If you had attended as many NRA meetings as I have, you would realize that there is a wide spectrum of personalities among NRA members. About 90% of the members are sensible and rational citizens like me who own guns for home protection and sporting use, and who don’t believe in passing any new laws that cannot be enforced. 90 percent is really a pretty good turnout. Most homeowners’ associations can’t do nearly this well for their annual meetings. The other 10 percent are raving loonies who really ought to have a net thrown over them. Unfortunately, NRA President Wayne LaPierre tailors his message to the ten percenters. In his defense, it should be noted that Wayne talks crazy because we pay him $1 million a year to talk crazy, and he delivers. If he can whip up the hysteria and paranoia to an even greater level, I suppose we will pay him even more. We have always done so before, and this year he seems to be headed for a pay raise of epic proportions.
NRA gets a bad rap because when Wayne talks crazy a lot of the ten percenters believe him. Most of the ten percenters have only a slippery grip on reality, and when Wayne tells him that “they” are coming after them to take away their guns and them kill them afterward, a lot of the ten percenters believe him. This motivates a ten percenter to go after “them” before “they” can come after him, and the rest is history. If someone could put a sock in Wayne’s mouth a lot more people would respect the NRA.
N. C “Tex” Thex
Mesa
Leon Ceniceros posted at 8:01 am on Wed, Feb 6, 2013.
I used to go to NRA Shows and Meetings and the "fringe" as this Letter Writer calls them was not the 10% of the audience but 100% of the audience.
Has the Letter Writer ever read the "Mission" of the NRA or bothered to read the NRA Magazine?
You can go back 5years, 10years, 20years...and the "Message" of the NRA has been the same...year in and year out. No "fringe", just Patriotic, God-Loving, America-Loving, Military-Loving Men and Women. Many, many who had the guts and the Patriotism to serve in our Armed Forces.
Maybe the Letter Writer thinks along the lines of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano that ...."returning Veterans are possible Domestic Terrorists and to be watched by Local Law Enforcement". Are these "returning Veterans" the 10% Fringe that he is referring to?
VofReason posted at 1:30 pm on Wed, Feb 6, 2013.
Hmmmm. I wonder which 10% of the population President Obama and his ilk speak to when they say that the additional measures he wants to no doubt "force" through will end the next shooting spree?
truth posted at 2:45 pm on Wed, Feb 6, 2013.
By contrast, right-wing extremists have committed at least eight lethal terrorist attacks in the United States that have resulted in the deaths of nine people since 9/11, according to data compiled by the New America Foundation.
And if, after investigation, Sunday's attack on the Sikh temple in Wisconsin is included in this count, the death toll from right-wing terrorism in the U.S. over the past decade rises to 15.
The shooting suspect, Wade Michael Page, posed with a Nazi flag on his Facebook page and has played a prominent role in "white power" music groups. The FBI is investigating the case as a "domestic terrorist-type incident."
onerebel posted at 5:20 pm on Wed, Feb 6, 2013.
Interestingly, I have read several different articles from several sources that claim they have researched the information, and found most of the recent mass shooters were or leaned Democrat. I have no prof, nor will I say that it is true. What I do know to be true is that the Liberal media in every case tried in any way to tie the shooters to the Tea Party or Republican's and COULD NOT, then quickly dropped the issue. Now knowing the media, if there was even the slightest bit of evidence that linked any shooters to Republican's, MSNBC would have been able to run that story WITHOUT altering any tapes. As for the fact that ALL ties to any party was quickly dropped, does make you wonder!
Ateam1 posted at 7:21 pm on Wed, Feb 6, 2013.
N.C TEX: Do you believe that The HELL'S ANGEL'S Motorbike Club ARE ONE PERCENTERS?!!! You Raving LOONEY!!!
sockratties posted at 1:37 pm on Thu, Feb 7, 2013.
aka Ateam1... you need a lttle history lesson. The Hell's Angels, formed in 1957 were being used, politically, to represent the evils of motorcycle riders. A biker enthusiast, in a public statement said that the likes of motorcycle gangs such as depicted in the movie, Rebel Without a Cause, were only 1% of motorcycle riders and the majority were good law abiding citizens. The Hell's Angels, under the auspices of Sonny Barger, the club president, then chose to refer to themselves as the 1%ers and the label stuck. It is a metaphorical reference, not a numerical statistic.
valleynative posted at 1:57 pm on Thu, Feb 7, 2013.
Most of what we recognize about any group is only the most newsworthy 5%
Gun rights advocates don't really all wear dirty t-shirts and NASCAR hats. Many of us actually are professionals with college degrees.
VofReason posted at 1:20 pm on Fri, Feb 8, 2013.
Boy that took aproximately 2 seconds to find out why the New American Foundation might have concluded that all our problems are linked to Right wing terrorism. Here is the post on wikapedia about them. Left Leaning is the operative word.
The New America Foundation is an American non-profit, left-leaning public policy institute and think tank focusing on a wide range of issues, including national security studies, technology, asset building, health, energy, education, and the economy. The organization is based in Washington DC in addition to having a significant presence in New York City.
truth posted at 2:52 pm on Fri, Feb 8, 2013.
Right-wing terrorism draws its inspiration from a variety of ideologies and beliefs, including neo-fascism, neo-Nazism, racism and opposition to foreigners and immigration. Incidents of this type of terrorism have been sporadic with little or no international cooperation. Their actions are generally poorly coordinated and there are few identifiable organizations. Modern right wing terrorism began to appear in western Europe in the 1980s and in eastern Europe following the collapse of the Eastern Bloc.
The objective of right-wing terrorism is the overthrow existing governments and their replacement with nationalist or fascist-oriented governments.
Right-wing terrorists generally are inspired by 19th century and early 20th century nationalist writers such as Arthur de Gobineau, Houston Stewart Chamberlain and Heinrich von Treitschke.
truth posted at 2:54 pm on Fri, Feb 8, 2013.
The core of this movement includes neo-fascist skinheads, right-wing hooligans, youth sympathisers and intellectual guides who believe that the state must rid itself of foreign elements in order to protect rightful citizens. However, they usually lack a rigid ideology.
WIKIPEDIA
Accuracy posted at 6:25 pm on Fri, Feb 8, 2013.
truth posted: “By contrast, right-wing extremists have committed at least eight lethal terrorist attacks in the United States that have resulted in the deaths of nine people since 9/11, according to data compiled by the New America Foundation.”
---------------------------------------------------
The New America Foundation is a Washington D.C. “think tank”. It works on issues of global Internet policy, free expression and the impact of digital technologies on human rights.
"There's a succession dispute playing out right now within al Qaeda," counter-terrorism expert Peter Bergen at the New American Foundation really said. "It makes us safer. Jihadist terrorism isn't going away."
Ateam1 posted at 10:42 am on Sun, Feb 10, 2013.
sock: Have you heard of Modesto,Ca.?!!! Don't tell me about needing a lesson in history you Moron! Figure it out for yourself!.
sockratties posted at 9:20 am on Mon, Feb 11, 2013.
Yes, Rebel Without a Cause was about drag racing. I meant to refer to "The Wild One" which was based on an actual event in Holister, California. Doesn't change my point though.
What you really need to learn is manners. You lash out like a silly child! That's no way to promote discussion. Go sit in the corner with your alter ego, little leon. Time out time.