George H. W. Bush was a Life Member of the N.R.A. until 1995, when he sent an angry letter to the Association and quit. It was two weeks after the Oklahoma City bombing, and the N.R.A was standing by Wayne LaPierre’s statement that federal agents are “jack-booted thugs,” going on to call them “federal agents wearing Nazi bucket helmets and black stormtrooper uniforms.” In the letter Bush talked about specific federal agents, some of whom died in the bombing. He said these men were no Nazis.
He continued,
“I am a gun owner and an avid hunter. Over the years I have agreed with most of N.R.A.’s objectives, particularly your educational and training efforts, and your fundamental stance in favor of owning guns.”
Bush made it sound like the N.R.A was a good ol’ association gone bad. But when we go back to the 60s and look at the way it fought gun regulation, it looks more like a bad ol’ organization gone worse.
It was 1968. Martin Luther King Jr. had been shot and killed. Nine weeks later, it was Bobby Kennedy’s turn. President Lyndon Johnson decided, if there was ever a moment to pass his Gun Control Act, this was it.
An article in the New York Times describes the events. To that point, the country’s high rate of gun violence wasn’t enough to prod Congress to pass gun regulation. California was one of the few states to pass gun control measures, but it wasn’t because of the violence. The legislature was reacting to the sight of Black Panthers on patrol, carrying loaded rifles.
The mood in Congress changed after the King assassination.
The King assassination spurred the legislation not just because it horrified the nation, but also because it prompted unrest across the country, including in Washington, where lawmakers watched rioters come within blocks of the White House as thousands of federal troops were mobilized.
After Bobby Kennedy’s assassination, Congress made a small change in the law, raising the age when people could buy handguns to 21.
Mr. Johnson wanted something far more sweeping. He proposed to treat guns like cars: They would be registered and their owners would be licensed.
Johnson knew he had no more than two weeks to get the bill through Congress or “the N.R.A. will kill us.” Which is exactly what happened.
[The N.R.A] flooded its members with sky-is-falling warnings about the government taking away gun rights, and urged them to hound lawmakers. In a letter to 900,000 N.R.A. members in June 1968, the organization’s president, Harold W. Glassen, said that the “right of sportsmen” to lawfully own and use firearms was “in the greatest jeopardy in the history of our country.”
Part of Johnson’s legislation made it into law, but only after it was stripped of the licensing and registration provisions. What passed is the basis for today’s gun laws.
[T]riumphant pro-gun forces announced it was now legislation they could “live with.”
To which Representative Charles S. Joelson, Democrat of New Jersey, responded: “I suggest that tens of thousands of Americans can die with it.”
The times have changed, but the N.R.A.’s song remains the same, with a verse about jack-booted thugs thrown in.
This article appears in Mar 29 – Apr 4, 2018.
I thought the original quote was spoken by Michael Savage when he referenced the raid on the Branch Davidians in Waco and the murder of Randy Weaver’s wife.
He may have said something like that, but the quote here is from Wayne LaPierre, the architect of the modern NRA.
A Man, many years ago, said that we should Love our Neighbors as Ourselves. He was Tortured and Murdered for giving such advice; and, to date, Human Society continues it’s rejection of this Gentleman’s advice with it’s murderous proclivities based on Inherent and “Religious” differences.
There is Critical/Lethal Defect in our Democracy if it is necessary for Citizens to Arm themselves for protection from other Citizens and to effect Political Change!!
The 2nd Amendment of our Constitution Must be repealed. Gun Control Laws will NOT change Human Behavior. Citizens themselves must Understand and Respect the Diversity in our Democracy: that the very nature of our Democracy creates a Complementary/Interactive, Mutual Dependent Social System with the Requirement to provide Assistance to others when Assistance is Necessary….or…. ….
“…..Remember Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes exhausts and murders itself. There never was a Democracy Yet, that did not commit suicide……” From John Adams to John Taylor, 17 December 1814
Harlon Carter was a leader of the NRA during the 1960’s-’80s who changed its direction from its traditional mission of promoting marksmanship and shooting sports to advocating against gun control legislation. In 1977, Carter and other supporters orchestrated an organizational coup, removed the opposition and took over control of the NRA.
Carter believed that no gun control legislation could be acceptable. He wrote: “We can win it on a simple concept No compromise. No gun legislation.” Carter opposed background checks for gun purchasers, saying that the acquisition of guns by violent criminals and the mentally ill is the “price we pay for freedom”.
When Carter was a teenager, he was convicted (subsequently overturned) of killing 15-year-old Ramon Casiano. The band Drive-By Truckers wrote a song, “Ramon Casiano”, about the shooting of Casiano, and Carter’s subsequent career.
As long as we’re tossing around pithy oversimplifications, how about this one: Guns don’t kill people. Idiots with guns kill people.
But, really, in the current context of the gun reform discussion, that statement needs a serious edit: (Usually angry white male) idiots with (super-efficient, high-capacity, military-grade) guns kill (lots of unarmed, innocent) people (in the blink of an eye).
There are plenty of other laws to protect people from their own stoopidity (driving while texting is one of the most recent examples). Guns should be no different. It’s simply long past time to properly regulate the number and type of guns that wind up in the hands of idiots.
How many of the mass shooters were N.R.A. members?
Try keeping guns out of the hands of criminals instead. No simple task since by definition a criminal is someone who doesn’t obey the law. In case you haven’t heard the T.P.D. is a little short handed lately. I prefer to protect my family with any weapon I can legally own.
Tomorrow ban the ownership of all AR-15’s and all magazines( not clips) that hold more than10 rounds. How many gangbangers and drug cartels will turn in their guns?
“…by definition a criminal is someone who doesn’t obey the law.”
WRONG. By definition, a criminal is someone who has been convicted of a crime–i.e., found guilty by a judge or a jury of peers. Many, many people do not obey laws and never become branded as criminals, because they never get caught.
Personally, I don’t need a gun to protect myself, and I certainly don’t obsess about “gangbangers and cartels” with automatic weapons.
However, I do worry about paranoid, angry white men who foolishly spray bullets around the moment their cowardice and white male privilege get the better of them, because the statistics make it very clear that they are a far more prevalent and virulent threat to our communities, our schoolkids, their own wives and families, etc.
That’s right. You’ll never be confronted by a criminal. It’s always the other guy who gets car-jacked or has his house broken into. If you want to live in a crime free world power to ya. Me, I live in Realville. I’m not paranoid nor angry. In fact I’m rather happy. I doubt I’ll have to use a gun to protect myself, but it’s good to be prepared. I don’t think that my house will ever catch fire either, but it’s nice to know I have several fire extinguishers around just in case.
I respect skinnyman. I don’t agree with him and he doesn’t agree with me. However, he speaks his piece without calling me an asshole. He takes the time to express his opinion. Not like the chicken shit who hits dislike and runs.
CW13, the “asshole” stuff shouldn’t be happening, toward you or by you. Your earlier comment directed at Francis Saitta is being deleted for that reason. Your first two sentences in that comment are fine, not the third.
Just the other day an angry white male killed herself at youtube while trying to kill her boyfriend. She was a very liberal Iranian.
Could it possibly be drugs? She worked to promote animals over people.
Pointing out that those of us who are supportive of banning assault type weapons and large capacity magazines have an example that supports our position. The damage inflicted by a 9mm hand gun with a normal magazine was minimal…three wounded and self inflicted death of the shooter. Had an assault rifle been used, the carnage in that scenario likely would have been another blood bath. We understand that banning these weapons won’t stop the crazies. But this shows the destruction can be drastically limited.