Why I Am Leaving the NRA: The Manchin-Toomey Bill

Yesterday, the forces of the poorly informed and the unread won, and the public lost. The Manchin-Toomey Bill was defeated in the Senate. Instead of doing what our legislators should be doing, reading the bills they are voting upon and telling their constituents what is in them, they look at the polls, the source of their donations, and weigh how as vote may impact their future reelection. this kind of irresponsible legislative activity is unsupportable. I fear they employ staff to help them understand the legislation that is coming up, but they respond more to the impact of their vote on their reelection, than to the impact the legislation might have on Americans. The NRA opposed this legislation, and was dead wrong.  They successfully defeated a proposal to strengthen the language prohibiting the formation of a Federal National Gun Registry by saying that the legislation would do JUST THE OPPOSITE. They said, as they do about any Federal Legislation, that it would make it easier for the Feds to start a Gun Registry. The NRA was unable to alter the course of really antigun legislation in New York and Connecticut this week, so they could not use those losses to foster their donations, so they opposed a good bill solely for the purpose of increasing their bottom line. This kind of activity and paranoid, fear mongering, even lying, messaging is my reason for leaving the NRA, even after 20 years as a member. Politically, they are no longer supportable and what they say is no longer trustworthy.

Original Cartoon by Tom Tommorow

This is what they have said on their website about the defeat of the bill, “This amendment would have criminalized certain private transfers of firearms between honest citizens, requiring lifelong friends, neighbors and some family members to get federal government permission to exercise a fundamental right or face prosecution.” The truth is that the increased need for background checks (which the NRA calls above “federal government permission”) at gun shows and during internet sales would have had little impact on future sales. And friends and neighbors would simply have had to go to the local gun store, or police station, to complete a transfer of a firearm. Family members and relatives as distant as first cousins and nephews would have transferred firearms without requiring a background check. No rights would have been limited. The NRA, the Media, and legislators “shade” the truth to make their point.
Their second statement, ”As we have noted previously, expanding background checks, at gun shows or elsewhere, will not reduce violent crime or keep our kids safe in their schools.” This is only their belief, with no proof that it is factual. The Manchin-Toomey bill, by adding persons adjudicated to be mentally incompetent, an important addition to the FBI database, MIGHT prevent some mentally unstable shooters from obtaining a weapon and wreaking havoc in the future. This is more likely than the NRA contention that the defeat of the bill was warranted because it might inconvenience a few friends and family members. The NRA never mentions the fact that the bill contained a provision that was nefarious and limited our rights.  It prohibited everyone from traveling across state lines with a loaded firearm in the vehicle. Since the NRA did not mention this, and the Press did not mention this, and no Politician mentioned this, including our President, this suggests that none of them are motivated by our welfare. We can only do our own due diligence and research the truth since journalists also no longer can be depended upon the help us find out the truth behind the story. The days of Walter Cronkite are over. The Mary Tyler Moore show predicted the replacement of the discerning news commentator, with the present cadre of ratings seeking, pap spouting, irresponsible press entertainers called news anchor men (and women). It was a true portent. I believe that you can be a true conservative and defend those principles supported by the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth! It’s too bad that the NRA, the press and the politicians have become so irresponsible that they no longer believe in the intelligence of an informed American People.