The NRA Wasn’t Always Against Gun Restrictions This post was written by Leonard Steinhorn, Professor of Communication and History at American University and a former political speechwriter.
Imagine the vitriol the National Rifle Association and its Republican acolytes would direct at a politician who endorses “reasonable regulation” such as a “waiting period between purchase and delivery,” record-keeping requirements for “manufacturers, importers, dealers and pawnbrokers,” laws that “control all machine guns and destructive devices,” and the enforcement of “reasonable conditions” for those “wishing to carry a concealed firearm.”
But that’s exactly what the NRA supported back in 1975, as articulated in the Fact Book on Firearms Control it published that year. Those who support gun control, the NRA said, generally “have good motives.” You hear the opposite from them today. On licensing the concealed carry of weapons? The NRA had no problem with it in 1975. Today, Texas and 22 other states (as of July 1) don’t require it anymore. On waiting periods? “A waiting period could help in reducing crimes of passion and in preventing people with criminal records or dangerous mental illness from acquiring guns.” Had we listened to the National Rifle Association in 1975, it’s possible that Uvalde – and Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland and so many others – never would have happened. In 1977 hardliners staged a coup at the NRA’s annual meeting in Cincinnati and turned an organization once willing to accept “reasonable” regulations into one that preyed on fear, demonized anyone who disagreed, stood uncompromising in its approach, and made rolling back all gun laws its litmus test. To the NRA today, anyone who supports any form of gun control is an enemy, and any effort to craft legislation that might restrict “destructive devices” – to use the NRA’s 1975 language – is labeled threatening and treasonous. Guns are but one sad issue in our polarized and dysfunctional politics today. Perhaps the radicalization of the NRA in the 1970s was an early indicator of what would happen to the GOP in the decades ahead.
Update on Memorial Day possible meteor storm [Click] As of writing this, the American Meteor Shower (AMS) has refined the key encounter time to 4:45-5:17 Universal Time (UT) / 12:45-1:17 AM U.S. Eastern Time EDT on the morning of Tuesday, May 31st or 9:45-10:17 PM Pacific Time PDT on the evening of Monday, May 30th. . . Finally, be patient on your meteor vigil. You might see nothing at all… or witness the spectacle of a lifetime. Clear skies, and good luck!
:)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Hannah. It's further along now, actually. The Irises have begun to open.
Delete🦊 A beautiful fox pranced through our back yard today carrying something large in her mouth. Either a kit or a big rabbit…I think the former. 🦊
ReplyDelete~ listener
DeleteThe NRA Wasn’t Always Against Gun Restrictions
ReplyDeleteThis post was written by Leonard Steinhorn, Professor of Communication and History at American University and a former political speechwriter.
Imagine the vitriol the National Rifle Association and its Republican acolytes would direct at a politician who endorses “reasonable regulation” such as a “waiting period between purchase and delivery,” record-keeping requirements for “manufacturers, importers, dealers and pawnbrokers,” laws that “control all machine guns and destructive devices,” and the enforcement of “reasonable conditions” for those “wishing to carry a concealed firearm.”
But that’s exactly what the NRA supported back in 1975, as articulated in the Fact Book on Firearms Control it published that year.
Those who support gun control, the NRA said, generally “have good motives.” You hear the opposite from them today.
On licensing the concealed carry of weapons? The NRA had no problem with it in 1975. Today, Texas and 22 other states (as of July 1) don’t require it anymore. On waiting periods? “A waiting period could help in reducing crimes of passion and in preventing people with criminal records or dangerous mental illness from acquiring guns.”
Had we listened to the National Rifle Association in 1975, it’s possible that Uvalde – and Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland and so many others – never would have happened.
In 1977 hardliners staged a coup at the NRA’s annual meeting in Cincinnati and turned an organization once willing to accept “reasonable” regulations into one that preyed on fear, demonized anyone who disagreed, stood uncompromising in its approach, and made rolling back all gun laws its litmus test. To the NRA today, anyone who supports any form of gun control is an enemy, and any effort to craft legislation that might restrict “destructive devices” – to use the NRA’s 1975 language – is labeled threatening and treasonous.
Guns are but one sad issue in our polarized and dysfunctional politics today. Perhaps the radicalization of the NRA in the 1970s was an early indicator of what would happen to the GOP in the decades ahead.
~ Alan
Spot on. Here's Heather Cox Richardson's take on it:
DeleteHCR on the NRA
Update on Memorial Day possible meteor storm [Click] As of writing this, the American Meteor Shower (AMS) has refined the key encounter time to 4:45-5:17 Universal Time (UT) / 12:45-1:17 AM U.S. Eastern Time EDT on the morning of Tuesday, May 31st or 9:45-10:17 PM Pacific Time PDT on the evening of Monday, May 30th. . . Finally, be patient on your meteor vigil. You might see nothing at all… or witness the spectacle of a lifetime. Clear skies, and good luck!
ReplyDelete—Alan
Pro-choice forces are working to keep abortion legal in Michigan with a ballot initiative [Click]
ReplyDelete—Alan