Though they at first objected to the DISCLOSE Act, which would radically limit the free speech of organizations and thus, gun owners, the NRA has now agreed to an exemption for their organization (and other mammoth, mostly liberal, organizations like AARP and probably Moveon.org) in exchange for support of the Democrats’ bill.
This legislation would place draconian limitations on the ability of organizations to voice their opinions on politicians, and by extension, their legislation. The chilling effect on free speech would be difficult to overstate.
For the NRA, the advantage is obvious;...they have been losing hard-core activist members for years. (I am one of them, and left the NRA forever in 1992.) This has happened because in their compromising weaseling wishy-washy deals they have been making in D.C. with the enemies of freedom, they have lost the moral high-ground and respect of entire segments of the gun rights voters and activists. These folks have migrated to alternative advocacy groups like Gun Owners of America (GOA) and Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO). This has dispersed and diffused the constituancy the NRA claims to represent, but more importantly, has cost them money that these former members no longer contribute.
But what if the NRA was once again the only game in town? What if,...by law,...no other gun rights group was allowed to criticize and campaign against individual congressmen and their legislation, except for the NRA?
And so it is that word is making the rounds in gun activist circles that the executive leadership at NRA has decided to gain favor with Democrats by joining in on this anal rape of the 1st Amendment,...in order that they be the exclusive gate-keeper for "protecting" the 2nd. While this calculated by NRA to be a move that will strengthen it,...reactions by rank and file little guy gun owners indicate the may get an inversely opposite reaction from their grass roots. In short, the peasants are growing restless, and the pitchforks and torches may make an appearance. But not until next year, since NRA was smart enough to hold off on this move until after the conclusion of its annual meetings, which wrapped up in Charlotte last month. (That was smart of them.)
"Conservatives" tend to oppose the DISCLOSE Act, and as awareness of it spreads, more and more conservatives who find themselves concerned about it, and who happen to belong to the NRA as well, will have a moral dillema to wrestle with. This is already beginning, and the infighting among NRA folks is getting ugly fast.
Stay tuned. This ought to get interesting.
