Regardless of how you think you feel about the National Rifle Association (NRA), it is largely influenced by what side of the political spectrum that you subscribe to, whether you are a gun owner and if you have actually looked into the mission. I am here to say that there is the NRA that you think you know and the NRA that is.

First and foremost, the stated mission of the NRA is to promote safe firearm usage. That means it has to be accessible, which means that it must be permissible (legal) and affordable (to the majority). By far and away, they are the preeminent training the trainer organization, host organized competition and perform civil rights and legislation advocacy.

With that power comes corruption. Over the last four years or so the foundation has been crumbling. Some speculate that the NRA’s serious legal problems impacted the presidential election as well as critical legislator races because they did not participate at all in 2020. Many industry insiders are speculating that the existence of the organization is in question and criminal indictments are a forgone conclusion. News about all this can be found by searching the internet if you like to look it up for yourself.

There is a common saying: ‘A right not exercised is a right lost’. When is the last time you thought about the ninth amendment? Oh, you mean the one that says if it is not written in the constitution then it belongs to the people? Well there is one that we have lost isn’t it? To be 100% clear, it has to work with the tenth amendment which says anything the federal government doesn’t address (in the Constitution) is permissible for the states to address.

There is the concept of enumeration which means that some rights transcend the federal/state border, like the first, forth and fifth amendments. Non-enumerated rights only apply to the federal government. The second amendment is on the edge of both sides right now. This is where the NRA has been so valuable and why it is important to all active gun owners what is happening with this situation.

I know that your eyes might be rolling but civil rights have to be part of the overall discussion of exercising your rights. Without the right, I am discussing history or something else in this segment. I will be completely honest, I have not renewed my membership to the NRA in the last two years because of the situation.

This is a fight for the existence of the the NRA. The problem is that they are using all of their funds not to fight for the second amendment but to justify all of the legal problems. From everything that I have heard, malfeasance and fiscal irresponsibility are the reasons that they are in legal problems to begin with. I don’t want to fund the legal effort, I want to support the second amendment.

This hasn’t completely played out. There has been some very good work from The Second Amendment Foundation and the Citizens Committee to Keep and Bear Arms. These have largely been in the court and not on the legislative and lobbying side. They don’t replace the role of the NRA in the space, they supplement and enhance it.

End Your Programming Routine: For now, there is no heir apparent or resolution to the NRA debacle. Supporting organizations doing good work is part of the overall effort for sure. My point for writing this was to bring up what is happening in this space which seems to be quiet if you are not paying attention. Consequently, I don’t really have any good advice for the situation but to stay tuned to the overall battle and the changing landscape.