The National Rifle Association has gained more than 100,000 new members in the past 18 days, the organization told POLITICO’s Playbook on Thursday. The number of paid new members jumped from 4.1 million to 4.2 million during that time…. “Our goal is to get to 5 million before this debate is over,” the NRA told POLITICO’s Mike Allen.
Time was when the National Rifle Association really was the 800-lb. gorilla. No one, especially an elected official hoping to win re-election, dared buck the NRA for fear of having their massive checkbook aimed at them, which meant almost certainly defeat. What the NRA wanted, the NRA got, regardless of policy considerations, the soundness of the idea, or anything else that might have been relevant to the discussion. The NRA wanted it, and so the NRA got it. End of story. Conversely, if the NRA opposed something, the financial juggernaut that could be brought to bear against whatever it was they took issue with was difficult, and often impossible, to overcome.
This state of affairs has continued largely unaltered through the years…though it’s beginning to appear that the NRA is showing some cracks in its armor. Perhaps the 800-lb. gorilla isn’t the intimidating behemoth it once was. Even better, the NRA is becoming the agent of its own demise.
In the wake of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary, the NRA maintained an eery and uncharacteristic silence, as if they knew they were trapped in a no-win situation and had NO idea how to massage the facts to their advantage. When the NRA finally respond did, the comical dog-and-pony show staged by President Wayne LaPierre was one of the most politically tone deaf, insensitive, and truly farcical public displays of our time. At a time when the NRA could have seized the moral high ground by getting out in front of calls for sensible gun reform, they (once again) refuse to accept any laws that would curtail gun ownership in even the slightest degree.
Perhaps LaPierre has become so used to operating from a position of overwhelming strength that he’s become blinded and complacent. LaPierre and the rest of the NRA leadership have become soft and spoiled; they’ve demonstrated themselves to be thoroughly incapable of gauging public opinion and getting out ahead of an issue.
As if to prove this theory, LaPierre has (with a straight face) held forth on several occasions with the breathless, paranoid warning the Barack Obama is planning to use his second term to steal our guns. The NRA has degenerated into a political farce led by paranoid conspiracy theorists- something pretty pathetic under the best of circumstances. NRA leadership still believes that they occupy the moral high ground and are the true American patriots when it comes to the 2nd Amendment.
In reality, what they’re responsible if paving the way for mass murderers. The NRA’s intransigence and inflexibility (GUNS UBER ALLES!!) makes them complicit in Sandy Hook, Aurora, Clackamas Town Center, Red Lake, Springfield, Columbine…and the list goes on.
It’s long past time for that to change.
If you look at the waning influence of the NRA in political races,
“We are willing to talk to policymakers about any reasonable proposals and plans,” an NRA official said in the Playbook report, regarding the upcoming meeting with Biden. “However, the NRA is hearing not just from Beltway elites and the chattering class, but real Americans all over the country that are hoping the NRA is not going to compromise on any of the principles of the Second Amendment, nor are we going to support banning guns. But we’re willing to listen.”
There are actions, and there are words, and the reality is that the NRA’s words don’t match their actions. By working to beef up their membership rolls and their obstinate rhetoric, they’ve made it crystal clear that they’re not in listening mode. They have no intention of listening to “reasonable proposals and plans,” because to the NRA “reasonable” means “does nothing to reduce the amount of firepower available for purchase.” “Reasonable” is anything that maintains the status quo.
It’s time for Americans to recognize that the NRA is no longer the impregnable juggernaut it once was. All one needs to do is look at the NRA’s return on investment for the 2012 campaign cycle. Less than 1% of the money donated by the NRA went to victorious candidates. Yes, more than 99% of the NRA’s campaign donations went for naught. It seems the NRA can no longer throw money at a candidate with the assumption that victory will logically follow.
The NRA is vulnerable and I daresay scared. The paranoid conspiracy theorists are terrified that they’ll lose their iron grip over the political process and that gun control will be forced upon them. I say that it’s time to kick them when they’re down. It’s time to declare war on the NRA.
The weapon we have on our side is the outrage generated by Sandy Hook and the absolute intransigence and inflexibility of the NRA. Good and decent Americans, many of them gun owners, recognize that the NRA no longer represents those who handles their weapons responsibly.
This outrage can and should be used to force common sense gun control on the NRA, gun nuts, and the gun industry. We have the upper hand, and the President and Vice President appear to be on board. It’s time to take the paranoid gun nuts and their lobbyists out of the equation. No one’s talking about taking their guns away, but we simply can’t continue to maintain the status quo.
It’s time to take down the NRA. They deserve a voice, as does any American group or individual. They don’t deserve to control the debate, and it’s long past time that we took that away from them. The NRA has declared war on the American people; it’s time we take the fight to them.
