The NRA Amps Up Its Fight and Steams Down the Wrong Path

The NRA knows exactly what it’s doing. But it is dead wrong.

By pandering to its most radical members, those who see the collapse of the government, black-ops government enforcers kicking down doors to take guns from law-abiding citizens and such, it has dug itself a hole from which it may not, over the long run, recover. They have damaged themselves and perhaps critically wounded themselves in the eyes of those who have believed they provided positive safety courses, education and training.

Ask Republicans if pandering to the radical fringe works. They lost the presidential election despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent and their best hard right turn efforts.

Though President Obama’s announcement of new gun regulation proposals as well as a slew of executive orders has been heralded by some and roundly criticized by others, a quick look show they really aren’t onerous or all that ground breaking. Let’s remember, too, that both Presidents Bush (elder) and Clinton used executive orders to limit the types of weapons imported and available in the U.S.

One question for the NRA should be, “Why not require background checks for all gun purchases?” That would close the so-called loophole that allows guns at most gun show to be purchased without a background check.

While the assault-rifle ban will probably bring the most political heat, the previous such ban years ago produced mixed results and certainly didn’t show a dramatic drop in shooting crimes with such weapons. Remember, too, that rifles are seldom used in murders compared with handguns. Handguns are used in more than 90 of violent crimes involving guns . . . with rifles less than 7 percent.

Only by enforcing current laws and increasing penalties on weapons used in crimes can we start to address the overall gun issues throughout the country. With more people killed in Chicago last year than soldiers killed in Afghanistan, it deserves a closer look.

Expand mental health funding and reporting . . . enforce current gun regulations with mandatory sentencing for those found guilty of lying to buy guns or sell guns . . . mandatory background checks for all sales except family transfers . . . limit maximum clip sizes . . .

We live in a wildly diverse nation . . .  A place where guns abound. A place where gunds are viewed differently in Montana or New Hampshire than in Chicago or New York City. A place where many of us grew up around guns and using guns. But the world has changed a lot since then. If the NRA continues on its current path, it risks becoming irrelevant to the majority of gun owners and embraced only by the radical fringe it appears to be pandering to now.