This may have been diaried and blogged about elsewhere and by others but by golly we should look at this again, and continue to debunk this and keep at it.
I have belonged to the National Rifle Association for 40 years this year. I joined at a time when I was serving in the military, still hunted, and was collecting German Military Pistols. My favorite heavy caliber is 7 m/m Mauser, and I own a Soviet TU training rifle in 7.62x39, and the seemingly universal Remington Model 870. I believe in home defense, but have never needed to exercise any sort of counterattack on burglers, as the one and only time that my shop was invaded, the poor devil who wanted to break in tripped over a piece of machinery on the shop floor and broke his leg. It was a simple matter for the cops to carry him away.
More below the fold.
I don't hunt anymore. Besides not being able to walk well, I have become more of a true conservationist rather than anti-hunting. I was always amused by the irony of signs outside of "conservation clubs" that had a guy or guys pointing shotguns at something and about to kill whatever it was they were aiming at. There was something off-kilter about that to me. Anyway, my part of the conservation issue is natural habitat for animals and humans to coexist in. Without habitat being in Ducks Unlimited or a Whitetail Deer support group seems a touch pointless. Without habitat protection there is nowhere and nothing to hunt, for those given to such pursuits.
But as the years have gone by, I sold my pistol sets and had less and less time to putter around with marksmanship and trap shooting, let alone hunting. But, I never really stopped reading about firearms.
So, you can imagine my surprise when I saw this little blurb from the NRA that seemed quite shrill and certainly aimed at the very low information, gun issues voter.
It is called "Barack Obama's Ten Point Plan to 'Change' The Second Amendment." Here are the ten points:
1, ban use of firearms for home defense;
2, pass Federal laws eliminating your right to carry;
3, ban the manufacture, sale, and posession of handguns;
4, close down 90% of the gun shops in America;
5, ban rifle ammunition commonly used for hunting and sport shooting;
6, increase federal taxes on guns and ammunition by 500%;
7, restore voting rights for five million criminals including those who have been convicted of using a gun to commit a violent crime;
8, expand the Clinton semi-auto ban to include millions more firearms;
9, mandate a government-issued license to purchase a firearm;
10, appoint judges to the US Supreme court and Federal judiciary who share his views on the Second Amendment.
I saw this little piece of dung hanging on a community bulletin board and was overwhelmed by the bullshit. What we have here is a "zombie" lie collection of distortions and paranoia.
Phone bank workers, learn this list and get the refutations ready for handy use because this will not go away, and for those working areas, like around here, where hunting and shooting are common, a knowledge of this pile of shit from the NRA may become vital in the days to come. Do not think for a moment that reason and rational thinking are at work here, this is a zombie that just keeps coming back.
Take a good look at this rubbish from those steadfast guardians of Republican aspirations:
1, This is a slam at community gun control efforts, including mandatory gun lockup (which is something I support from a firearms safety standpoint...NRA wants voluntary compliance.
2, 2 is so obvious, NRA is terrifed that its victory in the Washington DC handgun case will be overturned. Right to carry laws are dangerous as I see it...even Dodge City, Kansas had no-carry laws in the 19th century, I don't want to think about what murder rates might be like in more volatile areas if folks could run around packing heat. How did the song go? "Just pull out the flamer, and the excuses get lamer."
3, 3 is an old saw going back as far as the 50's. It's a slam at things like "Sullivan Laws" and tight registration and licensing of handguns such as we have in New York State. Old news, same old paranoid gibbering.
4, This is nuts on its face. If there is any effort to close down small gun shops and dealers I don't think the efforts will come from Uncle Sam in Washington, or the boys and girls in Albany. No, if anything closes the small dealer down it is more likely to have a name like Gander Mountain, or Cabela, or some other huge marketing corporation hoping to bum rush the small sporting goods dealers and thus do a Wal-Mart on the sporting goods community. Natch, the NRA wants to damn the people who might stop the Wal-Marting of the sporting goods sector and have the low information voter vote for the very people who would sell out the small holder for the big's campaign contributions, namely those "pay to play" Republicans.
5, Ummm, nuts on it's face. We don't need armor piercing incindiary bullets or explosive points to go deer hunting with and besides anyone familiar with the newer discarding sabot shotgun slugs knows that not much more is needed to topple a buck in the woods. If you can use rifles in your area, I'll wager 35 Remington is still popular in the woodlands as are things like 243 and 6.5/08, and 270 for longer shots. The NRA has been having a slow burn since Teflon coated super penetrators were banned, and bullet ban hysteria is old, old news.
6, Increase taxes by 500% I don't see this in the Obama/Biden plank and does anyone think that Congress would do this? I would suspect Jon Tester would filibuster this until the cows came home, and he's a Democrat. It's more NRA FUD.
7, Ahh, 7 is NRA's support for vote supression and caging. If you have completed sentence and parole successfully your civil rights in most states are restored...apparently NRA is scared of restored civil rights...I detect a whiff of racism in this too.
8, Oh noes! Not the return of the conficate the machine gun acts! Damn, I want my AK-47! Don't take my M-2 select fire carbine! I have always wondered just what the hell you needed an AK for anyway. One of the best home defense devices I have ever seen is a recording of a Remington 870 being loaded and cocked. A pump action shotgun has a distinctive sound, and it is instantly recognizable, and just the sound alone can stop a burgler in his tracks.
9, clever, but I am thinking over wrought here...Maybe more like a firearms training course to be mandatory? You get a firearms training certificate and then you can buy that shotgun, or rifle or pistol? Why the NRA could even administer the course, they loudly claim to be the gun experts. But who knows what the low information voter will believe. Phone bank workers, this zombie may be a common question if you are working the hinterlands for Obama.
10, Appoint judges...ahh, fear and loathing in the NRA pink pogoda. This one is obvious...Pubbies are scared that all their bullshit will be turned back. I sure hope it is. But the 2nd amendment, I don't think anyone needs to worry, the government is NOT coming for your shotgun.
Now, I think a statement from Senators Obama or Biden that gets to the tube will dispell most of this 10 zombie attack quickly for this election cycle. But this zombie line will come back in whatever modification so long as the NRA remains joined at the hip with wingers and Pubbies.
So, have a good day, put Obama stickers and signs up, placard your community and lets get Senators Obama and Biden elected. But, beware of the zombie attacks from special interest groups eager to start culture war tantrums, same attacks as last cycle, just dressed up differently.