[QUOTE=Debaser]
There is no question that if not for the NRA we would not enjoy the second amendment rights that we have today. It’s only through the organization of gun owners that politicians fear taking away our right to own guns. The organization might not be perfect, and if you have any actual evidence of financial misbehavior I’m willing to listen. But there is no doubt that the NRA has been holding the line on second amendment rights.
[/QUOTE]
This, friends, is what happens when you suck the Flav-R-Aide right out of the package without adding water first.
It’s gonna be OK though, because he probably sent them some money.
So you have this feeling about the NRA. It’s not based on any facts or evidence. It’s just something you know, because you feel that way.
Of course the NRA executives make salaries. Everyone does. But you aren’t just accusing them of making a fair salary, you and others are suggesting that rather than being about fighting for gun rights the NRA exists primarily to fleece its members and make money for itself.
The way this board works is that you need some proof of this claim. Otherwise I’m not going to give it any weight.
Try that shit on in Great Debates.
My only response here is:
MONEY! Again, you think it’s about a high and mighty PRINCIPLE. Right. Why not send the NRA some more money. They need it right about now. The probably don’t have enough.
What part of my statement do you dispute? I’m basically stating a truism. The same could be said for any other rights we have.
Abortions are only legal because the politicians fear the pro-choice voters and organizations devoted to promoting this cause.
Speech is only free because the politicians fear the ACLU and other groups who defend the first amendment.
What part of it don’t you get? If no one was defending these things and passionately fighting for them they would be gone. For an example see the tenth amendment.
I’m not familiar with your posting history, although your username rings a bell.
Are you just the usual sort of anti-capitalist nut that the board now attracts? The fact that people running the NRA make money makes them pure evil and they can’t actually be about a cause? That’s all the evidence you need to write them off?
I’m curious. Is this also true of anyone? If you work for a salary at a job you are a capitalist whore?
I bet you’re a big fan of Mitt Romney.
No.
True of most, me included. Money is good. “capitalist whore”? Ha ha! What, did you recently hang out with some Occupy folks?
I invite you to unbunch your panties, and realize that money is the fundamental underpinning of what happens in our society today. The NRA is a business - no more, no less.
Not sure it matters but FWIW LaPierre gets paid $970,300/year at the NRA making him the sixth highest paid head of a non-profit organization.
This is correct…and that protection costs the country a huge toll in gun related crime.
Sounds akin to me to slave owners back in the day worrying that the country was going to come and take their slaves away and that is a right they wanted to protect.
The issue here is these “rights” are purchased with the pain and suffering of others.
The NRA spends about half of the funds it receives on raising more money. They spent $15 million dollars in the 90s, approximately 10% of the organization’s wealth, on a brand new headquarters facility. Wayne LaPierre is paid approximately a $1 million salary. More here- particularly disturbing (and unsurprising) is the NRA giving “business” to real estate brokers, banking services, travel tours, and many other companies, all of which “coincidentally” happen to be run by family members (like Wayne LaPierre’s wife) of NRA board members.
So if you’re giving money to the NRA, about half of it is being spent on raising more money, another big chunk goes into the pockets of LaPierre and the boardmembers, and another significant chunk going to sweetheart incestuous business deals.
Maybe this doesn’t bother you- Debaser- but if it doesn’t, then just understand you are fulfilling the NRA’s plan.
So you are equating people who agree with the Supreme Court on 2nd Amendment rights with slaveowners?
Just want to confirm your stance. Hate to misunderstand. Hate to think that you are calling me the moral equivalent of a slaveowner, when you don’t mean that.
Interesting choice there, cupcake.
As a retired New York State Emergency Medical Technician, I probably know a whole lot more than you do about drunk drivers and people who either do or do not die as a direct result of drinking.
Not only have I responded multiple times over the years to DUI calls, but I once followed a driver for over 20 miles. First I thought she was falling asleep at the wheel, then I thought perhaps she was ill or intoxicated. She barely made it through a toll plaza and then finally lost control. At 60 mph. She swerved into a concrete Jersey barrier. Her car deflected, headed to the shoulder and rolled quite a few times. I was behind her, and watched her body half-eject from the driver’s window then get tossed back in. I tended her until the Paramedics arrived. She had to deep penetrating wounds into her skull, above each eye. She reeked of alcohol.
So don’t lecture me about drunk drivers. People can buy a car and operate it for 20 years and never once consider using it to murder someone else. You buy a gun so you can shoot things dead. And as I mentioned above, high-powered semi- and fully-automatic rifles are rarely used in the Olympics for target shooting. They’re used to rapidly and violently shred flesh.
I very much give a damn. But gun apologists will never ever convince me that an automobile is a 1:1 comparative device to a loaded handgun.
Try this headline on for size:
" Utah 6th grader takes car to school, says parents encouraged him. The car had no gas in in and so was not a danger to other students. The 6th grader did have a 5 gallon jug of gasoline in his backpack. "
Lunacy, right?
Now how about this one:
Utah 6th grader takes gun to school, says parents encouraged him.
One is a work of fiction. The other is a frightening reality.
If you’re having trouble telling the difference, I pity you.
You make no sense. So you think that if a person is against people dying as a result of a nutjob with a gun, they should get rid of all guns. By that logic, if a person is against people being killed in traffic accidents, they should get rid of all cars.
Again, guns seem to be your bogyman. You seem to fear them at an irrational level.
OK. So it’s not like you think everything is just about money or anything like that.
Oh.
Too bad.
I was not just concentrating on gun powder, I only did mention that it is possible to do and your copy paste argument (that same way of singling out Switzerland and no gunpowder is boiler plate copy paste from pro gun sites) just shows a lack of curiousness and dependance on what that group says.
The fact does remain that if you concentrate in the past then for sure you could find many problems, but this once again denies that there has been progress, of course manufacturers of the stuff do report that they are busy with the technology and selling many different solutions, but as for who and where they are selling, that information is classified, but for me it is enough to realize that the opposition to taggants by claiming that it would not work in explosives or even gun powder is bullshit nowadays.
Now we’re getting somewhere.
I’ve established that as a lobbying organization, the NRA is small potatoes compared with some of the larger lobbies like big oil. However, that’s a separate arm of the organization called the NRA-ILA (Institute for Legal Action). As far as a non-profit goes the NRA might be large enough to justify the sixth highest salary of all non-profits. I’ll do some digging to find out more about that…
So gun rights are like slavery? Sorry, but you’ve lost me.
Really? My father has owned guns since he was a teenager. And not just a few guns, but dozens of them. He’s nearly 80 now, and hasn’t shot anything dead yet. Guess I need to give him a call and tell him to get with the program!
Thanks for the links. I’ll read them when I have time.
Keep 'em coming. More links and facts please. Less scary italicized-frightening-nonsense.
Some more information: I don’t know that I’ll always agree with the direction the NRA is going so I prefer not be be a life member. But I pay yearly dues that are about $20 I think. I pay every year and get a sticker and usually a hat or something. Plus you get a subscription to your choice of magazine.
So I’m paying about the same amount of money for a magazine subscription for Wired which doesn’t even give me a sticker to put on the door of my hunting camp.
Forgive me if I don’t feel like I’m enriching the NRA’s cronies.
If and when I do feel like giving more I do so. I can donate money to different subsets of the NRA as I choose. They don’t seem to be too closely aligned. For instance I may get two letters on the same day. One asking for money for the NRA foundation, which benefits the shooting sports and another asking for money for the NRA-ILA which is the lobbying wing of the NRA.
So, it’s not as if there is simply one “NRA” that does all of these things. There are different organizations under the NRA umbrella.
I’m not surprised. They send a lot of mail. What are the normal ratios of expenses to fundraising for charities? Is the NRA out of line with others?
Getting new members and keeping your existing member base is important. I have no issue with them spending on this. There are millions of people who consider themselves members of the NRA but don’t actually pay every year to formally be on the roles. I think it’s reasonable for the NRA to try and market to them.
…and the problem is? If they were greedy wouldn’t they be stealing the money instead of building infrastructure with it?
This might be a problem. I don’t know how it compares to other similar roles.
You appear to have simply misread the article you linked to. Read it again to save yourself some embarrassment. Here’s the paragraph in question:
The whole article reads like sour grapes. It’s someone who clearly has an axe to grind against the NRA.
This isn’t a problem for you?
And the link in post #101?