Why I Support a Boycott of the NRA

I have an occasional interest in anthropology. It can be intensely interesting to learn of different cultures and how they processed the world around them. Which is the primary reason I read editorials by folk like Marc Thiessen, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

After numerous showers, he has my begrudging respect. It takes a master magician (or illusionist as they prefer to be called nowadays) slash linguist to turn logic inside-out as expertly as Mr. Thiessen has.

In Thiessen's piece, he lauds the actions of Stephen Willeford, who by sheer coincidence happened to be across the street from a church that was under attack by a shooter armed with an assault rifle. Willeford was able to wound the attacker, who subsequently took off in his vehicle. Willeford gave chase, wherein the shooter crashed and then killed himself.

Which is all good and laudable. I wouldn't dream of pointing a finger at Mr. Willeford, who is obviously a hero.

Where Thiessen goes off the rails is that he implies this is how every mass shooting could end if we would just leave the NRA alone and arm every citizen of the United States. Kindly disregard the fact that this occurred in a sparsely-populated rural area and that this kind of conclusion is the exception and not the rule.

Above all, disregard what put an assault rifle in the shooter's hands in the first place.

Thiessen hides behind the hoary, old argument that “When companies (boycott the NRA), they are not boycotting lobbyists in Washington; they are boycotting upstanding citizens such as Willeford.”

Wow.

Really?

Because when I advocate for a boycott of the NRA, their lobbyists are at the very center of that boycott. As are NRA policy-makers and the unfortunate influence they have over our spineless and self-serving elected representation.

As is the NRA's indefensible refusal to back any kind of gun control measure whatsoever—no matter how marginal the effects to the law-abiding rank-and-file.

That is the NRA I'm boycotting.

I'm boycotting the NRA that doesn't want to outlaw bump stocks. That doesn't want universal background checks. That fights the implementation of smart gun technology. That doesn't want to close the gun show loophole. That doesn't want to raise the minimum age at which people can buy assault weapons.

And most heinously of all, the NRA that doesn't want to ban those assault weapons.

Because everything is fine just the way it is.

I am boycotting the NRA that wants to extend state-specific concealed carry rights nationwide, which I'm pretty sure flies in the face of Republican's default fall-back position when they want to duck a decision on a controversial issue.

 

I am boycotting the NRA that plainly and obnoxiously and without a shred of conscience manipulates a population through fear, because fear is good for business.

I am boycotting the NRA that has convinced generations of hunters that people like me don't care about them or their rights. Which must be the reason every piece of proposed gun reform legislation uses language like 'common sense' and 'sensible' and 'responsible' when describing their highly-specific reform.

I am boycotting the NRA that selfishly advances the argument that our gun problem isn't an epidemic which threatens public safety, but an infringement of gun owner's constitutional rights.

Will someone—anyone—please tell me when and where gun-owner's rights have been infringed upon? Exactly when did their right to keep and bear arms disappear?

Thiessen, I (in your words) demonize the NRA because they relentlessly and unswervingly fight to make the greatest number of guns available to the greatest number of people. Every day. Every week. Every month

You write that criticism “makes it harder to reach bipartisan agreement on solutions that could improve public safety without threatening the fundamental constitutional right of Americans to keep and bear arms.”

Hmmm.

Because aside from letting the NRA do whatever the hell it wants, I didn't know there was a bipartisan agreement to be had! Will you please leave a comment on this blog and tell me what the NRA is willing to compromise on? Because I am very, very eager to hear it.

I'll admit the NRA isn't the only entity responsible for the carnage which has become an almost daily occurrence in what is supposedly the end-all and be-all of human existence. Gun violence is complex; the net result of many things.

But when the house is on fire the first thing you do is put the out the fire.

Debating how or when the fire started can wait. As can the one on how to best fireproof the house.

Turning the United States into the O.K. Corral isn't the answer, as any upstanding, law-abiding NRA member should know. Especially after all those NRA-sponsored gun safety classes.

We must unplug the NRA.