Flush the NRA Over Bump Fire

NOTE: They care called "bump fire stocks," not bump stocks.

Remember after Sandy Hook and the media waited on baited breath for the NRA’s big announcement, which turned out to be them recommending armed teachers in schools? The media was hoping that the NRA in 2012 was going to announce support for draconian gun control. It took almost five years, but the NRA finally turned tail and ran.

Many are defending the NRA, calling it a “tactical retreat” to avoid getting crucified by the mainstream media. Given that the stocks are just range toys and have no real practical purpose (unless you are psychopath), in the highly emotional charged atmosphere there is little to defend about them.

The other alternative is that offering up bump fire on a platter is a way to avoid something worse, like an “assault weapons” ban or magazine ban (or even worse), betting the ATF makes an administrative ruling that gives political cover to everyone and frustrate the Democrats. No doubt in the following American Rifleman they will call a reclassification a “victory.” An “eat Peter to save Paul” strategy won’t work when the wolves have an insatiable hunger. Look at California; just when it looks like they’ve taken it all, there is more for them to ban. If you give a mouse a cookie…

Or what if they are doing this as a bargain to get national reciprocity and suppressors/silencer deregulation passed? Again, the idea of bargaining with the Devil is a terrible idea when all you have to trade is the moral high ground and something they are taking away anyhow. You can have bump fire after I can carry in California and buy a can over the counter. All such belief in “strategy” is mere hope, and hope is not a plan.

When Samuel Johnson (the Oxford English Dictionary guy) learned he was dying, he supposedly said: “I will be conquered; I will not capitulate.” He would eventually die, but he would not simply give up right then and there. We were going to lose this once the media and the left latched on to it, seeing as how we’ve filled Washington with Republicants. If we would lose anyway and be demonized as usual, why what does the NRA gain by yielding the moral high ground?

Gun owners are willing to give up on bump fire stocks in order to save whatever else anti’s might be after and/or get this supposed bargain in return. They are sadly mistaken that this strategy is a good one and display a level of misunderstanding about the left that will one day doom them.

Kurt Schilchter wrote: 

"We only lose our rights if we allow ourselves to be shamed, threatened, whined, and lectured into giving them up by skeevy tragedy-buzzard pols, mainstream media meat puppets, and late night chucklemonkeys whose names and faces all blend together into one unfunny, preachy blur." In the darkest of times, we must stand on principle even if the whole world calls us fools. Australian gun confiscation came about because gun owners acquiesced to sacrifice one thing to save another, only to ultimately lose both. 

If we should take away a "unnecessary" item like bump fire stocks, then to save lives we need to take away unnecessary items like alcohol and cars that can go faster than the speed limit. I don't feel guilty for having or enjoying bump fire because I'm not a murderer.

Almost immediately, the shit hit the fan and the NRA took much heat from their members, so they went on Fox News to explain themselves. 

“We didn’t talk about banning anything. We talked about ATF going back and reviewing whether or not these are in compliance with federal law," Chris Cox said to Tucker Carlson. Not so. Whatever the words, whatever the secret strategy, the NRA has thrown bump fire stocks to the wolves. They have surrendered and signaled their critical weakness to the left; the NRA care more about appearances and feelings that rights. 

This announcement was a disavowal of bump fire and tacit approval for whatever the US government wants to do. Wayne LaPierre told Sean Hannity as much. "What the NRA has said is we ought to take a look at that, see if it’s in compliance with federal law and if it’s worthy of additional regulation." One wonders what Wayne would have done if the multimillionaire took the time to legally buy a machine gun. The Oregon Firearms Federation said on Facebook: 

"While LaPierre will be all over the place on this, ultimately what he has called for is for them to be treated like machine guns or be banned, and no amount of doublespeak is going to change that. Keep in mind, the reason full auto firearms are so expensive is because of a deal NRA made in 1986 to ban their sale to civilians if they were manufactured after that year. So now, in addition to having to deal with all the Federal red tape and costs, you also have to be very wealthy to own one." 

Bump fire stocks were reviewed and approved by the ATF; they are in compliance with federal law. Hell, even Dianne Feinstein thinks so (which is why she wants them made illegal). "The term 'machinegun' means any weapon which shoots ... automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger." 26 U.S. Code § 5845(b) Each time the bump fire stock recoils, the finger contacts and pulls back the trigger. Of course, the ATF has jumped through bigger hoops before and will probably do so this time.

The NRA compromised in 1934 when the National Firearms Act originally sought to ban register and tax pistols along with machine guns, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, and other funs. This was entirely an anti-crime bill masquerading as a tax bill, intending to curb the Depression and Prohibition Era crime of gangsters. Concealed weapons (and handguns in general) had also been demonized for decades at this point because of profligate use in the South and Old West.

Back then, NRA President Karl T. Frederick stated he did not approve of carrying guns for self-defense (a viewpoint that was shockingly prevalent in America). 

“I have never believed in the general practice of carrying weapons. I seldom carry one. I have when I felt it was desirable to do so for my own protection. I know that applies in most of the instances where guns are used effectively in self-defense or in places of business and in the home. I do not believe in the general promiscuous toting of guns. I think it should be sharply restricted and only under licenses.” 

On May 16, 1934 the NRA agreed to withdraw its objections if pistols and revolvers were removed from the National Firearms Act. This appears to be the work of dedicated pistol marksmanship competitors lobbying both Congress and the NRA. Despite a lack of popular support among the American public, there was enough hatred of handguns by those in power to have enacted such a ban.

The NRA also refused to stand firm in 1986, allowing the Hughes Amendment to ban post-’68 machine guns, thus driving up the price via limited demand of registered guns. In 1994, they did nothing to stop the Assault Weapons Ban. Republicans and conservative organizations need to grow balls and not give in to the left because emotion is involved. Tragedies are exploited by the left precisely because conservatives give in almost each and every time. "Shall not be infringed" does not mean give up a range toy because it makes weak-willed politicians and lobbyists look bad. Today it's bump fire, tomorrow it is semi-automatic rifles.

Many say, “But who else is fighting for your rights?” If it cannot lobby a full Republican government to de-regulate suppressors and concealed carry reciprocity, but infringes on the Second Amendment because of feelings, we don't need them in Washington or the statehouse. We have a friggin’ Republican-controlled Congress and Republican President; why wasn’t this stuff rushed through right away? Why wasn’t the NRA raising holy hell with the Republicans? If what I’ve seen from the NRA this year is fighting for my rights, they aren’t worth it to me.

Other organizations can provide lobbyists. Heck, lobbyists aren’t even really needed in an age when mass communications make it easy for citizens to reach their representatives or heckle them. At the local level, only when Question 1 came up did the NRA make a significant investment. Nevadans on an individual basis have done more to stop bad legislation and pass good state bills than the NRA has. The NRA freak out when they realized that Nevada Carry is more influential in this state than they are.

The NRA no longer deserves your money. Support the NVFAC instead and get involved on your own; don’t expect some dude in a suit to do all your fighting for you. No compromise. The Left doesn't.  They will push and push until they disarm us and then they can do what they want to us. The hour we need the Second Amendment for its indented purpose is drawing ever closer. If you cannot expect the NRA to stand-up against a pointless ban, how can we expect them to stand for us when we must fight the civil war on the horizon?