Enlighten Me! :)
I told the NRA to p--- up a rope about 4 years ago.
I was in a tight spot & their telemarketing jerks wouldn't leave me alone and wouldn't accept the fact that I didn't have any money to spare for their crise du jour. After about the sixth call along those lines, I went from Anglo to Saxon & told the hapless idiot that he'd not only get not one d----d penny, but I would never renew my membership and the lot of them could go hang.
So, no, not even for free.
Yeah, I know - not much finesse. I have a friend that didn't re-up for exactly the same reason, and I can't say as I blame him.
BUT, there are other organizations... 
Also, the NRA is a little too sissified for me (GOA has tougher stances), but they ARE a gun rights organization, and for the noobs, the NRA is recognizable.
And I was a life member before I decided that the NRA was gun-rights-lite. Plus, they way they completely ignored Ron Paul during the election campaigns REALLY pissed me off...
I'm a TSRA member & I've thought about joining the GOA.
Hope this doesn't tick you off, but I did my d----dest to ignore Ron Paul too.
I'd ignore Ron Paul also, if I was a finance industry Khazakh. Since I'm not, I'm buying his new book.
As to the preservation of Second Amendment rights, amen Brother, preach it! Do they still shake you down after you get an NRA lifetime membership? A friend of mine was convinced Jerry Falwell or one of his clones was running the outfit after all the begging for handouts he received after joining.
Unfortunate: People are a lot more likely to help you out, if they are certain you have their best interests at heart, not gold-digging.
I gave up on them in 1992. They are just another neo-con tool. Really, gun rights are not at all under attack like they were in the 80's. Concealed carry permits are easier to get than ever. Now you can carry in National Parks, and even on Amtrack now. Supreme Court will probably overturn Chicago's handgun ban next year. They are just out to get your cash so a bunch of jerks in DC can make money lobbying congress. They are no better than a bunch of con artists like ACORN.
Tim, that confirms my research and hypothesis based thereon.
Truth passes through four distinct phases: 1. Rediculed and lampooned. 2. Violently opposed. 3. Accepted as self-evident, and 4. Converted into a network/multi-level marketing scam!
Sucks, but there it is.
Ted- Really there are con artists for both ends of the political spectrum and every gradient in between. Be it Greenpeace on one end or the NRA on the other. You donate to ANYTHING one time and they will hound you for a hundred years. I hate to say it, but there should be a law.
The NRA has been invaluable in helping my club teach youths here in California, and I have never received a single phone call from them. Our gun rights in CA are constantly under attack by people who are not just idiots - they are Democrats and they plan the attacks carefully and view each attack as a personal coup. They run the state from top to bottom with the aid of the SEIU and other unions, and they're running it straight into the ground at high speed.
I constantly receive mail requests from the GOA for money even though I've told them repeatedly that I'm out of work and don't have any money. I don't even answer the phone anymore - let them talk to the machine.
I would give to the SAF if I had anythign to give because they have significantly sponsored the litigation of Alan Gura - who I've met and hung out with at the Rendezvous and believe to be a sterling person. And so is JimmyB. 
Well the NRA never called me, but they stuffed my mailbox full of their crap for years. Their anti government rhetoric fanned the flames for nutjobs like Timothy McVeigh. Calling the BATF "jack booted thugs".
BTW- As a Christian, I AM OFFENDED by your pic of Jesus holding a gun. It is extremely POOR TASTE to depict the PRINCE OF PEACE holding an assault rifle.
He will remember on judgement day.
The BATF is a bunch of jack-booted thugs. The botched Branch Davidian raid was staged to strengthen their bid for increased funding in the federal budget. In effect, 76 people (including 20 children) burned to death because of ATF grandstanding.
BTW, the Prince of Peace didn't drive the money-changers from the temple with pious mouthings about being 'offended'. There's nothing Christian about being sanctimonious.
Aelfheld- You sound like a domestic terrorist.
"And if your right eye offend you, pluck it out, and cast it from you: for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be cast into hell."
This is THE WORD OF JESUS CHRIST.
Mathew 5:29 Sounds like he was "offended". You don't even read your Bible, so do not speak to me of Jesus. He would NEVER hold a gun in His hands.
Your RIGHTWINGER eye offends me. To protect the whole (IE: AMERICA) we should "cut you out".
Tell you what, Timmy-boy, how about you yank your eye out so you can show us heathens how it's done.
Since I doubt that you've been the recipient of divine visitations - and no, that Playboy 'miraculously' appearing in your mailbox doesn't count - you're just running your mouth.
I don't get Playboy, and speaking of running your mouth I never claimed to have a devine visitation.
Aelfheld- Why does it bother you that I object to a picture of Jesus holding a rifle? If you think that's the right way to treat Jesus, why don't you defend your argument on it's merits instead of showing your lack of intelligence by name calling?
You were the one shouting about how divine vengeance was in the offing because you were offended.
If the owner of this weblog posts items you find objectionable, go elsewhere rather than hang about claiming God will exact retribution for that which offends you.
I could care less about what does and does not offend you, but I find your lack of manners appalling.
For the record, I've yet to indulge in name calling - noting that you're sanctimonious is akin to noting that the sun rises in the East.
I said he will remember, I didn't say what he would do. Why are you even interested in my opinion about someone eles's blog? And I do not "hang out" there. I looked at it once.
Speaking of being sanctimonious, butting in where you are not even involved shows a lack of manners on your part.
I still have not heard your argument about why depicting Jesus holding a rifle is wonderful, justified, or a glorification of what he stood for. Maybe that's why you are attacking me. You have no defense.
He will remember on judgement day.
Sorry, that statement implies that you know the will of God - and his intended actions.
Having gone through the last two years worth of posts here and not finding the image you claim to be offended by, I can only conclude that you have either gone to extraordinary lengths to be offended or, as seems more likely, are talking out of your nether regions. In any event I have no need to defend myself.
aelfheld, I was replying to DirtChrashr, not Jimmyb. Jimmy and I are buddies. I like Jimmy. We are going motorcycle riding. I see now that this is a misunderstanding. Being a Christian, I can be big enough to admit that I was partly to blame for letting this keep going. Peace brother.
http://anthroblogogy.blogspot.com/
just in case you think I made it up.
As a Christian Missionary-Kid I'm NOT offended and it's too bad that you decided that you are. It's an image so it's representational, a modern representation of a sword - Luke 22:36 - I see we have several "misunderstandings" too, and that may continue since our life experiences and perspectives thereto attached differ quite a bit.
Making the McVeigh accusation/link to the NRA suggests to me a particularly blinkered sensibility.
And I like JimmyB too, I've met him and enjoyed his company shooting guns - and I ride motorcycles too, but off-road, no streetbikes are currently in my garage.
IMO the NRA isn't anti-govenment it's pro-gun and pro-2nd Amendment and is very helpful here in CA where active Anti-Gun "elements" of our State Government are constantly seeking to abolish and undermine legitimate and law-abiding gun owners by every means possible.
DirtChrashr,
Jesus needed the 2 swords of that passage to be displayed so that, to fullfill his mission on Earth, he would be arrested as if a criminal, tried, and crucified.
This is not a call to commit violence at all. Prior to this passage, Jesus administered the the final communion to the 12 disciples at the last supper. Please reread the entire chapter and this should be clearer.
The events in the Garden of Gethsemane and the commands of Jesus there teach the Apostles nonaggression, so Luke 22:36 does not permit violence. He said to Peter: "For all who draw the sword will die by the sword" (Matt. 26:52). Peter and the others heard those words that clarify the use of swords. Therefore, a lifestyle of the sword must not be part of the disciples’ new walk with the resurrected Christ, as they preached his message of hope.
So, are you planning to brandish your "modern day sword" in front of the authorities in the quest for martyrdom? Exactly what would be your point? Which denomination has missionaries that go out in the world to spread the good news of Salvation brandishing firearms? Look, I have no problem with gun ownership. Far from it. But that picture does not represent Christ's way. I'll admit it. When I saw that I let my temper get the better of me. I have cooled off now and am trying to be more polite in explaining my feelings on this.
The McVeigh link, while not completely the fault of the NRA, I believe that the constant barrage of thier paranoid rantings following the Branch Davidian and Ruby Ridge fiascos egged on a confused young man to strike back at what he felt was a repressive regime, thinking himself as a freedom fighter in fighting back against the tyranny of the Jack Booted ATF. Let us not forget that he purposely parked that Ryder truck in front of the DAYCARE CENTER, thereby doing the most damage to those who had absolutely NOTHING to do with his percieved injustices.
Calling a department of our government "Jack booted thugs" angered then President Bush Sr. to the point that he canceled his life membership in the NRA. I agree that they have a great gun safety program. I took it so I should know. It was thier continued antigovernment rhetoric, along with thier CONSTANT MONEY GRUBBING that finally made me leave the group.
I'm not calling on anyone to commit violence, I know very well the live-by-the-sword dialog - and martyrdom is not any advocacy of mine. That's silly.
But I grew up reviled and hated, my brother and I had rocks and fireworks thrown at us and been spat upon, and we've been surrounded by an angry crowd determined that we should leave their festival - all for the color of our skin and my father's work: teaching orphan boys a skill that would further them in life instead of leaving them to prey the easy manipulations of The Powerful and Religious. Woodworking, electrical work, drafting, plumbing, sheet-metal - unglamorous but useful. A school that continues today by teaching computer skills among other things. Self-defense by having a life-skill so to speak when the odds have been massively stacked against you.
I also fail to understand people who refuse to respect a person's right to self-defense just because a firearm is involved, especially when attackers have no such compunction.
So, we may continue to misunderstand each other, but that's OK with me, it happens all the time and I don't hate you or anything silly like that. I just don't recognize parts of your world for the one that I inhabit - could be my fault.
And again, I get more constant money-grubbing requests from the GOA and SAF than the NRA, from the NRA I get none. And the NRA has been very helpful to us in this very embattled state, where we teach youngsters how to shoot - for free - as a part of my club's charter. Some of their mom's are hot, and some are not! But they can shoot free also, so we teach women as well for free.
I am far from anti-gun. I own several. I am sorry that others have been cruel to you. I certainly can understand your anger. I fail to see how making fun of Jesus will take that away. It centainly does not glorify him to depict him that way. You teach orphan boys a trade so that they can't be manipulated by the Powerful and Religious. Okay, so you do not beieve in God. Is that it? That's too bad. I hope you are not teaching them to be against God.
You learn to grow a thick skin pretty quick as a kid in those conditions. I'm not angry - the fact he some people were OFFENDED by our very existence, well I'm way over it. I don't feel I'm making fun of Jesus, it is a visual metaphor - not all roads lead to martyrdom. The Powerful and Religious were not Christians, that was overseas where we worked and lived. In that culture young kids without any parents are very much SOL unless there is some kind of intervention - and that culture does not intervene in positive ways. Christians have been there since William Carey landed in November, 1793. Some of the first missionaries went into the jungle to intervene and rescue a group of orphan children who were being prepared for ritual sacrifice - they were going to be killed. My father taught, not me - as a missionary kid you're just along for the ride, and to be a good ambassador. And you better learn the language. God bless you and your notions of what constitutes the real America...
Have a super weekend my friend!!
Commenting by HaloScan
