The NRA is coming to town

The Hoosier state will soon be graced by tens of thousands of fervent supporters of the Second Amendment. They will flock to Indianapolis this weekend for the 2014 NRA National Convention.

As a proud American, I have no problem with the Second Amendment. I think people should be able to own guns to protect their homes, to go hunting or for other recreational purposes like skeet shooting — which I know from experience is ridiculously fun.

What I do have a problem with is the NRA’s gross politicization of the Second Amendment, and its blatant refusal to act on behalf of its members’ wishes when it comes to gun policy. The NRA proudly asserts itself as a grassroots organization, touting its nearly 4 million-person membership. On its website, it claims that it is America’s longest-standing civil rights organization.

So, you’d think that the NRA’s focus on its members would result in the NRA supporting gun policies that its members support. However, after the 2012 shootings in Aurora, Colo., a poll was conducted of NRA members asking for their opinions on gun control legislation.

The poll results showed 74 percent supported criminal background checks of anyone purchasing a gun and 79 percent supported requiring gun retailers to perform background checks on all employees to ensure they are not felons.

Instead of taking the opinions of an overwhelming majority of its members seriously, the NRA vigorously and relentlessly lobbied against any meaningful and common sense gun control legislation. That seems like a strange thing to do for an organization that claims to care about its members. Perhaps the NRA sees itself as accountable to groups other than the average American or NRA member.

Between 2004 and 2010, the gun industry increased its contributions to the NRA from $46.3 million to a whopping $71 million.

Between 2005 — when the NRA started its “Ring of Freedom” donation program, designed to ask wealthy members for donations — and 2011, the firearms industry donated upwards of $38.9 million, according to the Violence Policy Center. According to its tax returns, the NRA gathered $228 million in revenue in 2010, $106 million of which came from membership dues. So, it begs the question about who is behind the rest of the NRA’s revenues, and to whom the NRA is actually accountable.

I submit that the NRA, just like every other large organization that is powered by corporate interests, cares more about the opinions of gun manufacturers and its big-money donors than it does about those of its members.

Therefore, based solely on what I know about how the NRA treats the opinions of its members, I find it reprehensible that Indianapolis will be welcoming the group for its convention.

I’m sure some people will have a nice time playing at the convention, and that Indianapolis will enjoy the estimated $55 million in business the convention is predicted to rake in for the city.

However, I want to let every person who is planning to attend the convention this weekend know that paying money to attend NRA events is giving money to an organization that actively works against your own policy interests.

sydhoffe@indiana.edu
@squidhoff10