THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION:
Defenders of American's most important right

This article is going to detail the greatness of the National Rifle Association. In doing my research for this article I have found all sorts of information and positive things that the NRA does and I feel like I have to synthesize and put it here on Arthur's Hall. I truly believe that the NRA is the greatest non-profit organization in the United States. I am sure that seems like a extremist statement and based on what the cock-less media has told you, I agree. I am going to give you the real story of the NRA, not the “redneck, bigoted, ignorant, racist” nonsense that is peddled by the anti-gun media. I will try to avoid just giving a history, activities, etc...I am going to dispel the ignorance about the NRA and basically my aim is to promote and explain the NRA so that more people join. Why do this??

THE SECOND AMENDMENT
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed”

I feel like I have to put that in here. I don't think that most people know what the Second Amendment is the just say “hey I can have me a gun, the 2 nd amemem t says so”. Well Jethro, that seems to be the case but we try to understand things here on Arthur's Hall. The most contentious part of this statement is the “well-regulated militia” thought. What the hell is a “well-regulated militia”?? Let's look at the purpose of the Second Amendment so that we can comprehend what this admittedly vague statement means. The Second Amendment's primary purpose was to give the “people” the ability to counteract or balance the power of the military. This would make sense considering the entire Constitution was on a legal balance of power, something that had never been seen in the world before.

I think that when examining the Second Amendment we tend to ignore “being necessary to the security of a FREE state” that is critical and amazing. In other words, if the people are not armed they are slaves to the state. When looking at the history of tyrannical and despotic regimes the revocation of gun ownership along with the right to assemble seems to be the correct formula for complete totalitarianism. The Bill of Rights is really a list of “shall nots”, none of the first ten amendments are written for the government, all ten are restrictions on the power of the government . It seems counterintuitive to grant governmental powers in the Second Amendment but that is exactly what the anti-gun lobby will tell you. In their typical shortsighted view they will say a “well-regulated militia” is the military. Of course, in Article I, Section 8, cl. 12 the Constitution states that Congress has the right to “raise and support an Army”. If they were talking about a militia, they probably would have mentioned it. Now that we know why the Second Amendment is so important, let's celebrate the chief protector of our civil right to own a firearm.

The NRA
The National Rifle Association was chartered in 1871 and is the largest and most powerful non-profit organization in the United States. The NRA is best known for its political lobbying which is allowed due to its tax status. The NRA is officially non-partisan but tends to lean in the Republican direction because of the GOP's pro-gun platform. It seeks to protect the constitutionally guaranteed right to bear arms. Due to its incredible size (4.3 million contributing members) it has considerable resources and is able to bring significant weight monetarily and also is able to swing elections by promoting and endorsing candidates. The NRA policy is to endorse incumbents who support gun rights and since a vast majority of Republicans do just that, they endorse Republicans most of the time. Some of the Midwestern Democrats do, in fact, support gun rights and they are also endorsed.

The NRA's lobbying is one reason to admire and join the NRA but I think some of the things they do that go unnoticed are the main reason to be a NRA member. The NRA foundation is designed to support gun education nationwide and to give you an idea of the its size, it grew by over 25 million dollars just in 2004. The foundation is done in such a way that it will exist for perpetuity and the interest is used to fund gun safety and education for adults and children alike. This type of program is critical for the continuation of gun rights in America. If you teach people that guns are safe if used correctly they are less likely to believe the “guns are evil” bullshit from the freedom hating liberals.

The NRA has also done some other amazing things that are never mentioned in the mainstream media. For example, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the local governments were doing unwarranted searches for weapons. The superintendent of police actually said “only law enforcement can have guns”. The NRA filed suit against the local government and won an injunction that stopped the confiscation of guns by local police forces. While in some ways it made sense to take weapons away from people during that time, it is in that very circumstance where law-abiding citizens need their weapons the most. I assure you that if I were there and there were some ghetto dwellers trying to loot my stuff, I would shoot them dead and challenge the court system to jail me. The liberals will tell you that you should just allow law breaking pieces of shit to do whatever they want and that we are suppose to reason with them about why what they are doing is wrong. Pussy liberals.......I hate em.

The NRA is committed to protecting the most important right we have as Americans, the right to bear arms. It is one way that our nation is distinctive. In most Western democracies, the right to gun ownership is either severally limited or just plain non-existent. We must keep this central right or we risk becoming slaves to our government. The bottom line is that a government will never fall into tyranny if they know damn well that the people could overthrow the government with the use of force. Here in America, us gun owners give permission to the government to do what they see fit and that is the essence of our nation. We the people, for the people, by the people. Not the government, the bureaucrats, the unions, and then the people.

Here what you can do to join the millions of us who are supportive of the rights of all law-abiding Americans to own a weapon of our choice.

JOIN THE NRA
http://membership.nrahq.org/

Memberships

• Life Membership $750, or $25 down and $25 per quarter until you reach $750
• One Year Membership $25
• Two Year Membership $60
• Three Year Membership $85
• Five Year Membership $125
• One Year Junior Membership $15 (A good idea for your kids, nothing better than a four year old with a NRA shirt on)

Benefits

• $1000 Firearm and Archery Theft and Fire Insurance
• $10000 Accidental Death Life Insurance
• Choice of magazine
• An NRA Master card for those who qualify
• A Black and Gold NRA hat
• A ID card and window sticker
• And knowing that you contributed to an organization that will protect your rights against liberals who hate your way of life..........priceless.

-arthur@arthurshall.com