# Lifestyles & Discussion > Personal Security & Defense >  NRA vs GOA?

## Reason

I was thinking of joining a group that assists in promoting/protecting our right to own guns and I seem to recall a few board members stating that the GOA group was a lot more respectable than the NRA was.

If I am going to be a member that gives them money every year I want to make a smart choice and support the best group.

Thoughts?

----------


## low preference guy

GOA 


NRA

----------


## Reason

> GOA 
> 
> 
> NRA


Why?

also, I should have asked if there are other groups as well.

----------


## Matt Collins

> Why?


http://nrawol.net/

Is all you need to know! 



.

----------


## Pericles

www.jpfo.org

Thanks for the reminder - I need to send them more money.

----------


## Reason

> http://nrawol.net/
> 
> Is all you need to know! 
> 
> 
> 
> .


thx!

----------


## Reason

*"GOA is the only no-compromise gun lobby  in Washington."*
-Ron Paul 
U.S. Congressman, Texas



That's all I needed!

----------


## Original_Intent

GOA and JPFO are both awesome.

The NRA has whored itself out.

----------


## psi2941

NRA is like the government, they always need more money and never get anything done.
they been like around for like 80 years and lets see what our gun rights have become? have they improved or have our right have been taken away?

----------


## cjm

> also, I should have asked if there are other groups as well.


You could also support gun rights groups at the State level.  Some are very effective lobbyists.  I support the Virginia Citizens Defense League:  http://vcdl.org/

----------


## TruthisTreason

Goa!

----------


## KCIndy

> NRA is like the government, they always need more money and never get anything done.
> they been like around for like 80 years and lets see what our gun rights have become? have they improved or have our right have been taken away?



Oh, just like the government, the NRA has done a GREAT job!! 

They're great at running deficits, raising taxes (I mean membership fees) and doing squat with the money.

They're also hell on wheels when it comes to compromising away our Second Amendment rights.  

And they hardly ever jump into a political fight unless it's a foregone conclusion they'll be able to declare some sort of "victory" through compromise.

I would definitely concur with Ron Paul's endorsement of the GOA.

I've heard the JPFO is also very good.

NRA?  .... eh.

----------


## Jordan

> *"GOA is the only no-compromise gun lobby  in Washington."*
> -Ron Paul 
> U.S. Congressman, Texas
> 
> 
> 
> That's all I needed!


The GOA is also very kind to liberty candidates with its endorsements.  It doesn't care about endorsing the winner, it just wants to endorse the person who will protect the 2A.

----------


## TruthisTreason

Just checked my mail and GOA sent a postcard reminding me to vote Rand Paul on May 18!

----------


## catdd

I wrote them once and told them that the liberty folks who have abandoned the NRA would hold them to high standards. 
I'm convinced they are onboard with us.

----------


## johnrocks

I love the GOA but I say support both or as many as you can.

----------


## mikem317

I'm an NRA Life Member.  Like the Republican Party, they're desperate for change.  Case in point?  Look who they endorsed for POTUS in 2008, an anti-gun Republican named John McCain.

Support as many groups as you can.  I plan on joining GOA and JPFO soon.  I also support the Massachusetts-based GOAL (Gun Owners Action League) and Pro-Gun New Hampshire.  So don't overlook state-oriented groups.

Another way to support gun rights is to vote for pro-gun/liberty-minded candidates.  And of course, buy as many guns and ammo as your budget comfortably allows.  Even a gun a year is good.  A gun a month is great.  Finally, take as many non-gun owners to the range as possible and convert them.

----------


## Michael Landon

I'm a member of the JPFO and the GOA and highly recommend them both.  I let my NRA membership expire late last year and I don't plan on rejoining them.

- ML

----------


## AuH2O

http://www.nationalgunrights.org/

----------


## catdd

> http://www.nationalgunrights.org/


Nice site, I bookmarked it.

----------


## Athan

Analogy wise, the NRA is like AIPAC, SPLC, and ADL. 
They *"claims"* they are pro-American, but work actively trying to attack Americans, their rights, and their desires for national sovereignty.

The NRA also *"claims"* they are for the second amendment, but they work greatly to undermine legislation that seeks to protect the right to bear arms as outlined in the Constitution.

The GOA however doesn't have that problem. The only organization more principled than the GOA that I know of is Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership.

http://www.jpfo.org/

----------


## xd9fan

> Oh, just like the government, the NRA has done a GREAT job!! 
> 
> They're great at running deficits, raising taxes (I mean membership fees) and doing squat with the money.
> 
> They're also hell on wheels when it comes to compromising away our Second Amendment rights. 
> 
> And they hardly ever jump into a political fight unless it's a foregone conclusion they'll be able to declare some sort of "victory" through compromise.
> 
> I would definitely concur with Ron Paul's endorsement of the GOA.


yep this is right on.   when the GOP got fat, lazy and shallow so did the nra

and Im a benafactor member of the NRA.  This months write up by the new president is boring.....gee I wish I could go on expensive africain hunts.......I cant relate to the top brass of the nra.  There washingtondc.

----------


## fj45lvr

GOA=no compromise

----------


## Pawn3d

It's not a competition, join both. Don't be stupid...

*No one here* can say what would have become of our rights without the continued support of NRA. You can speculate all you want, but it's ridiculous because there is no logical data of _"what could have happened"_ in the absence of an organization that has always been there. 

Instead of whining about what the NRA didn't do, look at what YOU didn't do? If you can invest your money better than the NRA can, then don't give it to them. Put your money where your mouth is.

----------


## BamaAla

Both. It isn't a zero-sum game. 

The NRA catches a lot of crap around here, but I'm very proud to be a lifetime member. The NRA has been in the $#@! for over a hundred years. Never forget that gun rights are more popular now than they have ever been; the NRA was around and fighting when guns were very unpopular.

----------


## Pericles

In fairness to the NRA, they were a target shooting group until after the major gun laws were passed. Started to get political as of the 1968 act, but have tended to hink that having a seat at the table is more important than what happens at the table. The NRA seems to be afraid of fighting for gun rights in court. If the cases go against gun rights, the NRA loses influence, and if the court cases expand gun rights, than the NRA becomes redundant.

----------


## mad cow

Join both.

----------


## XNavyNuke

> In fairness to the NRA, they were a target shooting group until after the major gun laws were passed. Started to get political as of the 1968 act, but have tended to hink that having a seat at the table is more important than what happens at the table.


Bull! The NRA went hand in hand with Attorney General Cummings and the New England gun manufacturers and sat across the table and sold out in the original 1934 GCA that ensured the muddying of the waters on the 2nd amendment including weapons of warfare. The only thing they accomplished was preventing rifles and pistols from being registered and taxed as called for in the original draft bill. NRA sold out the Constitution in favor of their target shooters and hunters which paid their way.

Google News Archive is your friend, as is David Hardy's wonderful synopsis on the various iterations of GCA. Fear was what Congress was using in 1934, not unlike today. Gangsters made rich and bold by Prohibition and the adoption of the automobiles which allowed organized to quickly cross jurisdictions.

IMHO, go GOA and JPFO (and SAS if female).

XNN

----------


## Okie RP fan

I am a member of the GOA and have no complaints. Join them, they need the membership more than the NRA. And they will/have put up more of a fight than I suspect the NRA would.

----------


## madengr

> You could also support gun rights groups at the State level.  Some are very effective lobbyists.  I support the Virginia Citizens Defense League:  http://vcdl.org/


^this^

State level gun rights organizations are definitely the most effective.  Federal level is pretty much a lost cause.  Defense of gun rights will be at the state level via 10th amendment, firearms freedom acts, etc, similar to what is happening with marijuana.  You should be donating 10x to the state level, than federal, and participating.

----------


## fisharmor

> the NRA was around and fighting when guns were very unpopular.


Explain what the NRA has accomplished, please.... 'cause all I've ever heard that they've actually accomplished is anti-gun.




> In fairness to the NRA, they were a target shooting group until after the major gun laws were passed.


And in even more fairness to the NRA, they are still the most widespread training resource out there, and they do a LOT of good when it comes to the actual shooting part of the gun culture.
If they eliminated the ILA altogether and handed over the rights-oriented part of the gun culture to a group that has its head screwed on straight (like GOA) then I'd re-join the NRA tomorrow.
But as long as they have dipshits like LaPierre patently ignoring the constitution, they're not getting a dime from me.

----------


## Pericles

> Bull! The NRA went hand in hand with Attorney General Cummings and the New England gun manufacturers and sat across the table and sold out in the original 1934 GCA that ensured the muddying of the waters on the 2nd amendment including weapons of warfare. The only thing they accomplished was preventing rifles and pistols from being registered and taxed as called for in the original draft bill. NRA sold out the Constitution in favor of their target shooters and hunters which paid their way.
> 
> Google News Archive is your friend, as is David Hardy's wonderful synopsis on the various iterations of GCA. Fear was what Congress was using in 1934, not unlike today. Gangsters made rich and bold by Prohibition and the adoption of the automobiles which allowed organized to quickly cross jurisdictions.
> 
> IMHO, go GOA and JPFO (and SAS if female).
> 
> XNN


Not disagreeing with you at all. Cummings was at least honest enough to flat out state that any ban would be unconstitutional and at most, firearms could be taxed under certain circumstances. Given Cummings background, it was instructive that a basically decent guy would play a part in trashing the Constitution.

Shows the power of the idea that government could get dangerous weapons out of the hands of criminals.

----------

