He Who Panics First, Panics Best

What we are facing in the Great Bump Stock is a war of attrition. In a war of attrition, each side is doing their best to wear down the other side because he who gives in last, wins. After repeated tragedies, Republicans, gun owners, and conservative thinkers are giving in. Unable to defend their beliefs to even themselves, they have become susceptible to the slow, grinding tactics of the “Do Something!” crowd calling for meaningless gun control.

Without having fully tried the pro-gun solutions (armed teachers, staff, and parents in schools) or properly treating the epidemic of mental illness, too many gun owners are starting to wonder if the hoplopaths (gun haters) are right. The tone has changed. Without any counter-balance explaining the pro-gun position, these supposedly “reasonable” folks succumb unconsciously to a form of peer pressure.

Yes, Trump’s bump fire memo is something to worry about. His vague statements have become fact. He has been worn down into “doing something.” He has given the ATF the cover it needs to ban bump fire. Leading by example, the President has shown the public that compromise is okay and by answering the question in the public’s mind as to whether or not the people of the gun should begin giving rights away.

Make no doubt about it, we are headed for a gun control disaster in the near future. Public opinion is shifting away from the staunch “come and take it” attitude under Obama. Today, it is bump fire stocks. Tomorrow, it will be something else. What is happening is that media and social pressure, combined with the NRA’s stance and Republican rhetoric, is signaling to the public that it is time to become more “reasonable” about guns.

Steadfast belief in a conflicting opinion creates psychological tension that only inner conviction can overcome. Without close-held beliefs or detailed knowledge about the contrarian position, the mental conflict between self and society is best resolved by changing one’s opinions. This quiets the inner voice that is asking “Why do you believe X when everyone else believes Y?”

Two other major issues of our time went from “unthinkable” to permissible. If everyone else says gay marriage or marijuana isn’t a big deal, then why should anyone else think differently? Uncritical thinkers and uncurious minds don’t seek out reasons to defend their beliefs because those beliefs are ultimately based on public opinion. They are going along with the flow. But as the public opinion shifts, an ideologically ungrounded person will be pulled and finally shift with the tide.

What we are witnessing is the slow wearing down of gun-receptive public into accepting gun control. Media and hoplopathic (antigun) forces are actively encouraging this via propaganda. Sadly, those who are less susceptible to television brainwashing are being victimized by their reflexive need to mentally “fit in.” Neutral parties can only hold out so long without being pulled one way or the other and the AR-haters are louder.

Unfortunately, Republicans are being worn down as well. A president who truly grasped the slippery slope of appearing “reasonable” on gun control would never have asked the DOJ to essentially propose a bump fire ban. Under congressional and media pressure, the President’s memo, with the NRA’s blessing, amounts to a green light to ban bump fire stocks with political cover.

Many stalwart Trump defenders are saying that this is just a stratagem to appear like he is taking action. It is just that, but with the added danger that he doesn’t care if bump fire stocks are actually banned. If bump fire stocks aren’t banned, we can call it “masterful, 3D political chess.” If they are banned, apologists will excuse it as being necessary to save the rest. Excuses will be made because bump fire isn’t something that most gun owners care about.

Uncritical thinkers, gun owners included, don’t want to admit that their great orange hope isn’t their savior, but just another politician willing to do what is politically expedient. Donald Trump is not a man of deeply-held convictions; rather, he is a negotiator willing to compromise because closing a deal defines success, even if it is ultimately a losing deal. Temporarily mollifying the “do something” crowd with a sacrificial win gives Trump the illusion of success.  

The sacrificial lambs could be offered up to the gaping maw of the starving gun control demon. That demon is always hungry and is always calling for more. As these horrible acts of violence continue, the calls will grow more intense. Compromises and acquiescence to anti-gun bills will snowball, making it easier and easier each time for unprincipled politicians to do what is popular, not what is right.

Fudds who will give up bump fire stocks to make the controversy go away are too ignorant and cowardly to stand on principal. They are perpetuating an “eat me last” philosophy that feeding the monster will make it less hungry; no—throwing meat to the monster only gives it a taste for blood. If the public abandons the gun, then the politicians don’t need to support it. And as compromise becomes the norm, it becomes easier and easier each time to mentally justify giving in to compromise so one does not feel uncomfortable as a contrarian outlier.

Gun owners are getting scared and giving in. In the face of persecution, they are abandoning the faith. Like the boastful St. Peter who said he would never denounce Christ, by dawn, these folks with “molon labe” stickers on their pickup truck will betray the Second Amendment three times. If a mere fun accessory is being thrown under the bus, what will gun owners do when persecution begins? Will they stand firm when the ATF is kicking down doors, or will they meekly hand over their guns and criticize those who resist by force as making hunters look bad?

Think I'm nuts about the tone changing? The calls for "common sense gun safety" is being replaced by "repeal the Second Amendment." The rabid hoplopaths are the ones calling to do away with the right to keep and bear arms, but just as every major gun-hater jumped on the Everytown "gun safety" bandwagon, repealing the Second Amendment will be more commonplace until it seems reasonable. 

The high tide of gun rights is beginning to go out. The wheat is being separated from the chaff. Over time, as tragedies continue and we focus on guns rather than a sick society and broken people, more and more restrictions will we face. Stock up now. He who panics first panics best. 

The NRA are a Bunch of Loser Cucks

In the dark days of December 2012, following the Sandy Hook school massacre, Wayne LaPierre told the media that the NRA wanted to offer “meaningful contributions” to school safety. The mainstream media salivated like dogs, expecting LaPierre to finally get on board with draconian gun control. Instead, he said that the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun was a good guy with a gun. The NRA proposed armed guards in school and Congressional funding for armed school police officers.

The media was overwhelmed and mocked the suggestion. Congress instead pushed forward with a slate of gun control bills, including the Manchin-Toomey bill that the NRA actually helped write behind the scenes. Miraculously, none of the gun control went forward. Americans had already come to the conclusion that gun control was the problem. From then on, campus carry was the hot issue; allowing teachers, parents, and college students to shoot back.

The NRA had it’s hand in every major gun control defeat in 100 years. In the 1930s, they compromised on the National Firearms Act to save pistols, which they did, but gave up everything else. There was no organization to send an attorney to represent gun owners in the Miller case. From then on, and especially in 1994 with the Assault Weapons Ban, the NRA compromised.

Now the NRA and its defenders would argue this was to save something; staunch opposition with no give would have resulted in worse. Instead, the NRA basically gave up its second-best looking daughter to the marauding band so it could keep the number one daughter unmolested. Today, the NRA was so afraid of machine guns being banned and more bad legislation (AWB, mag restrictions, etc.) in the wake of the October 1 attack that they sold bump fire up the river.

No, the NRA isn’t playing some grand game of strategic, 3D chess. They are doing what they have always done; compromise and lose. Being tone-deaf to the American public and their members, the NRA instead listened to the whining of the Bloomberg-ites, the media, and wishy-washy anti-gun politicians. All of the above hates the NRA; nothing will change that. Throwing bump fire to the wolves was not a delaying tactic to save the family, it was giving the wolves an appetizer.

The NRA opposed the landmark Heller case that affirmed the Second Amendment applies outside the home; not because they disagreed with their ideals, but because they were afraid that a negative Heller decision—the opposite of what we got—would eliminate the right to carry. They were afraid of losing. People might argue about strategy and risk, but you’ll never win the Superbowl if you don’t show up in Minneapolis.

The NRA is like a beaten down dog that keeps licking Master’s hand, hoping that Master will stop beating and kicking it. When you’ve been on the defensive for nearly a century, you don’t know what victory is anymore. All you know is compromise and loss. So like a cuckhold husband who feels “empowered” watching another man sleep with his wife, the NRA is a willing accomplice to the gun control agenda.

When the NRA is weak, it gives spineless politicians political cover. Countless politicians have parroted the NRA’s line about bump fire stocks instead of saying “Shall not be infringed.” Now is precisely the time to get loud, get angry, and absolutely humiliate and shame the Democrats and the Bloomberg Kool-Aid drinkers for lumping millions of gun owners in the same boat with that perverted SOB Paddock. Rather than standing firm and proud with “four million” members and a bunch more behind them, the NRA cowers, begs, and pleads. “Take my daughters, but don’t hurt me! No, my wife doesn’t cheat on me; other men are just a fetish we have.”

If the NRA is full of such cowards at a time when support for gun rights is at its highest in modern times, what will they do when we have a hostile president and Congress? It’s almost as if they are afraid that the Second Amendment will have to be used for its intended purpose. When that day comes, you can bet the bunch from Reston won’t be in the lead.

How to Tell the ATF to Step Off Bump-Fire Regulation

Well, despite admitting that the ATF didn’t have the ability under the standard use and meaning of the English language and the use of a former mental tool known as “logic,” which disappeared from existence recently, they want to classify bump-fire stocks as machine guns. They want comments, and some answers. So give them answers, but also politely tell them “shall not be infringed.”

Skip below if you want to write a letter. I’ve included my thoughts on suggested responses to made the ATF attempt to ban these item harder without providing the hoplopaths any ammo. Please take the time to send a letter.

Here’s the original determination letter. An extremely butthurt “batfucker” (old term for the much derided BATF, which added “E” for “Explosives” once that word got out there) wrote a letter to Congress bitching (or defending, you decide) that the ATF simply didn’t have the ability to make bump-fire stocks into “machine guns.”

As much as we are disgusted by the man’s bootlicking attitude towards firearms restriction and the cries to regulate inanimate objects, we give the man and his colleagues a point for steadfastly admitting the law means what it says. “Machine gun” is defined as one shot per pull of the trigger; bump-fire stocks are a stock-and-pistol-grip that slides freely, as if in a track. The shooter must pull the gun forward with their non-dominant hand while holding the pistol grip, pulling the trigger, and tucking the stock into the shoulder normally with their dominant hand. This allows the trigger to push itself against the finger that is held stationar.

Bump-fire probably actually saved lives, versus an actual belt-fed machine gun, in Vegas. Imagine continuous strings of 100-250 rounds, with a quick barrel and magazine change. If Paddock had been planning his attack since around the November 2016, he would have had time to legally purchase any machine gun he wanted. He had the money and the clean record.

And if he had, so what? Criminals are always going to be criminals. These kind of crimes are relatively rare and NFA-item crimes even more so. Frankly, I’m more worried about an out-of-control government, be it federal, state, or local, or a rampaging racist mob, trying to kill me than I am about some absolutely batshit rich guy going nuts. At least the Clark County Commission acted ahead on the threat of Muslims with Trucks® and is installing bollards on the Strip.

So what if this was designed to get around NFA restrictions? Machine guns should be legal and unregulated. In about a decade, the National Firearms Act and most other function/designed based gun control regulations will be impossible to enforce when anyone can print up a machine gun at home. They can’t prosecute everyone. Just imagine if the government tried to regulate free speech because the Internet is destroying the long-standing political and mainstream media monopoly on ideas.

Manufacturers

“6. For what use or uses have you marketed bump stock devices?”

Bump-fire stocks are designed and intended to increase the rate the firer’s finger to pull the trigger in order to increase the cyclic rate. This weapon is intended for recreation and weapons controllability training. Bump-fire stocks rely on the coordination and dexterity of the firer to operate properly, thus building general shooting skills and those applicable to military or militia service.

“9. What costs do you expect to be associated with the disposition of existing bump stock device inventory?”

Our costs are expected to be our entire unsold inventory of _____, a cost of _______. Also, our equipment, facilities, and other logistic, production, and business costs and investments would amount to a loss of __________. We expect the United States Treasury to fully compensate us for our losses.

“10. If ATF classified bump stock devices as “machineguns” under the Gun Control Act of 1968, as amended, and the National Firearms Act of 1934, as amended, do you believe that there would be a viable (profitable) law-enforcement and/or military market for these devices? If so, please describe that market and your reasons for believing such a viable market exists.”

No such market would exist precisely because the price point between an actual machine gun versus a semi-automatic rifle and bump-fire stock would favor the machine gun, without the drawbacks inherent to bump-fire systems. Law-enforcement and the military is not restricted to an arbitrarily limited pool of firearms nor a Draconian purchase approval (registration) process. Additionally, we dispute that bump-fire stocks need to have a law-enforcement or military market in order to be available to the general public without infringement.

Bump-fire systems have application for military training of the public, i.e. the unorganized militia, as machine guns are generally unobtainable for most of the general public. While we do not conceive that any rational person could believe that the definition of “machine gun” covers bump-fire stocks, as the ATF has previously admitted, such devices allow high cyclic rates. This can be used by the unorganized militia as weapons controllability training should they be called into military service or needed to secure a free state.

Retailers

“15. For what use or uses have you marketed bump stock devices?”

Our costs are expected to be our entire unsold inventory of _____, a cost of _______. We expect the United States Treasury to fully compensate us for our losses.

“19. What costs do you expect to be associated with the disposition of existing bump stock device inventory?”

See 9. above.

Consumers

“23. For what purposes are the bump stock devices used or advertised?”

Choose your answer carefully. Do not answer anything along the lines of “because I can’t get a machine gun.” Those who would ban bump-fire stocks want to point to comments that indicate the stocks are used in place of machine guns, which they have made unobtanium for most of us. Comments that state bump-fire “is essentially a machine gun” is music to hoplopaths’ ears.  High rates of fire can be described as “simulated high cyclic rates” rather than “simulated machine gun fire” or “simulated automatic fire.”

A nice little (and polite) statement along the lines of “don’t cave into political security theater, you admitted yourself you don’t have the authority to regulate these as machine guns, the NFA is unconstitutional, and quoting the Second Amendment,” would be appropriate. Let them know we aren’t going to take this sitting down.

The ATF wants an address and your name. The records will be made public, although few will see them. Nothing is wrong with using your initials, a pseudonym (like G. C. Gates, not Shallnot B. Infringed), and giving your address as the nearest post office, general delivery. Such as:

John M. Browning

General Delivery

Ogden, Utah

84401

Your letter must be signed and reference: Docket 2017R-22

Fax your letter to: (202) 648-9741

Attn: Docket 2017R-22

The full notice is here, with instructions to use the online submission portal.

Technology Will Kill the NFA and Bump Stock Ban

Solid concepts 1911: coming to a garage near you

Millions of people learn what bump fire is for the first time and wonder why anyone can basically have their own machine gun. All gun owners can answer about bump fire stocks is that they are range toys. Bump fire stocks are now indefensible while everyone misses the point that the stocks just do something that talented folks can do with their hands alone.

NRA gives into proposed bump fire ban. Republicans also join the ban bandwagon. ATF's legislation by determination letter concept is validated by NRA and Congress.

Feinstein proposes legislation that bans anything that can make a semi-auto gun fire faster. If the ATF can make a determination just what exactly makes a semi-auto fire faster, that can include smooth triggers too, because Jerry Miculek can fire at 500 RPM using his finger. ATF bans drop-in triggers and any trigger part that is not the factory junky pull.

Now the precedent is set for an assault weapon ban. What else can the ATF determine by determination letter? If "no one needs a bump fire stock," then why does anyone really need a semi-auto? Semi-auto guns can be fired almost as fast as bump fire. Plus X, Y, and Z mass shooting with a semi-auto.

All because gun owners, Congress, and the NRA gave in over and "unnecessary" and "scary" feature like the bump fire stock. Sound at all like pistol grips, forward hand grips, shoulder-things-that-go-up, bayonet lugs, and flash hiders? (Imagine if he didn't have a flash hider; maybe someone could have seen him sooner!)

No one needs a rifle that can fire more than 10 rounds without reloading! Just like how no one needs an accessory that can simulate machine gun fire.

Except for those people who bought a bump fire stock because it kept them from illegally modifying their rifle into an illegal machine gun, just so they could scratch that full auto itch. That's what bump fire is for; giving people who might tinker with the guns an out. If machine guns weren't ridiculously expensive because the supply is arbitrarily finite, this wouldn't even be an issue. And because machine guns are so darn rare and costly, very few people have one even though demand would be overwhelming.

We saw a similar hysteria over 80 years ago. “No one needs a machine gun.” How many gun owners would give their eyeteeth to be able to afford a machine gun, something that vast majority of the sporting public at the time would not have felt there was any need, or desire, for.

The National Firearms Act of 1934 was a crime bill, disguised as a tax bill, meant to regulate machine guns, handguns, "destructive devices" (things that go boom), and easily concealable short-barreled shotguns and rifles. As most seem to know, the Depression and Prohibition in the '20s and '30s were also responsible for a crime wave with the most notorious bandits and gangsters of the 20th Century, most of whom liked the few machine guns at the time.

In 1934, portable fully automatic weaponry (legally termed "machine guns") was very limited. Submachine guns in the US were largely Tommy guns and Colt BARs and Monitors. A few odd semi-autos were often converted as well, such as M1911 machine pistols. Though the selection of weapons was very small, their use made a huge psychological impact on police and the public. While some states banned machine guns after WWI (mostly because of wartime bring-backs), the hue and cry to ban them federally was not until the bootlegger and gangster days hit full swing.

Pistols had been attacked for years and an outright ban on them was quite popular, along with very modern licensing and registration to start. The NFA originally required a $200 tax stamp, for many several months' or a year's wages, for pistols and revolvers. The NRA agreed to the bill only after handguns were dropped out. Short-barreled shotguns and rifles were originally included, but not removed, because if revolvers and pistols were illegal, the logical step would be to cut-down long-guns to make them easier to hide. For some reason, perhaps the intimidation factor of a sawed-off shotgun, the long guns were left in after handguns were removed.

When the law was passed, many hillbillies were arrested for possessing illegal items, but not machine guns, usually sawed-off shotguns. This resulted in the Miller Case, which if enforced properly today, would legalize virtually all regulated items. You see, it was very easy to saw-off a few inches of barrel to create a handy shotgun for vehicle protection or hunting, but quite difficult to make a machine gun. If you were lucky to own a machine gun, you had probably brought it back from France in a dufflebag.

Firearms design was not as easy as it was today. First, you had to know what you were doing in a machine shop. Prototyping was the only way to go. Very few men had the knowledge and resources to go out to the garage and build a gun, much less a submachine gun, from scrap. Certainly the average person had no way of drilling out a receiver blank to make an 80% gun. Technology limitations made the NFA possible; except for the very few, the only way to get a regulated machine gun or silencer was to go out and buy one. At $200 a pop in taxes, plus the cost of the gun (usually that much or far more), very, very few could afford it.

The NFA was enforceable when all that most people could do was chop off some of their barrel. If the Treasury Department agents had to track down everyone with a garage who was cobbling together a lightweight, man-portable carbine-caliber machine gun, the NFA would be a joke. Machine gun ownership was relatively rare until inflation made $200 seem rather small in comparison to a $500 M16.

The days of the gun manufactures needing a large factory was by the time the 1980s rolled around. Anyone with skills, tooling, and a shop or warehouse zoned for manufacture could now build guns. More and more people were buying machine guns as more and more manufacturers built them. Then in 1986, the anti-gun hysteria caught up with the technological revolution. New machine gun manufacture for civilian sale was stopped, creating a very finite supply (about 125k) of legal guns, just like in 1934. Registered (transferable) machine gun prices went through the roof because none were going to be made again for a very long time, if ever.

A competent machinist can follow directions in many of the online tutorials or instructional books (thank you First Amendment) to build submachine guns in their garage. However, imagine the ease of constructing a machine gun that was no more complicated to fabricate and assemble than a typical 80% receiver.

In a few years, when home 3D printing (both polymer and metal) become commonplace, you'll be able to make your own full-auto AR-15 or whatever else and no one can stop you. Imagine a full-auto rifle in the hands of everyone who wants one. Is the ATF going to arrest the millions of Americans who make their own machine guns? No way it's possible logistically and for damn sure these new machine gun owners aren't going to go to jail just so a pointless status quo is preserved.

You can't stop the signal. Technology will soon invalidate the NFA the same way the printing press and the Protestant Reformation ended the monolithic church. So have fun banning bump fire and killing the suppressor bill. Those efforts will only push technology-minded patriots to come up with effective work-arounds so that we all can possess what we want without being strangled by an outdated and unconstitutional law.

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?