If you were a member of a club. And certain members started acting irrationally.

[Grantuspeace]

What if some of them started killing people without regard. Why wouldn't you want to prevent those types from joining you club in the first place? Doesn't the legitimacy of your club depend on the exclusion of those that could undermine the viability of that club.

Therefore, why is the sportsman with a deer rifle willing to stick for the unstable persons right to have a semi-automatic with a huge clip?

Why wouldn't the NRA be interested in policing their own? Wouldn't be in their interest to get less bad publicity?

[ZombieHorde]

1. I don't want to derail the thread, but this could apply to many clubs.

Major religious and political clubs.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

3. You mean like...

...maybe.... ....the Republicans????

[ZombieHorde]

5. I'm generally anti war.

One person's "necessary evil" is another person's "killing without regard."

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

7. There's this line...

...from the movie Lord of War.

Yuri Orlov: "You call me evil, but unfortunately for you, I'm a necessary evil."

But seriously, wars cost us all a great deal and, now that slavery, plunder and brigandage are out of vogue, all the winner gets is debt.

You'd think the supremely wise folks we elect would figure that out sometime soon.

[AtheistCrusader]

2. The NRA long since jumped the shark.

You can see the cognitive dissonance on display in the last election. They hooted and whined about the threat Obama presented to firearms, while backing the ONLY CANDIDATED IN THE RACE that ever asked for, brokered, and GOT an assault weapons ban, and signed it.

They've been taken over by the hard/irrational right. They're done, as a firearm advocacy group. It's just a sub-wing of the RNC now.

[ManiacJoe]

4. What are you talking about?

What if some of them started killing people without regard.
At the club? You have a gun; defend yourself.
They start killing elsewhere? Not club related. Defend yourself if you are present.

Why wouldn't you want to prevent those types from joining you club in the first place? Doesn't the legitimacy of your club depend on the exclusion of those that could undermine the viability of that club.
You would want to exclude them. If your pre-crime crystal ball is working, engage it. Otherwise, if they are a hazard at the club, revoke their membership and hold them until the cops arrive if need be.

Therefore, why is the sportsman with a deer rifle willing to stick for the unstable persons right to have a semi-automatic with a huge clip?
No gun owner (hunter or not) would stick up for any unstable person to have any gun (semi-auto or not).
Plus, your "semi-auto with large clip (sic)" just described the hunter's gun when not in hunting season.

Why wouldn't the NRA be interested in policing their own? Wouldn't be in their interest to get less bad publicity?
Policing their membership? What and how? You are not required to own a gun to join the NRA. You are not required to be an NRA member to own a gun. The same eligibility rules for gun ownership apply to everyone.

[Straw Man]

6. Extremely flawed analogy.

What if some of them started killing people without regard. Why wouldn't you want to prevent those types from joining you club in the first place? Doesn't the legitimacy of your club depend on the exclusion of those that could undermine the viability of that club.

Therefore, why is the sportsman with a deer rifle willing to stick for the unstable persons right to have a semi-automatic with a huge clip?

Your assumption is that the Loughners, the Holmeses, the Lanzas, are in some way representative of the average gun owner. They are not. They are homicidally insane. There is no "club" to which they belong.

Many of the sportsmen I know own deer rifles and AR-15s. They use the ARs for hunting as well as target sports. No one, repeat, NO ONE sticks up for the unstable person's right to have any kind of firearm.

Please don't buy into the hysterical frenzy that the media are whipping up. Culture war sells ad time, but it doesn't make for good public policy.

[Mojorabbit]

9. +100 nt

[AnotherMcIntosh]

10. What you say is true, "NO ONE sticks up for the unstable person's right to have any kind of firearm,

but how are others going to have a strawman without pretending to believe to the contrary?

[holdencaufield]

8. Where would be the fun ...

... in belonging to a club where everyone acted rationally?

[bubbayugga]

12. We need to keep the entire club from having semi-automatic weapons, not just the unstable members

The entire club needs to be disarmed completely but that's probably asking for too much.

[ileus]

13. Didn't the NRA give you some policing that you've rejected?

Have any of the shooters been NRA members?


Wouldn't you be pretty unhappy if ever person with a firearm joined the NRA?


How would the NRA "police" anyone?

[iiibbb]

14. strawman

besides, before the NRA got their tin ear, they were a safety and marksmanship organization.


Most gun owners stick up for those guns because

1) There is little functional difference between the hunting and target rifles and so-called "assault weapons"

2) the AWB was a ridiculously poorly written piece of legislation... how can anyone who complains about the wording of the 2nd ammendment back the AWB with all of its flaws unless they were flat out ignorant or dishonest? For all the crazy the NRA exudes sometimes, the gun controllers shredded their credibility with that turd.

[jeepnstein]

15. They know the prohibitionists' goal is total confiscation.

They seek to nullify the 2nd Amendment one step at a time.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

16. Slippery Slope. There have been and are still some factions that desire complete gun bans.

Many countries have moved towards extremely strict gun bans. There have been US gun control factions declare that they will work incrementally towards complete civilian disarmament. There have been incidents of registries used as confiscations in other countries and in this one as well.

So the short answer is: Slippery Slope. they're afraid of where the ball will stop rolling, and fear does not tend to be logical.

[Remmah2]

17. Sportsman w/deer rifle and camo = sniper

Don't fool yourself. Hunters are hidden criminals too. Some of them own Remington assault shotguns. No one needs more than one shot to go deer hunting.