Post by Prosay on Jan 25, 2019 23:33:37 GMT -5
NRA Faces a Challenge From Pro-Gun Advocates
Zusha Elinson and Cameron McWhirter
6-8 minutes
Dustin Coleman has bought a booth at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention for his shooting accessories company for the past three years.
But last month, he canceled his reservation and donated the $1,400 rental fee to a rival group, the Firearms Policy Coalition. His reason: The NRA, the nation’s leading Second Amendment group with 5.5 million members, is no longer pro-gun enough.
“The NRA is appeasing to the middle, they’re not pro-gun enough,” said Mr. Coleman, who has a lifetime NRA membership. He said he chose to give money to the Firearms Policy Coalition because it is fighting the Trump administration’s December bump-stock ban in court.
The rule barring ownership of the devices was the first time in more than half a century that the federal government has required any gun or gun-related accessory to be turned over or destroyed en masse, according to gun historians. The Second Amendment grants the right to bear arms.
The criticism of the NRA illustrates the difficult position the group finds itself in when President Trump, whose election it supported, takes a position that upsets the most ardent gun-rights advocates.
“There was overwhelming legislative support for proposals that went far beyond these specific devices,” the NRA said in a statement last month. The group asked Congress to allow the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to review the device, “rather than sit back and watch a legislative over-reaction,” it said.
The NRA said it doesn’t support bans on anything and that at a minimum there should be an amnesty period for those who own bump stocks.
The group, which had its biggest-ever annual convention in Dallas last year, is facing declining member dues and contributions, which fell 21% to $230 million, according to the most recent data. NRA officials say that is in line with previous years after gun-friendly presidents were elected.
It is also fending off a reinvigorated gun-control movement led by the teenage survivors of the Valentine’s Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Their activism has pushed major companies from Delta Air Lines Inc. to MetLife Inc. to cut ties with the group.
Trent Steidley, an assistant professor at University of Denver who has studied the gun-rights movement, said the smaller groups don’t have NRA’s clout in Washington. They exercise their power largely by putting pressure on the NRA, he said.
The NRA is “more worried about being outflanked on the right than on the left,” Mr. Steidley said.
An NRA spokesman said the group is focused on fighting against the efforts of gun-control advocates.
One smaller, pro-gun group, GeorgiaCarry.org, which has 8,000 members, objects to the NRA’s position on bump stocks. “They pretty well gave the Trump administration permission to ban it if they wanted to,” said Jerry Henry, the group’s executive director.
Other groups like the Firearms Policy Coalition in California and Virginia-based Gun Owners of America, which sued to block the bump-stock rule change, are using the moment to push members for support.
“Compromise is the quickest way to lose freedom,” reads a Facebook post for Gun Owners of America.
The Firearms Policy Coalition this week offered its social media followers a chance to win a Beretta semiautomatic pistol for making a small donation, trumpeting its role “leading the charge to dismantle the federal bump-stock ban.”
Both organizations said they have added members and donations in recent months, thanks to the bump-stock issue, but declined to provide figures.
Blue Alpha Gear, Mr. Coleman’s NRA convention booth partner, also isn’t planning on attending this year. Co-owner Kurt Sills said he doesn’t own a bump stock, but he doesn’t like the precedent. He said it is unfair that people who have done nothing wrong should have to turn them in or face jail time.
“I would’ve hoped that they would be putting up more of a fight,” he said, referring to the NRA.
Write to Zusha Elinson at zusha.elinson@wsj.com and Cameron McWhirter at cameron.mcwhirter@wsj.com
Zusha Elinson and Cameron McWhirter
6-8 minutes
Dustin Coleman has bought a booth at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention for his shooting accessories company for the past three years.
But last month, he canceled his reservation and donated the $1,400 rental fee to a rival group, the Firearms Policy Coalition. His reason: The NRA, the nation’s leading Second Amendment group with 5.5 million members, is no longer pro-gun enough.
“The NRA is appeasing to the middle, they’re not pro-gun enough,” said Mr. Coleman, who has a lifetime NRA membership. He said he chose to give money to the Firearms Policy Coalition because it is fighting the Trump administration’s December bump-stock ban in court.
Smaller organizations, often with Second Amendment positions more strident than the NRA, are seeking to capitalize on complaints from people like Mr. Coleman that the NRA didn’t do enough to stop the ban on the devices. Bump stocks convert semiautomatic rifles into simulacrums of machine guns and were used in 2017’s Las Vegas massacre.
The rule barring ownership of the devices was the first time in more than half a century that the federal government has required any gun or gun-related accessory to be turned over or destroyed en masse, according to gun historians. The Second Amendment grants the right to bear arms.
The criticism of the NRA illustrates the difficult position the group finds itself in when President Trump, whose election it supported, takes a position that upsets the most ardent gun-rights advocates.
“There was overwhelming legislative support for proposals that went far beyond these specific devices,” the NRA said in a statement last month. The group asked Congress to allow the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to review the device, “rather than sit back and watch a legislative over-reaction,” it said.
The NRA said it doesn’t support bans on anything and that at a minimum there should be an amnesty period for those who own bump stocks.
The group, which had its biggest-ever annual convention in Dallas last year, is facing declining member dues and contributions, which fell 21% to $230 million, according to the most recent data. NRA officials say that is in line with previous years after gun-friendly presidents were elected.
It is also fending off a reinvigorated gun-control movement led by the teenage survivors of the Valentine’s Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Their activism has pushed major companies from Delta Air Lines Inc. to MetLife Inc. to cut ties with the group.
Trent Steidley, an assistant professor at University of Denver who has studied the gun-rights movement, said the smaller groups don’t have NRA’s clout in Washington. They exercise their power largely by putting pressure on the NRA, he said.
The NRA is “more worried about being outflanked on the right than on the left,” Mr. Steidley said.
An NRA spokesman said the group is focused on fighting against the efforts of gun-control advocates.
One smaller, pro-gun group, GeorgiaCarry.org, which has 8,000 members, objects to the NRA’s position on bump stocks. “They pretty well gave the Trump administration permission to ban it if they wanted to,” said Jerry Henry, the group’s executive director.
Other groups like the Firearms Policy Coalition in California and Virginia-based Gun Owners of America, which sued to block the bump-stock rule change, are using the moment to push members for support.
“Compromise is the quickest way to lose freedom,” reads a Facebook post for Gun Owners of America.
The Firearms Policy Coalition this week offered its social media followers a chance to win a Beretta semiautomatic pistol for making a small donation, trumpeting its role “leading the charge to dismantle the federal bump-stock ban.”
Both organizations said they have added members and donations in recent months, thanks to the bump-stock issue, but declined to provide figures.
Blue Alpha Gear, Mr. Coleman’s NRA convention booth partner, also isn’t planning on attending this year. Co-owner Kurt Sills said he doesn’t own a bump stock, but he doesn’t like the precedent. He said it is unfair that people who have done nothing wrong should have to turn them in or face jail time.
“I would’ve hoped that they would be putting up more of a fight,” he said, referring to the NRA.
Write to Zusha Elinson at zusha.elinson@wsj.com and Cameron McWhirter at cameron.mcwhirter@wsj.com
