Inside NRA University: The Gun Group Takes Supporters to School

[Robb]

A crash course in the gun debate, taught by the lobbying powerhouse that shapes it

NEW ORLEANS, La. (TIME) -- Past the oil painting of Ronald Reagan and the picture windows with views of the barges churning up the Mississippi, a group of gun-rights activists is going back to school. The class filing into a conference room for a lecture on the constitutional right to bear arms is mostly older, nearly all white, and filled with freedom-loving fervor.

This is NRA University, a crash course in the facts and fallacies of the gun debate, as defined by the lobbying powerhouse that is shaping it. The NRA often holds these seminars for college kids. This event is an abbreviated version, a one-hour PowerPoint for attendees of this weekend’s RedState gathering in New Orleans, where a few hundred conservative activists gathered at a hotel on the edge of the French Quarter to network and commiserate.

Miranda Bond, an energetic NRA grassroots coordinator in a black dress and heels, is the confab’s instructor. Her audience sits rapt. Near a pair of prim grandmothers scrawling notes is a man in a black T-shirt with a logo of two crossed guns inside the mouth of a skull. Up front, a middle-aged woman in a leopard-print top is telling a joke whose punch line involves Hillary Clinton and a bicycle.

Bond’s presentation was a sermon for the converted, stripped of context and countervailing argument. But it offered a window into how the NRA is waging its ongoing fight to prevent Congress from curtailing gun laws....

Read More: http://swampland.time.com/2013/08/03/inside-nra-university-the-gun-group-takes-supporters-to-school/

But remember, there are no NRA talking points. So stop saying that.

[Mojorabbit]

1. Do you think the Brady organization has similar meetings?

I don't follow what either of them are up to. Just curious.

[aikoaiko]

2. Dang. I didn't even get invited this year.

[BainsBane]

3. Well done!

[geckosfeet]

4. It's not only the NRA. They are just running interference.

But you keep after them. Someday it will pay off.

[beevul]

5. Hmm...

"Forget the hazards of operating an automobile. You are more likely to be killed by someone’s hands or feet, or by a club or hammer, than to succumb to rifle gunshot, the audience learns. Assault weapons, which the NRA considers a liberal smear term, are used in less than 2% of all crimes. As gun ownership climbs, violent crime has fallen."

Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2013/08/03/inside-nra-university-the-gun-group-takes-supporters-to-school/#ixzz2awmcQqOr

Those things are all factually true, according to fbi statistics. Whats the problem with that? Or was the FBI co-opted by the nra too?

I guess if you're going to label that as an nra talking point, you'll also have to admit that its a factually true nra talking point.

[Hoyt]

7. Violent crime has not fallen because more bigots are arming up.

No telling how low crime would be if we adopted Australian gun laws, or just changed how we treat people who think more guns in more places is the answer.

[geckosfeet]

8. Bigots are arming up? Lets see the FBI stat on that one please. Or retract it.

DU used to have some integrity. Broad brush unsupported biased smears were called out for what they were.

I am calling you out.

[Hoyt]

9. Nope, NRA is a bigoted organization and majority of gun nuts are too.

[geckosfeet]

10. Good. You write nonsense and try to pass it off as fact.

Keep up the good work. It'll crash and burn eventually. And god willing, I will be there to watch.

[Hoyt]

11. Surely you can't look at NRA board and say they are not bigots, as are most of those

into guns. Don't tell me you have never been to gun shows/stores where the lack of diversity, and intelligence, is obvious.

[geckosfeet]

14. Errrm. I don't look at any NRA "boards" so I will pass on making a judgement.

However there are a lot of liberal gun owners and even conservative gun owners who are not bigots.

Granted, there is bigot or two in every crowd but the broad brush is not justified imo. You choose to focus on the bigots. OK. Just know that not all gun owners are "bigots who are arming up".

[sweetapogee]

32. Some people are obsessed

with guns.

OTOH

Some people are obsessed with people who are obsessed with guns.

Then there is the rest of humanity who seem to have a life of some sort.

Have a nice day people.

[pintobean]

21. It's what he does.

It's about all I ever see from him. When you see the user name, it's a good bet you're going to see the words 'bigots' and 'guns'. I'd do a search, but I'm afraid it would result in a crash.

[Hoyt]

6. Sounds like a Klan reunion.

And the fool who said "the NRA is the oldest civil rights organization" can go to hell. These people, and those non-members who support their gun BS, are a blight on our society.

[Robb]

12. Kick. nt

[The Straight Story]

13. Just a question for ya Robb

Do you reply to replies on your threads or do you just start them and leave?

[sarisataka]

18. Pics...

[rl6214]

31. Nah, he comes back to kick them every so often.

[tumtum]

15. Dude, this obsession with the NRA and gun owners is going to burn you out,

step back, take a deep breath, have a coke and a smile, get a different hobby, enjoy life.

[Eleanors38]

16. Instead of burning out he should burn one...

[tumtum]

17. I would highly recommend that too.

Light a doobie, take a magical mystery tour and come out on the other side much wiser.

[Hoyt]

19. Apparently that has not worked for you and E38, being all into to guns and such.

[tumtum]

20. What I'm into my friend, is none of your business.

Besides, you don't know me, you don't know what I'm into, I may be into gardening, knitting, crocheting, painting, puzzles, point is, YOU don't know.

Another point, I don't do drugs, except the meds prescribed to me by my doctor.

Now, run along like a good little boy and direct your cute little barbs at someone else.

[Hoyt]

22. Some things are quite obvious, including your affinity to guns.

[tumtum]

23. And when did I state my affinity for guns?

Run along now and play in the backyard while the grown-ups talk.

[Paladin]

24. If you're going to publicly judge people, be prepared to be judged in turn.

That's kind of how it works on discussion forums such as this.

[tumtum]

25. Right back at you.

So that's how it works, make shit up about other people.

[Paladin]

27. You're freely judging another DU'er and prescribing drugs for him on this thread.

No sense in getting self-righteous at this point. Grow a thicker skin or find another place to play.

[Hoyt]

26. Well you do tote guns in public, so that's enough evidence for me.

[tumtum]

28. Evidence? Evidence?

You don't need no steenkeen evidence.

[tumtum]

30. That's right, I do. So?

I'm fully licensed in AZ.. I don't have to have a license in AZ., but I do so that I can carry in other states that recognize AZ's license.

That's not proof of an affinity for guns.

[Hoyt]

34. Evidence of gunitis. Not being able to venture out without gun could be symptomatic of other issues.

[tumtum]

35. So now your a psychoanalyst?

What's next? Medium? Mind reader?
Inquiring minds want to know.

[DirkGently]

29. KNR

[rdharma]

33. NRA talking points? Now, whatever are you talking about?

If you point out that an "NRA talking point" is an "NRA talking point", you'll make the gun huggers howl!

To them.... that's like a punch below the belt. It's against "The Marquess of Queensbury Rules" so to speak!

[Duckhunter935]

36. everything is an NRA talking point to some

like I am sure there are no talking points on the other side.

Oh yea, that's right, there are as they were posted here a day or so ago.

[rdharma]

37. See what I mean? They howl when NRA "talking points" are exposed for what they are. nt