By Miguel A. Faria, M.D.
New Zealand and Australia like to brag about their purported success with gun control — essentially all guns in Australia, and the banning of military-style semiautomatic firearms in New Zealand. Their self-congratulatory pronouncements are more imaginary than real. Gun buy-back programs have not been a total success and violent crime persists in Australia, as it does in Great Britain and threatens to do in New Zealand.
New Zealand passed draconian gun control laws in April of 2019 in the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque shootings. Australia had done the same after the Port Arthur shooting in 1996 when a crazed assailant opened fire and shot 35 people.
Many New Zealanders in 2019, reacted just as Australians did in 1996. Passions were high and the government reacted quickly and without serious deliberation. Not letting the respective crises go to waste, draconian gun legislation thus was passed in the heat of the moment in both countries.
Neither Australia nor New Zealand had or have a strong national organization standing by to protect the rights of the people under such circumstances that could equal the National Rifle Association (NRA) in scope or Gun Owners of America (GOA) in tenacity. Organizations dedicated to protecting their members from freedom-destroying legislation, particularly knee-jerk responses to tragedy.
Australia, a semi-arid, isolated continent and a vast nation-state, in many ways parallels the history of the United States. In the 1850s and 1860s, it had gold rushes and pioneering settlers reminiscent of our own western migration. In World War I and World War II, it fought with the allies.
Australia remained a subject of Great Britain until 1986, when the last ties with the British crown were dissolved. With only 19 million people, Australia has impressive fauna that includes plenty of varmints, marsupials, dingoes (that wreak havoc on livestock), as well as large rats and other rodents. Yet, hunting has become prohibitively difficult for all but a handful of Australians with private lands and the usual connections.
The ban on most civilian firearms and the disarmament of ordinary Australians has left criminals free to roam the countryside as they please. Bandits, of course, kept their guns. Like in America, only the law-abiding, by definition, obey the law. The Australian government has responded to persistent violent crimes by passing still more laws, and just two years later, in 1998, Bowie knives and other blades and items, including handcuffs, were banned.
In Australia today, police can enter one’s house and search for guns, copy the hard drive of a computer, seize records, and do it all without a search warrant. It’s the law that police can go door to door searching for weapons that have not been surrendered in their much-publicized gun buy-back program. They used the previous registration and firearm license lists to check for lapses and confiscate non-surrendered firearms.
The ban has also made it more difficult for women to be safe from predators or abusive partners. As noted in The Samurai, The Mountie, and The Cowboy by Dave Kopel, 25% of all homicides are spousal killings with 75% of men doing the killing. Australian men are less likely to use guns because bare physical force frequently suffices for killing their wives or girlfriends. Twenty-five percent use no weapon at all.
On the other hand, women most frequently used a gun to defend themselves from abusing husbands, boyfriends, or sexual predators. Now with the strict gun ban, it is more difficult for women to defend themselves. This situation is somewhat similar to the US experience that men can kill during domestic violence with whatever tool is around, if not their bare hands and feet, but women need guns to protect themselves.
In my book, America, Guns, and Freedom (2019), I also cite examples of women being killed by abusive husbands and boyfriends in the US while waiting to obtain the firearms they bought because of waiting periods and prolonged background checks.
In Great Britain, the same phenomenon occurred following the 1996 massacre of schoolchildren by a madman in Dunblane, Scotland. The British government banned firearms and ordered the confiscation of most guns.
Following the ban, a horrific crime wave took place in England and Scotland that gradually stabilized at a very high rate. In fact, last year London surpassed New York City in serious crimes and murders, something that has not happened since the time of Jack the Ripper and the Whitechapel murders two hundred years ago (1888-1891).
As in Australia, British women have been disproportionally affected, with assaults and rapes leading the crime wave. To make matters worse, women can’t adequately defend themselves. Self-defense is not a valid reason to use weapons of any type. The only fully legal self-defense product in Great Britain currently allowed is the rape alarm. Women have been instructed not to display a knife or any other weapon in order to ward off a potential assailant.
With these absurdities in the laws, women continue to add to assault, murder and rape statistics, hapless victims, with no right to armed self-defense. When confronted by a rapist, British women have been instructed to run, and if outrun, to shout. The use of any type of weapon to fend off home invasion or to deter a rapist — knives or, God forbid, guns — is forbidden. If all else fails, the only item that a woman is permitted to use is a rape alarm!
This is the status, or rather the nadir of absurdity and injustice, that human dignity has reached for law-abiding citizens in Great Britain, where criminals are coddled, while alleged social and economic inequalities justifications are made for their crimes. Sadly, we have seen some of this occurring in the United States in the wake of the COVID-19 “pandemic” and the “peaceful protestors” in the George Floyd riots. And most on the left want to bring the same restrictions to the United States.
Women need the National Rifle Association just as much as the NRA needs women to support it. Today the NRA is under heavy fire, and it needs our support. As we have seen, the NRA is still needed to protect our rights, so that we will not go the way of Great Britain, Australia or New Zealand.
Yes, the NRA needs to do some hard work to get its house in order, but we should not join in to give aid and comfort to the sworn enemies of liberty who wish nothing but its dissolution to make the job of gun prohibition easier.
The media, I have learnt, is an excellent guide as to who might be our friends, and conversely, our enemies. That the NRA is under heavy fire by the liberal media and their allies in the increasingly socialist Democrat Party should tell you something that is well encapsulated in the 4th century Arthsastra statecraft dictum: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
Think about it. They intend to do us no favors by disbanding it or reforming it to make it more efficient.
Returning to the even larger issue: the $64,000 question is whether citizens, particularly women of the Anglosphere nations, will wake up from their slumber, break away from the authoritarian leftist parties who take them for granted, and support candidates that support their right to protect themselves with the best tools possible.
That alone will go a long way, at least in the United States, to ensuring their dignity and their natural rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in an increasingly uncertain and dangerous world.
Miguel A. Faria, M.D., is Associate Editor in Chief in socioeconomics, politics, medicine, and world affairs of Surgical Neurology International (SNI). This article is excerpted, updated, and edited from his book, America, Guns, and Freedom: A Journey Into Politics and the Public Health & Gun Control Movements (2019)
The NRA supported The National Firearms Act of 1934.
The NRA supported The Federal Firearms Act of 1938.
The NRA supported The Gun Control Act of 1968.
And the NRA let the Hughes Amendment of 1986 to the GCA slide without a fight.
The NRA supported the gun free zone act.
The NRA helped write the 1994 Assault weapons ban.
The NRA Tried to kill the heller case.
The NRA suggested and supported the bump stock ban.
The NRA supports red flag laws.
Let it die and join GOA and SAF.
Proudly Negotiating Rights Away since 1934,with supposed friends like that who needs unAmerican gun grabbers.
Exactly. Why I left decades ago. You cannot reform an organization who has compromised every chance it got. Kill it off. There are a lot more NO COMPROMISE true Second Amendment organizations out there.
Why didn’t I hear from you on Guntalk today?
Actually the NRA needs to have the power structure “reimagined” into an equally no compromised gun rights organization as GOA or 2nd AF. Get rid of LaPierre and friends, move incorporation to Tx and DO SOMETHING besides beg for money. The NRA still has recognition as the biggest pro gun organization, now it can become the biggest GUN RIGHTS group with a little thought and steering away from FUDD central.
Thank you for stating what should have been obvious to Dr. Faria and the rest of the well-meaning people at Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership (who are actually much more pro-RKBA than the organization name would suggest today).
The NRA is not, and never has been, a pro-RKBA organization.
It was formed to support Rifle Marksmanship training, and since its inception the NRA did a good job of that (at least until they supported the ridiculous federal “Assault Weapons Ban”).
As a result of their original emphasis on marksmanship training and competition, the NRA did become one of the leading proponents of safe handling of firearms – this too is a role they did very well (although somewhat less well in recent years since they are more interested in revenue than any of their programs).
BUT no part of the NRA mission ever included supporting the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Perhaps part of the reason might be that, at least in the century when the NRA was founded, no one was attacking the Right to Keep and Bear RIFLES.
Whatever the reason, the NRA is actually the largest and best funded organization lobbying AGAINST the Second Amendment. Personally I don’t think anyone in the NRA “Leadership” really opposes the Second Amendment. The problem is that despite having supported every single piece of federal anti-gun legislation since 1934, the NRA has somehow convinced the current generation of gun owners that the NRA is on our side – maintaining that myth is essential to their cash flow – but even more important to their cash flow is having a constant anti-gun threat that they can claim to be fighting against.
The Republican Hat Trick taking the House, the Senate, and the White House in 2016, was the NRA’s worst nightmare. Suddenly gun owners felt safe that a Republican-majority congress wasn’t going to be passing any anti-gun legislation. People even thought we might make a little progress towards recovering some of the rights we had lost in previous “compromise” laws.
Suddenly the NRA didn’t have a national threat to use in those near-daily letters and emails. Rather than change their focus to actually supporting gun owners by lobbying in support of bills like the Hearing Protection Act and National Reciprocity, the NRA chose a different path. If there wasn’t any real threat, the NRA would create one. Their great chance came immediately after the Las Vegas mass shooting. It was Wayne LaPierre himself who first went on national TV to call for a Bump Stock Ban. Then, when the Republican majority in congress refused to support his Bump Stock Ban, it was WLP again leading the attack. This time, by personally visiting the White House to assure President Trump that American gun owners really wanted a bump stock ban. Prior to that meeting, everyone at the national level always said that bump stocks were perfectly legal under existing law and that the only way to ban bump stocks would be for Congress to change the law. But then the day after Wayne met with Trump, suddenly Trump discovered that the ATF could simply change their reading of the existing law to mean exactly the opposite of what their own technical experts had always said. Does anyone really believe that Trump came up with this idea all by himself?
I agree. We need a new and stronger NRA.
And that can begin with a replacement for Wayne La Pierre.
We need GOA to have the scope of the NRA while keeping their tenacity.
Somebody never lived in or visited Australia or NZ.
Not high on my list of places to visit,I don’t even do chit holes in this nation, avoid them like the plague.
What would be different if he had? I’m curious.
Also, if the self-defense laws in the UK and Australia are as bad as they’re painted (pretty sure the UK is, less sure about Australia), then government has clearly gone all-in on the wrong side. It’s things like this that have convinced me that the progressive Left truly is a death cult.
Compared to the USA and Europe, there isn’t much violent crime there, whether before or after Howard’s ban on unregistered weapons.
They are making up for that by importing Muslim’s who hate the western way of life.
I lived there for 15 years. Most of the Lebs are in the Sydney area, and before I left, the big surge in immigration was from India.
Live in both and neither was prepared to fight for their firearms freedoms.
Gee. I was trolling. You guys are right. You do have the right to bear arms. I can see how well the tactical gear and AR-15s will stop the great might of the American military if the government so decides.
Now if you’d only been so passionate about wearing face masks than bearing arms your elected TV personality president wouldn’t be telling y’all to inject disinfectant – but he can make an elephant, camera and TV 🤣
As a first rate citizen of a countries that have retained their first rate AAA ratings (unlike the US) I have the right to give the finger back and enjoy my own opinions too. I’m not brainwashed by the media into thinking I live in the freest and best country in the world.
I embrace multicultural nations, we’re all equal right? To think otherwise it’s racist!! Maybe you should too, then you wouldn’t be rioting?
Muslims aren’t the source of evil, projecting your way of democracy on other countries has caused this terrorism. How many Innocents has America killed over the years? How many continue to be killed because of the poverty enforced on them by invasion for oil or strategic real estate.
Just food for thought
I’m not a firearms expert, 23lr was a typo. But if that’s your comeback maybe you should call the other guy to make you a peanut butter sandwich because anything more complicated is probably beyond your high school grade- I’m sure he’s well traveled if you count going to Texas and other states. Hunting for chicks with dick’s not included.
ISPEWNONSTOPBS
Summarized any post from Virginia for you.
Virginia, with all due respect: you are lost in you own BS! America have done a lot more good than the rest of the world combine, except for the communism that came from Germany and the USSR!
“I can see how well the tactical gear and AR-15s will stop the great might of the American military if the government so decides.”
Uuuuhhh, like, uuuhhhhmmmm, you know, totally worked for the Vietnamese and Afghans, and even the tribes in Iraq. Of course, there is that failure of modern arms against the Arabs in the Ottoman Empire. Or, the defeat of the vaunted British Army by a scruffy bunch of colonists, and their primitive weapons.
That “modern army” trope is just so easily debunked. Up your game a bit, there.
Your posts are all composed of the usual tropes of projected racism. So many logical fallacies and you make them knowingly. That is the measure of your morality and character.
“I can see how well the tactical gear and AR-15s will stop the great might of the American military if the government so decides.”
I really hate to burst your bubble, ‘virginia’, but the smart money is always on the insurgents. Ask the Russians what they thought about combat in Afghanistan. They didn’t like it one bit, and turned tail to run back home to the safety of their ‘родина’ (homeland). Why, you might ask? Simple, their attack helicopters kept exploding on them when they attacked the insurgents. The hillbillies packed a mean punch.
Over 80 percent of the US military votes conservative. There will be more than enough of them that will join us, and bring their ‘toys’ with them. Really fun toys, that a single soldier can carry with them, that can destroy a tank, armored personnel carrier, or aircraft in flight.
And, I’m quite curious, who will the military choose to attack? Because we will be indistinguishable from the population at large. They aren’t going to like being ordered to slaughter women and little kids. And while a few military units *may* open fire on us (China slaughtered the Tienanmen Square protesters by bring in troops from way out in the sticks, who didn’t like the Beijing ‘city-slickers’) , the vast majority of US troops will not, because they will realize what that will mean for their families back home (free clue – It won’t be good).
Those are just a few of the ways US citizens could defeat the US military, dearie.
And BTW, my education level is substantially higher than ‘high school’ and I’ve traveled the world with my passport (in the 80s and 90s). London was neat. I found the French youth insufferably rude to Americans, while the adults were quite pleasant to me. It just might have to do with the French adults remembering just what we did to get rid of the Germans that invaded them… 🙂
Why is it so many people do not understand that there is no mechanism available to the NRA donors (members) for “fixing” the NRA? That the leadership and BOD of NRA fixed the NRA by setting rules and bylaws that prohibit fixing the NRA?
I am all for people squandering their money any which way they choose; I have no title to their funds. However, I am puzzled at people squandering their minds.
Didn’t that occur with the Cincinnati Revolt?
Where the by-laws do not allow certain issues to be challenged. Maybe some of the older guys can chime in as I never quite understood what transpired.
As memory serves, the current rules came out of the attempted revolt. The way they rewrote them as current there would be no chance of members doing likewise in the future. WLP rigged his own little thiefdom and as a result he faces what has occurred,his punishment should be his head on a pike as a warning to future would be petty tyrant thieves.
“The way they rewrote them as current there would be no chance of members doing likewise in the future.”
I can see how it might have happened – There would be nothing stopping a team effort between Bloomie and another wealthy group from buying their own members, and then voting to shut the NRA down cold. If there’s one thing Leftist have in abundance, it’s wealthy backers.
Theoretically, their members could shutter NRA and literally (and I know what that actually means) invite the Leftist media to video the gun library being thrown in a metal shredder to the sounds of cheering demanding moms.
They *could* do that, even including the priceless ones like the Lewis and Clark air rifle…
“I can see how it might have happened – There would be nothing stopping a team effort between Bloomie and another wealthy group from buying their own members, and then voting to shut the NRA down cold.”
That’s how Bill Gates built his empire.
The Cincinnati Revolt broke the back of the original pro-gun control Fudd NRA. Unfortunately, over time the fixes put in place by Knox and Carter fell apart as Wayne took control and then completely walled himself off from being challenged. The way it currently exists the only fix for NRA would be for court orders to set aside the entire structure and give control back to the members. With the charter still in a slave state like NY, this seems unlikely to ever happen. I still have my membership, but my donations all go to GOA and SAF, not a dime to NRA until Wayne is gone and receiving no money. He and his parasite buddies on the board are sucking their host dry.
I don’t see how it could be structured to thwart a hostile takeover, especially if purchased memberships could pack the board.
Could there be a way?
“I don’t see how it could be structured to thwart a hostile takeover, especially if purchased memberships could pack the board.
Could there be a way?”
Yes, it is called a “poison pill” clause. Creative lawyers make careers of this, working for publicly traded corporations. But no matter, like our own Republic, it all depends on having people who can deftly handle a double-edged knife by the blade only. Evil bent on destruction will always find a way.
Retain the stacked 3 year terms with 7 members elected each year. Remember there are more than 5 million of us, so the ability to do a purchase membership takeover would be expensive, likely to fail, and leave the NRA with a windfall of cash that could be used to help unseat vulnerable antigun congress critters. Having a smaller, active board would help the membership to know who the board members are and help us demand real accountability. The current 70 something member board is rediculous and was pushed by Wayne to make it harder to oust him, not protect NRA.
There are many Gun owners in Australia. Reports actually show there are as many today as before all the regulation crud. Hunter, competition, farm workers and owners have no issue getting certain guns. They don’t have the variety as before but even during the big gun melting scam, a third of the guns were destroyed. 2/3rds still remain.
Can’t say they can’t own guns. Many still do. Their laws are stupid as most gun laws are though. Don’t stop squat.
Can the Australians keep their guns at home? In urban Canada, I believe you store your handgun at your local police station. Heard that from a Maple Leaf’r.
In Canada you have to store your handguns trigger locked in a suitable locked container, or stored in a suitable safe. In practice that means most owners trigger lock their handguns and store them in a safe because the rules aren’t all that clear. The police would not like to store guns at their stations, but you could store your handgun at a range if it had the facilities for it.
Cold North, Prndll, Matin Buck, Former Paratrooper, and the rest of the commentators here suggest that as a practical manner, guns cannot be used for home self-defense, not to mention anywhere else — in Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, etc? Is that correct?
Informed citizeness if you believe I stated that as a practical manner, guns cannot be used for home self-defense, not to mention anywhere else — in Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, etc? You would be incorrect. What did I post that would make you think I have ever made such a claim?
Victoria
I have enough firearms at home to make me a “super owners” according to left wing media.
All firearms are kept at home here except for some clubs and businesses who hire them out.
There are five gun shops within an hour of my house. Closest is 10 minutes.
“I have enough firearms at home to make me a “super owners” according to left wing media.”
As a “super owner”, do you have a horde, cache, or arsenal?
Sam
Two safes in the house and trying to make sure my wife doesn’t see the third one in my workshop.
“Two safes in the house and trying to make sure my wife doesn’t see the third one in my workshop.”
Make the third one look like a coffee table, or ice chest. Or maybe a go kart.
Sam
Great minds think alike.
It’s behind the upright freezer I use for bait and extra venison. Put the freezer on wheels a while back
“It’s behind the upright freezer I use for bait and extra venison. Put the freezer on wheels a while back”
Brilliant !!
But I still need to know if you have a horde, cache or arsenal. We have to keep these things straight, for the children.
I am short one gun to have enough . I believe I said that many guns ago too.
Without a sole WLP toadie,completely gut the organization of any one or thing La Pew Pew.
The enemy of my enemy is my enemy’s enemy. Nothing more, nothing less.
The NRA remains a cancer on the 2nd Amendment movement, regardless of who else hates them at any given moment.
The enemy of my enemy is a resource to be exploited.
That is probably the single best definition I’ve ever heard. That whole “friend” thing is just insane. The US exploited the Soviet in WW2, and the Soviet exploited the US, but we were NEVER freinds.
Sometimes yes about ‘…a resource to be exploited,’ but the NY AG and that office’s allies are *strengthened* by taking on the NRA whether they win or not. There is nothing to be gained by propping up its corpse.
“The NRA remains a cancer on the 2nd Amendment movement, regardless of who else hates them at any given moment.”
Never truer words uttered.
I don’t think 1888 was 200 years ago…
If you want to use evidence to support our position, make sure the math checks out!
NRA is boring and weak. They appeal to people who buy Patriotic books half written by Hannity or Limbaugh. They never tire of 2 minute hates against the Democrat Progressive scum but never goad the GOP into advancing our rights an inch. Hughes remains, ATF wanted suppressor and SBR deregulation yet we get nothing, no reciprocity, no repeal of interstate handgun purchase ban. Instead we get an illegal accessory ban and red flag laws. F Orange Man, F the NRA.
Republicans are far more effective at passing gun laws then Democrats. Sadly most here prefer to be blind to this. This is not an endorsement of Democrats but after Trump I will not be voting for either the the major parties. The Republicans are chipping away at freedom at a slightly slower pace than Democrats but Trump seems to have really advanced that on the 2A side. This next year will be very interesting. I fully expect to see a semi auto ban and confiscation regardless of who gets elected.
Would love to see the NRA become something it never has been. A massive, powerful foe to the Hoplophobic attacks on the Second Amendment.
It has never been anything remotely close to that and under WLP, it has often been that proverbial Wold in Sheep’s Clothing.
What funds I am able to give are supporting the GOA, the SAF and the Arizona CDL.
If somebody manages to create a new NRA out of the wreckage of the criminal prosecutions that are coming, I will welcome that. Until then, fuck ’em.
It’s too late in the game for lobbying organizations. Time to get serious.
What a bunch of redneck hyperbole. No doubt sponsored by sometime who likes to dress in tacticool camo and waddle his fat arse to the gun range.
I have lived in the UK, and now Australia. We can buy firearms, the range is less than in America, but who needs fully automatic firearms unless you plan on shooting up a school or mall.
How many mass looking events has Australia has?? I’ll let you look that up. How many mass shootings in the UK….. Look that up too! How many days between mass shootings in America??
You guys over there are nailing gun control. Your women are protecting themselves really well from rape with AR15s…. (Sarcasm)
If you’ve not worked out that the NRA is Funded by arms dealers you need to reeducate yourself.
I owe multiple firearms, I wish for no more, and I am proud to live is such progressive and free countries (albeit with large rodents 😂😂😂🥱).
“but who needs fully automatic firearms unless you plan on shooting up a school or mall.”
I know plenty of folks who have select fire weapons and not one of them shot up a school or mall. Then again, I wonder if you had such a weapon if you would feel compelled to do such a thing?
You address mass shootings without placing the blame on the perpetrator but on firearms. When an arsonists sets fire to you blame the fire?
The article did not state women needed an AR 15 to deter rapists, what the article was addressing was the fact women are made vulnerable in societies where self defense is unlawful. Somehow you prefer to disallow self defense? You prefer victims so those icky ideas of being responsible for your own safety can go away?
If you are in fact a firearm owner, why do you wish to control what firearms or how many I own? Why are you more supportive of the criminal that the victim?
How are woman made to feel vulnerable?
You are allowed concealed carry!
What do you use your military grade firearms for? Defending the peace?
You ask what firearms I own – in Australia I have .223, 23LR, 12g, .177 9mm. Admittedly the magazines are reduced in capacity and without having a primary producer licence all bar the 9mm are not semi auto.
I don’t need full auto weapons.
Can’t you see that access to large caliber weaponry and full/semi auto guns is not working it for curtailing the horrors of mass shootings…… Maybe it’s time to rethink the strategy to protect your young and vulnerable? The way that we’ve done it in Australia and the UK is by restricting access. And it is obvious that this has worked.
How many of these mass shootings have been promptly stopped by residents with full auto weapons in the name of defending the peace?
Good bless those lost souls. It’s a shame they had to die because Billy Bob wouldn’t relinquish his Barrett 50cal.
“What do you use your military grade firearms for? ”
Whatever legal activity we want. The only “reason”, “need”, “utilitarian” consideration about the possession of firearms is the people must keep parity, as a militia, with the government controlled standing army (which has been the suppressor of nations since forever).
To borrow a shop-worn phrase, “The armed individual is a citizen; the unarmed are subjects.” In the US, we have been at war among ourselves over the establishment of a royalty (monarchists, those who would see the nation run by inheritence through an enlightened elite), and democrats (little “d” intended) who believe a people are capable of self-governance. Our founders were well aware of this, providing a constitution originally designed to frustrate, not enable the central government.
It’s a Bill Of Rights not of needs I should have the Right to own whatever I can afford. The Right of self defense is universal. Use whatever is available to protect yourself.
I don’t give a flying fuck what sort of guns you think I need.
(never mind the fact that you aren’t even in the same country)
the number one purpose for our right to bear arms, is to ensure that the population remains armed, to guard against tyranny or a malicious government.
the people have the ultimate power.
“You ask what firearms I own – in Australia I have .223, 23LR,…”
Pray tell, what’s 23LR?
I would think a self-proclaimed ‘expert’ like yourself who so much smarter than simpleton Americans would know there’s no such thing as 23LR… 🙂
Again, the article addressed places where self defense is illegal, not the US. You are conflating issues.
Military grade does not mean what you think it means. It is a definition that requires interchanability of different manufacturers for the same products whether they are firearms, trucks or even tent poles. It also requires certain qualities of material and production to follow certain guidelines. Your cell phone is based on the same requirements. Do you really need a military grade cell phone? That question sounds ridiculous just like suggesting military grade firearms are somehow dangerous.
Access to fully automatic firearms has been restricted for a very long time. Any of my semi automatic firearms work exactly the same as yours regardless of their appearance or caliber.
How many mass shootings have occurred with a full automatic firearm? Other than a few terrorists outside the US, that is not happening here. Some have used handguns, shotguns or semi automatic firearms, but a true automatic firearm, not happening. Maybe we should better address the causes of these crimes instead of just bandwagon bans.
How many Billy Bobs are shooting up places with the Barret. 50? Speaking of hyperbolic statements.
Why do you restrict access of anything from people who are not committing crimes? Sounds a bit authoritarian, even fascists.
Right, and we don’t blame Jack Daniels or Ford for when a drunk runs someone down. Its tough to apply reason, logic and truth when dealing with others who have none.
“…I have lived in the UK, and now Australia….”
And you are on a US web site about firearms why?
Unlike you, I like to breakfast my understanding of the world and read widely.
Have you got a passport?
I like to broaden my understanding. Damn autocorrect.
“Unlike you, I like to breakfast my understanding of the world and read widely.
Have you got a passport?”
Maybe we should have left New Guinea to the Aussies.Their a tough lot.
Haha. I see where your going with that.
How did Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam work of for you?
“We’re involved in a strategic draw down” – after having our arses handed to us!
You guys are doing great over in the states. I wouldn’t be throwing rocks sitting in a glass house.
How’s the economy going? Healh care? Crime? Unemployment? Poverty? Sure looks like America is great from our side of the world 😂😂😂😂 you’ve got covid-19 all inder control too – but only if you watch Fox news.
You’ve got a big military though and lots of guns……. That’s the main thing though….. Right??
I forgot. How many Americans died in PNG?? It sure was a cake walk for you. Obviously pretty tough for you too.
That’s quite a display of your tolerance and acceptance of others not like yourself, Ginny. I wasn’t aware Oz was as proud of its bigots like you.
And yeah, I’ve had my passport since 1981 and have used it internationally. 🙂
Goof uses his passport to travel to Thailand to troll for chicks with dicks.
Good to see you owning up to your sexuality, there, Goof. As long as the chicks with dicks are legal age we got no problem with your lifestyle. One question? Why did you chose a gun blog to come out on?
Awww, my widdle trolls ‘nero’ and ‘goof’ are triggered!
It warms the very cockles of my cold, black heart that you were so angered you wasted keystrokes to attempt a lame retort.
Get back in the basement, troll, your mommy will fix you a peanut butter sandwich… 🙂
Virginia you are a liar. You are here to troll and that is all. We’ll maybe that and brag about the fact that you lost your rights so thoroughly that you don’t even think about them anymore.
Geoff. I was replying to goof. After all, he confessed to liking chicks with dicks.
“Geoff. I was replying to goof.”
I humbly apologize then.
Please feel free to continue to kick trolls in the teeth… 🙂
“…Unlike you, I like to breakfast my understanding of the world and read widely.
Have you got a passport?..”
Yet, you have constantly disparaged the people and site you are visiting. Those are the actions of a Troll.
As far as anyone’s needs are concerned the answer is simple….BFYTW!
“Yet, you have constantly disparaged the people and site you are visiting. ”
Too often here, posing an alternative view/argument/position is denounced as “trolling”. Your criteria make more sense.
You better stay in Australia….js…
You sound like one of GCA’s token Fudds.
Yawn.
Fixing the NRA requires revising the charter so that members have a voice. That will not happen as long as the current leadership is in place. Nothing will change as long as the current leadership is in place.
It may be that the NRA will have to die, taking along the parasites that have been feeding off of it.
As long as the NRA exists, politicians who do not protect the 2A, but have an NRA card, will continue to use the NRA as cover for their inaction. Let it die and watch the fake gun supporters among our elected class scurry like roaches when the lights brighten the room.
I took up a Patriot membership in GOA. Occasionally, I donate to SAF. Not a penny to wayne.
Ironically, one of the best article I’ve seen about the NRA lawsuit was in the Washington Post. It points out the obvious, that this is a self inflected wound, Wayne LaPierre and his extravagant spending, cronyism, etc, etc.. Whether the NRA can be saved is an open question. The problems and abuse of it’s non-profit status leave it wide open for legal attack.
Like many, I did not renew my membership after Oliver North’s forced resignation. Instead I joined the GOA.
As the Washington Post article said, the NRA is doomed and it only has itself to blame…not the members, but the corrupt leadership. Sad, very sad.
AND it doesn’t help that they stayed in NYC and are thus subject to all sorts of oversight from that state that they wouldn’t otherwise! Why would a gun advocacy group do business primarily in NYC? Because they don’t care about guns, they’re a business.
I agree fix the NRA. HOW is the 64million dollar question(get it?). I was a member of a large church(Faith Tabernacle…Grace&Broadway) on the north side of Chicago years ago. It was structured like a fiefdom. The pastor was in charge with several old men in a governing board. They went on a building program and made many “questionable” expenditures. A large faction of black folks rebelled. They didn’t understand how it was setup. Not like most Baptist churches with voting privledges.They sued and destroyed the church…I understand the NRA isn’t a church. But perhaps it needs to be resurrected with a different identity. One sans cronyism and corruption. Meanwhile support those who have earned your trust>and $$$$.
Come on down to Illinois, they’ve raised taxes on everything and we’re still Billions in the hole. If the NRA is lobbying against these Nazi nut jobs , then heck take that blonde out to dinner and rent the plane on me.
Pull the plug an let it die, the NRA is not too big to fail.
Neither country had a right to bear arms in its charter because both were British satellites. No way the crown was going to make a mistake there. While today they are independent nations the culture is one of subservence to authority.
We’re not that way here.
So the NRA morphed from a training org to a moment machine that politicians feared and people trusted over gun rights. Meanwhile the left reworked the courts to circumvent Congress and the constitution.
Today we are one ruling away from losing the 2nd. Just like abortion, the left will enforce a ruling like that as if it was from the Gods. They will work from the federal level too .
What has the NRA done about it lately? Not as much as other smaller orgs. The VCDL dis more in their backyard than the NRA ever did. Maybe Wayne didn t see a new suit for himself I challenging KKK Northam.
Build the other orgs up. Learn from the NRA mistakes. Get judges on the courts through whatever process we can.
“Today we are one ruling away from losing the 2nd”
Really? you would let a court tell you what your rights are?
“Really? you would let a court tell you what your rights are?”
Your “rights” are whatever you can personally enforce. However, do not expect consequences to be zero.
Firearms ownership is an issue of freedom a freedom worth fighting for, killing for and dying for, yes there are/will be consequences, of this I am well aware.
“Firearms ownership is an issue of freedom a freedom worth fighting for…”
Just mulling over the future where you can only “legally” keep firearms at home, for call up of the militia (which will likely be prescribed by your state, so they know who has guns).
BTW, our constant cry that there are “100 million gun owners” could be used to justify legislation that because every person is possibly one of the hundred million, warrantless searches for guns is required. Just like in other former colonies.
@ Ross look at how many on here gladly gave up bump stocks because they are supposedly dumb. Make no mistake the majority of the posters here will turn in their guns when told to. Then go on the internet and claim anyone who keeps them is dumb and we don’t need them.
You Sir are correct.
Never compromise and lose everything, or join the NRA millions (members and member influenced friends and family) and save almost all you want. You know, they can amend the constitution, if they have no NRA, and they do plan to repeal the second amendment.
“…if they have no NRA, and they do plan to repeal the second amendment.”
C’mon, man. If NRA is all we have between now and repeal of 2A, we’re just dead folks walking.
The gun grabbers don’t have the votes to amend, which is why, just like 1850-60, they are attempting to circumvent the constitution through simple legislation, because guns in the hands of the populace is immoral and moral people cannot let the constitution stand in the way of doing what is right, moral and just.
None of this follows. Nothing in the article backs up the main assertion. The enemy of my enemy is NOT (necessarily) my friend. The NRA does not deserve support just because liberals love using it as a fundraising antagonist or because Britain doesn’t have a 2nd Amendment. This is the sort of lunacy in politics that has gotten us in such a crap position- but there is no ‘two party system’ of advocacy groups. There are plenty of other organizations that might actually do something besides buy expensive wardrobes with funding.
I thought the style of writing looked familiar- it’s from the same author that wrote about America’s “gun culture” somehow winning WWI, WWII and the Cold War. Completely lacking any historical context but full of motivated reasoning and cherry picking. I’m not surprised he wants to save the NRA.
Agreed but La Pierre and his gang can’t be a part of its future. Otherwise let it die and let GOA take its place.
@virginia,
It is the Bill of Rights not the Bill of Needs. No infringement. Ever. We are citizens here and as an American I am proud of the rebels who slit the throats of the English so long ago. If you are okay with begging permission to exercise a right, Godspeed to you. If you think that we should do the same, I extend the finger disrespect to you, your prime minister and the Queen herself.
We have a Constituion that limits the powers of government. As an American, I am a first class citizen not a second rate Englishman. That fact that evil people abuse the right to keep and bear arms does not mean that I should suffer or be forced or shamed into giving mine up. The wheel kills more than the gun does here.
You guys are already being taken over from within and China is about to bitch slap your economy after they secure the shipping lanes with the next island they build.
For the record I have owned and maintained my passport since 1998. You are entitled to your views and I am entitled to tell you to Sod Off.
Rights are like potato chips ( or crisps ) to the government, it is hard to have just one. I say give them an inch and then give them a bunch lead. If I come off as harsh; it very frustrating to see politicians take by guile what they could never take by force.
Never give in. Speak up loudly and often. Remember that we are responsible for our rights and the government works for us.
“Remember that we are responsible for our rights and the government works for us.”
Remember that in the US, we are responsible for our rights and the government works for us.
FIFY
America needs to honor the Constitution then the NRA would be a moot point
If the so called 5 million members of the NRA would simply Arm Up and do what needs to be done. The Problem would be solved. Would it Be Painful…Yes. Would it Be Destructive…Yes. Would it Be Deadly…Yes. No different than what Our Founding Patriots went through to Secure the Rights and Freedoms We have today. Everybody talks as it the NRA is some great entity that will Protect and Preserve The Rights the citizenry aren’t willing to fight for. Just like when your Life is in danger. You are Your own 1st Responder. Why is it different when your Rights and Freedoms are in Danger? Simply and Honestly ask Yourself. Would I ?
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj307SxyI_rAhVJZc0KHQfwCjkQyCkwAHoECAwQBA&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr_OpFxCx-A&usg=AOvVaw098KOv5k63hYOilN2SCA64
You’re quite the keyboard commando, heroically trying to incite other to do what you are unwilling or unable. WTF have you done, scary pen name guy?
Sorry Victor in My Free state Our Rights have been affirmed while others bow to the injustice of tyranny. I’m simply pointing Out that each person has a choice. To survive under Tyranny or Live Free. The cost of surviving under Tyranny may not seem high but, in the end is risking everything to Live Free. Worth It. My guess is you survive under Tyrannical States Control and have decided surviving as a Subject is safer than Living Free. Sadly many have made that same choice. I feel your anger comes from not liking the answer you had to the question asked.
I’m an NRA life member but havent donated in decades. When I was scrimping and doing without to support my family, they were taking my money and using it for cocktail parties and five star hotels. They continue to this day.
They are unwilling to stop the corruption and have never lived up to their promises. To blazes with them. If they disappeared tomorrow I would not shed a tear. And if I saw La Pierre being robbed in an alley I might ask him how it feels to have the tables turned.
Hi guys, nice to see you all here, and behaving so we’ll! I live in NZ, so I thought I’d address a few things in this article. Firstly, there was a clumsy use of statistics, in which you said that 75 percent of males kill their partners. I’m pretty sure we would have noticed if this were true. Next, there was doubt expressed about the gun band in NZ and OZ. True, we have less guns, but we still have some, and for now that’s maybe enough. Also true that the lawless ones have plenty heaps of nasty AK47s and use them to settle debts among their brethren. Police know who they are because of all their tattoos and gang patches. Not hard to find. Wonder what happens when marijuana is legalised and the crim’s have to work for a living. We are so busy enjoying our Covid free existence, we don’t even remember how bereft of semi auto rifles we are. We have been denied handguns for so long, that culture is forgotten. As long as there is a reasonable fear of imminent death, the use of lethal force with whatever is to hand, may not land you in jail. But if you bring that means with you, to perhaps start a confrontation with a view to ending it lethally, you should get used to the cage they’ll put you in for life. So carrying a gun to an argument is not a bright idea. Neither is arguing with Aussies. It’s like mud wrestling with pigs. Neither of you emerges with any dignity.
It said the 25% of murders were spousal. And in 75% of those killings it is the male spouse killing the female spouse. That is hardly saying that 75% of men in relationships with women kill the women. If you can’t that far without making such a mess of it, may you should stick with simpler comics or something like that.
Yes, but I’ll bet it raised a smile.
hard to say. she’s pretty swollen.
Actually guys and girls.
I’m sorry for offending you.
I realise I’ve become too emotionally involved with this, and shouldn’t get involved with other people’s democratic rights.
You are entitled to the right to bear arms. Maybe I’m just jealous I don’t get that right.
I’ll cease the trolling now and go back to my homework and peanut sandwiches.
Have a great day, and good luck with your NRA fiasco.
“…and peanut sandwiches.”
If that is not a typo, peanut sandwhiches sound interesting. How is it done?
All human beings (the entire human race) has a God given right to self defense by what ever means that the individual deems necessary. Be it knives, guns, or what ever is available. This is NOT purely an American right. The part of it that is American is that there is a Constitution mandate telling government that this right cannot be denied. It is a shame that ALL other nations across the planet don’t have this.
The NRA does not make law. It doesn’t even enforce existing laws. Too many people have the mistakin idea that this is what it does. This organization’s intended purpose was for training people (initially cops and hunters) in the ways of good marksmanship. A point was reached (the revolt) where everything forcefully became so political that defense of the 2nd Amendment took such high priority that NOTHING else could be seen. Even though it was all still there. What is needed is a strong NRA to educate and train people. I believe that with Wayne, this cannot happen. But it can’t happen with so many liberals in such high places either. Our failed public education system (under liberal control) has helped to produce multiple generations of hoplophobics that not only hate the idea of guns but consider ANYONE that has one to be evil killers to be removed from human society. This is so very backwards and plays right into the hands of leftist tyrant dictators. Which is exactly the opposite from what America stands for.
The Democrats will use any form of NRA takedown as a victory. Even if they succeed, it will only be a hollow win. The scope and power of the 2nd is not dependent on the NRA. EVERY word in the American Constitution carries weight and meaning on it’s own and must be understood and upheld by EVERY American.
It’s about having a gun behind every blade of grass. It’s about every American making their own choice to have, own, use, and maintain guns (or not). It’s MY choice. NOT Pelosie’s. Being semi-auto, full auto, or bolt makes absolutely no difference. It doesn’t matter if it’s handgun, shotgun, or rifle. Just as it doesn’t even matter if it’s a 3 inch blade or 6 inch. Owning guns does not make me a bad person. But, far too many bad people do have possession of them.
ITS TIME FOR ALL NRA MEMBERS TO SWITCH TO THE GUN OWNERS OF AMERICA AND/OR THE SECOND AMENDMENT FOUNDATION…
Money flow from me to the NRA stopped years ago. Unless and until WLP and friends are displaced and the organization is rechartered it’s going to stay that way. Other than press releases , glad-handing, and begging for money the NRA has done nothing of importance. They have done a lot of damage. Anyone thinking otherwise is a dolt.
WLP is my enemy. AG James is also my enemy, but she may be useful in eliminating WLP if NRA or a subsequent organization survives.
I am a member of the NRA and GOA. So much squealing hate for the NRA online. At the same time, all this ‘news’ about all these millions of new gun owners, yet member ships of both organizations are not going up to match. Why is that? Do you all think pulling down the NRA will build up the GOA?
As a Successful campaigner for passing Constitutional Carry at the state level, I know the NRA & GOA were front and center, backing and supporting us all the way. Along with a few other national and our own state associations, and clubs.
Only a fool puts all his eggs in one basket. Tearing down the strong will not build up the weak.
“Tearing down the strong will not build up the weak.”
And continuing to fund corrpution accomplishes what?
Can’t believe I have to explain this, but here goes…
-NRA has an operational element, and a budget to enable that element
-NRA has income to support not only the operational element, but also for administrative activities
-NRA takes in X income
-NRA spends Y on operations
-NRA spends Z on admin
What percentage of total income goes to admin, and what percentage goes to operations? A reasonable expense ratio, admin/operations, for a non-profit is 87% to operations. Really good non-profits keep admin expense around 10%. Where is NRA spending money, where is income coming from? Are all the financial transactions clearly above board? Are there any “sweetheart deals” involved acquiring income, or paying expenses?
A not-for-profit organization is a bit different. But the admin/operations analysis is still valid. In either case NRA is proving to be a corrupt organization. It matters little that NRA does some good for someone outside the organization. Allegedly, “the mob” does some good for their communities/neighborhoods. How much good by “the mob” would justify a pass on their criminal activites in order that “the mob” be able to continue doing good in the neighborhood?
Putting eggs in one basket? Defines the mindless loyalty to NRA. If the NRA is the only true defense of 2A that we have, we are already defeated. If the constitution cannot survive without the existence of one specific private organization, we are already defeated. If the NRA is necessary to ensure that gun controls encroach only slowly, we are already defeated. If defenders/supporters of the Second Amendment must get in bed with rampant corruption in order to “save” our RTKBA, we are already defeated.
From reading these comments, it seems many are unaware of the true history of the NRA.
At the risk of being attacked for using cut & paste to cite actual facts, here’s some sections of an article from the New York Times. Yes, the ‘failing’ New York Times, but it’s historically accurate, please feel free to attack the veracity of any of this reporting.
In any case, it’s clear that the NRA has been a corrupt organization since the late 70s, converted into a wealth creating machine for the elites, by manipulating the membership with fear and lies.
We’ve known for decades about the corruption in the NRA, remember when Republican President George Bush resigned his life membership in 1995, because of the NRA’s extremist political views? He was vilified as unpatriotic, a World War II veteran who had his torpedo bomber shot out from under him as he fought America’s enemies.
Do you want the truth, here you go:
“In 1974, Brig. Gen. Reckord, at 94, was interviewed by NRA officials in his home for an NRA oral history. In it, he described how a 1934 law supported by him and the NRA and inspired by the Tommy Gun days of Prohibition that outlawed automatic firearms (still on the books) was “sane, reasonable and effective.”
But the NRA oral history was never published, and his legacy, too, seems forgotten.
The NRA didn’t used to take sides then like it does today. “Take an active interest in politics, Mr. Shooter,” read an editorial in the NRA’s American Rifleman magazine before the 1936 elections. “But keep your political interest and activity on a high plane of honest, frank discussion; and remember that there is neither rhyme nor reason in splitting open a good rifle club over a bum political argument.”
“Today EVP Wayne LaPierre and other NRA leaders claim the NRA is the nation’s oldest civil rights organization. But the NRA did not raise gun rights until 1922, in an editorial warning about the possible spread of a New York State gun law passed in 1911, and the outlawing of civilian ownership of guns in Russia after its 1917 Bolshevik-led Communist revolution. The NRA did not raise “the Second Article of the Bill of Rights” until 1952, and it did not describe itself as an organization defending “civil liberties” until 1968.”
“The split in the NRA resulted in an internal revolution rarely mentioned out loud anymore but still known within the lore as the “Cincinnati Revolt.” That’s when, in 1977, the NRA under Harlon Carter transformed literally overnight from America’s largest firearms sporting organization into the nation’s largest gun-rights vanguard.
It was Carter who ended the policy of publishing the NRA’s annual financial reports in NRA member magazines, and who centralized control, hand-picking three men under him to run the organization; everyone, including magazine editors had to report up the new chain of command.
In 1981, the New York Times reported that Carter had changed a vowel in his first name, according to his birth certificate, to help conceal that, as a juvenile, he had been once convicted of murder and later had his conviction overturned on appeal. After the news broke, NRA members changed the by-laws to elect him to an unprecedented five-year term.
The leadership soon led another change of the by-laws to transfer power away from the membership and back to the board. NRA leaders themselves have since compared their own board to a Communist politburo.”
Remember, democracy dies in darkness:
“Carter ended the policy of publishing the NRA’s annual financial reports in NRA member magazines”
Convicted of murder as a juvenile, so he was just a thug. And y’all allowed him to reshape the NRA into a personal piggy bank, all because they fed you the propaganda of fear you needed to justify your delusions.
Up the Provisional NRA!
Comments are closed.