2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumNRA Get Out the Vote Campaign Features Proponents of Political Violence
Executive Director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence
Posted: 02/22/2012 7:34 am
"Anyone who has thought about it realizes that liberty and equality are antithetical concepts ... Equality is biologically impossible, and liberty is only obtainable in homogeneous populations very thinly spread." - Former NRA Board Member (and ardent insurrectionist) Jeff Cooper
Last week, the National Rifle Association (NRA) launched its "Trigger the Vote" campaign, a superficially non-partisan get-out-the vote effort. The ad campaign features two men who sit on the organization's Board of Directors: aging hard-rocker Ted Nugent and actor R. Lee Ermey of "Full Metal Jacket" fame; and NRA celebrity spokesman and martial artist/actor Chuck Norris. Both Norris and Nugent have publicly endorsed Republican candidates for the 2012 presidential elections (Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry, respectively).
There's nothing more American than a voter registration campaign. "Trigger the Vote," however, is marred by the violent and insurrectionist rhetoric its three spokespersons have trumpeted since the election of Democratic President Barack Obama in 2008. The process of voting as a catalyst for peaceful change in public policy is sacrosanct to how our representative democracy operates. Ermey, Nugent and Norris have all made statements contrary to these ideals, however, going so far as to suggest that if ballots don't work, bullets will. They have also made it clear that their political tent is only open to certain Americans, and that others should stay clear.
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If this year's "Trigger the Vote" campaign ads are anything like years past (such as this one where an NRA supporter responds to the question, "What are you gonna do when they come take away your gun, huh?" by screaming "I'll tell those son of a bitches to get off my property, I'll kick the **** out of them, they'll have to pry it from my cold dead hands." , we should look forward to more mixed messages about civic responsibility on the one hand, and on the other, pure thuggery.
More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-horwitz/nra-get-out-the-vote-camp_b_1293134.html
God, Guns, and Gays - The Republican Party Strategy in 2012. The culture war is back and more dangerous than ever. Stay safe Democrats!
Ian David
(69,059 posts)Erose999
(5,624 posts)Kwarg
(89 posts)Kkk=nra???
At worst the nra is a gun nut club that is politically active whereas the kkk and its branches were tied to tens of thousands of felonies.
Wanna take that back?
Erose999
(5,624 posts)place as the fraternal organization of choice for rightwingers.
They are behind some truly terrible lobbying efforts, and I have no respect for them.
Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)KKK did the same.
Ask any NRA member if it would be all right for any of these young men to own firearms and see what kind of answer you might get...
Kwarg
(89 posts)I think the NRA supports the right to bear arms for all who are legally entitled.
ellisonz
(27,706 posts)...they support leaving as wide a loophole as possible for convicted felons to obtain weapons through legal channels without a background check. Not to mention the easy access the insane have...
Kwarg
(89 posts)But any law regarding this would be overreaching. 99.999% (give or take) of all private transfers are between law abiding citizens... So banning private transfers ain' gonna happen
ellisonz
(27,706 posts)Don't tell me it can't be done:
In 2008-09 firearms were involved in 0.3% or 1 in every 330 crimes recorded by police in England and Wales
Firearms were used in 14,250 recorded crimes in 2008-09, an 18% decrease on 2007-08, and the fifth consecutive annual fall
Excluding air weapons, firearm offences decreased by 17% to 8,208
Handguns were used in 4,275 offences during 2008-09, a rise of 2% on 2007-08
There was a large fall in the use of imitation weapons, which fell by 41% to 1,511
Overall, firearm offences involving any type of injury were down by 41% in 2008-09, from 4,164 in 2007-08 to 2,458
There were 39 fatal injuries from crimes involving firearms in 2008-09, the lowest recorded by the police in 20 years
Source: Home Office
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10220974
Why defend extremist demagogues?
lastlib
(22,895 posts)When will they learn that violence is never the answer?
ellisonz
(27,706 posts)Don't hold your breathe.
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)They appeal to lots who are not smart enough to realize we hold the right to arm ourselves if we keep a clean record. I believe most are far right wingers and willing to give money to continue wrong thinking.
baldguy
(36,649 posts)IOKIYAR