Ammoland.
The fact is, life can be far more complicated than many of us want to admit. On Wayne LaPierre’s watch, the NRA has greatly expanded concealed carry, largely thwarted federal legislation that would have infringed on our Second Amendment rights, and he also secured the election of politicians who put pro-Second Amendment justices on the Supreme Court. On the political and legislative front, a substantial share of the credit for the undeniable improvement in the overall situation over the last 35 years has to go to the NRA and LaPierre.
But wait. Is Wayne a saint?
That being said, LaPierre also has made some serious strategic errors. On his watch, the NRA got lax with Ackerman-McQueen, and while they appear to be winning legal battles with their former PR firm, the entire situation didn’t have to happen. Better oversight – or better yet, having multiple vendors to create competition – would have been better.
LaPierre also failed to anticipate the possibility that Andrew Cuomo and Letitia James would launch politically motivated abuses against the NRA. Cuomo in particular, gave an ominous warning in 2014 that should have prompted a move (and housecleaning) long before James would have had the power to abuse the NRA.
The NRA has also failed to get involved in the cultural arena, and it has left votes on the table by not hiring translators or engaging in outreach – which proved crucial for Glenn Youngkin in Virginia. Both of these failures also took place on LaPierre’s watch. The NRA needs to get started on rectifying those failures yesterday. And by the way, the threat posed to the entire Second Amendment community should James succeed in her politically-motivated hit on the NRA also exists.
Then comes this weird paragraph that I simply cannot explain.
But the NRA is not the only part of defending the Second Amendment that gets complicated. We rightly object when anti-Second Amendment extremists try to punish us for crimes and acts of madness – some of them horrific – that we did not commit. However, that doesn’t make the misuse of firearms to commit crimes and acts of madness – some of them horrific (Sandy Hook, Parkland, Las Vegas) something to ignore, or worse, brush off.
In 2020, FBI stats noted that 8,209 homicides were carried out with handguns, 455 with rifles, 203 with shotguns, and 4,283 were of “firearms, type not stated.” In addition, can any Second Amendment supporter deny that anti-Second Amendment extremists use those instances where firearms are misused as fodder for their unjust agenda? How many times have family members who lose loved ones in a tragedy sought to take their grief out against, especially when we are defending ourselves from having our rights infringed?
Second Amendment supporters need to have something to offer on this front. People might not like Project Exile and may have reservations about supporting legislation like the Restoring the Armed Career Criminal Act and the Protecting Communities and Preserving the Second Amendment Act, but the fact remains these bills can hold off much worse.
First, I don’t buy that any modicum of success the 2A has seen has been due to Wayne or the NRA. There is no evidence to support that assertion. They failed to score important votes, they allowed their rating of pols to suffer and lag behind, they backed awful people, in history they backed the NFA and GCA, the AWB, the bump stock ban and supported universal background checks. This all runs directly contrary to the 2A. The writer is clearly sucked up some very bad information – or simple propaganda.
When he wasn’t spending money on suits or his little booby girl in the swimming pool, he was jetting around the globe on NRA money. Wayne is a terrible man.
Second, that this is a sinful world has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with whether I submit my God-given rights to the whims of a few. God is no respecter of persons. Furthermore, the role of the law isn’t rehabilitative or preventative. It is punitive. The role of the family and church fulfils all of the goals the writer is discussing, and to press the state into the service in the void left by family and church has always, throughout history, made matters worse.
God is judging America. Trying to stop this judgment is a fool’s errand, and no amount of legislation will change the heart of men. America needs revival and reformation, not more laws.
What an awful, awful commentary. Just awful. Not a single sentiment is worthy of consideration.
Do they still have editors over at Ammoland?