It certainly seems the leadership of the NRA has cut a “deal with the devil” and sold-out the First Amendment. Apparently, the NRA leadership believes there’s a First Amendment for Big Union and the NRA and anther first amendment for the rest of us. I urge you to read the message below, and if you’re an NRA member, contact NRA HQ immediately to protest this sell-out. There is only one First Amendment and it applies to all of us equally!
I’ve added links to the news strories referenced in the email alert below so you can read the stories in full.
Threat to Free Speech Lights a Fire in the Grassroots
— Vote has been temporarily postponed; keep up the heat!
Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://gunowners.org/
“[T]he NRA — on whose board of directors I serve — rather than holding steadfastly to its historic principles of defending the Constitution and continuing its noble fight against government regulation of political speech instead opted for a political deal borne of self-interest in exchange for ‘neutrality’ from the legislation’s requirements.”
— NRA Director Cleta Mitchell, June 17, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
The above quote — part of an editorial authored by NRA Director Cleta Mitchell — ran in The Washington Post today.
Like Mitchell, bloggers and editorial writers around the country have lit up the Internet with the story that we have been alerting you to over the past 48 hours. Here are just some of the headlines:
* “The NRA sells out to Democrats on the First Amendment,” The Wall Street Journal
* “Conservatives take on the NRA over deal on disclosure bill,” The Washington Post
* “The National Rifle Association’s Excuse Holds No Water,” RedState.org
The conservative movement (and to be honest, many liberal organizations as well) are coming together to loudly protest the DISCLOSE Act — legislation that threatens to gag our ability to effectively hold individual congressmen accountable in the days and weeks leading up to an election.
It is imperative that we continue hammering the Congress. But rather than cry “uncle,” liberal Democrats are now trying to buy off more groups with an exemption for those that have at least 500,000 members (rather than the higher threshold of one million, which would have applied to few groups other than the NRA).
Of course, how is the government going to know how many members an organization has? According to the legislation, each organization will have to certify to a government commission how many members they have. But what if the commission wants documentation; will the organization have to “disclose” the names of their members?
GOA, of course, will never do this. Furthermore, you should know that your Gun Owners of America can NOT be bought off. We will continue opposing this bill on principle, urging all gun groups to stick together in this fight. As we stated yesterday, we realize that: “We must all hang together, or we will all hang separately.”
GOA applauds NRA Director Cleta Mitchell for the courageous stand she took today. (You can read her editorial here.) We hope that the NRA leadership will heed her wisdom and take a stand against this bill. If they don’t, we wouldn’t be surprised if NRA members start demanding a change in their leadership. After all, the NRA has engaged in many good fights over the years, and it would be a shame to lose this VERY IMPORTANT battle because high-ranking staff led the NRA down the wrong path.
ACTION:
1. Please call your congressman today and urge him or her to oppose HR 5175. We’ve asked you to send emails before, but now on the eve before the vote, it is crucial that the phones ring off the hook. If they’re not ringing, they won’t be worried.
You can use the Talking Points below to call your Representative toll-free at 1-877-762-8762.
2. If you haven’t yet urged the NRA staff to change its position on HR 5175 and stand with Gun Owners of America, please do so. NRA Director Cleta Mitchell was absolutely correct, and the NRA leadership should heed her wisdom. You can call the NRA at (800) 392-VOTE (8683).
3. Please help Gun Owners of America to continue fighting for your rights. You can go to http://gunowners.org/contribute-to-goa.htm to help us alert as many people as possible to the DISCLOSE Act threat.
—– Talking Points for contacting your Representative —–
1. I stand with Gun Owners of America in opposing the DISCLOSE Act (HR 5175).
2. The Bill of Rights is clear in saying that Congress has no authority to pass legislation like this. Just like the Second Amendment says our gun rights “shall not be infringed,” the First Amendment says “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech.”
3. The Supreme Court was right earlier this year in the Citizens United case. Sen. John McCain — the author of the Campaign Finance Reform law (otherwise known as the Incumbent Protection Act) — was wrong. Americans, and the groups they choose to associate with, should be able to criticize Congress in the days and weeks leading up to an election WITHOUT BEING GAGGED OR FORCED TO JUMP THROUGH HOOPS that are mandated by Congress.
Semper Alacer 
DISCLOSE Act Passes House, Obama Nominates Anti-Gun Lib to Supreme Court; NRA on Sidelines
Here’s the non-statement statement from the NRA regarding passage last week by the House of the DISCLOSE Act, a highly un-Constitutional, draconian attack on basic First Amendment Rights:
STATEMENT ON DISCLOSE ACT PASSING THE U.S. HOUSE
Thursday, June 24, 2010
The NRA’s sworn duty is to protect the Second Amendment above all else. We face attacks daily from the White House, Congress, state legislatures, city councils, courts, the United Nations, multi-billion dollar media conglomerates and billionaires like Michael Bloomberg and George Soros. Make no mistake; if our political voice is silenced, they will destroy the Second Amendment.
We refused to let that happen. We will continue to fight to protect the Second Amendment against all attacks – direct or otherwise. And we will never back down from that commitment.
So my question to the NRA leadership (apparently being led by chief lobbyist, Chris Cox), remains: if the DISCLOSE Act is bad (which the NRA leadership appears to admit), then shouldn’t the NRA oppose this piece of legislation regardless if the NRA is thrown a loophole (asked for or not)?
Groups of a certain size (which magically happens to be Big Union and leftist “community activist” groups) are exempted from the ridiculous provisions of the DISCLOSE Act. In order to silence opposition from the NRA, Democrats threw in an amendment to exempt groups with the NRA’s level of membership. Having been thrown this “bone,” the NRA is now using asinine political double-speak to justify their non-opposition of this terrible piece of legislation.
Of course, other leftist-groups, like the Sierra Club, became upset over the NRA-non-deal-deal, so Democrats lowered the “magic” number to include them as well. As with most things coming out of the current Congress and Administration, the only people the Act will apply to are the regular people speaking out for a return of Government to its Constitutional bounds.
It seems the NRA has become “too big to fail.” The leadership apparently is more concerned with not rocking the boat instead of standing up for what is right.
As I pointed out before, the First Amendment and Second Amendment are closely tied. If either one falls, the other – and the Republic itself – cannot stand. Therefore, an attack on one is a de facto attack on the other.
It’s frankly shameful and pathetic that the NRA leadership refuses to stand in opposition the DISCLOSE Act regardless if they receive an exemption from this dangerous legislation or not.
The NRA also released the following statement on Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan:
Pending, NRA Watches the Court’s Latest Nominee
They are watching Kagan? Her record in opposition to the Second Amendment is abundantly clear. She wrote the Clinton-era “assault weapons” ban which simply banned semi-automatic rifles based on nothing more than their appearance. What more proof do you require NRA leadership to figure out where Kagan stands on the Second Amendment?
I don’t know what’s going on with the NRA leadership (though I suspect with all their ancillary activities, they’re worried about losing money if they take an actual stand on “controversial” issues). However, at this point, I can no longer support the organization — which is not a decision I make easily or lightly. They already have my money as a life member, but I will no longer contribute money to the NRA, nor can I in good conscious recommend others join the NRA or renew yearly memberships until the NRA leadership gets out of their corporate mindset and gets back to defending the Constitutional rights of the organization’s members.
In the mean time, the three Second Amendment organizations I support and recommend are the Gun Owners of America, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and the Second Amendment Foundation. These three organizations are solidly committed to defending the Second Amendment – and all three understand the First Amendment is closely tied to the Second Amendment. For Ron Paul fans, you might like to know he called the Gun Owners of America, “The only no-compromise gun lobby in Washington.” That’s a pretty resounding endorsement for any organization.
As Benjamin Franklin said, “We must hang together, gentlemen…else, we shall most assuredly hang separately.”