Here's Exactly How the NRA Misleads Its Members

[SecularMotion]

The National Rifle Association consistently ranks among the most powerful lobbying groups in the U.S., spending millions on political contributions and advertising campaigns each year to influence lawmakers on gun policy. But money and marketing are not the group's only weapons. More than 5 million members reportedly pay dues to the NRA, and that kind of manpower is especially formidable on Capitol Hill as well as within state legislatures.

Van Hollen has felt the ire of the NRA firsthand. In 2000, he helped to pass the nation's first law requiring built-in trigger locks for guns purchased in Maryland, a measure designed to prevent accidental gun shootings. To NRA lobbyist Greg Costam, however, this requirement was nothing more than "a de facto gun ban" and "very dangerous," he told The Washington Post. The NRA tried to derail the bill by launching phone and television campaigns, mobilizing members in a last-ditch effort to persuade legislators to oppose the gun safety law.

"The NRA fought us tooth and nail — they lost, we beat them — but it was the first clear example that the NRA would mislead its members and take every measure to block even these common sense measures to prevent kids from dying in accidental shooting deaths," Van Hollen told ATTN:.

In the weeks after the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012, a national debate about gun safety ensued, and reform advocates hoped the momentum would push lawmakers to advance gun reform measures. Yet the push for new policies — including a popular push to close the gun show loophole, which 91 percent of Americans supported — was rejected.

http://www.attn.com/stories/6517/how-nra-misleads-their-members-rep-chris-van-hollen

[TeddyR]

1. Glad I'm not a NRA member

And that I don't live in Maryland, with their pointless and ineffective gun control laws. O'Malley liked to talk about how he enacted some of the strictest gun laws around and yet Baltimore was a morass of murder and crime last year, the worst in years.

[Travis_0004]

2. i dont live in maryland

But when I wanted to buy a revolver, I had to find one made in the 80s before smith and wesson started installing locks.

[ileus]

3. gun show loophole.....LOL

speaking of bitter clingers holding on to lies...

[Eleanors38]

4. Meh. NRA. I prefer gun safes & lock boxes. nt

[benEzra]

5. You mean the same Maryland...

where the most popular civilian rifles in U.S. homes are now banned?

Yeah, all those calls to ban popular guns, curtail the ability of ordinary citizens to get carry licenses, and heavily restrict magazines and ammo are just NRA blather. No one *really* wants to ban "assault weapons" or over-10-round magazines, or guns without arbitrary feature X, no not at all...

[Kang Colby]

6. That article is just flat out wrong...

Maryland is a unique state when it comes to gun control. The politicians figured out twenty years ago they could usually pass "make believe" laws, written in such a way to have no significant effect on gun ownership while also fooling gun controllers into believing that they had passed gun control laws. It's very odd, but most gun owners don't usually say too much about the peculiar arrangement for obvious reasons. It just shows you that some politicians have very little respect for gun rights while also having no respect for the true believers in gun control who support them. It's pathetic. They just want the votes.

Are ARs and high capacity mags banned in Maryland? Nope.
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2014-10-06/news/bs-ed-gun-control-letter-20141006_1_assault-weapons-ban-firearms-safety-act-maryland

Here's a story about a writer trying out an AR-15 in Maryland from a few months back. http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/ph-ac-cn-ar15-rifle-0810-20150809-story.html

Case in point, Chris Van Hollen has recently been pushing this "terror watch list" bill in the state of Maryland. The website synopsis of the bill reads that it bans people on the TWL from ***buying*** guns. But the actual bill text says that it disqualifies people who are on the list from being granted CCWs. Of course, Maryland doesn't even grant commoners CCWs...so....Buried deep in the footnotes it states that state officials don't even have access to the list.

Also, the "trigger lock" requirement is just plain wrong. Most dealers make you show them that you own a "tampon lock" ...which is a bore obstruction device. Some shady dealers will make you buy one of theirs for $25.00. This only applies to handguns, and no I don't know anyone who has actually stuffed one of these locks down a gun barrel. It's just another pretend law.