Congress is considering a bill (The DISCLOSE bill, HR 5175) which would require, among other onerous things, organizations exercising their First Amendment rights during political campaigns to disclose their donor lists. The NRA fought this tooth and nail until the creation of a provision which would exempt them and any other organization with over a million members and existing in the 50 states from the bill's provisions. NRA then promptly took a "neutral" stance on the bill. The bill is a blatant attempt to override the Supreme Court ruling nullifying portions of the McCain-Feingold act prohibiting organizations from getting involved in political campaigns within a certain time frame preceding elections.
Outraged NRA members (including me, an Endowment member) flooded NRA-ILA with phone calls protesting this sellout of other pro-gun groups with memberships of less than a million. I'm also a Life Member of Gun Owners of America, which is loudly protesting NRA's move as a sellout for other pro-gun organizations. GOA has stated time and again that they will never release their membership list, least of all to the government.
I told the NRA that if it is an organization touting "Freedom" as its main principle, then it has abandoned its principles by not still fighting this anti-free-speech bill with everything it has.
The NRA has responded with some justification for its actions, and rumor has it that they are reconsidering their stance. Here's a typical news article on the controversy.
Did the NRA sell out other gun rights organizations? Not so fast...
And another:
Timothy P. Carney: NRA isn't the villain in the free-speech fight | Washington Examiner
The reaction of the Citizen's Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms:
CCRKBA?s Gottlieb to Democrats on revised Disclose Act exemption: ?Pound sand?
I believe all gun rights groups should stand together to oppose this bill. The NRA may be reconsidering. Here are the NRA-ILA numbers to make your views known on this issue.
1-800-266-2278 or 1-800-392-8683
Note: their switchboard has been flooded with calls. It took me 20 minutes to get through day before yesterday.
Comments, especially from NRA members, welcome.
John
Outraged NRA members (including me, an Endowment member) flooded NRA-ILA with phone calls protesting this sellout of other pro-gun groups with memberships of less than a million. I'm also a Life Member of Gun Owners of America, which is loudly protesting NRA's move as a sellout for other pro-gun organizations. GOA has stated time and again that they will never release their membership list, least of all to the government.
I told the NRA that if it is an organization touting "Freedom" as its main principle, then it has abandoned its principles by not still fighting this anti-free-speech bill with everything it has.
The NRA has responded with some justification for its actions, and rumor has it that they are reconsidering their stance. Here's a typical news article on the controversy.
Did the NRA sell out other gun rights organizations? Not so fast...
And another:
Timothy P. Carney: NRA isn't the villain in the free-speech fight | Washington Examiner
The reaction of the Citizen's Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms:
CCRKBA?s Gottlieb to Democrats on revised Disclose Act exemption: ?Pound sand?
I believe all gun rights groups should stand together to oppose this bill. The NRA may be reconsidering. Here are the NRA-ILA numbers to make your views known on this issue.
1-800-266-2278 or 1-800-392-8683
Note: their switchboard has been flooded with calls. It took me 20 minutes to get through day before yesterday.
Comments, especially from NRA members, welcome.
John
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