I grew up in suburbs
and in small cities. There were other
houses in all directions. There were no
firearms in the house other than a battered and badly mis-used 32-20 revolver
that was apparently intended for home defense.
My favorite
uncle was a hunter. He owned several
long guns that were supposed to be given to me but which never completed that
journey.
Lacking any
regular contact with shooting sports, my first real chance to handle and use
guns came when I joined Boy Scouts. That
first summer camp experience included a chance to earn the marksmanship merit
badge. Included in that opportunity to
learn to shoot at targets was a mandatory NRA hunter safety program.
We were
required to learn how to transport firearms to the field, how to cross fences
safely with firearms, and how to maintain the firearms. Most of all we were taught the necessity of
treating guns like the weapons they are rather than as toys. There was a written exam. Passing it was required before being allowed
on the firing range. Passing also
brought one a certificate and a yellow patch with black lettering declaring
that I had taken the NRA hunter-safety course.
I still have the patch.
The hunter-safety
program well designed and was, of course, a plug for the NRA in its most benign
configuration. No one should be allowed
to own guns without knowing how to use, store, and maintain them safely. The course also became a requirement in
several states for those wanting to obtain a hunting license. There was a cut-off age that waived the
course for older applicants, mostly only slightly younger than I am. It was pegged to the decreasing population of
rural Americans and the downturn in hunting to feed families.
Most of all,
the course was just an educational program.
There were no slides or graphics of flags in the wind, no Minute Men
statues or re-enactors. It was not
recruitment propaganda. It stressed
hunter-safety, not firearms hoarding, Best of all, it worked as an educational
program filling a role in the changing social and cultural soup that was post
WWII America.
Fast forward
to the year 2012. The NRA has reacted to
the continuing changes in America by becoming the champion of gun hoarders, right
wing nuts, religious militias, and dozens of other causes and insanities that
might just somehow tie into the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution if
interpreted by someone with no real acquaintance with history. Today’s NRA can be found paying millions of
dollars to legislators in exchange for votes on bulls that should never become
laws. They support all manner of efforts
to avoid regulating the sale of firearms, so that realistic tracking and
registration of firearms becomes highly difficult. They link the sale of firearms to patriotism
and even to religion, using highly emotional symbolism in their advertisements and
propaganda. They disseminate frank lies
claiming that all Democrats but especially Pres. Obama are going to use the ATF
to confiscate all privately owned firearms in the nation. They’ve been spreading this lie since the
1960s in order to encourage recruitment and renewal of memberships. They play to conspiracy fears, encourage
hoarding of ammunition and then claim shortages are due to government
undercover actions. Find a place in
society that does not require firearms and the NRA is pushing to put them
there.
The dogma is
that we must protect the 2nd Amendment or we will be taken over by
atheists, communists, socialists, and any other symbolic fear that can be used
to alarm the easily alarmed and the ready rabble. Supposedly private weapons ownership will
prevent government tyranny in the U.S.
In the pre-civil war days when militias actually could possibly be
mobilized to fight coastal piracy, disposed Indians, or bushwhackers and
Jayhawkers, that might have some slight semblance of truth. Today, the National Guard has absorbed the
function of those militias and no private militia is capable of standing long
against our legitimate armed forces or police forces.
I own weapons;
I live where the occasional rabid skunk, raccoon, or feral dog or cat may
happen by. I also live where the random
home invader may decide to try our home.
I can honestly recount one instance of invasion that was deterred when I
answered the door with a sidearm and Loki.
However, I’m
not afraid of potential confiscation by “them” or Obama. I don’t need to have a full auto assault
rifle or a machine gun. In addition, I
don’t harbor any desire to prove my masculinity by killing someone with a
handgun. I don’t need the NRA pumping up
fears directed at blacks, Latinos, homeless folks, or anyone else who falls
outside the current super-wasp image.
What I want
from the NRA is for them to dial back the fear mongers and the BS about
confiscation of guns, to quit using our national symbols to support lies about immigrants
and others who are being targeted because they differ from the guns, god, and
antigay package.
What I want
from the NRA is for it to return to teaching gun safety to hunters and others
who practice shooting sports. Having to
furnish proof of such training before being able to buy a gun won’t stop idiots
with too much money, too much fear, and too many guns from killing innocent
people. But it sure as hell might help reduce
the number of idiots who think that a firearm documents their masculinity.
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