From: Michael S. Lorrey (retroman@together.net)
Date: Mon Feb 08 1999 - 15:31:08 MST
James Rogers wrote:
> At 10:31 AM 2/8/99 -0800, Brian wrote:
> >I remember the first day I joined the NRA, The local propagandist
> >paper the "Chicago Suntimes" had a full page add by Sarah Brady
> >saying "Help me fight the NRA".
> >Five minutes later, I called and became a member of the NRA then
> >NRA/ILA, and gave seven of my friends guest memberships for a year.
>
> Although I have always been "pro-gun", it wasn't until the rabid anti-gun
> movement took off that I actually started purchasing them. In fact, I have
> a lot of friends who purchased their first gun *because* of the gun control
> movement.
> And of course, it is a short step between purchasing your first gun and
> becoming a collector. While I have no specific evidence to back it up, I
> believe that gun control activism may have actually increased the
> penetration of gun ownership in several segments of society by motivating
> many individuals who otherwise would not have purchased them.
This is accurate. My sources at Ruger say that the company's sales went up by
30% after the assault weapons ban was enacted, and another bump occured just
after the Brady law was signed and ended when it went into force. I think that
gun sales will be an interesting indicator to test whether the media is giving
accurate poll data as these trials progress (or whether people are giving
pollers accurate data as to what they really think).
Of course, if these lawsuits impose stiff penalties on gun manufacturers, you
will see most of the small ones go out of business or into the muzzle loading
business, and the large manufacturers will have to raise prices by several
hundred percent at the very least.
>
>
> >I've been an off again on again member ever since. I went out and
> >made some new purchases a few weeks ago, (Remmington 870 12 GA
> >Marine Magnum and HK USP 9mm) just in case.
>
> Nice choices (says I, owner of three HK USPs among other things). :^)
>
> >I may have to send the
> >NRA a check too, and maybe the ILA as well (and get my beeper back
> >;) ).
A freind who is a retired intelligence officer, who I shoot with occasionally,
has this little black poodle who is, shall we say, a little too amorous toward
most moving objects, is now according to my freind, one of the biggest
contributors to the ILA and Heston's campaign.
> Despite the "powerful gun lobby" image promoted in the press, I always
> thought the NRA was a fairly impotent organization. The JPFO and GOA,
> while smaller, are fiery groups and seem to focus more on principles than
> politics. Politicians in particular seem to be very uncomfortable saying
> anything negative about the JPFO.
You've got to admit that Heston's quote that Janet Reno is the "Hanoi Jane of
the 2nd Amendment" was a good hit. GOA is pretty good, but I've noticed that
many gun owners that I know are kinda leery of them, or at least the GO-NH
chapter.
Mike Lorrey
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 15:03:01 MST