A Very Helpful Neighbor

Once upon a time there were two neighbors. Both tended to mind their own business, but wanted to be good neighbors so they helped each other out when the need arose. Sometimes Nick would loan a lawncare tool to Greg. Greg, being appreciative of that paid for some tool maintenance. Or it would go the other way around. Life goes on.

But then Nick got a bit strange. One morning Greg came out to find Nick letting the air out his tires. Nick insisted Greg’s tires were over-inflated, and he was just helping out. Greg let it go.

The next morning Greg was awakened by the sound of shattering glass. He looked out and saw Nick throwing rocks at his bedroom window. Nick insisted Greg’s window was cracked and he was just clearing the rest out so Greg could replace it. As you’d expect, that explanation didn’t go over well with Greg’s insurance company. But Nick had been a good neighbor for years, so Greg didn’t call the cops.

But it was a bit much when Nick suggested that Greg pay him to replace the window. Only great restraint left Nick’s nose intact.

Things were quiet for a while after that. Until Greg headed out for work and discovered that his classic Mustang was gone.

As Greg stood there dumbfounded, fumbling for his phone to call 911, Nick wandered over with a self-satisfied smirk. “Took care of that for you.”

Greg stared. “You already called the cops? Why didn’t you call me?”

“Nah. I called the wrecking yard and had them take that over-powered beast away for crushing. No one needs that much horsepower. I expect you’ll be getting their bill in the mail.”

You did what, you motherfucker?” Greg screeched. “Where do you get off vandalizing my car, my windows, and stealing my shit?”

“Whoa, whoa, buddy,” Nick said soothingly. “Settle down. Don’t you remember that time last fall when I helped you rake leaves?”

“Fuck the leaves! You stole my Mustang!”

Nick grinned. “Someone else would stolen it anyway; this way only the car got taken, and you still have a pickup.”

“Are you insane?” Greg shouted. “Do you have any idea how much time and money I put into restoring that car?” He recalled the phone in his hand, and started dialing. “I’m calling the cops.”

Nick snatched the phone. “Don’t do that. Damned phone has too many feature; you should get rid of it and use a landline, you know.” His face brightened. “Tell you what. You pay me, and I’ll see if I can get your car back,” he suggested. “If it hasn’t been crushed yet.”

As Greg pounded Nick into oblivion, the oh-so-helpful neighbor’s last thoughts were to wonder why Greg had turned into such a hater.

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Which brings us to the Vichy NRA.

Yet another “you stupid haters, the NRA saved us” screed. It was posted 1/17, but I missed it until this morning.

What Has & Does The NRA Do Anyway?
If you are a regular reader of AmmoLand News you’ve seen the flood of anti-NRA preachers are out in full force, one of the activists even said they hoped that Cuomo was successful in destroying the NRA!? So this leads many members to the questions… What does the NRA do? What has the NRA done, that no one else could do to keep your rights safe.

#1 – Without the NRA Hillary Would Be President. The NRA spent an estimated $100 million to get Donald Trump elected…

First, one might wonder why the VNRA chose to back someone with a strong anti-RKBA history. Second, left to voters, HRC wouldn’t even have been on the ballot. Please review “super delegate,” Iowa caucuses, and “electoral college.” “Most hated woman in politics” might be another useful search term.

While the story of Right to Carry is well known, many are not aware of the equally important success that the NRA had in advancing Firearm Preemption laws in state legislatures.

Holy crap, is McDougall that poorly informed?

RTC: I consider Constitutional Carry to be the epitome of RTC. And the VNRA torpedoed that in New Hampshire (and lied about it later). Grassroots activists pushed it in other states as well, with the VNRA trying to discourage it; the usual excuse of It’s too much too soon; your money is better spent on us.

When locals pushed hard enough to get good RTC laws, then the VNRA stepped up…

To claim credit for other people’s hard work.

Kind of like HELLER, which the VNRA wanted to stop. When they couldn’t, they tried to get their own PARKER consolidated with HELLER so they could manipulate the case.

The VNRA has an interesting (non)litigation history. A young New Hampshire man wanted a picture of himself with a opened break-action shotgun for his yearbook photo. The school refused. He wanted to go to court. After an outcry from many NRA members, the VNRA announced that it would financially support the case. The young man’s lawyer went to work; the case was filed in federal court.

And the VNRA refused to cough up any funds. The attorney continued on a pro bono unpaid basis, without the support the VNRA had publicly claimed it was providing.

As for opposing preemption… The VNRA wrote at least one state constitution-violating “assault weapon” ban for a city. That violated state preemption.

The NRA passed the often forgotten Firearms Owners Protection Act of ’86.

Ah, yes. The FOPA, which NYC and New Jersey (among other locales) still violate with total impunity. And it’s not as if they compromised anything to get that meaningless “protection”… Oh. Wait.

Hughes Amendment. Which not only banned ownership of new machineguns, but was recently the basis for a ban on bump-fire stocks by fiat.

And as long as no local laws are broken then FOP made legal all the following:

The VNRA gave us all those problems in the first place when they put their imprimatur on the GCA. They signed away other rights to — sort of — get them back.

NRA provides Safety Training to over 1 million people every year.

Possibly because they lobbied to get VNRA courses required by law; no other group need apply.

So let’s be honest without the National Rifle Association you would have lost your right to own a firearm decades ago

Want to play “what if”? What if the VNRA hadn’t saddled us with NFA, GCA, Brady checks, and “assault weapon” bans to begin with? What if they hadn’t stalled Constitutional Carry for years? What if they hadn’t told the feds to regulate bump-fire stocks under the NFA?

What if we hadn’t lost those rights so the VNRA could fundraise to get them “back”?

What if the VNRA hadn’t broken our windows and stolen our car so we could pay them for the restoral of our property?

the five million-plus members of the NRA, and still growing, support all of this.

Do they? Less than half say they’re sticking with the VNRA.

Four out of ten have flat had enough of their shit. Another 15% are thinking hard about quitting; if they do, that’s a majority of those polled who are done with it.

And how many members does the VNRA really have? Every one should be getting one magazine or another, but circulation numbers suggest considerably fewer than four million.

Post-Parkland, the VNRA claimed a jump in new members. One rep claimed the VNRA had reached nearly 6 million. Yet after the Bump-Stock-Type Devices NPRM commenting period closed, a rep put VNRA membership at almost 5.5 million. As the rule approached finalization, the number became around five million. All that was before the Gun Feed poll.

 

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