The NRA’s culture war is in full swing – as the gun manufacturers’ lobbying arm releases race-baiting videos and likens irresponsible gun owners to rape survivors.
But is the tactic winning the gun lobby new supporters? Not if media reports are any indication.
This week saw a scorching opinion piece by a self-proclaimed firearm enthusiast in U.S. News titled “The NRA Has Lost It.”
The author, Patrick Tomlinson, outlines how the NRA has strayed from positions protecting responsible gun owners and into “a political movement that has utterly lost its way and wandered off the path into fomenting a new civil war.”
Tomlinson is part of a growing trend of gun owners publically defecting from the NRA and its political propaganda.
Last month, three U.S. Marines condemned the “increasingly partisan rhetoric on the part of the NRA” in a piece entitled “The NRA Has Entered the Province of Cowards.” The authors, two of whom are former NRA members, describe the NRA as “demonstrating that they are now dedicated to a xenophobic policy of violent hatred and intolerance that increases polarization and discord within American society.”
Heck, just check Facebook to see what gun owners say about the NRA.
And another NRA member recently described why he has ended his membership in an interview with The Trace. Anshel Sag of California said he was tired of being bombarded with fear-mongering emails from the gun lobby group: “I just don’t think they align with my views, and I think they’re far too opposed to things that are rational.”
For years, NRA members have disagreed with the NRA’s extremist leadership on policy. NRA members overwhelmingly support a criminal background check on every gun sale, and the NRA’s leadership has actively fought against background checks for years.
And now, members are fed up. The NRA has strayed far from its roots as an organization of hunters and sportsmen – the NRA is now an extremist organization more interested in culture wars and gun manufacturer profits than public safety.
If you would like more information about the NRA’s extreme tactics and its history, please don’t hesitate to reach out.