To Keep and Bear Arms, Part I
On a long flight from Europe back to the States, I struck up a conversation with a man from Belgium. He had worked in the U.S. for several years but admitted that the relaxed attitude toward firearms perplexed him. I smiled and said, “Compared to Europe, it is indeed casual. You can buy guns and ammo at Walmart.” This shocked him. I guess he didn’t often shop there.
What I thought of as convenience surprised this man from Europe. Liberal historian Richard Hofstadter noted that the United States “is the only industrial nation in which the possession of rifles, shotguns, and handguns is lawfully prevalent among large numbers of its population.” The left often notes this difference and insists that the country is out of step with the world. However, American exceptionalism is real. Our nation emerged from a violent revolution. That thirst for freedom and independence, coupled with a frontier legacy of subsistence hunting and the modern need for home and family protection, has led to a long-held affection for firearms.
With the Democrats in control of the House, Senate, and executive branches of government, this should be the time for them to pass gun control legislation. But not much in the way of new laws has moved forward. Why is that?
There are several reasons, but one is that Democrats seem unable to confront the level of legal gun ownership in this country. About 72 million people own guns. That’s about a third of all households. Only states and cities with low gun ownership, such Massachusetts, California, Chicago, and New York, have passed significant gun restrictions. In recent years with looting in big cities, the rise in violent crime, and lax enforcement, firearms sales have risen.
When it comes to gun violence, law-abiding gun owners should always remember they are not the problem. They are not looting and robbing stores. They are not burglarizing homes or murdering the innocent. The trial of Kyle Rittenhouse has shown that citizens have a right to defend themselves when politicians fail to act. But to protect our right to keep and bear arms from these failing politicians we need to join together. For the remainder of this article and the next, I’ll examine some of the major gun rights organizations, starting with the oldest and largest.
The left loves to attack the National Rifle Association (NRA). The Atlantic recently described the popular narrative as “Gun-control measures can never pass, because the NRA forbids it. The group buys off all the politicians with its incredible campaign spending. Then it owns their votes, and gets everything it wants.” Even The Atlantic knew that wasn’t accurate. Later in the article, the writer mentioned that in 2020 the NRA donated around $1 million to political candidates and that nearly a thousand political organizations gave more.
NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre
Formed in 1871, the NRA is the nation’s oldest firearms advocacy group. Its leaders have included former President Ulysses S. Grant, General Ambrose Burnside, actor Charlton Heston, and political commentator Oliver North. While it remains a large and influential organization, membership has been stagnant for eight years, and recently, the group has faced significant legal problems. The New York attorney general filed a 187-page corruption complaint against several leading NRA officials. Both this year and last, the NRA attempted to file for bankruptcy, and it has attempted to move from New York, where it is chartered, to Texas where it has more than 400,000 members. However, both the bankruptcy and the move have been denied while legal proceedings continue. While the legal charges might be trumped up by a leftwing attorney general, the NRA is certainly distracted.
The Texas Tribune reported NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre as saying, “We remain an independent organization that can chart its own course, even as we remain in New York to confront our adversaries.” He also stated, “The NRA will keep fighting as we’ve done for 150 years.”
After Christmas, I’ll talk more about the NRA and examine other gun-rights organizations. Are you a member of the NRA? What do you think about the organization? Let us know in the comment section below.
