NRA and Bling. Why Bother?

As you might have read elsewhere on TTAG, I’m a recently-minted Life Member of the NRA. If you attend an NRA confab, you’ll see several booths where they offer the opportunity to upgrade your membership, mention the NRA in your will, et cetera. You also get one big, honkin’ discount on the dues/fees. But wait…you also get…swag. Bling. Stuff. At the Life Member level, what you see above was one of the three choices in gifts. I forget what the other two were.

It’s not that I don’t appreciate Revolutionary War knick-knacks. But I’m completely anal about quality, especially in graphics. Oh, the statue is actually pretty cool. But the “Bill of Rights” wording on the tombstone is a metallic sheet with laser-cut letters, that was attached with double-stick tape. The package also includes my name with the legend “Life Member” below it, on a small metallic label, along with two screws to attach it to the pedestal.

Pause with me while I consider how much better I’d feel if the NRA had either A) done something a wee bit classier, or B) done nothing at all.

I’d like to suggest to the NRA that, in the future, if they want to do something nice for the members, they might want to put a little more thought into what they’re giving. When you start dropping some serious coin to support them, I’d like to think members rate a little bit more than a “some assembly required” approach. I don’t care what you spend on your “gift” for each membership level. I do care if the merch looks cheap.