Dear fellow shooter,
I asked to write this part of the FAQ because I thought that having a liberal Democrat advocate joining the NRA would make a point regarding our firearms rights and the preservation thereof: that we're all in this together and that we had all better do as much as we can do protect those rights, NOW!
The NRA is a very controversial organization in some circles and has taken a lot of heat from both sides of the gun debate. Some pro-gunners are contemptuous of its compromises, while gun control advocates call it inflexible for NOT compromising. Whatever your view, it is a sure thing that if the NRA did not exist today, we would now be living under gun laws as bad as those in Great Britain and similar countries. "Needs-based" licensing, registration, arbitrary bans on whatever is called the criminals' "weapon of choice" by those seeking to make easy political points at the expense of law-abiding citizens, storage requirements that make defense use practically impossible...these are the laws we would almost certainly be living under today, if the NRA did not exist.
Since becoming active in the area of gun rights, I have read a bit about some of the charges made against the "inflexible" NRA...that they oppose all gun control laws, that they specifically opposed laws banning "cop killer" cartridges. The fact is that the NRA proposed an Instant Background check as a better alternative to the Brady Bill's waiting period but that proposal was turned down by the gun control advocates, despite the fact that a background check could block some sales of guns to criminals and waiting periods could not. I have also found out that the NRA supported the law banning "cop killer" bullets, once that law was refined to the point where it would not ban ordinary hunting cartridges.
Aside from their political advocacy of gun rights, the NRA also provides a number of valuable community services: gun safety materials and classes, shooting competitions and criminal justice reform policy suggestions that would punish violent criminals HARD.
Today, the media and opportunistic politicians are attacking gun rights and the NRA as never before. Please join the NRA today and help make sure that they do not get their way!
Don Baldwin
[Maintainer: Go directly to the NRA Web Page, or call the NRA Membership Division at (800) 672-3888.]
[Maintainer: As an alternative, consider joining the Gun Owners of America, reachable at (703) 321-8585.]