NRA
An "I could care less" moment
Some guy named Bryant Gumbel, who hosts something called "Real Sports," announces he hates the NRA.
If I could just find a silver image of the hindquarters of a rat, I could keep it as a symbol of what I do not give. Speaking of which, he said it in Rolling Stone.
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Burial places of NRA Presidents
Webpage here. The most frequent resting place of those already listed is Arlington National Cemetery. Three of them earned the Congressional Medal of Honor. One, "Red Mike" Edson, received that plus two Navy Crosses (the second highest award for gallantry) and the Silver Star (the third highest award for gallantry).
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More on anti-NRA ebola nonsense
A while back I posted on MSNBC's poppycock claim that NRA was somehow responsible for Ebola's menace, since NRA had blocked the nomination of an anti-gun Surgeon General and that somehow impaired our response.
When an agency has no top dog, an "acting" head is appointed, often the deputy top dog. Yep, there is an acting Surgeon General. It gets better. Many small agencies are organized along these lines: (1) the chief is a political appointee, given the post as a political payback; his or her job consists of traveling around the country and giving speeches. (2) The deputy chief is a careerist who knows the agency, and actually runs the place. Some checking showed the Surgeon General's Office appears to be organized on these lines.
The result is that the deputy Surgeon General, now acting Surgeon General, is Boris Lushniak, MD. He started his medical career 31 years ago as a med student with the Public Health Service, and rose through the ranks. He's served with the CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service, and with the FDA, as Chief Medical Officer of the Office of Counterterrorism. It doesn't look like the absence of a confirmed Surgeon General is hurting us.
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Rolling Stone on how to defeat the NRA
It's good for some amusement. The only good points are ones that have been used for decades... never let a good crisis, or victim, go to waste, and exploit them quickly. The rest shows a profound misunderstanding of the gun rights movement. NRA (by which they mean the gun rights movement) is only big "inside the beltway," so organize local groups. The gun rights movement went there years ago: CalGuns, United Sportsmen of Florida, etc., etc.. The gun rights movement has money, now Bloomberg will match it. Buying TV ads -- that is SO twentieth century! It isn't millions of dollars, but millions of committed supporters that make the difference, especially today, when thanks to the internet the mass media no longer have a choke hold on communicating with supporters.
Check out the 700+ comments: looks like Rolling Stone can't even convince its own audience. "I hope you got paid quite a bit for selling out, because this is disgusting." "stick with your laughable "100 Greatest Guitarists" lists. You don't even know music." Dude....seriously, voting will do. Signed, A Liberal Democrat that supports all rights, including gun rights" "Hunter S. Thompson would be SO ashamed of what has become of the Rolling Stone."
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For anyone in the Houston area
Francis Winters passed away on Saturday. Visitation will be at George H. Lewis & Sons located at 1010 Bering Drive in Houston, Texas on Sunday May 11 from 5-8 pm. The funeral will be Monday May 12, 2014 at 2 pm at St.Martin`s Episcopal Church at 717 Sage Road (at Woodway ) in Houston, Texas. A reception following the service will be held in the Bagby Parish Hall next to the church.
Francis was a member of the Board of Directors of NRA, and one of the major figures in the1977 Cincinnati Revolt, which essentially created the NRA as we know it. Here's how the Washington Post sees the Revolt.
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NRA meeting = drop in teen violence
Correlation doesn't establish causation, but this seems like a mighty strong correlation.
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RIP Judge David Boehm
I just learned that Judge David Boehm died last year. here's his obituary, and here is more on him.
I knew him from the NRA Board, where he was a director for many years until failing health led him to step down. His pictures do him justice -- he was always a kindly and happy fellow.
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2014 NRA Board elections
Got my ballot. I know almost all the people involved, but to sum things up briefly:
Directors who I think are absolutely indispensable to the organization:
William Dailey
Charles Cotton
Curtis Jenkins
Patricia Clark
J. William Carter
The first three are firearm attorneys who serve on Legal Affairs Committee (Bill Dailey and Curtis Jenkins also serve on Legislative Policy Committee). Patricia Clark is a competitor who serves on or chairs five committees in that field. Bill Carter serves on committees ranging from competition to law enforcement to finance, and yes, is the son of Harlon Carter.
Directors that I think are very important to the organization:
Bob Viden, John Cushman, David Bennett, Joel Friedman, Allan Cors, Tom Avras, Anthony Colandro, Ken Blackwell, Todd Rathner, (sheriff) Peter J. Printz, Carl Rowan, Roy Innis. Most of these are long-serving, experienced folks and lifelong activists.
Here are Col. Brown's recommendations. They overlap with mine except in one case.
If anyone has their own favorites, comment away!
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Netroots sets sight on NRA
Story here. Samples:
The NRA isn’t [just] selling guns, they’re selling fear and mistrust of government,” Mark Glaze, director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, said Friday...
“The NRA is selling fear, mainly fear of government,” echoed Matt Gertz, deputy research director at Media Matters for America....
Hmmm... I wonder if that was quite the message they wanted to be going out with, in the wake of the NSA and IRS revelations of the last month.
Here's an interesting contrast.
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Five reasons the NRA wins
An insightful article by Amy Showalter. She notes the conventional media narrative is "NRA has lots of political money with which to scare politicians," but that's not the key. Keys are things like armies of well-informed volunteers, face to face contact, old-fashioned personal persuasion.
There may be a deeper issue here. NRA has members, Brady Campaign has customers, you might say. They have no voice in the organization, or its policies or leadership. It puts products (bills, messages, and (when it can get any) legislative successes) to them, and they send in contributions.
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Article on women of the NRA
Right here. "Meet the ladies who call the shots at the NRA."
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NRA ballot issue
I receive mine today. One clue in voting: if you cast the entire 25 votes that are allowed, you water down each of them. There's usually about 5 that I consider highly important, maybe even indispensable, to the organization, and then many more who would be good. But if I vote for the many more good ones, I increase the odds that one of them might displace the indispensable ones.
For me, indispensable decorated veteran Steve Shreiner and the always hardworking Carol Bambery, and soon-to-be president Jim Porter. Very, very good means Lance Olson, Sandy Froman, and Bob Sanders. Here's the webpages known to me:
Carol Bambery, hunter, NFA shooter, and busy gun activist. Heads the National Firearm Law seminar each year, chairs Bylaws and Resolutions, serves on a number of committees.
Steve Schreiner, one very dedicated activist, who in Vietnam earned the Silver Star and Bronze Star with with V for valor.
If you know any more webpages like this, please comment.
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Bill Clinton loses his title....
as the greatest NRA recruiter in history. 250,000 new members in a single month, very impressive work.
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Washington Post on NRA origins
An amazingly impartial article. There are a few minor factual errors, but those are the inevitable product of having to rely upon hearsay, relating to events decades ago, and aren't slanted.
[UPDATE: If you're commenting and get blocked, try dropping your email address. I had to block gmail, yahoo and a few others because of unbelievable waves of spam comments, robot generated and coming sometimes at a dozen per minute, but set it so you can comment while leaving no email address at all]
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Wayne LaPierre's speech of today
Transcript here The mass media are going to be hopping mad over this one, so it's best to read it as it was given, and compare it to what you'll hear tonight or read tomorrow.
UPDATE: no need to wait until tonight. The Washpo just gave it a one-sentence summary: "National Rifle Association’s CEO: Another Conn.-type shooter is waiting in the wings."
UPDATE: A reporter posts that "Reporters on my Twitter feed seem to hate the NRA more than anything else, ever." A few samples:
"LaPierre as delusional as any dictator. His speech against music videos, hurricanes has the feel of a Castro rant or Mugabe tirade."
"No two ways about: This is gross, awful, dishonest."
"This is nuts."
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Looking back on a bit of history
Back at the foundation of NRA-ILA, the leadership thought the argument that there was a constitutional right to arms could not be a winner: yes, WE believe that, but no one else does. (Not a surprising view, if the only way to judge public opinion was through the mass media, and remember we're talking 1978).
They commissioned a polling firm, Decision Making Information, to do a survey and find out WERE winnable arguments. Most of the data obtained were not surprising revelations. People were concerned about crime, favored locking criminals up, etc.. Then it came to Table 12. "Do you believe the Constitution of the United States gives you the right to keep and bear arms"? Yes: 87%.
We're weren't just talking in an echo-chamber of true believers!
UPDATE: Ah, Jimmy Carter. I have in my files somewhere the result of a Freedom of Info Act request, made decades go, relating to communications leading up to the 1980 election. I remember a memo from one staffer saying, essentially, someone is going to have to tell the antigun groups that we aren't going to do anything for them, and this must come from someone above my pay grade. Then there was Ted Kennedy, who was challenging Carter in the primaries. Handgun Control, Inc., which later became Brady Campaign, was pushing him to introduce a gun bill, and finally came out with a press conference saying he was going to do it ... which he got around to a week or two later. I interpreted that as -- even Kennedy didn't want to go public with a gun control bill at that point in time, and their press conference was a surprise move to push him into it. That may have been the point when the gun rights movement turned the corner. It wouldn't win them all, but the battle had turned from a retreat into at least a stalemate.
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SoF endorsements
Col. Brown informs me that Soldier of Fortune has issued its endorsements on the upcoming NRA Board elections. At the top of SoF's list is Steve Schreiner, a major Colorado activist (head of Firearms Coalition of Colorado), who won the Silver Star for courage in Vietnam. SoF also endorses Scott Bach, Bob Viden, Joe DeBergalis, Wayne Anthony Ross, and Manny Fernandez.
UPDATE: I was heavily involved with FOPA's passage, though I did have to miss the House debates. A day or two before the debates, I recall Rep. Volkmer telling me that Hughes was going to offer amendments, I think three. I recall in addition to the full auto one, another put a similar ban on newly-made suppressors; I forget what the third was. Volkmer said that he'd been sounding out the other Members, and one was going to pass, although he wasn't sure which one. (Literally, they were going to pass one and apparently which one didn't matter). The Members had stuck their necks out farther than they wanted to (remember, the House was under Demo control then, and its leadership was VERY antigun), and they were afraid of the backlash, and wanted to be able to tell the media and constituents that they weren't blindly following the gun lobby, why, they'd voted for something anti-gun, too. I said that made little sense, and Volkmer said he agreed, but that the reality.
It wasn't like it is today, and I'm glad to have lived to see it. To give you an idea: it took six months or so to negotiate changes that satisfied the Reagan Administration! Reagan may have given pro-gun speeches, but the Administration would have opposed FOPA if changes weren't made, weakening some provisions. I know, I was there.
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ILA staffer goes thru basic training -- at age 57
Here's the article. Mark Overstreet is an ILA researcher.
"Completing 70 push-ups, 75 sit-ups and clocking a 13-minute, 40-second two-mile run all good for 340 points, Overstreet easily breezed through his physical training test. But then this is a man who said he takes care of himself and runs marathons at an age when many Americans would rather drive that far or stay home. He then qualified expert with his rifle, though again not a surprise for a man who competed in inter-service competitions with the Navy Reserve shooting team.
. . . . .
{The battalion commander said] "Actually, it's been pretty easy to motivate them when there's someone out-running and out-shooting them. When some of them are 30 or 40 years younger than that person, the young Soldiers get the idea they don't want to be the one lagging behind," he said.
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A trip in the time machine...
LA Times headline from 20 years ago: "Ranks of NRA Gun for Leaders : Dissent: The group's top officers are blamed for declining membership and legislative losses to gun-control forces."
Declining membership, legislative losses ... as Mark Twain said, reports of his death were greatly exaggerated.
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More on crime at the NRA convention
The antler thieves turn out to be workers for an exhibit service company, so it really shouldn't count. And Marooned in Massachusetts reports a mugging that didn't happen. Despite strenuous debates over 1911 vs. Glock, and .45 vs. .40 and 9mm, and piston-actuation vs. direct impingement, with the police department unable to give protection since all the officers were inside the exhibit hall, the gutters did not run with blood.
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NRA convention no longer a crime-free zone
70,000 gunnies, many allowed to carry concealed, converge on a city. The gutters don't run with blood, but somebody did get caught trying to swipe some elk antlers.
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NRA Annual Meeting
Article here. It projects attendance at 65,000 (I've heard 70,000 elsewhere).
Hat tip to Sixgun Sarah...
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Obits for Harold Volkmer
Here's Harold's obituary from the online version of St. Louis Times Dispatch.
Here's one by the Associated Press.
A brief one in the New York Times.
The Boston Globe probably uses a term for the first time: Harold Volkmer: Mo Congressman backed gun rights" .
A long tribute by David Kopel.
An NRA News presentation on him.
I'm starting to write a memorial article for Harold (which was how he liked to be called) but keep starting to tear up. He was such a good, and great, guy. In terms of what he did, a giant. In terms of personhood, he was just Harold, a thoughtful, slow-talking fellow who went nowhere without his wife, Dian, and spoke of growing up in rural Missouri.
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Rep. Harold Volkmer has passed on
UPDATE: here's Harold's obituary. I suggest everyone read it and then send an electronic card to Dian, his wife.
He marked his 80th birthday a week or so ago, and got upwards of 200 cards. He was in a nursing home, for rehab, in his home town of Hannibal, when he died last night. So we lost him and Jim McClure within weeks of each other. They were the two men behind the gun rights' movement's first BIG victory, and probably its biggest even after passage of a quarter century. Volkmer had the tougher job: he had to get it thru a Demo-controlled House, fight his own party's leadership, and get around a Judiciary Committee that was chaired by a staunch antigunner who proclaimed the bill "dead on arrival" in the House.
[following updated]
Visitation will be on Tuesday, April 19th, at James O'Donnell Funeral Home in Hannibal, Missouri. The address is 302 South 5th Street, Hannibal, MO 63401. 4:30 is the rosary, 5-8 PM visitation.
The funeral will be on Wednesday, April 20th, at Holy Family Catholic Church, 1111 Broadway St., Hannibal, MO 63401. 10 AM. Followed by burial at Holy Family Cemetery and bereavement luncheon at the Church.
Mrs. Volkmer can be reached at their home:
Dian Volkmer
2107 Crescent Drive
Hannibal, MO 63401
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Impact of NRA on elections
A poll reports that 42% of voters listened to NRA's message at least some of the time, in relation to their voting. This would tie in with earlier research indicating that people who think they are NRA members outnumber people who really are current members by about 10:1.
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DISCLOSE bill and NRA
A few months ago, the Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on corporations airing campaign ads (or anything mentioning a candidate's name, including an ad that suggests asking him to do something). The powers that be started pushing a bill, DISCLOSE, which would make these now-lawful ad expenditures a bit more burdensome.
The House leadership tried to smooth its passage with a provision that exempts NRA and a few other large advocacy groups (requirements include having more than a million dues-paying members, and no more than a small percent of income from corporate entities). NRA indicated it would have no dog in the fight if the bill did not cover it. This predictably led to some accusations of "selling out."
Personally -- in a chess game this complicated, Murphy's Law and the rule of unintended consequences begin to play major roles, and any tactic that complicates the opposition's situation makes both more prominent and is thus a good move. So far--
1) Public Interest Research Group, National Right to Life Committee and Sierra Club oppose the bill -- I assume because they are subject to it and NRA would not be.
2) Brady Campaign is angry as well: "he special treatment for the NRA "is exactly why Americans are so turned off by politics and cynical about Congress," Paul Helmke said in a telephone interview. "It makes no sense at all when you say you're concerned about the role that money plays in politics.""
3) The new opposition has "left the fate of the legislation in doubt. "
4) If it survives, and is challenged in court, the situation is likewise complicated. "Counsel -- you say this statute serves a compelling governmental interest, in mandating disclosure of corporate involvement in politics -- yet it exempts the biggest corporations from its scope. So involvement of corporations is suspicious, but involvement of really big corporations is not?"
UPDATE: here's Brady Campaign's Dennis Henigan on it: "It’s now clear that the Democratic leadership in Congress has turned the reins of power over to the National Rifle Association." "a stunning act of craven appeasement," " legislative hostage-taking," "It is gratifying to see the growing list of progressive groups that have joined the opposition to this cynical Democratic House sell-out. " I think he's a little upset.
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More gun nuts, less crime?
Snowflakes in Hell notes that during the week of the NRA convention, Charlotte experienced a 45% drop in criminal activity, compared to the same week a year before. Someday I'll check out a few other cities that hosted conventions in past years, and see if anyone keeps records like that.
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leaving NRA convention
Heading home... too busy to blog for a few days, but Snowflakes in Hell has had great coverage of events.
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NRA Convention
The word is that 70,000 are expected to attend the convention in Charlotte this week -- so many that TV stations are announcing likely traffic delays.
update: I dunno about where right to arms is banned, but I did see stickers on the convention center saying that carrying of arms is not allowed. This struck me as rather strange, as there were thousands of arms in it, which presumably had not appeared from another dimension. I have no idea where the next meeting will be held, or what it says about freedom of expression, but I'd suggest going to Arizona again, where there are no problems with either. [NB: this is sorta ironic, since given the enormous size of a convention, you have to book it many years in advance].
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Snowflakes in Hell: NRA Board recommendations
Here are Snowflakes in Hell's recommendations in the ongoing vote for NRA Board members.
[Oops. Deleted the double posting!]
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NRA Board elections
Just got my ballot issue, and went searching for candidates' webpages for more info. Here's what I found so far:
Carol Bambery of Michigan, webpage here. Shooter, hunter, pro-gun attorney, carries an incredible load of NRA board work (serves on six committees, about twice the usual workload), filed pro-gun briefs in DC v. Heller and in the Chicago case. Supported by Texas CHL Forum.
Steve Shreiner, webpage here. President, Firearms Coalition of Colorado, which rec'd NRA's award for best volunteer organization of the year; combat veteran (Airborne Rangers) with Silver Star and Bronze Star with v for valor, serves as member of NRA's Grassroots Committee.
Tom King, webpage here. President of and political liaison for NY State Rifle and Pistol Association, endorsed by it and by the Fifty Caliber Institute.
Ken Hanson [added], webpage here. Pro-gun attorney, does much legal work pro-bono for progun causes, winner of NRA Defender of Justice award, former Legislative Director of Buckeye Firearms Association.
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Marcus Lutrell addressing NRA convention
You won't hear a speech like this at a Brady Campaign dinner...
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A Rifleman in No Man's Land
America's First Freedom, January, has my article "A Rifleman in No Man's Land." (It's not in the online edition). I'll post scans of some of the correspondence mentioned in it. The core of the article is that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries there was a fad of military anti-marksmanship, which NRA fought against. The theory was that most riflemen couldn't hit a target anyway (and there were proposals to remove the sights and replace them with a level, the officer calling out the proper elevation!). Marksmanship taught pride and independence, which were the ruination of good discipline.
In World War I, the standard British and French training was to rush home with the bayonet. If men stopped to shoot, they'd go prone, and the advance would stop. The one problem with this approach was that the attackers were butchered and the attack failed. Still this approach won over Sec. of War Newton Baker. American troops were trained in trench fighting with knife and grenade, not with rifles.
NRA's head, Col. William Libby, was a professor at Princeton when President Woodrow Wilson taught there, and they were good friends. General Pershing, sent to Europe to prepare for his troops' arrival, was a serious competitive shooter. The two lobbied President Wilson and Secretary Baker, and in the end won out.
This December 1916 letter from Col. Libby to the President asks for a personal meeting. It's also interesting to illustrate how NRA was then virtually a quasi-government agency. The NRA and the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice share one letterhead.
This letter from Secretary Baker announces that General Pershing has won him over to rifle skills. "This will confirm the opinion that Colonel Libbey expressed to you and, of course, completely upsets the view which I had expressed to you." He announces that soon "a large amount of practice ammunition will be in the hands of the soldiers, and suitable ranges provided for extensive practice." (Note the practice in governmental letters of putting the address at the bottom rather than top of the page).
President Wilson's response to the Secretary notes "It would tickle Colonel Libbey to death if I could show it to him, and it is very generous of you to send it to me."
So the NRA played a major role in WWI -- that of keeping American troops from being butchered. Not a bad historical niche.
UPDATE: I'd urge any reader to cast a vote. It's a vote for Lowell Baeir for Conservationist of the Year. He's a hunter and shooter and life member of NRA and president of Boone & Crockett. He's trailing a fly fisherman by 40+ votes right now, so your aid may be critical, for a good guy. You can cast your vote here. For more info on Lowell, click here.
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Story on Chris Conte kidney transplant
Right here. Hat tip to reader Jack Anderson....
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Dick Riley passes on
Dick Riley, longtime NRA director, and former president, has died. He was president from 1990 to 1992, and I think his term as director goes back to the Cincinnati Revolt of 1977.
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Some notes from NRA Board meeting
1. Jim Porter was elected 2nd vice president. (David Keene moved up from 2nd VP to first VP, and Ron Ron Schmeitz from first VP to president. John Sigler stepped down as president and was elected to the Executive Council).
The new president announced, among other things, that membership was increasing by 100,000 a month, and that over 10,000 new members had signed up during the convention.
NRA birthday
It's its 137th, founded Nov. 17, 1871. Founded by William Church, who'd been a Union officer during The Great Unpleasantness, and was dismayed by his troops' lousy marksmanship. And more dismayed to discover the Army had no real shooting manuals. As I recall, the drill manual just showed how to stand when firing offhand, not a word about sight alignment, much less bullet drop, trigger squeeze, etc..
And Church was in at the beginning of the war. I read one late 1864 report from Gen. Hancock, commanding II Corps, that one-third of his corps had never fired a live round from their muskets. His corps had been pretty badly shot up, and replacements were new guys who'd drilled on loading but never actually had fired a shot.
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More on "the other NRA"
Here's a pic, from a reader, of a National Recovery Administration meal sign that once hung in a store:
From another reader comes a discussion of the mail chaos when the National Rifle Association and the National Recovery Administration were officed in the same building:
"Sacks of targets, used in NRA tournaments, were delivered to puzzled clerks in the offices of the National Recovery Administration, while the National Rifle Association staff sorted through pleas for financial aid to locate its own correspondence. The problem was not fully solved until May 12, 1935, when the Supreme Court voided the National Industrial Recovery Act."
James B. Trefethen, Americans and Their Guns 229 (1967).
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Memoir of "the other NRA"
An ad from 1933, featuring "the other NRA's eagle."
I read somewhere that for a time in DC the National Rifle Association and the National Recovery Administration were officed in the same building. Every day they'd sort out the mail to "NRA" that had gone to the wrong NRA and exchange.
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Interesting public opinion poll
Story here.
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Meet the gun lobby....
69 year old lady carrying for two grandkids, but with 450,000 Florida members behind her. Story here.
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Charlton Heston roundup
Former NRA President Sandy Froman writes at TownHall of her her experience as Heston's VP, and of what Heston did for the organization in the years before his election.
Over at the [London] Times Online, Nick Hume has tribute from the British Left:
"Charlton Heston's obituarists worry that his acting career might be “overshadowed” by his controversial stance against gun control. Let's hope so. Most of Heston's movie roles were as stiff as his chiselled jaw. But his rock-like defence of the right to bear arms was worthy of an award.
I say this not as a right-wing Republican, but as a Brit of the Left. Hollywood liberals demonised the man who was Moses for his pro-gun views. But that only shows how illiberal they have become. Anybody who retains enough liberal spirit to believe in individual freedom as the basis for a civilised society ought to have stood at Heston's right hand on this issue."
UPDATE: Another from the British Left. Brendan O'Neill writes in the Guardian:
"From great actor and progressive campaigner to reactionary old fart who loved guns: everyone agrees it was a tragic fall from grace. But did Heston really make a dramatic political u-turn? Actually, no. From the 1950s to the 1990s, he remained rather consistent in his commitment to upholding America's freedoms. It was his liberal critics in the gun control lobby on the east coast and in trendy parts of LA who changed their tune, and made a mad swing from liberalism to authoritarianism.
How gun control came to be seen as a liberal cause is one of life's great mysteries. In both the US and across Europe, fully paid-up lefties and progressives will tell you with pride, even pomposity, that the American authorities ought to disarm their populace and ban guns.
What a turnaround. Demanding gun control has traditionally been the preserve of reactionary, even racist elements in American society. Up until the 1980s, gun control was mostly a conservative campaign, driven by a conviction amongst right-leaning activists, politicians and lawmakers that ordinary people, especially those of the non-white variety, could not possibly be trusted with guns. Only the state, they believed, should have the right to use fatal physical force."
Read it all--he gets into the racist history of gun laws in the US, and "Charlton Heston, in demanding equal treatment for blacks in the 1950s and later calling for everyone to have the right to bear arms, was a better representative of the spirit of American equality than any of those gun control campaigners who turned him into their favourite redneck whipping boy."
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Charlton Heston, rest in peace
Story here.
UPDATE: great tribe at the Belmont Club:
"Not very many people will remember that Charlton Heston picketed a segregated theater premiering his own movie; or that he accompanied Martin Luther King Jr on the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington. All at a time when no one in Hollywood was willing to speak out against racism. It's more likely that he'll be remembered as the six foot three inch tall actor, who played Moses and Ben Hur, and later became the president and spokesman for the National Rifle Association advocating the right to keep and bear arms; or recall that he opposed affirmative action. But Heston the marcher and Heston the NRA president come closer together if one recalls that in the actor's mind at least, racial segregation helped the cause of Communism. The fight for freedom took many forms, but underneath its varied guises it was always the same thing."
UPDATE: Newsbusters has an interesting rundown of how the media treated him during his life, after becoming NRA president. Suddenly he became a "polarizing" person. ("Polarizing" being someone who takes a stand the author doesn't like. If the author likes it, it becomes "leadership" or "frankness".).
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NRA elections
It's that time of year again, and Col. Brown has his endorsements. I'd agree with all of them. Steve Schreiner would be a great addition to the Board. He's on a committee right now, and if he's ever missed a board meeting, I can't remember it. Bill Dailey, a Harvard-educated attorney who prefers to practice in Moline ILL, is just indispensable to NRA. He chairs the Civil Liberties Defense Fund, sits on every law-related and legislative committee. Smart as hades, and the only board meeting he ever missed was when he had to have a heart bypass. He sits on eight committees (average director has four), so he's really handling double the workload. Budd Schroder is a hardworking gun activist from NY State, which is a trial in itself. 
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Poll: NRA endorsement of candidates carries most weight
Story here, from a Chinese source. For some strange reason, other media seem to be ignoring it.
The poll asked whether likely voters would be swayed by various endorsements. The conclusion:
By NRA: 27%
By Bill Clinton: 25%
By G. W. Bush: 23%
By AFL-CIO: 16%
By Oprah: 9%
By Barbra Streisand: 4%
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Free NRA membership for troops
NRA is offering complimentary one-year memberships for any active-duty military.
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Roundup on candidate speeches at NRA conference
The Baltimore Sun says that intruding antiwar protestors gave McCain a shot at a reply, which drew a standing ovation.
Guliani's presentation was interrupted by a call from his wife, and this poster asks a few questions.
The Jackson Sun sums up Fred Thompson's presentation.
Fox News notes that Democrat Bill Richardson also showed, and noted that he had a CCW permit. It also notes Thompson's comment that he hangs out at gun stores and campaigns at gun shows.
Newsday says that Guliani says 9/11 altered his views on guns, and that he no longer supports the lawsuits that he began against firearm dealers.
Stop the ACLU reports that Thompson rules on the gun issue, though McCain put in a credible performance.
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NRO: Second Amendment defenders are winning
National Review Online gives its take.
[Thanks -- link fixed].
Update: I like this take: "The Gun Rights Voters are the ones in charge. The NRA is merely one of their mechanisms. This gibbering again postures the NRA as a large evil lobby rather than the lobby of 4 million citizens."
At The Bitchgirls, Bitter has some good observations as well.
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Of Octopuses and NRA
The Associated Press launched a story that, because an NRA cartoon had shown Bloomberg as an octopus trying to take over, and there were Nazi cartoons depicting Jews as octopuses, NRA must be antisemitic. The media picked it up, quite uncritically. "The eight-armed sea animal has been used as the Nazi representation of Jewish conspiracy and control, and was referenced by Adolf Hitler in "Mein Kampf,"" says AP.
A few minutes of research would have shown that the "octopus taking over" cartoon theme has been used by everybody to depict everybody (especially corporate and business interests), and in WWII was more often used by the Allies, with the fascists cast as the octopus.
Here, for example is a British cartoon depicting the fascist Japanese government as an octopus.
Here's an American leaflet (aimed at Japanese soldiers, and hence written in their language) that shows the Japanese hold on Taiwan as an octopus caught between FDR and Chiang Kai-Shek (translated, the message is that the alliance of China and the US will doom Japan).
And here's a wartime image showing the American eagle attacking the fascist octopus.
After the war, the octopus was used to depict the Soviets, and Stalin in particular and more recently, World Trade Organization. Here's a French cartoon that puts Bill Gate's head on a world-hugging octopus.
And in 19th century newspapers, the octopus was used to depict the liquor industry and the Southern Pacific Railroad's monopolistic plans, And in a 1904 Russian cartoon, it is used to depict British capitalists taking over Europe.
In fact, there's a website devoted to octopus propaganda, from which I got several of these images. It begins:
"Cephalopods are major figures in one of man's least noble popular enterprises: propaganda.
Despite their generally shy, retiring habits, octopus have long been used to connote villainy and dark intent. As such, they have also long been staples of propaganda illustrations....
Typically, the Enemy Octopus stands in for a nation or distinct community, and not as an individual. The octopus has been cast as Nazi, fascist, Jewish conspiracist and English imperialist. They've stood in for Antwerp, of all places. Stretch out the arms and they span the distance from 1904 Japan to 2003 internet, anti-Russian sentiment to anarchist website."
[UPDATE: I'd initially attributed this story to Violence Policy Center, based on the first report I had of it. While it sounded like VPC at the time -- they are opponents worthy of the steel, being fast and creative -- I can't find any confirmation that they were behind it, and it's quite possible that AP, while neither fast nor creative, actually came up with it on its own. I've amended the post accordingly.]
[UPDATE: chuckle. I purposely avoided the plural of octopus, because it is indeed octopods or octopodes, the work being Greek and not Latin. Not that I'm fluent in Greek, but I read it in George McDonald Fraser's hilarious novel "Pyrates," where two pirates get into an argument over the correct plural. It's one of the funnier books I have ever read, with most of the competition for that title coming from the same author.]
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NRA convention & board elections
They announced the results--top five vote getters were, in order Ollie North, Sandy Froman, Ted Nugent, Bob Barr, and Marion Hammer. Vote is still being collected for the 76th director, but it looks like Bob Viden will get it -- he was the only one really campaigning.
The crowds are huge. I heard a 60,000 attendance estimate and would believe it. The line just to get into the exhibit hall was about two hundred feet long, literally, and stayed that way for a couple of hours.
And this is despite absolutely beastly weather. I saw a sign saying it was 39 degrees. With a very stiff wind and rain.
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Economists probe question of NRA electoral power
Dave Kopel has a study by Christopher B. Kenny, Michael McBurnett & David J. Bordua, on the question of how much NRA endorsements influence elections. (pdf file) Among other findings:
In 1994, each 10,000 NRA members in a district was associated with a 5% vote gain for the candidate NRA endorsed.
Challengers benefitted more from an endorsement than did incumbents.
An endorsement helped a Republican contender more than it helped a Democratic one.
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NRA board elections roundup
Here's a quick roundup of gun bloggers and others' recommendations for the 2007 NRA Board of Directors' election.
I've especially recommended re-election of president Sandy Froman, and of the hardworking director Carol Bambery (who serves on six committees, plus on the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund, chairs the NRA Foundation's National Firearms Law Seminar, and was counsel to MUCC and MCRGO).
Bitter quite agrees, on Sandy ("She rocks") here and on Carol ("a great choice for the Board") here (She promises to add a couple more soon, and I won't spoil the suspense). UPDATE: Here they are. Sandy Froman, Carol Bambery, Susan Howard, and Bob Barr.
Anthroblogogy agrees on Sandy Froman ("a natural") and Carol Bambery ("another stellar performer"), and adds Ted Nugent, Curtis Jenkins, and Joaquin Jackson.
Col. Brown of Soldier of Fortune recommends Steve Schreiner, President of the Firearms Coalition of Colorado, and winner of the Bronze and Silver Stars in 'Nam.
UPDATE: candidate Jim Supica has a webpage, too. Another update: Tom King of New York has one, too.
I put a tip on voting in Board elections in extended remarks below.
Continue reading "NRA board elections roundup"
NRA elections
I was right about NRA directors' 2007 elections time approaching, just got the magazine with the ballot. 36 candidates for 26 seats, tighter than usual. When I read thru them, I ask myself: (1) does the person know much about the NRA? (2) how hard do they work for it? and (3) how committed are they to Second Amendment causes (in terms of having actually done work on them)? Giving the list a quick look, two people stand out.
Sandy Froman, longterm director and outgoing President. That the board itself elected her its leader says all you need to know. And I know that it's hard to reach her, because she's almost always on the road, doing something for NRA. And she's got one impressive collection of NFA stuff, too!
Carol Bambery is another. She has a webpage here. She's been a director for nine years, knows the NRA. She works hard, serving on five regular committees, plus the special Committee on Right to Carry,. At the last annual meeting, she had to race between two building, because in one she chaired the annual Firearms Law Seminar, and in another she was voting as a trustee of the NRA Civil Liberties Defense Fund. Mind you, all of this is voluntary, and all is unpaid.
When not doing that, she helped found the Michigan Coalition of Responsible Gun Owners, took a trial and appeal that got three Michigan city gun laws struck down, and was counsel to Michigan Unified Conservation Clubs. Oh, and coauthored the book on MI gun laws.
Bitter has endorsement of Ms. Bambery up, too.
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NRA elections time
It must be the season for NRA elections, and here is the first webpage for a candidate, Carol Bambery of Michigan and DC. I see Carol at Board meetings, and have always wondered how she carries the remarkable load of work that she does. A ton of committee assignments, plus a trustee on the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund, plus heading up the Foundation's steering committee for its annual Continuing Legal Education program. And helping state pro-gun groups and suing antigun cities on the side.
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Back from NRA meeting
I'm back from attending the NRA directors' meeting, where I was asked to be available for the Range Committee. I dropped by Legal Affairs, and their Civil Liberties Defense Fund, and heard some modest news. Let's see...
In the New Orleans gun confiscation suits, the judge appears to be a bit grumpy, but much more so at NO (which, from the transcript, was promising to return the guns but never quite doing so). NO moved to dismiss the part of the suit that alleged that the 14th Amendment incorporated the 2nd and made it applicable to the states, saying that the Supremes had left the issue open.
In the countersuits against Bloomberg, Rep. Barr said essentially that everything is complicated as heck, but it's one serious fight. The dealer or dealers he represents have told Bloomberg to go to, as far as settling. They've moved to dismiss his lawsuit against them for lack of personal jurisdiction. In turn, he removed their state court suit against him to federal court, alleging that it involves a federal question (how 4473s are filled out). I don't think it does, but he eliminated references to federal regs in an amended complaint, and has moved that the federal court remand to state court.
Battle of the Somme
July marks the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, where the British lost 19,000 dead and 39,000 wounded in a single day. Before the fight was over, British and French casualties topped 600,000, and 12 square kilometers of battlefield were (temporarily) captured.
Might be a good time to read this article, which I wrote a few years ago, on NRA's role in keeping the US out of a similar WWI fiasco.
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Notes on NRA convention
It was a pretty good one, attendance said to be 40-60,000. I got to meet Bitter, of the Bitch Girls --sorta funny, since she is not bitter at all!
Spent Friday in the legal education seminar, which I'd highly recommend to legal types. It was useful, and I'd rather send my CLE money to NRA than to the state bar anyway. The most interesting part came when a defense attorney discussed the latest NYC "sting" lawsuits. My notes:
It's indeed been assigned to Judge Weinstein. They said he was extremely bright, indeed brilliant, and he has a definite agenda. And does things which sound pretty wacky to me. In one past trial he sat in the jury box. The defense tore the plaintiff's expert to pieces. Sitting in the box, the judge asked the expert questions to rehabilitate him (lawyerese for revive his credibility). Finally, they objected that the judge was leading the witness, and he sustained the objection, still there in the jury box.
In past cases, he'd refused to allow the defense to probe Brady Center's data on tracing -- they were arguing many guns had traced to the dealer in question, which must prove he was dealing with criminals. But in some other city suits they managed to get that discovery, and looked at it closely. They found that only 1 in ten or twelve traces had anything to do with criminal use of a gun. The rest were police tracing because a widow had dropped off her husband's guns because she didn;t know what to do with them, lost guns, guns seized when a DV order was served, etc.
The latest suits focus on nuisance because some states have criminal nuisance statutes and the gun mfr liability act has an exception for criminal conduct. It's a real stretch.
ATF has said they will be investigating every aspect of these "sting" sales (and there were ATF people present who repeated that). This may be bad news for the city, since IF the sales were illegal straw sales, their investigators committed felonies.
One gun was traced TWICE in NYC. The first time was for a crime, so it would have to have been confiscated. Only explanation for how it would later be on the street is that someone in NYC PD is selling seized guns on the street.
NYC suit wants very strange relief, dealers to post a bond for their good behavior, and judge to oversee their training and operations. This would be crazy relief (even if the FFLs in question were in NY, which they aren't), but this is Judge Weinstein. In normal case, there'd be problem with personal jurisdiction. Gun shops aren't in NY, have never sold to anyone in NY.
Other notes--I got a chance to share cigars with former Sheriff and present Director Jay Printz. He'd been over in Iraq as a law enforcement contractor for some months. He said that the present rules allow an Iraqi to keep one gun per home and one per place of business. He mentioned one prime 1911 that a trooper had ... they found a fellow with the 1911 and an ancient pinfire revolver in his house, and the trooper proclaimed the pinfire was the one allowed gun and confiscated the 1911. The sheriff thought that a rather lousy way to win hearts and minds.
Also ran into Susan Hupp Gratia, whose father was killed in the Luby's Massacre, and who speaks on how, if Texas had had liberal CCW back then, she would have had a clear shot at the killer... but it didn't, and so her gun was in the car. She's quite a talker, informally as well as formally, and in the Texas legislature.
Spent time, too, with Alan Corwin, who publishes his own gun law books via www.gunlaws.com. As always, he's full of new ideas.
The members' meeting passed a resolution memorializing David Caplan, and the directors are planning to do the same. Jeff Knox moved a resolution in favor of his late father's plan to change Board elections (instead of 76 directors at large, have 50 from the states and 26 at large). The vote was to pass the matter to the Bylaws and Resolutions Committee.
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Back home
Got back from the NRA convention, will blog some notes on it tommorrow. In the meantime, Alphecca notes that the local press coverage was favorable. (In my memory, it usually is -- NRA coming to town is interesting news, and the local press will happily cover it without much negative spin). In this case, I was told, the city of Milwaukee had done a lot to bring NRA in, and there were 40,000-60,000 people attending. There was word that it might set an all-time record for persons attending an event at the convention center there.
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Contact point for letters to the editor
NRA grassroots has established a nifty letters to the editor generator. Punch in your zipcode, and it gives you your local papers' and stations' email addresses and a box for the message.
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David I. Caplan
Just received word that David I. Caplan, formerly of New York & New Jersey, then retired to Florida, died this last week.
Dr. Caplan (he held a PhD plus his law degree, and thus had the "Dr." legit) was author of what I count as the first "modern" law review article on the Second Amendment, dating back to 1974, and was a member of the NRA Board for a great many years (30+ as I recall).
A mutual friend reminded me that his greatest service probably came in the days leading up to the "Cincinatti Revolt," 1977, when his skill, and that of his wife Susan, in New York nonprofit law was so valuable, NRA being a New York nonprofit. For those too young to recall that battle, it was the defining moment of the modern NRA. One side (until then, dominant) wanted to withdraw from politics, move HQ to the big spread of land near Raton Pass, and ensure NRA remained a sporting organization with little or no politics. The other, the "Federation," wanted to ensure a major political presense. At a major battle at the annual meeting in Cincinatti, the Federation overturned the powers that be, and the result was formation of ILA and the NRA as we know it nearly forty years later.
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NRA Foundation
Charity Navigator gives the NRA Foundation four stars. Among other things, the amount of their income devoted to fundraising is 5% and to administration 5%, with the result that nearly 90% is disbursed to programs.
By way of comparison, the NAACP legal fund gets one star -- fundraising and admin. costs are 16% and 7%. Brady Center (their legal arm) gets one star--fundraising and admin. are 15% and 6%.
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NRA elections
Just got my issue of the Rifleman with the ballot. I thought I'd pass on a few thoughts, and maybe start a discussion.
All the folks that got nominated, and whom know, are very well qualified. This is one first rate body of people.
I would suggest reading the bios carefully to spot those who have special NRA experience. Are they a current board member, head of a state association, that manner of thing? What committees have they served on?
(Sometimes you have to read carefully. For example, Col. Brown and Judge Boehm are a long term board members, but they never mention it -- you have to deduce that from a mention that they're on two committees). It's not that I have any bias for incumbents per se -- it's more that I tend to disfavor "celebrity" directors, who don't have experience with the organization and may have little time to spare for learning. You also want some people who just plain love shooting, as well as the activists (I know it's mostly overlapping, but there are people who have little interest in politics as such, but love to teach people to shoot, and you need folks who will represent that aspect of NRA).
It is a pretty remarkable slate ... oh, a biochemist working on anticancer drugs, a retired judge, a former sub officer turned police captain and then attorney, a refugee from Castro's regime.
I notice two directors who have been elected officers by the rest of the Board (1st and 2d Vice Presidents John Sigler and Ronald Schmeits) are up for election. And the always-inventive Scott Bach has established a webpage listing his qualifications, which are many. (I should also give a special mention to Don Saba, since he's vice president of Tucson Rod and Gun Club, and I spent this morning exploring new sites for its shooting range with him).
Another thing--remember the ballot, and the nominating committee recommendations, are two different things. There's a limit on the recommendations, so they didn't list some interesting people. For example, David Jones, who's been on the board since '97 and mentions a 100% attendance record -- NOT easy to accomplish, with three 3-4 meetings per year. And Amy Heath, Jeff Cooper's grand-daughter.
Chime in with your own thoughts....
[Updates: here's the Orange County Shooters' Ass'n endorsements, and the Bitch Girls' take, strongly endorsing Scott Bach.
Just to explain, BTW, board members are usually elected for 3 years terms, so around 25 come up for election (plus however many it takes to fill in for resignations]. If there are resigned seats to fill, the 25 top vote getters get 3 year terms, and those below them get 1-2 year terms of those who had resigned. The president and vps must be board members, but are elected by the board (rather than the members) from its own membership. Then there is also a 76th director, with one-year term, elected on the floor of the annual meeting].
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Jury questions in Moussaoui sentencing trial
The AP is reporting that potential jurors in the Maoussaoui trial are being asked about NRA membership:
"Prosecutors wanted to know whether potential jurors belonged to veterans groups, the American Civil Liberties Union or the National Rifle Association. Defense attorneys wanted to know their favorite TV shows and what bumper stickers are on their cars."
They're generally allowed fairly widely ranging questions, designed to elicit bias (or find out who may be biased your way, too). The prosecution may figure that veteran status or NRA membership would tend to suggest a potential juror would lean their way, and an ACLU membership would suggest the person leaned the other way (esp. since the issue for trial is the death penalty).
Continue reading "Jury questions in Moussaoui sentencing trial"
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Interesting book
I've been reading Osha Gray Davidon's "Under Fire: NRA & The Battle for Gun Control." It's a 1993 work, and thus doesn't cover the field since then -- pretty much ends with the Brady Act.
The author is strongly antigun, but except in a few places, doesn't let it affect his writing, that I can see. (He even acknowledges that "cop killer bullets" were an invented issue, and NRA was right on that). He does have some incredibly good sources for his material. I could only find one minor error in his history -- he has two firings occurring on the same day, when in fact they were a couple of weeks apart.
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Poll on NRA, other groups
Via the Bitch Girls:
A Harris poll on various organizations yields some interesting results.
NRA, at 90%, has the highest name recognition (Greenpeace is at 81, ACLU at 80, Sierra Club 64, Common Cause 24).
As would be expected of an advocacy group, it tends to have high positives and negatives (48/52% trust or don't trust). Sierra Club does better (59/41), and ACLU is about the same (49/51), altho it has the highest ratings of "do not trust at all". AFL-CIO came off the worst (41/59).
The partisan breakdown is hardly surprising -- Democrats are more likely to distrust the NRA, and Republicans to distrust the ACLU. Only the Nature Conservancy and AARP do well with both parties.
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NYC Mayor blames NRA
New York CIty mayor Michael Bloomberg has blamed the NRA for shooting deaths of two officers. Nevermind that the city, and the state, have strict firearms laws, those of Pennsylvania and Virginia aren't up to his standards, and that must be why the laws don't work. The one gun the article mentions as having been traced was stolen, in Florida, so exactly how stricter laws would have affected this is not very clear.
I always found this interesting in debates. The other side will contend (1) gun laws won't be evaded, because murders are crimes of passion where the offender doesn't plan in advance to evade the law, but (2) gun laws must be strict nationwide, because offenders will travel hundreds of miles in advance to evade local laws.
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Canadian official hot at NRA
The Canadian deputy prime minister is complaining that the Canadian Shooting Sports Association asked the NRA for organizational advice. Touchy, touchy.
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Member of ACLU ... and of NRA
Margaret Romao Toigo has an interesting article in blogcritics: "Why I Love the ACLU in Spite of its Warts -- With Hugs and Kisses to the NRA." I wouldn't agree that the ACLU's position on the Second Amendment is "neutral" -- it's a waffling anti-individual rights one-- but the article is worth the read.
BTW, it is interesting that the ACLU's position has been watered down over the years. I can remember when it was solid "collective rights." Today it's that the right is " primarily a collective one" -- note the qualifier "primarily" -- that it does not confer "an unlimited right" (hard to name one substantive constitutional limit that does).
One friend, who travels in ACLU national circles, said that the reason ACLU is so squeamish is that if they recognized an individual right (as all the big names in American constitutional law do these days) a lot of their donors might back out. Against that would be the point that they backed the Nazi march in Skokie many years ago. But then they took a BIG hit in membership and donations over that one, and haven't repeated the experience in the last twenty years or so.
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Relocation of 2007 NRA Convention
Matthew Holmes has a great posting at Chronwatch, relating to the NRA cancelling Columbus as the site for its 2007 convention. (The city fathers appear to be dismayed that NRA declined to hold its annual meeting in a city that had just passed an assault rifle ban).
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