First incorrect statement: The reason it is so much easier to get a gun in the U.S. than in any other developed country, is because of the political pressure the NRA puts on Congress.
The reason why this is incorrect: In the U.S., gun ownership is treated as a RIGHT, like freedom of speech, religion or the press. The NRA, like the ACLU for our other rights, simply acts to safeguard that right from infringement.
Second incorrect statement: The NRA is not only standing in the way of progress in making our streets safer…
This is incorrect because gun control advocates see their restrictions on guns as the only way to make “our streets safer,” and the NRA (and most thinking Americans) disagree; you do not disarm everyone, including the innocent, to try to stop a tiny minority of miscreants. The logic is flawed; akin to banning sex to stop rape. It is a FACT that the NRA actually trains more instructors, and runs more true gun safety programs than any other organization on the planet. Any course you take in basic pistol, rifle or hunting is taught by an NRA Certified Firearms Instructor unless you are a cop, and even then, chances are that your instructor holds dual certifications.
Third incorrect statement: In February 2017 the NRA pushed to reverse the regulation that helped prevent mentally ill people from buying guns.
This is incorrect because it pertained to a specific segment of the population singled out to be disarmed: ANY veteran who ever sought mental health counseling. These aren’t dangerous mental patients and, in fact, all returning soldiers are usually required to get some post-battlefield counseling upon their return. Because this is politics, the anti-gun-rights gang sought to restrict this segment of the population in their strategy to chip away at American gun rights. (Yes, this happens. Both sides play dirty sometimes.)
Fourth incorrect statement: The entire NRA argument is built upon the false premise that the 2ndAmendment is about to be overturned and all guns are about to be outlawed.
Patently false; the NRA understands that the rights protected by the 2nd Amendment are constantly under attack, and it only takes a quick Google search to find article after article, and organization after organization, whose STATED GOAL is total civilian disarmament. Some even express the sentiment of overturning the Second Amendment, or nullifying it in some way. This was attempted during the Clinton Administration in the 1990s via their claim that the Amendment did not pertain to citizens, but the military (which they conflated with “militia,” which was actually specifically used to distinguish between armed citizens and soldiers). The courts rejected the notion; it’s silly to need an amendment saying that the ARMY can be armed, after all!
We also have examples at the state level. A good one is the California SKS rifle ban. Gun owners and collectors were ordered to register these demonized rifles, and they were assured that if you already possessed one and registered it in good faith, you would be permitted to keep it, although no new registrations would be permitted afterward. So collectors and recreational shooters took them at their word and registered their SKS. Then, in a conplete reversal, the legislature passed a ban and gun owners were told they had to turn them in or sell them out of state; a complete betrayal! And if you think about it, totally useless as far as safety is concerned: gang members and drug dealers never register their guns. Their “shopping list” of duly registered rifles were owned by people who would never BE the problem in the FIRST place. This is just one example. There are many.
Fifth incorrect statement: Not one single NRA talking point holds up to logic.
As you will see, this is hogwash.
Sixth: If we make any gun regulations whatsoever, it means the government is going to come to your home and take your guns away.
This would be crazy if the NRA ever actually SAID this! But they didn’t; this is known as a classic strawman argument. What the NRA usually takes issue with is the SPECIFICS of the regulation. The best example is the improved background check system. At first the NRA supported the measure, as it is more about controlling criminals than guns. But politics played a role, and the gun ban faction insisted that ALL sales be channeled through FFL dealers, rather than allowing individuals to be able to run their own free background checks when selling a gun. This was INTENTIONAL; they wanted to price out the poorer gun buyers — those who often need protection the most — by forcing sales through FFLs who would charge a hefty FEE for running the checks. But if you didn’t look into these details, then you probably just thought the NRA was being obstructionist instead of having a valid claim. But that is, indeed, why the measure failed.
Seventh: The 2ndAmendment trumps all other rights and means no limits can be put on gun ownership.
First off, you CAN yell “fire” in a crowded theater! True story. You are simply RESPONSIBLE for misusing your rights to free speach and are LIABLE for any injury, damages and loss of income to the theater owner. This is a basic tenet of a RIGHT; it is absolute within its scope, but you are RESPONSIBLE for any consequences of misuse or poor judgment. A white person can legally walk into a black church and call everyone there the N-word, too, but he would suffer extreme consequences. There are tens of thousands of laws on the books covering all aspects of gun manufacture, sale, advertising, transfer, legal use, carry and disposal. There is no reason to “limit” gun ownership; a person can only shoot one at a time. (Two if you like to miss your target a lot!) Any limits must have a compelling reason to trump what is a legal right held by The People under the Constitution.
Eighth: The 2ndAmendment guarantees that anyone can get a gun without a waiting period, without a background check, anytime they want.
Again, you will NOT find this statement anywhere on any NRA (or ILA) website; this is a strawman. While Martin Luther King Jr. himself said, “A right delayed is a right denied,” the waiting period was replaced BY the federal background check, which was partly written BY the NRA. But as a general principle, the NRA holds that any law-abiding citizen without a criminal history or dangerous mental health condition should be able to freely exercise their right to obtain and legally use firearms.
Ninth: Now is not the time to discuss gun laws.
This one comes CLOSEST to the truth, but it’s actually more like this: legislation enacted when emotions run high is usually bad legislation. So while we are all free to discuss guns and the laws governing them, we need to wait for all the information to come in from whatever investigation is running AND allow logic to supplant emotion before trying to enact any type of effective legislation that might prevent another tragedy.
Tenth/eleventh: The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Law Enforcement absolutely hates the idea of citizens carrying guns.
The first sentence is demonstrably true! If you look at every account of a mass shooting, it always ends when armed resistance arrives; either they’re killed by police or an armed citizen OR they take their own life rather than face capture. The pattern is almost a cliche.
I’m an NRA Certified Firearms Instructor, and got MY training from a police officer. The police in my state of Michigan do not uniformly “hate the idea of citizens carrying guns.” They just want us properly trained. That is my job. If you read accounts of citizens with permits, their behavior is exemplary, far better than even police officers. AND they do, in fact, stop homicides and other violent crimes. This is easily Googled as well.
12th: Enforce the laws on the books.
Another good quote, but then you distort the context; there are tens of thousands of gun laws already on the books. Most often, whatever just happened is covered by one or more! Yet a call goes out for more new laws, as if adding more will change criminal behavior. Often, too, many laws are waived or ignored. A classic example: a felon attempts to buy a gun at an FFL dealer and is denied to to the background check. This act is a felony, subject to immediate imprisonment. Yet most often they just walk out of the gun store and nobody ever follows up. Does anyone think they STOP there and say, “Aw, shucks, I guess I’m out of luck”? Or do they buy one on the street? Place your bet now! :)
13: There are too many guns in the U.S. to ever be able to reduce those numbers, and criminals aren’t going to give up their guns…
Guns now outnumber people in the U.S. Further, just under HALF of all homes own at least one gun (not a third, as you state). A right is not a popularity contest in any case; it wouldn’t matter if only 5% owned guns; it’s STILL a right. And those who legally hold their guns are NOT the problem; it’s the gangs and criminals. And no, their weapons must be SEIZED, because they will never surrender them. This is a fact. We need to reduce gangs, not guns.
14: “…banning assault rifles and high capacity magazines, etc.”
This shows an ignorance of firearms in general; neither of these measures has ever saved a life. True “Assault rifles” are already illegal. So-called “high capacity magazines” have been around since the 1940s. Police love ’em. Why should I be forced to accept something that police routinely demand to be exempt from? This sentence tells me you need to educate yourself on the mechanics of firearms.
15: There’s no correlation between mass shootings in America and our gun laws.
Yet there isn’t; the U.S. is #1 in per-capita firearms ownership by a wide margin, yet we are NOT #1 in homicide. (We’re not even in the top 100!) Suicides make up over 60% of all “gun deaths,” but we’re NOT #1 in suicide. Other countries DO have mass shootings, and the biggest one did NOT occur in the U.S.! Remember the maxim: correlation is NOT causation.
16: The Government can’t tell me what to do!
Said no NRA person EVER. The government simply has a clearly defined role, with boundaries. Most of us take exeption when government oversteps. For instance, when they intrude into our private affairs and tell us who can marry whom. But this is a strawman; the NRA never said this.
17: Liberals don’t want me to protect my family.
Now you’re confusing partisan politics with the NRA. I know the distinction is sometimes a fine one, but again, most of my own shooting buddies are liberals. I’m a liberal. I voted for Obama. I hate Trump. The whole “liberals” and “conservative” B.S. doesn’t apply to guns; nearly as many Democrats own guns as do Republicans. But there are whole groups aligned to disarm the American populace. Groups from the VPC to Bloomberg’s astroturf “Everytown” group. They most certainly don’t want me to protect my family with a firearm! Go to their websites. They state it quite plainly.
If we’re going to have any meaningful dialogue, we’ve got to stop the lying in BOTH directions.
