Thoughts on the NRA's presser?

[m4a1mustang]

I feel like it was a missed opportunity. IMO, the NRA should have outright discussed gun control. Outline why it doesn't work, why it hasn't worked, and why it won't work. They could address our glorification of violence in the media and put some focus on better incorporating mental health with background checks. Perhaps even attempt to educate the media on semi-automatics and how they are NOT military weapons at all. But mainly present facts and statistics supporting NO new gun control.

Watching the press conference with my "moderate without much of an opinion on guns" hat on, I feel like it came across as an emotional white guy screaming "put guns in school now." The media will have a field day with this... "NRA deflects on gun control, wants guns in schools NOW!

I don't know... it's probably a lose/lose for us either way. Only hope is the House can stop any legislation and Obama can't do much from an administrative perspective (probably our biggest threat.)

What do you guys think?

[Kreutz]

heres the release:

http://home.nra.org/#

I have to say I dislike the NRA but I think they handled this one well.

It was on target and to the point and didn't offer any concessions as I was afraid they would.

[GeneFrenkle]

http://home.nra.org/pdf/Transcript_PDF.pdf

direct link.

[kelu]

Comparatively with what Obozo did by cutting security funds http://www.policymic.com/articles/20871 ... s-shooting at least NRA is offering to create for free security plans for schools.

[m4a1mustang]

heres the release:

http://home.nra.org/#

I have to say I dislike the NRA but I think they handled this one well.

It was on target and to the point and didn't offer any concessions as I was afraid they would.

I understood what they were saying, but only because I'm pro-gun. They knew this time around they had the whole country watching. I feel like they missed a chance to professionally debunk gun control.

The tone was somewhat hostile, and some of the headlines I'm seeing reflect that. "NRA goes on offensive as Americans mourn shooting."

At a moment when they could have done something to take some air out of the gun control balloon I feel like they might have just added to it.

[FiremanBob]

I'm disappointed. Trying to put a full-time cop in every school is financially unworkable and wouldn't be nearly as effective as allowing teachers and administrators to be armed. The other statements about the media glorification of violence and the videogame industry are on target.

[cwfunrider]

I thought it was decent but would have liked to here more on the gun control/ ban issue.

I also think they should have used the heads of those two jack hole with the banners to open the doors when they were escorted out.

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[cwfunrider]

I thought it was decent but would have liked to here more on the gun control/ ban issue.

I also think they should have used the heads of those two jack hole with the banners to open the doors when they were escorted out.

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[cwfunrider]

Sorry for the double post

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[dorminWS]

I'm disappointed. Trying to put a full-time cop in every school is financially unworkable and wouldn't be nearly as effective as allowing teachers and administrators to be armed. The other statements about the media glorification of violence and the videogame industry are on target.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Maybe, but I bet it got the NRA on the good side of a lot of cops and more than a few teachers.

And I agree, the comments on the entertainment and gaming industry were spot on.

[JC77]

I'm generally always disappointed in the NRA's show of 2nd Amendment "leadership" and this is no exception. For 7 days they were quiet out of "respect" for the victims and their families while responsible law abiding gun owner was thrown under the bus, threatened and berated with little return defense.

I have been an NRA member since I could join on my own because the are "the nations largest" but I joined the GOA because they will not give A grades and donations to people like Harry Reid, Manchin, etc., and most of all, they will not allow any appeasement or concessions to enter their talks of RESTORING our FULL rights that the NRA has sold out over the years to get certain things done.

That said, I'm donating more money to GOA for this fight because they will fight with bloody knuckles for us and merely retaining my membership to the NRA.

Merry Christmas to everyone here, I pray you all have a safe one and a very Happy and Prosperous New Year (if that can be done under an Obama presidency).

[Vigo]

They had a week to come up with an answer, and they came up with this- police in every school? First, it would seem to be deeply expensive (at a time we can ill afford ballooning expenditures) and second, it would seem to actually promote a police state type atmosphere. I tend to think we should spend more time making sure law abiding and competent private citizens should be armed than installing police in every school building in every state of the union. This scenario should be an opportunity for the law abiding and learned gun owner to prove his worth in protecting his country, state, and society, not to put police in every Dick and Jane school house.

[TBob]

NRA fumbled the football. GOA did a much better job. So did the trainers on PoliceOne. A cop in every school is absurdly expensive. Dave Grossman, Mas Ayoob, Rick Fairburn, and Israel all have more cost-effective and practical approaches. Arm teachers, administrators, and other trusted civilians (i.e., concealed carriers) everywhere. Both retired LEOs and military volunteers provide a good start. Nobody has the money to put a cop in every school. The failure of gun control measures, including the ones currently being pushed by the anti-freedom crowd, have been clearly demonstrated documented. Heck, Columbine occurred well into the 1994 ban period - the ban was no help at all. Total fail.

Too many years of compromise has made the NRA soft and out of touch.

[Doyle]

Wayne looked and acted like a whining little girl. Not the strength in leadership I was really looking for. I think our rights are about to be thrown, once more, under the bus.

The tragedy in Connecticut was horrific, but those events do not justify the sacrifice of the rights of the over 80 million gun owners in this county who are not criminals. Outlawing the use of high capacity magazines, AR-15 style firearms or encumbering the lawful transfer of a firearm from private citizen to private citizen will do nothing to avert a similar tragedy in the future. These actions are more likely to turn many, otherwise law abiding gun owners, into felons.

When the original assault weapons ban expired in 2004, crime across the country declined and is still declining. The ban did not work then and newly proposed gun restrictions on law abiding citizens will not work in the future to stem the unlawful actions of the mentally disturbed or those with criminal intent. Doyle Meadows

For your consideration I present the following authored by and old high school chum and fellow traveler in the gun world.

Armed Teachers?

It is clear to any rational citizen that something must be done to stop random violence in our schools. Ironically within most parts of our population rates of violent crime have been dropping for at least the past decade. To solve a problem of such magnitude we should examine many avenues for a possible cure. Since this is a widespread, national problem we should turn anywhere we can to find answers. The solution will not be a simple one and we will need meaningful input from as many groups as possible, educators, law enforcement, mental health professionals, gun rights groups, labor unions, the clergy, and the business community, for starters. No single group has an exclusive franchise on truth and whatever course of action we arrive at as a society will need to draw from every relevant discipline.

Constitutional scholars I have spoken to seem to agree that the Second Amendment to our Constitution has almost nothing to do with a hunter wanting to put meat on the table to feed his family. The Second Amendment is all about protecting the people’s ability to protect themselves from the dictates of an oppressive government. Don’t believe that? Ask a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps or descendant of one of the millions of dead Jews, Gypsies, or unauthorized religious groups. Better yet, ask almost any refugee who survived the “Killing Fields “ of Cambodia under the madman Pol Pot. Millions of unarmed & innocent civilians were rounded up & executed because they were unable to defend themselves. The Ku Klux Klan and their ilk terrorized not only Blacks, but Jews, Catholics & Mormons. Surely we don’t want to disarm our citizens and subject such groups to hooded lynch mobs or jack booted storm troopers.

As a staunch believer of all ten of the Bill of Rights, and the entire Constitution, I do believe however that there are specific concrete steps we can take immediately to make our school safer for our children. One such step that we should carefully examine is the concept of allowing trained teachers to carry weapons with which to protect our children.

Think back to your school years and try to pick out the best teachers you ever knew. I’ll bet there are some pretty great individuals there. Now fast forward a few decades and think about the horrific tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School. From what I’ve been able to glean from the various news accounts, there were numerous examples of outstanding heroism on the part of the administrators and teachers involved. Apparently, both the school Principal and the school Psychologist both charged the gunman in an attempt to protect the children. Even though they were unarmed themselves, their last actions were heroic ones. They were wonderful examples of the dedication of many of our nation’s teachers.

Now ask yourself, what might have transpired if those brave dedicated teachers had been armed with a concealed weapon. At first blush. Such an idea might sound out of the question. A few years ago it was unthinkable that airline pilots might be armed as they fly millions of citizens around the world. Yet now, the pilots union has demanded and obtained the right for their pilots to be armed. There are significant similarities between professional Educators & Airline Pilots: both groups have extensive skills +/or education required for their profession, both groups are extensively vetted & their back grounds checked, & both groups must meet standardized minimum qualifications.

A couple lifetimes ago, I returned to college & obtained a secondary teaching credential. Even then, teachers had to take all sorts of diverse courses to qualify for a state teaching credential. We even had to take a physical exam to prove we weren’t going to spread disease to our students. Student teachers had to be fingerprinted & have background tests to demonstrate we had no history of violence or mental illness. Finally, we had to complete a specific number of hours of actual teaching experience under the guidance of a mentor teacher and demonstrate that we really could do the job.

Recently, I completed the requirements for a concealed weapon permit, commonly referred to as a CCW. The requirements for a CCW were similar ones, including classroom instruction, background checks, and demonstrating on a firing range that you really knew how to safely handle your weapon. If individual teachers chose to voluntarily undergo the rigorous licensing process to obtain a CCW, and better protect their students wouldn’t that make sense? Of course not every teacher would want to be armed, and we could require that any authorized weapons on campus be stored in a secure gun vault. Biometric locks on such vaults can now recognize the individual fingerprint of an authorized user. The authorized user (& no one else) can access a secure firearm in less than 10 seconds.

We trust both Pilots and Teachers with something we hold dear, our safety in traveling and the education of our children. If it makes sense to allow individual pilots to arm themselves to prevent deranged evil doers from harming a planeload of passengers, doesn’t it make equally good sense to allow our nations teachers to arm themselves on the job to protect our children? I believe that a trained, armed, teacher might just have saved the lives of many children in Newtown, Connecticut

Don Moyer
Ripon, CA

[m4a1mustang]

The more I think about it the more I feel like the press conference today was a complete failure and more than likely weakens any future NRA effort to combat gun control legislation.

At the core of the press conference the NRA did two things:

1) They completely ignored the debate over gun control which is swallowing the nation whole at the moment

2) They attempted to deflect to and place the blame on a lack of school security using the incredibly unrealistic idea of having qualified, armed guards in schools.

Given the number of schools in the US (something on the order of 130k+) there is no way every locality will be able to afford qualified, armed security personnel for schools. I think this is an idea that will broadly be laughed at and torn apart by most. It's unfeasible.

The real issue at hand is gun control. Specifically, that gun control DOES NOT work.

The NRA should have taken this time to address the debate at hand and lay out the facts. Gun control doesn't work. It hasn't worked. And it will never work.

And explain WHY.

Explain that the vast majority (99.9999%) of gun owners are LAW ABIDING CITIZENS that only want to be able to 1) enjoy a Constitutional right, 2) engage in lawful sporting activity, and 3) have a means to defend themselves and their families.

Explain that only a small percentage (less than 5%) of firearms used in crimes were purchased legally.

Explain that a semi-automatic AR-15 "assault rifle" is no more dangerous than a standard hunting rifle or handgun, and that those that choose to inflict mass damage on soft targets would be able to do so with ANY weapon.

Explain that the Sandy Hook shooting likely would not have occurred had Nancy Lanza secured her weapons in safes so that her son could not access them.

The NRA should have urged Federal lawmakers to ensure that our EXISTING gun laws are properly enforced.

The NRA should have spent a little more time discussing mental health, and that if our mental health system was not broken (And properly integrated with background check databases) that firearms likely would not have been sold to Cho or the Aurora shooter among others.

This was a prime time for the NRA to lay out the unarguable fact that, statistically, legally purchased guns are safe and law-abiding gun owners are no threat to society.

Instead, they blew it by wasting a lot of time on a useless plan. They would have been better off staying quiet.

[GeneFrenkle]

The confeence did mention mental health care and current gun law enforcement. The audience fornthe conference was not gun owners - we alreadynknownthat stuff. It was not for the anti-gun crowd -they will not listen. I suspect it was pointed to fence sitters and lawmakers. The NRA cannot comment on mental health care issues credibly. That is not a core competency. Comment can be given on training and security as training is a core competency and with the dude from DHS, that ties security in. It'll be interesting to see what happens with the new Shield program.

I still feel half-hearted about the statements, though.

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[ShotgunBlast]

The reactions have already been rolling in. "THEY WANT MORE GUNS AVAILABLE!! COPS IN ALL SCHOOLS!!"

Yet all the pictures I've been seeing on Facebook for the last week where you have a military guy or police officer standing in front of a school tend to get a lot of likes and positive comments. Go figure.

Wayne will also be on Meet the Press this Sunday. Can't wait to see how much he looks like a pinata when they're done with him.

[SpanishInquisition]

Sorry for the double post

Well.. there were two jackholes, so it works out OK in this case.

[Chasbo00]

Disappointing.

[graybeard321]

I believe the NRA handled it correctly. The liberal press has been beating up gun owners and the NRA blaming them for the deaths of the children. If the NRA had pushed and tried to point out how gun control does not work, the press and Comrade Obama would just turned public opinion more against us. Now is not the time to go on the attack, we need to bide our time and waiting till emotions have settled. We do not want this to be a hot button issue. I like most of you do not believe what the NRA has proposed will ever happen. I believe if push gun control now it will turn against us and comrade Obama will have an easier sell for his gun control bills. We are buying time trying to help citizens understand we are not the bad guys. We need to get the issue out of the hands of the liberal press. When the time is right we can go on the offensive.