Just got a call from the NRA...

[walldude]

Trying to scare me into donating. It was hilarious. This is all paraphrased but the gist is there: First they play this message from Wayne LaPierre who tells me that the UN is meeting in secret to discuss disarming the entire world and turning all other countries against America.
Then a live woman comes on with her questions:

NRA: "Do you think Hillary Clinton and a bunch of third world dictators should be creating American laws?"

Me: "Um no, in fact no one in their right mind would answer yes to that question, maybe you need to rephrase."

NRA: "I'll take that as a no sir. Would you like to donate $75 dollars to help Wayne fight against the UN and people like Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer.

Me: "Sure, but I have to ask one question before I do."

NRA: "Go ahead sir"

Me:" If the UN is meeting in secret, how do you know what the meeting is about?"

After a few seconds of crickets:

"Call me back when you figure it out". Click.

[Skittles]

1. NRA - bunch of paranoid freaks

[msongs]

2. did they tell you a BLACK man is now president n u should run out n buy guns? nt

[PavePusher]

19. Odd, they never seem to bring race/ethnicity into the debate.

The only people who do that are.... "Progressives".

The NRA actually talks about policies, or at least policies as they perceive them.

I'll give them that much credit.

[SteveM]

23. Probably because they helped dump Jim Crow gun laws. In the South. (nt)

[matt819]

27. Policies? You can't be serious.

This "poll" was nothing more than race-baiting, xenophobia, and misogyny.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

3. Any idea how they got your number?

[walldude]

5. Nope. I'm on the do not call list.

And I don't own any guns. Have nothing against gun ownership either, just not a gun person. They could get my support much easier without the paranoid "the world is out to get us" fantasies.

[Bitwit1234]

11. Remember these type of organizations

are supposed to be exempt from using the list to not call you. The called my house asking for my son. They had an elderly lady make the call. I asked her who was calling. She said the NRA. I did not give her time to say anything else. I told her that I did not appreciate such an un American,money hungry bunch of a**holes tying up my telephone and to never ever call again. And hung up.

Usually when one of those so called institutions call, telling them not to call again does not deter them. But this was a year ago and I have not received a call back yet. I was so angry I forgot to say republican in front of a**holes.

[baldguy]

4. Why do guns & paranoid conspiracy theories always seem to go together?

[safeinOhio]

6. Normal folks are getting out of the NRA

while all of the freeper/teabagger types are signing up in groves. If they would just stick to training and safety courses they'd do more for the Second Amendment.

[RKP5637]

7. Quite True!!! When I was young years ago they showed responsibility, taught us kids about

firearms handling and responsibility. Now they sound like a bunch of freaks. Hard to believe it's even the same outfit! As you say, "If they would just stick to training and safety courses they'd do more for the Second Amendment."

[doc03]

9. They are using the state CCW laws as a recruiting tool

I recently got my CCW permit. The course for CCW is just the NRA Basic Pistol course taught by NRA instructors. They got my name when they issued my certificate. I have been inundated with NRA mailings since I took the course, haven't got the calls yet. I get one of those polls every few days, the way the questions are phrased you have to answer in their favor. Things like would you agree with Hillary Clinton and the UN that law abiding citizens should be disarmed and have their weapons given to terrorists? I have never seen one of their polls that you didn't have to answer in support of their position. The scary thing is their members are too stupid to realize it.

[benEzra]

17. No, the members mostly roll their eyes and keep doing what they're doing.

Most people I know who belong to the NRA (including me) do so because there's not really a viable alternative as far as a pro-2ndA group. I've let my membership lapse a couple of times, but it seems like when I do, the MSM starts pushing new bans.

If they'd drop the used-car-salesman tone and the hyperbole, I think they'd be a lot more effective, and perhaps the media might actually start reporting their positions accurately. But like I said upthread, they are partly stuck in a time warp, back when direct mailing was THE communication method, people were less cynical about hyperbole, and "sportsmen" still thought they were the majority of legitimate gun owners.

[SteveM]

24. I get mailings from NRA -- probably because I subscribe to Field & Stream...

...or post on the Guns Forum, here.

[Tim01]

13. Even the antis say the NRA is what has stopped their agenda.

I don't like the way the NRA behaves, but they really are the biggest and probably only serious obstacle to the quick erosion of second amendment rights.
And really, part of the reason they have been successful is probably because they are aggressive and willing to get dirty.
I'm not saying I like it, but I do prefer it to possible alternatives.

[Arkana]

8. My father's a hunter and still gets mailings from the NRA.

He shows them to me whenever he does so we can get a hearty laugh out of them.

[napi21]

10. My husband bought a life time membership in the NRA about

40 years ago. It was fairly cheap then. He still gets the magazine and likes to read about the new guns and the ads, but I've canceled all emails from them and blocked any others that might sneak through. They used to be a fairly good org a long time ago. Now they're all plain nuts!

[Tim01]

12. They really can be a pain in the ass.

Unfortunately they are still the 800lb gorilla in this area, and without them we would probably be hosed. But my god they are annoying when they get your name and address.
Hard to support an organization when you are afraid of them finding out who you are.

[benEzra]

14. The NRA is unfortunately stuck in a 1970s Old Media paradigm...

and is out of touch with a society more receptive to a more rational and less hysterical message. They're like the used car salesman on TV who doesn't get the fact that he'd be more effective if he spoke in a calm voice and stopped shouting.

Fortunately for them, the groups on the other side of the issue are as clueless and over-the-top as they are (the "assault weapon" fraud, "50 caliber terror," ad nauseaum) and hold less popular positions, so the NRA sort of holds the field by default.

I'm a member, but I don't put up with the telemarketing calls, and the over-the-top mail goes in the shredder.

[OttavaKarhu]

28. Did you NRA members get the "24/7" appeal/contest?

I dunno, benEzra, they've got somebody in their front office who has learned a few things in the past four decades. This contest is a case in point.

First prize, you get to choose 24 firearms from a really impressive list. (Drool. Drool. Drool.)

Second prize through Xth prizes, firearms or other toys.

I took one look at it, wanted so much to believe it was an actual contest where I could actually win actual kickass firearms...but honesty forced me to admit what I saw: "This is market research for the gun manufacturers."

Sure enough, in my circles only the women NRA members got this direct mailing. (Any of you guy type people get this appeal?) Interesting. I personally don't do market research unless someone writes me a contract letter and pays me $200+ an hour. I have to admit, though, I was tempted to fill in the contest entry, just coz it had all these firearms I'd never heard of, and I could look them up and learn about them (won't be buying any; I have all I need, well except for that classic Finnbear aught-six; someday). Also the stickers you had to peel off one place and put on another were in rainbow colors. That was fun.

My partner, Captain Ballistics, the engineer, wanted to fill out the contest form and mail it in. Would they really go to all that trouble and expense for market research? I explained how it works, then I found and read the fine print and pointed out that the "drawing" was slated for something like December of 2011. :D
The Captain said, drooping, "Oh. I wanted to believe it." Yes, I said, they got your number awright, grrrrrrrl. Mine too.

benEzra, although in general I agree with you, and deal with my NRA membership the same way you do, my view is, NRA has as their membership a lot of people who are NOT of the Gen-X-and-Younger cohort. Unlike, say, the young Obamistas who didn't bother to vote on Tuesday this week, these older voters are engaged consistently, donate fatly, vote in every election, and speak up loudly. They are the core constituency of many effective organizations.

So NRA surely will keep on, till we younger generations come up with a "more rational/less hysterical" set of strategies and tactics that are proven to work. Particularly when the opposition is using fear and terror as their strategy. NRA almost has to play the "lesser of two hysterical evils" game. (Maybe.)

My big concern is where the break might come--at what point will NRA's model cease to work, and something important get lost. Which is not to say that we're absolutely dependent on NRA...but till there's a choice of lifeboats, you pick the one that's floating. I hate that, I really do. But this is when I remind myself that, whether or not I like it, and I don't, it's been conservatives, right wingers, born agains, etc., who kept 2A alive in the years I didn't consider it as important because I was standing up for 1A, queer rights, choice rights, etc.

And I remind my conservative gunnie friends that I expect the same respect for my lifelong 1A activism that I give them for their lifelong 2A activism. It just may be that the best protection of the Bill of Rights is everybody taking a piece and sticking up for it the best they can, even if the way they go about it pisses others off.

[gorfle]

15. Politicians continue to fear 'em

So I continue to love 'em.

[spin]

16. I call screen. Calls from the NRA get ignored....

They tried to contact me for several months and finally gave up. Haven't had a call in weeks.

[DonP]

18. I've been a member for a few years - never get calls

The only time I get calls from them is around election time to tell me where I can find their list of candidates and their rankings. (FYI they supported our rep Debbie Halvorson (D) over her GOP challenger)

I've never once gotten a call or any junk mail from them. Just the monthly magazine.

Any member can opt out of the mailing program on the web site.

A lot of what I hear and read the "NRA does this or that" is pure BS. Like the people that claim they want "guns for everybody" or "they only support GOP candidates".

[spin]

21. Well I've been a member for 40 years...

and I recently got calls on a daily basis for several weeks, often several times a day.

I call screen and they didn't leave a message.

They finally gave up. No calls in the last month.

Maybe the secret is to stop their mailing program.

[aikoaiko]

20. I'm an NRA member and I do not like their hyperbole.

Both sides take kernels of truth and stretch them into fear mongering. Its an ugly war of words between folks like the NRA and Brady Campaign. Unfortunately, if one side were to stop, the other would pounce.

I just joined so in a few years I'll be a voting member and hope to achieve some measure of change as reasonable NRA members support persuasive messages with more integrity. The anti-gun truth is bad enough.

eta: DonP, I never get calls either. Isn't that funny.

[Euromutt]

22. Same story here

They held a recruitment drive in the run-up to the 2008 presidential election: a five-year membership for $100, instead of $35/year. My membership got extended by a year because I bought a new Taurus pistol and sent in the coupon. I figured, you can't change the organization from outside, but maybe from inside is a different matter.

The columns from LaPierre and whatever figurehead is president this year in the front of American Rifleman never fail to get my eyes rolling, as does almost the entirety of America's First Freedom (for some reason they sent me the wrong magazine for a few months). Particularly the nonsense about how the UN wants to impose gun control measures in the US is risible, and based on an utter misreading of the UN program to curb illicit trade in small arms and light weapons, the operative word being "illicit." Personally, I don't see what's wrong with trying to limit access to firearms for organized criminals, terrorists, or fuckheads like the Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone (notorious for mutilating non-combatants). There's a lot of UN member states who don't want to see private firearms ownership abolished in the US if for no other reason that the private US market is the most lucrative place to sell off your surplus military rifles and pistols.

And yeah, in the almost two years I've been a member, I've never had them phone me (mind you, I didn't give them my phone number), and they don't send me too much junk mail either. I think I clicked a box on the "member services" web page somewhere that said "send me e-mail instead of hardcopy" so I do get rather a lot of e-mail.

[DonP]

25. THREAD Hijack! NY-23: Winning Democrat Bill Owens was A-rated by NRA

This probably deserves to be a new thread but ...

While in the midst of discussing how evil the NRA is and being lectured by some here on how any "real" Democrat supports gun control, I thought it might be fun to check out Congressman Owens rating. He's got an "A rating" based on his positions and record.

As the incumbent next time around, he'll be supported by the NRA. (unless he starts listening to the gun grabber idiots)

Too bad he's not a real Democrat, huh? Somebody here will have to tell him he needs to leave the party I guess.

[matt819]

26. I also got the call

There's really not much sense in engaging with call center people, even if they are alleged NRA members. And there's also not much to be gained engaging in any sort of "debate" with true believers. We will not change their minds, nor them ours. I just told them that I supported third world dictators and Hillary Clinton. I can't wait to see the NRA press release on the results of their "poll." I know there are gun owners here, but, really, how can you support this sort of organization?

[OttavaKarhu]

29. Matt, please see my thread on the 24/7 contest above

I don't agree that "there's no sense in engaging with call center people."

They are people. They aren't fixtures. They have their own lives, outside of work. They aren't completely defined by their jobs or their employers any more than we are.

True, they don't debate, they follow scripts...and that's part of the fun: trying to find the hermetic spaces to squeeze into.

The point is not to "change another person's mind." The point is to witness, and listen, and try to stay engaged as a person.

Sometimes over the top humor--such as you used--also works. One time--before I got off the NRA call list--one of these call center folks was asking me questions that gob smacked me. I don't remember what they were, but Hillary was in there, and there was something about gangs or something...I don't even remember. It was a bit like talking to a panhandler.

The third item, I said, "I'm sorry, I don't know how to answer these questions. I spend all my time practicing witchcraft, recruiting lesbians, and killing babies." The call center worker stopped, sounded like he was choking. I said, "Are you OK?" He burst out laughing and said very low, "Oh, I'm so glad to talk to you. Thanks, I really needed a laugh, people have been abusing me all day." I told him that I am a left wing progressive populist, and we don't abuse members of the working class, even if they are required to wear office attire to conduct NRA polls. I told him to make up my answers any way he wanted to, if that wouldn't get him fired. He said he was afraid it would, so I gave him random answers, like yesnonoyesyesyesno. And six.

And somewhere in Virginia, I hope he is telling people over beer about that NRA member he talked to who was so funny, and engaging, and wasn't at all the right wing nut case that you hear about as NRA members.