. . .and how we can get out.
I read ⤵️ and I’m ready with a Twitter Book Report.
(I supplemented with information from The Second Amendment: A Biography, by Michael Waldman.)
The NRA was founded in 1871 by a former Union general and soldier who were appalled by the terrible marksmanship of Union soldiers.
Before the Civil Rights movement, the NRA was an apolitical, gun safety group. Members were gun enthusiasts from both parties.
When the National Rife Act of 1934 was debated in Congress, the NRA lobbyist said this ⤵️
Then after the Civil Rights movement, everything changed.
There was a power struggle within the NRA between the “old guard” who were not opposed to sensible gun restrictions, and the radicalized extremists who advanced the [new] idea that “conservatism” meant unfettered access to guns.
At the 1977 NRA convention in Cincinnati, in well-planned coup, the moderates were voted out and extremists took over NRA leadership, and created what we know now as the NRA.
The rise of the modern NRA was part of the angry backlash against the Civil Rights movement. Like the libertarians, they were opposed to the way the federal government was expanding. After the New Deal and the Civil Rights Movement, the federal government expanded to accommodate the new regulations and social programs (social security, worker safety regulations, the Voter Rights Act, Affirmative Action). In addition, the federal government grew as a result of the regulatory agencies put in place to prevent price-fixing, money laundering, insider trading, and other common means people (and corporations) cheated.
The NRA, like other right wing extremists groups, saw the expanding federal government as a threat to their “personal liberty.”
The new NRA leadership spent decades engaged in a propaganda campaign (which grew increasingly well-funded) advancing their view that freedom meant unfettered access to guns. They did grassroots organizing. They lured in members with offers, Then blitzed them with propaganda to indoctrinate them. They also worked to elect politicians willing to advance the idea that the Second Amendment protected individual gun rights.
To use phrasing from “Let Them Eat Tweets,” the GOP began outsourcing its voter mobilization to groups like the NRA and Fox News.
In a nutshell: The NRA turned out voters in exchange for Republican politicians embracing and advancing NRA views. They made sure that moderates were voted out of office and replaced with “purists.” As a result, elected Republicans became more radicalized on these issues.
By the time SCOTUS decided D.C. v. Heller, a majority of justices had been appointed by presidents who were members of the NRA. In Heller, the Supreme Court held that the 2nd Amendment protects an individual’s right to own guns (unconnected to a well-regulated militia).
After the Sandy Hook massacre, conspiracy-theorists Alex Jones insisted that the massacre was fake, and staged by the US government with child actors as a pretext for robbing people of Second Amendment rights.
A prelude to what’s happening now: In 2015 Trump accepted Jones’s endorsement and said Jones had an “amazing” reputation.
Here’s the thing to notice: The NRA spent decades spreading its propaganda and electing politicians who supported their agenda.
Meanwhile, a great many liberals had been lulled into complacency by the success of the Civil Rights and women’s rights movement. We were taught in school that the heroes of the past had secured democracy for all people, so many of us thought the work was done.
While many of us were sleeping, the radical right-wing was working hard to undo everything our heroes had made possible.
And here we are: A major political party holding a considerable amount of power was hand picked by the conspiracy theorist of the NRA and Fox News.
Consider how much time and energy the NRA spent forming grassroots organizations and working to get their people elected at all levels of government.
We have to put that same energy into forming our own organizations and voting them out.
Unfortunately, there’s no quick fix. We can’t punish them into changing their views. There are no clever tricks to get them to behave as we’d like.
It won’t take us as long to get them out as it took them to take over because we have an advantage: There are more of us.
No whining about the fact that our work is harder because they lie and cheat. They didn’t whine about the fact that they were outnumbered. They worked to overcome their disadvantage.
It’s easy to be popular by proposing a quick fix. I don’t believe there are any. (Winning both seats in GA would put us way ahead, though)
The right wing worked harder to get where they are because they knew they were outnumbered. We have to work harder because they lie.
