It's Time for Hunters to Leave the NRA

[G_j]

https://www.outsideonline.com/2328866/its-time-hunters-leave-nra?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=facebookpost



America's proudest tradition should never be used as an excuse for anti-American politics

—

In the NRA, we hunters have an organization that claims to represent our interests and to which many of us pay to belong (half of all NRA members hunt). But we also have an organization that is funding the war on our public lands, while making our beloved sport look like a bastion of far-right crackpots. The NRA is doing all that while using our name and money to further rip this country apart.

For all those reasons, it’s time for hunters to unequivocally break from the NRA. If the group’s bullying of teenage victims of violence or its seeming enthusiasm for seeing that violence worsen aren’t enough to convince my fellow sportsmen and women of this argument, then two more recent events really should: Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee’s declaration of war on our public lands and the arrest of Russian agent Maria Butina, who is charged with using the NRA to manipulate the American political process.

The former highlights just how badly the NRA’s policies have betrayed hunters. Public lands provide habitat for our nation’s wildlife, and free access to those lands makes American hunting uniquely egalitarian. Yet the NRA financially supports and endorses Lee’s campaigns and has said, “We can count on Mike Lee to defend the freedoms…of hunters and sportsmen.”

Butina’s alleged actions demonstrate just how far off the rails the NRA has gone. Let’s start there.

..more..

[NanceGreggs]

2. They can (and should) ...

... break off and form their own association. I guarantee you they'd have a huge membership in record time.

Many, many gun-owners don't want criminals or the mentally unstable to have access to guns any more than anti-gun people do. Many of them take pride in truly being "responsible gun-owners", and are appalled that the totally irresponsible have access to firearms. Many of them are in favour of stricter gun control laws, because they want their fellow gun-owners to be people who have been vetted and found well-trained and stable enough to be licensed.

There are gun-owners who have kids in school - and they know that if their kids are shot by some crazed asshole with a gun, they're going to regret to their dying day that they didn't speak-up for tighter gun control because the NRA doesn't allow such blasphemy from its own members.

The time is ripe for a breakaway group to assert itself. "Responsible gun-owners for responsible gun-ownership" - a vast portion of the citizenry would be behind them.

[mr_lebowski]

6. Good call, Nance! (nt)

[rusty quoin]

8. I figure a true gun owner would want to be in a responsible group.

I don’t do guns because I don’t want the responsibility. Those who take it should also think themselves as something special.

If you give it to everyone, you are no longer special.

[NanceGreggs]

10. Exactly. n/t

[mr_lebowski]

4. I dunno ... Hunting?

Or maybe they'd prefer Gun Owners of America, home of the KinderGuardians program ...

[arthritisR_US]

12. To hell, I hope.

[dalton99a]

3. Nah. Where would I find information on deer hunting with machine guns?

[mr_lebowski]

5. Great article, well worth passing around ... thanks!

[Hekate]

7. KnR, and what Nance said. nt

[JI7]

9. i'm guessing those who actually are only about hunting have already left

[arthritisR_US]

13. I think that's a bad guess.

[lamsmy]

11. free access to those lands makes American hunting uniquely egalitarian

Last edited Tue Jul 24, 2018, 04:43 AM - Edit history (1)

Look, I and most of the world stand with you here against Trump and all extremism, but one thing Americans really need to do is stop insisting that you are the best of the best in everything.

The US protects less than 15% of its land (not including marine protected areas.) The rest lies almost entirely in private hands. Germany protects 48%. Venezuela 53%. Canada and Russia are low (around 12 and 5% respectively) but with so much vast land far from population areas, over 60% of their lands remain untouched.

Furthermore, many big countries (Canada, Australia, Chile...) hold vast reserves of land as crown (state) holdings. This land can be leased for extraction industries but the vast majority is held in trust. In Canada 89% of land is crown land with about 10% under lease. Every Canadian (and visitor) has the right to access unleased crown land anytime they want. Camping is free and allowed anywhere in crown land for up to two weeks.

My point is this. The US may have pioneered the national park system, and well done - it was a fantastic idea. But the truth is many countries have left the US in the dust when it comes to conservation and provide far more equal access to those lands.

[SammyWinstonJack]

14. We're far from the best of the best in anything let alone everything.

Some of us actually realize that though admittedly, not enough.

[MountCleaners]

17. I don't get it

So much Christianity on the right, and how can they not see that preserving natural wonders is respecting the will of their god? They believe God created all of the natural beauty, then they don't work to preserve it.

[moriah]

15. Being from GunHumper Central (aka Arkansas), I support this tactic.

Especially after Tom Cotton, who I knew enough people who said he was corrupt even as they preached Obama was Satan and any Republican the Messiah, has been implicated.

There needs to be an organization that advocates essentially for the legal rights as established by Game and Fish type-regulatory groups, recognizes that youth hunters should be supervised, and is for full background checks.

I don't know what they'd create, and I never was an NRA member so it's not like I can use any financial leverage against the NRA directly here. But I HAVE been sending letters to French Hill, like they do any damn good. It's put me on his mailing list so I can see what damage control he thinks is necessary to save his seat, but nothing other than form letter responses otherwise.

What I'd really like to see coming up closer to Nov, especially if more evidence comes out, is targeted advertisements against Hill here. Arkansas has so few chances of flipping after being gerrymandered and the primary winner for the most liberal district was the one with experience vs excitement, but Hill met with a Russian who admitted she was an "informant".

And Cotton has tied himself firmly with Trump on the hopes of a coattail victory in 2020. By then the truth of his FEC violations will hopefully have been fully out there. But if I were actually a gunner vs just an observer of gun culture, I'd definitely join an alternative org or at least press HARD about this crap.

[safeinOhio]

16. Marksmanship and firearm safety.

When that was their focus I was a member. That ended in the 70s along with my membership.