So, yesterday I get an email from the boys in Fairfax telling me that the NRA is once again doing their annual meeting which will be held in Houston this year.
Hey! Wait just one goddamn minute! I thought the NRA was out of business. I thought that between the scandal with Russia, the fight with Olllie North, the big investigation by the New York State Attorney General and Wayne-o buying millions of dollars of clothing at some shop on Rodeo Drive, that America’s ‘oldest civil-rights organization was ka-put.
As Grandpa would say, vus machts-du? (read: what’s going on?)
I’ll tell you what’s going on. What’s going on is that you don’t take an organization which does care and feeding of its membership the way the NRA cares and feeds its membership and assume that things are going to hell in a handbasket just because they’ve had a couple of bad years.
I’m also a member of the Audubon Society, the Wilderness Fund, and the National Parks Conservancy Organization, or whatever they call themselves. When was the last time I went to a national meeting of any of these organizations and said hello to people who I have seen at other meetings over the years? Never. These organizations don’t have meetings.
I also make monthly donations to at least three national, gun-control organizations. I guess this makes me a member of those organizations as well. Except there’s no real membership relationship to these organizations at all, unless you want to call it a ‘relationship’ when I get an email asking me to send them more cash.
I went to my first NRA national meeting in 1980. It was held in Philadelphia, believe it or not. Ronald Reagan showed up and gave a speech – big deal. I spent all my time at this meeting talking to gun writers like Elmer Keith and Skeeter Skelton whose stuff I regularly read in the monthly NRA magazine, American Rifleman, whose articles on gun history put the Smithsonian to shame.
Since that first show, I have gone to NRA national meetings in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, and a few other states. Since I am a Lifetime Endowment member (which means they can’t throw me out no matter what I say) there’s always a special lounge where I can relax, have a cup of coffee, and say hello to Wayne-o when he drops by.
Not only can I go to a national show ever year, but I can also go to gun shows every weekend which are sponsored by the NRA. The only difference between those shows and the national NRA show is that I can buy and sell guns at a local gun show. At the national NRA show all I can do is play with the guns.
Several weeks ago I posted a column on Shannon Watts and her MOMS where I pointed out that her group had more activities coming up than what was listed on the NRA website. But the great work being done by Shannon focuses almost entirely on appearances before state legislators considering new gun-control laws. They aren’t social events per se, and this is where the NRA has everyone in Gun-control Nation completely beat.
When I was in college, I had a girlfriend whose father never missed going to New Orleans for the annual Shriners jamboree. The fact that the Shriners operated these wonderful hospitals around the country was taken for granted and was entirely beside the point. This guy never missed the national binge so he could get together with all his Shriner friends.
For those of you in Gun-control Nation who think the NRA is one step away from being good and dead, you better think again. If you’re a gun nut, and there are plenty of us still around, being able to wander through 14 acres of gun displays and gun-related crap is a joy to behold.
Mar 17, 2022 @ 10:00:03
Maybe if the idiots spouting gun control would put the criminals in jails for the shootings and the gun runners in jail THAT would make a difference. I have yet to see a firearm jump up on its own, and pull the trigger by itself without a HUMAN being pulling the trigger! Go ask the Ukrainians right now about gun control.
Mar 17, 2022 @ 10:16:02
I’m one of those idiots although it’s quite presumptuous of you to call us names since there are millions of us you don’t know who wish to do something about the gun-related carnage in America. Yes, Ukrainians need guns because they are being invaded by a superpower with tanks, artillery, planes, etc. Americans don’t need to be invaded because they do an excellent job of killing each other and themselves with the help of guns. Tell me how you kill or injure 26 people in less than 30 seconds with anything other than an assault rifle.
Mar 17, 2022 @ 10:39:11
Interesting…since you brought up the “assault rifle” and before I respond to your comment, what is your definition of an “assault rifle?”
Mar 17, 2022 @ 10:56:33
WHO IS PULLING THE TRIGGER! START THERE WITH YOUR NONSENSE!
Mar 17, 2022 @ 12:29:10
Ok, I’ll start there. Now the second place to start is looking at the murder rate in Ukraine and the murder rate in the U.S. Then at the end people get mad because they can’t stand the facts, they just have feelings and yell.
Mar 17, 2022 @ 10:04:10
I hope all the GVP crowd reads this article. I will post it on social media.
Mar 17, 2022 @ 11:10:19
Only sad part is the Ukraine government waited till it was being invaded to give its citizens military rifles. They needed to be training with them. And, if Uncle Sam ever gets into a major war again, then, sort of flinging nukes at each other, we will need a significant size armed forces that is not figuring out a military rifle for the first time. We’ve been there and done that and that’s how the NRA actually got started.
Now, on to that 14 acres of cool stuff!
Mar 17, 2022 @ 13:47:06
“They needed to be training with them.”
After the USSR collapsed I worked with a Russian guy who had grown up in Russia. He said that every year in whatever they called Gym Class, they would have one session “training” with an AK-47. That consisted of being given one magazine with six rounds in it. They would each fire one round on semi-automatic, then switch to full-auto to fire the remaining five rounds. That was it. That was probably very similar to the training Ukrainian civilians are receiving.
Armed with AKs, I’d be tempted to argue that “marksmanship” training is close to pointless, but that’s my personal prejudices showing.
Mar 18, 2022 @ 09:04:26
“Tell me how you kill or injure 26 people in less than 30 seconds with anything other than an assault rifle.”
Please provide an example(be VERY specific) where this has happened.
And, while you are at it, I repeat the request for you to define ‘assault rifle’. It seems our elected officials struggle with that not so simple request.
Please tell me what ‘A shoulder thing that goes up’ is.
Oh, your original question? The Oklahoma City bombing comes to mind. Or does the massive body count of 9/11 tickle our need?
Mar 18, 2022 @ 10:49:22
In Dayton, Ohio in 2019, 26 were shot in under 30 seconds. Police responded in 32 seconds and it was too late. I use assault rifle to describe a semi-auto, high velocity weapon, such as an AR-15 style weapon, which can be fed by a magazine holding up to 100 rounds. It has a configuration designed for the military. As far as Ukraine is concerned, they are not an OECD World Bank country. Many countries have higher homicide rates than the US, but none of them are OECD high income countries. Comparisons in homicide rates must be with countries of similar wealth or they are meaningless.
Mar 19, 2022 @ 02:34:02
Thank you for your description of “assault rifle.”
According to the Defense Intelligence Agency, “assault rifles” are “short, compact, selective-fire weapons that fire a cartridge intermediate in power between a submachine gun and rifle cartridges.” All assault rifles are capable of automatic fire.
I believe before one/people can address a problem there needs to be a clear understanding and definition of the problem and feelings have no place in the discussion.
With so many definitions of “assault rifle” how can the problem be addressed?
Mar 19, 2022 @ 13:10:02
“According to the Defense Intelligence Agency, ‘assault rifles’ are ‘short, compact, selective-fire weapons that fire a cartridge intermediate in power between a submachine gun and rifle cartridges.’ All assault rifles are capable of automatic fire.”
You DO realize it’s only us who are impressed by formal “definitions”, right?
It’s sort of like feeling self-righteous and vindicated when someone uses “magazine” and “clip” interchangeably. No one cares, including most shooters.
Mar 20, 2022 @ 08:14:20
So, your typical Glock 17, that can hold 33 round magazines would not be capable of that kind of carnage?
Mar 22, 2022 @ 10:14:16
Hey, Gabor
I’d like to thank you for bringing the 2019 mass shooting to my attention.
It does bring up some rather interesting questions.
Officials released the number of bullets fired by the shooter as 41.
Of the nine deceased persons:
One was recorded as suffering a single wound.
Two were recorded as suffered gunshot wounds.
Six were recorded as suffering from ‘multiple gunshot wounds’
I could guess that ‘wounds’ would mean two and ‘multiple wounds’ would mean three or more.
Two of the deceased were struck by police bullets. The coroner addressed them as superficial in one death and fatal in the other. The fatal police wound was deemed irrelevant because the victim had been struck by the active shooter previously.
There were 17 additional injured by gunshots. Those wounded are not broken down by number of wounds.
That’s a total of 23 (minimum) hits on moving targets by a shooter who is not believed to have any kind of extensive training. That’s a hit rate of 56% (minimum).
Police have a hit rate of 18% in shootings.
So, the shooter happened to three times more effective than your typical police officer?
Police hit the suspect THIRTY times(in twelve seconds)before he was stopped. He was wearing body armor, so that could make sense.
Although, reports did mention he wasn’t wearing it ‘correctly’. WTF?
It has not been shared what weapons the police used or how many shots they fired. Given an 18% hit rate(an accepted, general observation of police shootings),the number of shots they put into a crowded, chaotic scene would be 166.
That’s a lot of lead flying around a crowded center of nightlife.
Of course, the authorities have no intention of providing facts that might open them to liability.
The press is completely uninterested in doing any kind of reporting that contradicts the narrative.
So, while we know a lot about the Dayton shooting, a lot more is not part of the official narrative. Why?
Apr 12, 2022 @ 12:11:53
A little update for Gabor:
I read the preliminary Dayton PD report.
The suspect fired 43 times.
The 26 victims sustained 69 gunshot wounds.
The cops fired 66 times.
The coroner reported the suspect was hit 30 times.
Simple math says 99 wounds were caused by 109 bullets fired. That hit ratio is off the charts.
Your assertion that the gunman did this all by himself is obviously wrong.
The media doesn’t care that the facts don’t add up.