Opinion
USA – -(AmmoLand.com)- If you are a regular reader of AmmoLand News you’ve seen the flood of anti-NRA preachers are out in full force, one of the activists even said they hoped that Cuomo was successful in destroying the NRA!? So this leads many members to the questions… What does the NRA do? What has the NRA done, that no one else could do to keep your rights safe.
#1 – Without the NRA Hillary Would Be President. The NRA spent an estimated $100 million to get Donald Trump elected, and more than likely Al Gore would have defeated GWB a decade earlier if not for the leadership and votes of NRA members. The failure to stop either of those two events would have meant that by now an activist packed U.S. Supreme Court would have banned gun ownership and gutted the Second Amendment from our Bill of Rights.
While the story of Right to Carry is well known, many are not aware of the equally important success that the NRA had in advancing Firearm Preemption laws in state legislatures. These laws generally preclude local governments from enacting any additional regulations on firearms or ammunition beyond state law. Without firearm preemption, gun owners would be subjected to a patchwork of hundreds or even thousands of different sets of anti-gun laws in every state, county, and city.
With-out the NRA the Right to Carry would have been locked in at the original 8 states that approved it in ’86.
Currently, the NRA is working to enact Castle Doctrine legislation in the few states that don’t recognize it, and for improvements to existing Castle Doctrine laws in Alaska, Nebraska, and Washington. Just as the NRA has worked toward the day when all states allow all good citizens of age to carry firearms for protection, they will work until all states fully protect the right of law-abiding people to use force in defense of themselves and one another, without fear of prison or bankruptcy. Decent people have a right to nothing less.
Hunters have been benefited by the NRA, from rules that prevent the harassment of hunters to Land Preservation laws, that require the land designated for hunting be available for hunting with no restrictions. It was the NRA that stepped forward to protect our hunting heritage.
NRA Range Protection legislation helped stop liberal anti-gun politicians from simply zoning gun ranges out existence.
No Gun Confiscation during emergencies. We all saw after Katrina, when we needed our firearms the most, the local governments confiscated LEGAL gun owners’ firearms. Thanks to the NRA this will not happen again.
The NRA passed the often forgotten Firearms Owners Protection Act of ’86.
The FOP allowed for the Interstate Sales of long guns, like shotguns rifles, with certain exceptions. And as long as no local laws are broken then FOP made legal all the following:
- in-person interstate sales could only be performed with residents of an adjacent state, but all other sales need to go through FFL transfer
- makes it illegal for any individual or give a firearm to a person prohibited to use a gun
- prevents the government from forming a list of firearm owners from a dealer’s records
- limits the number of inspections by the BATF on a dealer without a search warrant
- allows FLL holders to participate in business away from their normal place of business
- allows the shipment of ammunition through the US Postal Service
- ends record keeping of ammunition except for armor piercing ammunition and explosives
- ended the FFL requirement imposed on ammunition only dealers
- stated that a person disposing of a personal firearm collection did not need an FFL
The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) is a United States federal law which protects firearms manufacturers and dealers from being held liable when crimes have been committed with their products. PLCAA prevents states like New York from bankrupting firearms manufacturers with endless lawsuits. Note this is precisely what Governor Cuomo, backed by Ex-Mayor Michael Bloomberg is trying to do to the NRA at this very moment but PLCAA does not apply to member organizations.
However PLCAA still allows manufacturers and dealers to be held liable for damages resulting from defective products, breach of contract, criminal misconduct, and other actions for which they are directly responsible in much the same manner that any U.S.-based manufacturer of consumer products is held responsible. They may also be held liable for negligent entrustment when they have reason to know a gun is intended for use in a crime.
Add to all this that the NRA is the Governing body for most all competitive shooting and college level competition in the US and that the NRA provides Safety Training to over 1 million people every year. The NRA leads the country in Police Firearms Training, and most Firearms Instructors Training and entry-level coaching are part of the NRA, and you can see the NRA currently does and has done a LOT for you and your 2nd Amendment rights.
So let’s be honest without the National Rifle Association you would have lost your right to own a firearm decades ago and the five million-plus members of the NRA, and still growing, support all of this.
About Don McDougall
Don McDougall is an NRA instructor and member of the Los Padres “Friends of the NRA” committee. If he’s not at the range, you will find him setting the record straight with on gun issues and gun safety on AmmoLand Shooting Sports News.