In an Effort to Get More Blogs Blocked by Filters...

I present: Fucking Narrow Minded Assholes

Does the title accurately convey what I think of this article?

Once just a club for red-blooded American gun owners, the National Rifle Association has become a savvy global lobby. It presses for gun rights at the United Nations. It assists pro-gun campaigns from Sydney to São Paulo. And it has found that its message—loving freedom means loving guns—translates into almost every language.

Go down below for more...including the quote that REALLY pissed me off.

Okay, first of all, they aren't as savvy as some would like to think. Otherwise the DC gun ban would be closer to becoming a memory than it is, the ATF would not continue to treat gun owners like criminals and states like Massachusetts wouldn't be in the situation they are in. But enough of that, how about if the article got the message right? I don't think I've ever heard the NRA say that "loving freedom means loving guns." In fact, a search of all of their websites doesn't turn up that phrase at all. I've heard them discuss freedom in terms of loving the option to choose firearms if it's the right decision for you. But I think just about every gun owner would agree that not everyone should have a gun and there are many members (including Bitchy Mom) who don't even own firearms.

[W]hen Brazilians went to the mandatory polls on October 23, they handed the international gun control movement one of its most stinging defeats, rejecting the ban by a margin of nearly 2 to 1. The number of civilians in Brazil who legally own a gun is estimated to be only about 2 million. In other words, some 59 million Brazilians voted to preserve a prerogative the vast majority of them will never enjoy.
There was no single reason for the landslide defeat. Many voters voiced their discontent with a government mired in a corruption scandal. Others distrusted the government’s pitch to disarm because they distrust the government.

Shocking, really. [/sarcasm]

But few doubt that the ad campaign made the difference. During the three weeks the ads ran, support for the ban plummeted. “They didn’t talk about guns,” says Guaracy Mingardi, a São Paulo-based crime researcher affiliated with the United Nations. “They talked about rights.”
The idea that owning a gun is a human right as dear as, say, the freedom to protest, was new to most Brazilians. But the rhetoric used in the Brazilian commercials echoed talking points used by local pro-gun groups in Australia, Britain, Canada, South Africa, and elsewhere. Such a line of argument might not exist if not for the National Rifle Association of America (NRA), which had shaped, tested, and honed the message before many of these groups ever existed.

I can promise you that the line of argument would exist if the NRA didn't exist. Sure, they've been active politically since before I was born, but some of the most stirring quotes I've read on the subject are from those damn Founding Fathers - you know, the ones who rose up against an oppressive government. I'm sure the UN wouldn't approve of such action.

The NRA may not be actively funding gun lobbies around the world—the organization claims its charter prohibits it—but its influence is felt in much more than dollars.

Right, it claims that it's not allowed to support these other groups. How about if you request a fucking copy of the charter you lazy ass reporter and check it out for yourself. They give them out for free. I have two of them somewhere in my boxes that I've never unpacked.

It lends support to the anti-gun control effort at the United Nations.

Could it be because the UN to some degree can influence US policy because we're a member? Shocking that the NRA would be involved in debates that could ultimately impacts its members rights to own firearms! Surely that's not why millions of people fork over $35 each year to join.

It promotes lines of argument, strategy, and political tactics that others adopt for local use.

Well then obviously NRA is up to no good! Promoting lines of argument and strategy! Why is the Brady Bunch not being condemned for using arguments and strategy?

And, if you contact the association, its representatives will come to explain how to get it done.

Yes, if you request fact sheets, they will send them to you. You can also just download them yourself.

But here's the one that fucking pissed me off this morning.

Although many of the NRA’s members may not own a passport, their leaders are savvy operators in international politics.

How fucking narrow minded do you have to be? Honestly, I think every NRA member I've known reasonably well except for Bitchy Mom has traveled outside of the US. And for the record, my passport is always in my purse just in case. (Not to just fly off on a moment's notice [I'm in non-profit people...], but it works out very well as a second form of identification. But it still has a few stamps in it.)

For all their red-blooded American pretensions, they have a deep understanding of how globalization works.

And what about your blue-blooded hug the fucking world and suddenly free love will take over and violence will cease UN ass kissing pretensions?

I have to go to work now...that's just one page of 5. I'll be back to read and comment on the rest later.

(Cross posted to The Bitch Girls.)

Posted by Bitter at January 6, 2006 07:03 AM | TrackBack