# Rip NRA? :D **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 15, 2021, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-nra-d/930635 "2021-01-15T22:58:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-nra-d/930635/121 "2023-02-10T14:20:13Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Bump. Recent NRA financial statements show major drop in NRA membership, and in related revenue from membership fees. It’s believed that the NRA has lost over a million members and is now just over 4.2 million members, a bit over the 4 million members it had in 2012. Corruption allegations may have had an impact. I stopped renewing my membership years ago because of their relentless fear mongering and partisanship. I expected them to be a single issue lobbying group willing to endorse any candidate regardless of party but that hasn’t been the case for a long, long time. And as far as preserving the rights of gun owners, they haven’t even been at the forefront of recent cases that were good for gun owners. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-nra-d/930635/122 "2023-02-10T16:27:13Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Corruption allegations may have had an impact. So you’re saying they may have shot themselves in the foot? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-nra-d/930635/123 "2023-02-10T20:25:41Z")
I wonder how many of the current members are, for want of a better word, by default, because they signed up for life memberships before the organization went off the rails. I know of two men who did that, and neither was a gun nut by any stretch of the imagination. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2023, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-nra-d/930635/124 "2023-02-11T17:14:36Z")
Holds hand in the air. I bought my life time membership way back when it was less than a hundred bucks. I haven’t sent them any money since then, but part of the deal was a free, life time subscription to one of their magazines. I still get the magazine on a regular basis. It is shiny and has pretty pictures and I glance through it and toss it out. It would be easy enough to cancel my subscription, but why? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2023, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-nra-d/930635/125 "2023-02-11T17:32:06Z")
> [@JaneDoe42](#): > > It would be easy enough to cancel my subscription, but why? - Hopefully, keeping the subscription is costing them money however minuscule that may be. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2023, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-nra-d/930635/126 "2023-02-11T17:33:41Z")
Which is why I never bothered to cancel. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2023, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-nra-d/930635/127 "2023-02-11T17:40:00Z")
I’ve never seen a copy of the NRA magazine but if it’s like the one from the AARP, it’s got plenty of ads. Those are what’s paying for the magazine, and the millions of subscribers to both guarantee high ad rates. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2023, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-nra-d/930635/128 "2023-02-11T20:06:46Z")
Wow, you’re just a real buzzkill, you know that? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-nra-d/930635/129 "2023-02-12T01:22:07Z")
I’m going to take an ammo-free shot at unbuzzkilling. Dividing [revenue](https://www.zoominfo.com/c/american-rifleman/357673880) by [circulation by American Rifleman issues per year](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Rifleman), I get 34 cents. If you want to weigh an issue we can check further, but I doubt the 34 cents in presumed ad revenue covers any more than the postage, if that. Also, you aren’t just wasting the NRA’s money, but also, assuming you aren’t swayed by the ads, that of the advertisers. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-nra-d/930635/130 "2023-02-12T01:41:35Z")
Thank you, for a while there I was thinking I was going to have to bother unsubscribing and that would involve actually looking at the magazine instead of glancing at the ads. I think the ads are very informative, it is surprising who is paying to advertise in it. Plus, they tell me who I don’t really want to do business with, so I guess the magazine does have some value to me after all. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-nra-d/930635/131 "2023-02-12T01:44:22Z")
I don’t think that the $6.6 million in revenue shown on that page is for the magazine itself, given that the industry is identified as retail and the competitors shown sound like firearms training companies. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-nra-d/930635/132 "2023-02-12T02:04:19Z")
I’ve heard that a lot of the ads depict things like “a good guy with a gun” (white) defending themselves from “a bad guy with a gun” (black or Hispanic). ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-nra-d/930635/133 "2023-02-12T02:16:58Z")
Indeed they do. There are also many scantily dressed women (white and usually blond) posing with rifles or holding high capacity magazines. Size does matter /wink,wink/. He-man vehicles as well as survival gear are there too. Some of the prepper stuff looks interesting, but I won’t ever go to their webpages because I won’t give them my money. Oh, and gold. This always at least one full page gold ad with all the scary rhetoric that usually comes along with that. I’m probably due another issue pretty soon, I’ll make it a point to sit down and give it a good look over and share the results. If they are too upsetting, I might just make a new monthly routine that includes fire. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-nra-d/930635/134 "2023-02-12T02:21:32Z")
When my (ex) husband wanted to join the gun club through his job in order to get cheaper rates at the firing range, he was required to join the NRA to join the gun club. Pissed him off royally. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-nra-d/930635/135 "2023-02-12T02:35:04Z")
My brother claimed to have joined the NRA, AAA _and_ AARP just for the discounts (and I don’t think he owns any guns). He’s enough of a cheapskate that I don’t think he was kidding. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-nra-d/930635/136 "2023-02-12T02:46:16Z")
Discounts at gun ranges and stores was a big reason for me to join. I’ve always enjoyed shooting at targets and talking shit over beers afterwards, but regular target shooting is a pricy habit and I’m cheap enough to take any discounts I can. I wasn’t really into the politics and stuff, but I was young didn’t really think as much as I should have, but ain’t none of us the same person we were 40 years ago. ETA: I just realized how far we were hijacking this thread so I’m going to bow out before I get my hands slapped! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-nra-d/930635/137 "2023-02-12T06:45:32Z")
I don’t think I’ve seen their magazines donated at the library where I work. I thought of that because the donation bin had several issues of The Epoch Times and another magazine called “America’s Freedom” when I stopped by today. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-nra-d/930635/138 "2023-02-12T06:46:31Z")
No, you’re not hijacking this thread. I don’t think you are, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-nra-d/930635/139 "2023-02-12T07:57:21Z")
> [@JaneDoe42](#): > > Which is why I never bothered to cancel. We could us a mole, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-nra-d/930635/140 "2023-02-12T18:01:40Z")
OT, but am I the only one who thinks Pierre LaPew is creepy AF? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-nra-d/930635.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-nra-d/930635.md?page=8)