Membership is declining at the gun right’s group as it also faces financial difficulties. Critics say the future looks bleak.

  • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The NRA is a marketing team for gun manufacturers, and what sells guns is fear of gun bans. The NRA does everything in their power to fuel those fears.

    Pro and anti gun alike hate them. It’s mostly just boomers keeping them going.

    • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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      1 year ago

      They aren’t a gun rights organization. They aren’t even a manufacturer’s organization. They are Republican shills, first, last, and always.

      I was finally convinced they had abandoned gun owners when they endorsed Mitt Romney in 2012. When a gun rights organization openly endorses the signer of a gun ban, there is something deeply wrong.

        • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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          1 year ago

          That was slightly before my time, but yes, they did endorse Reagan in 1980 and 1984, and Reagan had signed the Mulford Act 13 years earlier. The Mulford act wasn’t a gun ban per se; it prohibited carry of loaded firearms without a permit.

          Reagan went on to support the Brady Bill and the 1994 AWB after his presidency. Reagan also banned carry in national parks. Clinton and 2 Bushes didn’t undo that mistake; Obama fixed it in his first month in office.

          But I digress: the NRA has done far more for the Republican Party than it has done for gun rights.

          • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            the NRA has done far more for the Republican Party than it has done for gun rights

            It’s the same story with evangelical groups like Focus on the Family: They’re just shills for Republicans, and are actively hurting their religion in the process.

    • rayyy@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Exactly. I belonged to the NRA way back when they were a safety and information organization. They began to sell high priced commemorative hunting guns, then commemorative military guns. Soon they started selling military style guns like the M1 Garand rifle and the M1 carbine. I quit. Their push continued into modern M16s while simultaneously pushing scare articles to convince people of dangers so great that they would need buy military style weapons. The NRA degenerated into a money and greed operation that became the opposite of its origins intent.