NRA Shibboleths

Let’s talk about one of the NRA’s favorite shibboleths about those of us who support gun control. It’s the one where we leftist liberals plan to tie universal background checks to gun registration and follow that up with gun confiscation (that is, if the UN doesn't get their guns first).

The NRA has been promoting this myth for decades, ever since the Branch Davidian Massacre in Waco, Texas, some twenty years ago. Wayne LaPierre tells his rapt audience that, “jack booted government thugs” will come in the night and take their guns, leaving their family defenseless against the hordes. One of the things LaPierre fails to mention in his diatribes against the ATF and FBI is that they were trying to protect children against the sexual abuse visited upon them by the psychotic leader of the Davidians, David Koresh. Never mind, the NRA has shown itself immune to the suffering of children, as their response to the slaughter at Sandy Hook amply demonstrates.

Those of us who demand gun control, believe that universal background checks, as one of half a dozen or so gun control measures, would help keep lethal weapons out of the hands of criminals and the criminally insane. The measure that Senate Republicans recently prevented from coming to a vote -- The Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013 -- called for universal background checks, but waived such a requirement for transfers between family members and it expressly forbid a gun registry. This was pointed out by one of the bills co-sponsors, Republican Pat Toomey, but this didn’t stop the NRA and gun industry from lying about the bill's provisions. They are shameless and have shown themselves to be shameless over and over and over again.

My recommendation for members of the NRA is to: 1) read the fucking bill yourself, don’t trust what the NRA tells you; and 2) resign your membership in the fucking NRA, and join Ducks Unlimited.