Membership in Gun Groups Is Spiking After the Florida Shooting

[Anti Federalist]

Membership in Gun Groups Is Spiking After the Florida Shooting

https://www.yahoo.com/news/membership-gun-groups-spiking-florida-203520512.html

For Time - Alana Abramson Fri, Mar 2

The National Rifle Association and its allies have found their political influence under fresh scrutiny as gun control advocates push for new restrictions and corporations sever their ties in the wake of the deadly high school shooting last month in Parkland, Florida. But outside the gun control debate in Washington, membership in the NRA and gun rights groups across the country, which includes more than five million Americans, is spiking, according to people familiar with the numbers.

The spike isn’t a surprise, as such increases happen whenever people feel their Second Amendment rights are under threat, and many groups reported similar surges after the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. But as gun control groups seek to use the anti-NRA backlash to mobilize their grassroots, recruitment this time seems to have taken on a more urgent tone.

“Wake up people and see what’s happening!!!!,” Charles Cotton, a member of the NRA Board of Directors, wrote on a message board, TexasCHLforum.com, a site described as “the focal point for Texas firearms information and discussions, earlier this week. “[Former New York Mayor Michael] Bloomberg and Hollywood are pouring money into this effort and the media is helping to the fullest extent. We’ve never had this level of opposition before, not ever. It’s a campaign of lies and distortion, but it’s very well funded and they are playing on the sympathy factor of kids getting killed. If you really want to make a difference, then start recruiting NRA members every single day.”

“The NRA better be 15 million strong soon, or this is only going to get worse,” Cotton, who didn’t respond to a request for comment, added on the message board.

Representatives from over a dozen gun rights organizations and shooting associations in California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia told TIME they have seen membership rise since the Feb. 14 shooting left 17 dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. And two people familiar with the workings of the NRA, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss membership numbers, said that since the shooting the NRA has also seen more people than usual join, renew memberships or donate money as President Donald Trump and other Republican Party leaders have signaled an openness to gun control policies that are anathema to the powerful group. A spokesperson for the NRA, which says on its website that it has more than five million members, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

“As soon as anti-gun attacks started coming in on Twitter, Facebook, and in the media, we began to hear from people who didn’t even own guns who wanted to join up or contribute out of solidarity in defense of the Second Amendment to the Constitution,” said Patrick Parsons, who heads the Georgia Gun Owners, an independent gun rights organization in Georgia. Parsons said the group’s membership, which he estimated at 13,000, had increased by 1,000 over the past two weeks, and that he had been “working around the clock taking calls, answering emails from interested people, sending out new member packets.”

Dudley Brown, the president of the National Association for Gun Rights, estimated his organization — which claims more than 4.5 million “members and supporters” on its website — estimated online membership applications at his organization could have grown by 30% over the last week, a number he expected to rise after Trump this week called for comprehensive gun reform legislation, including raising the age limit for buying certain weapons to 21. The Connecticut Citizens Defense League, which has a membership of almost 29,000 people, said it typically gets 15 or 20 applications a week, but received almost 200 in the last week. Gun Owners of America, which says it has 1.5 million members, amassed “hundreds” of new members in the last week, according to an official at the organization familiar with membership numbers who spoke on condition of anonymity. The organization said it has seen it’s membership grow by thousands since the Las Vegas shooting last October. Don Turner, the President of the Nevada Firearms Coalition and NRA member, estimated membership renewals and requests had increased by 20 percent at his organization since Parkland, although this is an increase he said he did not witness after the shooting in Las Vegas.

“Gun owners themselves weren’t being demonized [after Las Vegas]” Turner explained. “But after the Florida shooting, there was a definite push to demonize honest gun owners and to demonize the NRA. And I think that’s what’s provoked their response.”

After the deadly 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, when the gun control debate also reached a fever pitch, the NRA said it had gained 100,000 members in 18 days; NRA executive Wayne LaPierre announced that May that the organization’s membership had reached 5 million, although that claim is impossible to independently verify since membership rolls and figures are not publicly released. NRA tax filings from 2013, published by ProPublica, show that in 2013, overall revenue increased by more than 35% from the previous year, with a nearly $10 million increase in contributions. Revenue from membership growth from 2012 to 2013 increased by nearly $70 million, and the percentage of membership dues contributing to total revenue growth increased from 42 percent to 50 percent, the tax filings show.

Experts who closely watch gun rights groups said that while the NRA has remained silent about its membership numbers after the latest shooting, the rise in membership of other groups demonstrates the grassroots mobilizing power that is key to the NRA’s influence. “It’s not just a gun lobby, it’s much bigger than that,” said Scott Melzer, a sociology professor at Albion Colege who has spent almost a decade researching the NRA and is the author of Gun Crusaders: The NRA’s Culture War. “It relies on the support of a very large and activist membership base, and that base and that movement is connected to the broader conservative movement.”

Gun rights activists said the membership increase is also fueled by a feeling that public rebukes such as corporations ending partnerships with the NRA are simply publicity stunts. “There is no one. NO ONE. Who joins the NRA for a discount on a rental car,” Cleta Mitchell, an NRA member and former Oklahoma state lawmaker who sat on the NRA’s board from 2002 to 2013, said in an email. She was referring to Hertz ending its discount program for NRA members.

“You can rest assured that the NRA will not lose a single member as a result of this,” Mitchell said. “If anything, it should spur people to join the NRA as a means of demonstrating that we who believe in the Second Amendment will not be bullied by these left wing multi-billion dollar corporations.”

But as Cotton, the NRA board member, noted on the Internet forum, the spike in membership reported by these gun rights groups are are coming at the same time that some gun-control proponents are hoping the Florida shooting and the high-profile activism of the student survivors may finally push Congress to act. The gun-control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety said it has fielded inquiries from over 125,000 volunteers since the shooting, and received over $1.5 million in unsolicited donations in the immediate aftermath. And a new poll shows support for gun control in the country has reached its highest level in 25 years. So while these gun rights groups may be gaining members, it’s ultimately unclear if that will make a difference.

“The gun lobby is very good at marketing themselves and guns in the wake of mass shootings,” said Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action. “They specialize in exploiting shooting tragedies. No, I’m not surprised [about memberships increasing] but at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter, because the vast majority of Americans support stronger gun laws and gun safety.”

 

[Swordsmyth]

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

 

[Anti Federalist]

One of the few success stories in the fight for personal liberty is guns.

But that success is fleeting, and maybe now people are waking up to the fact that our worst enemies are the ones disguised as "friends and allies".

Buy guns, buy ammo.

More importantly, buy a membership and get active.

Doesn't have to be NRA, I well aware of all their faults and warts.

GOA - NAGR or a state RKBA orginization is good as well.

If only as much interest in the rest of the Bill of Rights could be summoned.

 

[Anti Federalist]

Feinstein: I Hope Trump’s Comments ‘Can Be a Lesson’ for Congress to Pass Gun Reforms

http://www.breitbart.com/video/2018...be-a-lesson-for-congress-to-pass-gun-reforms/

by IAN HANCHETT 3 Mar 2018

During Friday’s Democratic Weekly Address, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) stated she hopes President Trump’s statements at a gun violence discussion “can be a lesson for the Congress that Republicans need to finally allow Congress” to pass reforms like banning assault weapons, fixing background check loopholes, banning high-capacity magazines, banning bump stocks, helping states set up legal procedures for gun violence restraining orders, and raising the age to buy assault rifles to 21.

Transcript as Follows:

I’m Senator Feinstein, and I’m here to address gun safety, an issue that should be important to every one of us.

I became mayor of San Francisco as the product of assassination, and I’ve watched with horror as more and more mass shootings have rocked our nation. On December 14th 2012, a gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut with an AR-15 and murdered 20 children, ages six and seven, beautiful children, and six young staffers. Five years later, a gunman walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida with another AR-15 and murdered 14 children and three staff.

Between just these two shootings, Congress did precisely nothing to remove weapons of war from our streets, nothing to tighten background checks, nothing to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals. In the wake of Sandy Hook, many of us hoped we’d see change. Instead, things have only gotten worse. In the five years since Newtown, the Gun Violence Archive reports there have been at least — listen to this, 239 shootings in schools or on school grounds. More than 400 people were shot in these shootings and nearly 150 of them killed. Yet, after every shooting, the NRA and congressional Republicans throw up their hands and say there’s nothing we can do.

Well, they’re wrong. There’s plenty we can do, and we know these proposals will work. The first step should be banning military-style assault weapons, weapons of war, like the AR-15. Research from the University of Massachusetts showed us that the 10-year federal assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 was effective. Let me quote from the story about the research, ‘Compared with the 10-year period before the ban, the number of gun massacres during the ban period fell by 37%, and the number of people dying from gun massacres fell by 43%. But after the ban lapsed in 2004, the numbers shot up [again] — an astonishing 183%’ — an ‘increase in massacres and a 239% increase in massacre deaths.’ An assault weapons ban won’t stop all the shootings, I don’t kid myself, but if we can decrease the death count, we’re saving life, and that’s — that means it’s really worth doing. We also need to fix the gaping loopholes in the background check. Today, anyone can walk into a gun show, or log on to their computers and buy an assault rifle, no questions asked. That’s madness. We need to ban high-capacity ammunition feeding devices, like the 30-round magazines that fit into an AR-15. There’s no reason to fire so many rounds without reloading. We need to ban bump stocks, the devices that allow semi-automatic rifles to fire like machine guns, which were outlawed some time ago. We need to help states develop legal procedures so that loved ones and law enforcement can remove guns from dangerous individuals. And we need to raise the age to buy an assault rifle to 21 from — if you believe this, 18. You can buy that — one of those at 18. If you can’t buy a beer, you shouldn’t be able to buy an AR-15.

It seems to me that this really is a no-brainer. On Wednesday, President Trump signaled support for many of these proposals. I hope that can be a lesson for the Congress that Republicans need to finally allow Congress to pass these commonsense measures. There’s so much we can do. We just need the willpower and intestinal fortitude to take on the NRA, and get something done for the safety of the men, women, and particularly, the children in our schools of this country. Thank you.

 

[dannno]

Feinstein: I Hope Trump’s Comments ‘Can Be a Lesson’ for Congress to Pass Gun Reforms

http://www.breitbart.com/video/2018...be-a-lesson-for-congress-to-pass-gun-reforms/

by IAN HANCHETT 3 Mar 2018

During Friday’s Democratic Weekly Address, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) stated she hopes President Trump’s statements at a gun violence discussion “can be a lesson for the Congress that Republicans need to finally allow Congress” to pass reforms like banning assault weapons, fixing background check loopholes, banning high-capacity magazines, banning bump stocks, helping states set up legal procedures for gun violence restraining orders, and raising the age to buy assault rifles to 21.

Transcript as Follows:

I’m Senator Feinstein, and I’m here to address gun safety, an issue that should be important to every one of us.

I became mayor of San Francisco as the product of assassination, and I’ve watched with horror as more and more mass shootings have rocked our nation. On December 14th 2012, a gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut with an AR-15 and murdered 20 children, ages six and seven, beautiful children, and six young staffers. Five years later, a gunman walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida with another AR-15 and murdered 14 children and three staff.

Between just these two shootings, Congress did precisely nothing to remove weapons of war from our streets, nothing to tighten background checks, nothing to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals. In the wake of Sandy Hook, many of us hoped we’d see change. Instead, things have only gotten worse. In the five years since Newtown, the Gun Violence Archive reports there have been at least — listen to this, 239 shootings in schools or on school grounds. More than 400 people were shot in these shootings and nearly 150 of them killed. Yet, after every shooting, the NRA and congressional Republicans throw up their hands and say there’s nothing we can do.

Well, they’re wrong. There’s plenty we can do, and we know these proposals will work. The first step should be banning military-style assault weapons, weapons of war, like the AR-15. Research from the University of Massachusetts showed us that the 10-year federal assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 was effective. Let me quote from the story about the research, ‘Compared with the 10-year period before the ban, the number of gun massacres during the ban period fell by 37%, and the number of people dying from gun massacres fell by 43%. But after the ban lapsed in 2004, the numbers shot up [again] — an astonishing 183%’ — an ‘increase in massacres and a 239% increase in massacre deaths.’ An assault weapons ban won’t stop all the shootings, I don’t kid myself, but if we can decrease the death count, we’re saving life, and that’s — that means it’s really worth doing. We also need to fix the gaping loopholes in the background check. Today, anyone can walk into a gun show, or log on to their computers and buy an assault rifle, no questions asked. That’s madness. We need to ban high-capacity ammunition feeding devices, like the 30-round magazines that fit into an AR-15. There’s no reason to fire so many rounds without reloading. We need to ban bump stocks, the devices that allow semi-automatic rifles to fire like machine guns, which were outlawed some time ago. We need to help states develop legal procedures so that loved ones and law enforcement can remove guns from dangerous individuals. And we need to raise the age to buy an assault rifle to 21 from — if you believe this, 18. You can buy that — one of those at 18. If you can’t buy a beer, you shouldn’t be able to buy an AR-15.

It seems to me that this really is a no-brainer. On Wednesday, President Trump signaled support for many of these proposals. I hope that can be a lesson for the Congress that Republicans need to finally allow Congress to pass these commonsense measures. There’s so much we can do. We just need the willpower and intestinal fortitude to take on the NRA, and get something done for the safety of the men, women, and particularly, the children in our schools of this country. Thank you.

Woot!

2018 low Dem voter turnout, here we come!

 

[Anti Federalist]

Celebrities to Wear Gun Control Lapel Pins at Oscars

http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2018/03/04/celebrities-wear-gun-control-lapel-pins-oscars/

by AWR Hawkins 4 Mar 2018

Numerous celebrities plan to wear orange lapel pins during the Oscars in support of gun control and the Michael Bloomberg-founded gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety.

The Bloomberg gun control group is popular with Hollywood celebrities who use guns in movies then criticize private citizens’ right to own guns for self-defense in real life.

For example, Julianne Moore appears in movies with firearms then uses her affiliation with Everytown to push stringent gun laws for average Americans. On October 20, 2017, Breitbart News reported that Moore was pushing a gun registry and a limit on the number of guns an American citizen could own. And she supports numerous other gun controls.

And in the wake of the February 14 Florida school shooting, actress Amy Schumer urged her Twitter followers to take part in the March 24 student march for gun control, which has been co-opted by Everytown:

Now Everytown’s lapel pins will be a fashion accessory of choice for gun control supporters at the Oscars. The Cut reports that “some celebrities” will be wearing the pin, but no specific names were listed.

On April 15, 2016, Everytown defended celebrities who use guns on film but criticize guns in real life. The gun control group did this by stressing their position that people cannot blame make-believe violence for actual violence.

Writing in USA Today, Everytown’s Jason Rzepka referenced the ongoing “conversation” about the relationship between Hollywood gun violence and real-life gun violence, saying:

[Hollywood] content creators are quite anxious about that conversation, because they often feel guilty or wonder, ‘Am I somehow responsible?’ They are usually quite relieved when they hear that from all of our research on this subject, violence in television and film is by no means a primary culprit in our gun violence crisis in America.

 

[Matt Collins]

Celebrities to

I stopped reading after this part.

 

[Danke]

One of the few success stories in the fight for personal liberty is guns.

But that success is fleeting, and maybe now people are waking up to the fact that our worst enemies are the ones disguised as "friends and allies".

Buy guns, buy ammo.

More importantly, buy a membership and get active.

Doesn't have to be NRA, I well aware of all their faults and warts.

GOA - NAGR or a state RKBA orginization is good as well.

If only as much interest in the rest of the Bill of Rights could be summoned.

Renewed GOA membership.

 

[oyarde]

Renewed GOA membership.

I really do not like to join most organizations . I usually pick some nice kid ea yr and teach them how to fish , give 'em one of my beater .22 semi auto rifles I got for a 100 and teach them how to shoot . I used to even take them quail hunting with me too when I was younger, teach them how to clean & cook birds . I like to think of it as community outreach .

 

[Danke]

I doubt many organizations would allow anyway.

 

[specsaregood]

I really do not like to join most organizations . I usually pick some nice kid ea yr and teach them how to fish , give 'em one of my beater .22 semi auto rifles I got for a 100 and teach them how to shoot . I used to even take them quail hunting with me too when I was younger, teach them how to clean & cook birds . I like to think of it as community outreach .

So when do RPF members get to send their kids to Camp Oyarde for summer break?

 

[oyarde]

So when do RPF members get to send their kids to Camp Oyarde for summer break?

Whenever I finish the upstairs remodel .