Wayne-o at CPAC when he went on a rant which included statements about the ‘violence’ of the ‘paid’ demonstrators at the inauguration that resulted in numerous cops being hospitalized during the event, even though there were exactly two officers sent to local hospitals for injuries which were considered ‘minor’ by the hospitals staffs.
So Wayne-o is now a caricature of Trump himself, the boy from Fairfax exhibiting a total disregard for anything that remotely smacks of the truth, and the question needs to asked: Has the NRA become a real threat? I’m not talking about the possibility that a national concealed-carry bill might become law or that the movement to expand FBI-NICS background checks to secondary sales might get stopped dead in its tracks. I’m talking about Wayne-o’s thinly-veiled appeal for people to use their guns against the new threat from the ‘violent’ Left: “Make no mistake. If the violent left brings their terror to our communities, our neighborhoods, or into our homes they will be met with the resolve and the strength and the full force of American freedom [guns] in the hands of the American people.”
Now this statement has played again and again throughout the #resistance community on Twitter, Facebook and everywhere else. But what didn’t make the digital airwaves was the very next sentence that came out of Wayne-o’s mouth, when he said, “And make no mistake about it – we are the majority.” This line got a nice round of applause from the CPAC audience who probably felt they were the majority of the folks who ponied up a minimum of $150 for a day pass to hear Wayne-o and other CPAC-ers speak. But the truth is that what he said wasn’t true. It was a complete and utter lie and its within that falsehood that the NRA’s real weakness during the Age of Trump can be found.
Because look what happened yesterday when, according to Breitbart, we were going to see millions of God-fearing and Trump-loving Americans take to the streets to show their support for their Commander in Chief. If there was a single ‘Spirit of America’ rally which drew more than 100 persons you wouldn’t know it from the pics that have appeared (20 people in Florida, 30 in Atlanta) all over Twitter and it wasn’t some phony troll who was putting this stuff out.
If things continue to go as they’ve been going, everyone will get sick and tired of Trump. Which means they will also get sick and tired of people and organizations that continue to prop him up. The bottom line is the NRA doesn’t represent a majority of any kind. It represents a bunch of well-meaning gun owners, most of whom voted for Trump but like many people who pulled a red lever in the voting booth, are now wondering if they did the right thing. And if these folks decide that Trump’s rhetoric doesn’t deserve support, then they’ll decide that the NRA doesn’t deserve their support as well. Resist Trump, resist the NRA – it may go hand in hand.
Feb 28, 2017 @ 09:21:26
Mike, as an organization, the NRA has made a seamless transition from an insurrectionist group to a fascist one. It starts right at the top with Mr. Lapierre and his Board of Directors. I, too, am hoping that the many decent rank-and-file members of the NRA distance themselves from the extremists who run the organization. His comments sound un-American to me.
Feb 28, 2017 @ 09:30:29
Perhaps someone needs to ask Srinivas Kuchibhotla what he thinks of the far right rhetoric. Oh, wait. Its a little late for that.
http://labikes.blogspot.com/2017/02/for-srinivas-kuchibhotla.html
Feb 28, 2017 @ 17:58:08
There are ( always at least) 2 ways of interpreting the election of DJT. The first is that the American voters foolishly bought snake-oil pedaled by a master seller of snake-oil. So, if it becomes apparent that he is actually a loser, Trumpism will go away.
The other view is that voters went with DJT despite his personality. That there really were certain issues that voters were so concerned about that they would hold their noses and vote for Trump if they thought he would even try to act on them. Hint: – The wrong kind of immigration.
In this case, Trumps personal failure as President would not shift them on their issues one iota.
Likewise, from this point of view, the recent militancy of the NRA should be seen as a reaction to external factors and is not, and cannot be, the “cause” of anything. It cannot “fail” either because those concerns will remain even if the NRA disbanded tomorrow: – The wrong kind of immigration.
I think this is all similar to the Brexit. Succeeding or failing means very little to the folks who voted for it. I think they were concerned about controlling immigration. Full stop.
Oh by the way, it is a very strange form of “fascism” that is eager to reduce the power of the central government.
Also, I thought fascists were the ones who went into someone elses neighborhoods to attack people. Defending against leftist thugs who come to your own spaces maybe deserves a different name.
Feb 28, 2017 @ 18:20:41
So how would you define “leftist thugs who come into your own spaces”?
Feb 28, 2017 @ 19:31:45
Khal
There are many levels here. The NRA dude made it clear that what he had in mind was a response to the violent left coming into places where they were not invited. In other words, not going out looking for confrontation. That by itself is significant, in my way of thinking. That sounds a lot like “live and let live.” Sometimes, that is the best that one can hope for, unfortunately.
When Islamic gangs riot in France, they generally burn things in their own neighborhoods. BLM groups have ransacked a couple of neighborhoods already, like the parts of Ferguson that they are very familiar with. The black-bloc folks who disrupted ( ie, broke things and set fires and thumped people) at Milos speaking event in SF were operating in a space where they could safely assume that no one would seriously try to STOP such goings on. The Rodney King riots were largely in a predictable part of LA. And so on.
What the NRA dude said is illustrated by these examples.
I mean, if these kinds of violent, life-threatening activities were brought to a lot of neighborhoods I know well, things would get wet.
The concept of the NRA being the majority means that, if such a thing were to happen, the majority of the country would be sympathetic.
Mar 01, 2017 @ 14:19:00
I think it is time to calm things down rather than get them more spun up. If everyone was as rational as those of us writing here, neither riots would start nor Indian immigrants would be shot.