There's a reason that this happened: the Iron Law of Bureaucracy tells us that organizations end up getting captured by Organization Men, and those tend to form closed intellectual bubbles. The NRA organization under the direction of Wayne LaPierre does not have anyone who was able or willing to challenge him on the parts of his speech that can only be described as creepy:
- A national database of the mentally ill? Every heard of the Soviet mental health system, Wayne? Has anyone on your staff?
- Most schools don't need cops. Some already have them because of gang violence. Saying that every school in the country needs armed, uniformed officers would not only be insanely expensive for no benefit, it has quite unpleasant connotations. You were so over the top that Asa Hutchinson explicitly contradicted you, saying that all schools did not need police.
- The finger pointing at video games is nothing short of embarrassing. Was there really nobody there at NRA who dared to say to you Orlly?
That's the problem right there. The NRA Board of Directors need to replace LaPierre, he's damaged the organization structure. They probably can't do it for 6 or 12 months because that would look terrible and would be (deliberately) misrepresented by the Media. But he has to go, and the NRA needs a new head that will rebuild the organization to one where there can be real internal critiques of major policy positions before the klieg lights and microphones power up.
16 comments:
I agree with you that Wayne needs to go. Long before this I felt that he has been inside the Beltway too long and has turned into just another Washington insider.
I get the feeling that as you have mentioned that Wayne is more dedicated to continuing the NRA as an organization than advancing the rights of gun owners. The NRA's initial opposition to the Heller case is a perfect example. Don't even get me started on them trying to take credit for all the legal work that the SAF is doing.
I hadn't thought of it in that way, but you're probably right... sigh...
With all the hair tearing and expert bloviating attending this latest "Never let a tragedy go to waste" I was beginning to think I'd never find anyone who'd grasp this simplest of truths.
NRA leadership advocating even More of a Police State than we've already got?
Bravo Borepatch.
Thanks for that link regarding the soviet mental heath care system. It came in handy.
Borepatch,
I have to respectfully disagree with you on the video game issue. If you want to inure yourself to second thoughts, panic or hesitation, in stressful situations you need to train. As a pilot we train for emergencies in a simulator for the most realism we can get short of an actual aircraft emergency. The military uses combat simulation for the same reasons. I would argue strongly that first person shooter video games do in fact engender some level of conditioning such that the actual act of pulling the trigger while looking at a real person becomes easier.
Perhaps not causal, but certainly contributive....
As to banning them or restricting them...very hard in the real world with lots of first amendment connotations....I don't have a good answer there.
Differ
Differ, my objection is that if this effect is real, then peer-reviewed studies should be able to identify and quantify it. So far, no credible studies have. Researchers keep trying, and keep failing.
That speech was not only poorly timed, but it was an embarrassment to the many responsible gun owners who do, or have belonged, to the NRA.
Concur, I left a long time ago because of their position.
Absolutely. LaPierre has not been effective since, well, ever.
Which seems to be a hallmark of the "NRA Old Boys Club" that runs the organization.
Sorry, but I want to see someone younger, smarter, a lot more aggressive (I'll accept "assertive" in place of "aggressive," but not by much...), who understands this has always has been, is now, and will always be a fight to the death against the forces of evil. And, yes, they are evil.
Larry Correia comes to mind as a good replacement - the man can communicate and understands the fight. He's also not a member of the "NRA Establishment." End of January comes to mind as a good time for LaPierre to retire.
I belong to the NRA and support them because of their training and education efforts. But I don't support NRA-ILA because, frankly, of their panic mongering to get contributions. I don't care for being treated like a sheep by my government, and I damned well don't like it when it's by an organization I joined voluntarily.
I'm sure Mr. LaPierre is a very effective fund raiser. My guess is that's probably why he's risen to the level that he has. But my support for political action goes elsewhere.
Wayne runs the NRA for the benefit of himself and Ackerman McQueen. There is absolutely no chance of tossing him out. It's been tried before.
Not to hijack the thread, but it is reminiscent of Tony George and family. They tried to run open-wheel racing such that the paramount position of the Indy 500 would not be threatened, caused a schism in the community, and NASCAR came along and ate their lunches. (I prefer drag racing, anyway. Fun way to spend a Friday summer evening.)
I would be first in line to renew my membership if they axed him. Until then, I have no desire to support him because he is what the NRA has become. It's all about Wayne all the time.
If there was any other gun-rights organization thar made a difference, I'd drop my membership in the NRA.
And the Guns in Schools prgram started under Clinton, was de-funded under Obama, and many districts are asking to start it back up: http://sistertoldjah.com/archives/2012/12/22/where-was-the-liberal-outrage-over-clintons-cops-in-school-federal-grant-program
I'm with you on this one Borepatch. And he apparently had doubled down on the guards position. And the liberals out there are feasting on it for the exact reason you said, O rly tehy want police state now??!?!
They are eating it up.
While I'm sure there could be the disscussion of districts hiring on protection that opens up a can of worms even if it is a Veteran as the latest memes go. Who trains them? What happens if they injure someone and the law suits start? (Where was this individuals training in guarding?)
What will happen is it will turn in to another national agency much like the TSA because the local police (even more so with proposed budget cuts) say they dont have the budget to staff a police officer at every school.
And then yes we have more of a decent in to a police state.
All they had to say is we advocate the chance for the teachers if they choose to conceal carry in the schools.
Sadly Wayne and much of the old guard at the NRA is only about the NRA and would sell us out in a flash. They are the same as the belt way politicians and RINOs out there we have sell us out. They at the NRA the higher you go up believe less and less in owning anything but grandpa's shot gun and deer rifle.
I don't think any of this has anything to do with violent video games, or even mental illness. That's like using the latest 40 car pileup on the highway as a base to blame a particular model of car.
Most hate crimes are learned by children roaming the streets watching their dads, brothers and uncles smoking weed and shoving semi-automatics in the bands of their underwear.
This was a horrific INCIDENT that the prez used to his benefit.
But on a regular basis, more than 20 kids are killed through direct relationship with street gangs and street ethics. Which is where the highest percentage of guns are anyway.
So leave MINE alone. That's what I thought the NRA was supposed to protect.
Post a Comment