Last week the NRA aimed its sights (metaphorically speaking, of course) at Australia’s gun laws. More specifically, the post-Port Arthur massacre legislation that included a national gun buyback confiscation which effectively disarmed most of Oz’s law-abiding firearm owners. The focus was put on Australia’s gun laws by our esteemed President who held them up as an example to be emulated here during an interview after the Charleston church shooting . . .
As they quote the would-be disarmer-in-chief, referring to the Port Arthur massacre,
“It was just so shocking—the entire country said, ‘Well, we’re going to completely change our gun laws,’ and they did. And it hasn’t happened since.”
In the NRA’s estimation,
To say that this is simply a reductive or naïve portrayal of events does not go far enough; it is almost certainly disingenuous. What occurred in Australia in 1996 was not just a stricter gun law—it was a mass confiscation. To paint it as the product of a national consensus is an insult to those Australians who were furiously opposed to being disarmed by their government.
And they conclude with this warning:
This is the gun-control regime that our president applauds for its decisive resolve. It robbed Australians of their right to self-defense and empowered criminals, all without delivering the promised reduction in violent crime. Australia’s gun confiscation is indeed a lesson to America: It is a sign of what is to come if we hold our rights lightly.
Of course, Australia didn’t have the right to keep and bear arms enshrined in their constitution. Many have argued that their civilian gun-grab accomplished little, if anything in terms of crimes prevented and lives lost. And it’s easy for those on the other side (as well as some on this one) to dismiss the NRA’s warning as just more sky-is-falling rabble rousing by an org that needs to portray the wolf as constantly at the door in order to keep the membership motivated (and donating).
But some have noted a change in the political landscape where gun control is concerned. The left has moved even farther to port. Where gun control used to be a third rail issue that candidates avoided like the plague, it’s now being actively promoted on the stump – at least by the inevitable Hillary Clinton. So given the president’s pumping for Aussie-style hope and change combined with Hillary’s vow to take on the big bad gun lobby if elected, is the NRA crying wolf?
Hey, if our “Obama doesn’t want to take your guns” President says he approves of the laws that took Aussies’ guns, then it surely isn’t alarmist to say the Dems want to take our guns.
+1
That said, Hillary’s only significant challenger at the moment is Bernie Sanders. Hillary is blabbing about guns because she is currently in the democratic primary battle, where being very liberal helps. Guns are one issue where she can be more liberal than Sanders (Sanders has an “F” rating from the NRA, but did cast some pro-gun votes and doesn’t apologize for them). I’d be pretty shocked if Hillary didn’t shut up about guns in the general election. It can only hurt her in battleground states.
Shutting up to get elected doesn’t change her overwhelming desire to eliminate private ownership of guns.
“Is The NRA Crying Wolf?”
– re the biblical parable, in the end there was a wolf !!
Aesop, not biblical.
Meh, the Bible has to mention a wolf somewhere … am I right? (tounge_in_cheek)
May the gods keep the wolves in the hills, and the women in our beds!
A man’s charge is exact a cost should the wolves roam from the hills and protect the woman in his bed.
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Mathew 7:15
Sounds like the CSGV.
Nah they’re sheep in wolf’s clothing.
No. The NRA is the watchman. The NRA leadership can smell the big grab coming; anyone who can’t is living in fantasy land.
Yep, from the 60s through the 80s they helped a lot of the grabbing happen that got us where we are today.
Got a better pro-gun organization than the NRA? Are you doing more for gun rights than they are?
How does any of that negate the truth posted by Vitsaus? Look at this baby!
BTW: I don’t think that the NRA is crying wolf on this. But, I don’t trust the NRA any farther than people can throw money.
Well, the NRA ain’t perfect, but they are the 800 pound gorilla of the gun rights movement. Some folks think they are gun rights advocates by crossing their arms and calling out the past failures if the NRA. That’s weak.
Gun rights advocates support pro gun businesses, vote pro gun, write and call to oppose anti gun legislation, carry guns and join / donate money to legitimate pro gun organizations like the NRA. The NRA is hated by the anti-gun left for a reason: they are relatively effective at lobbying and stopping anti gun legislation. They only have about 5 million members. They should have 10 times that number, at least.
If you are a gun rights advocate, you are also a member of the NRA. If your are weak in your support of freedom, you make excuses. I spent $1,000 on pro gun causes and politicians last year. Show me your check book and I’ll show you what you care about.
NRA is not just a gorilla, it’s a rabid gorilla, and that impression is re-enforced every time LaPierre opens his mouth in public. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be represented by a rabid gorilla in the court of public opinion.
Show me your check book and I’ll show you what you care about.
After a head trauma ended my medical career, I have nothing. I don’t even have a checkbook. However, I do what I can. I protest. I counsel. I write. I put my own skin in the game. I do it in borrowed boots, on donated fuel. Any legal actions I must handle on my own. int19h even had to buy me the latest book I had the privilege to read. (Thanks, int19h!)
You want to see my checkbook? All I can show you is my skin because that’s all that I have to give.
All right guys, what gun rights organizations *are* good enough for you? The ones that aren’t to embarrassing or too inconvenient? Or do you just speculate on TTAG and buy ammo? I’m not trying to be a prick here, but without some real effort and sacrifice on the part of gun owners, the freedoms we enjoy today will be “regulated” away.
Certainly a cop from CA can’t be more involved in gun rights than you guys. If that’s the case, then perhaps you have room for improvement.
They should have 10 times that number, at least.
I couldn’t become an NRA member after their response to Sandy Hook alone. There have been plenty of other NRA fumbles before. I haven’t spent my entire life devoted to Liberty only to depose one tyrant in favor of another one. The NRA doesn’t get it. As an organization they get a D- when it comes to understanding true liberty. When they get it right, they get my praise. When they screw the pooch, they get my condemnation.
Because of the seemingly low membership the anti crowd is able to say “most Americans don’t agree with the NRA and are therefore in favor of stricter gun control laws”.
I’m not sure how referencing an era where the bible belt was blue and democrats still flew the confederate flag is relevant to today.
what you really have passed your cell is only 1 thing, do the gun laws and gun control laws in australia actully reduce clock? The answer hell no. and need I remind you after President Obama made his big speech on gun control after Sandy Hook the Australian Government told our government that we had to enact stricter gun control laws to protect their citizens touring our country. more BS from Australia and you wonder why I got a bad attitude towards them. we broke from the British Empire in 1776, I’m not looking forward to becoming a subject / a citizen, either should anyone else that is a citizen of the United States of America.
You should hunt down autocorrect and get your lunch money back.
Definitely made me laugh. Thanks for that.
“And it hasn’t happened since (1996).”
Bullcrap. Most recent was in Adelaide (or nearby, 3 or 4 years ago IIRC).
How easily & conveniently some forget.
Found it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Hectorville_siege
Wasn’t there a coffee shop killing by radicals just this year?
That one fell just short of a mass shooting since he only shotgunned two hostages to death before the cops ended him.
But according to the Moms demanding illegal mayor action 3 dead is enough for a mass killing…
Convenient how they don’t count the shooter when it hurts their narrative.
I believe he fired two shots, probably birdshot, one point blank killing one hostage, one at a police officer’s face resulting in very minor injuries. The 2nd and 3rd people killed were killed by police.
The NRA is always crying “Wolf”. The sky is always falling. Every election is THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION OF OUR LIFETIME!!! It is annoying, but you take the bad with the good.
Maybe so, but have they been wrong? And without the constant pressure from the NRA membership on the politicians don’t you think we would be worse off, gun-control-wise?
“And without the constant pressure from the NRA membership on the politicians don’t you think we would be worse off, gun-control-wise?”
That is always the fall back position on the organizations that help limit our rights, but have to pretend they are on our side, because it is business not about shall not be infringed. Fear is what motivates just like in “1984”, and one hand washes the other.
The end result of gun confiscation in America has been the same since the British tried it in 1776, and that is if any person, under any authority tries to take an American’s gun, WE will take your life. I know it is not as succinct as Molon Labe but WE Americans like to be exceptional in that one area of personal Liberty, since WE are politically and culturally becoming the extinct Greek civilization.
They have been wrong when they have tried to pass the bucket in the Newtown witch hunt to “violent media”, for example. Basically, they said fvck the First if it helps us save the Second.
They did more than that. The statist policies they wanted implemented in schools would’ve further indoctrinated our youth to trust in government alone for their needs. They sought a former big-wig with the Department of Homeland Security to head up their policy think tank. He demanded full, unquestioned control and they gave it to him. How could that not have had a statist, anti-liberty outcome? They were proud enough about all of this to put out statements detailing as much. They were beyond clueless, they were dangerous. I saw little difference between them and the likes of Pelosi in that situation.
“many have argued that their civilian gun-grab accomplished little, if anything”
That’s not really an argument that they wouldn’t try the same thing here. How many gun laws do we already have (and how many more have been proposed) that wouldn’t have even stopped the event the antis are using to justify it? (See: the push for UBCs after Sandy Hook, among others.)
The Monash University shooting spree happened after Port Arthur, and under the Port Arthur laws. There was a second wave of bans and confiscations. Not only has it happened in Australia since their law changes, it will happen again. And they will ban whatever few firearms are still legal. And then it will happen again.
Australia was populated as a colony of criminals by the British. It’s unlikely they’ll have the deep gun culture heritage. America’s citizen army kicked the asterisk of the greatest military power in the world at the time (The British, again) and firearms are deep in our culture. It’s hard to compare the two.
Absolutely not. The price of peace is eternal vigilance. If you believe, as I do, that we truly are a Constitutional Republic, and that the very simple words shall not be infringed mean exactly what they say, then all gun laws are unconstitutional. So, having given inches year after year, we must now take back miles and miles. Every time I read words demonizing the NRA, blaming them for all heinous crimes committed with guns, I smile. For this is the yardstick I use to measure the greatly moral and most excellent work they do. Semper Fi
At some point in this nation’s history it was a constitutional republic. Not anymore. Now it’s an oligarchy, ruled by huge corporations, billionaires and an elite ruling class of politicians and corporate executives that make all our laws for us. Corporations write the laws, Congress passes them or not depending on how much money that corporation has to throw around, and the President either signs or vetoes them depending on whether or not that corporation was one of his campaign donors.
The Golden Rule is the only rule that matters in the USA these days–and that’s he who has the gold makes the rules.
It takes a good deal of effort to get people to listen. The NRA is not crying wolf. It is true we best be cautious using a comparison of US to Oz, very very different from the ground up. The Oz gun grab is still a good lesson of what a Gov’t can do. Personally, I can’t believe Oz has all the guns. My guess is they took only a fraction.
Australian here, that’s correct. Not only have more firearms been imported since 1996 than were destroyed but huge portions of gun owners simply did not comply. There’s a a joke in the Australian firearms community about watering your garden with motor oil…
And don’t forget the sudden shortage of PVC pipe and end-caps at the time of the buy-back.
To me the most worrisome aspect is all the “secret treaties” and executive actions. In theory I don’t think even a Senate ratified treaty could override the 2A, but would you really want to bet on John Roberts? My biggest issue with the NRA is asking for money every week.
Justice Roberts can make a ruling, but enforcing it is another matter.
Really? What was the last one you received? How many in the last month?
Has been quit a while since I got any.
Says NRA on the outside and it twists your panties to read then throw it.
Over the last month, at least 3. So it’s not quite 1 per month.
“Panties in a twist”, sorry, I don’t swing that way, and they get burned or recycled instead of just thrown in the trash.
Francis, lighten up.
When did they become the “international” rifle association?
Plenty for them to focus on here in Amerika.
How much do they raise in Australia annually?
Australia’s gun laws have been referenced fairly often in the media, which is why the NRA is responding.
Not the point. When the President is getting all dewy-eyed for Australian gun control, it’s relevant for the NRA to go after Australian gun control, especially since it emphatically puts the lie that no one wants your guns in the grave.
I believe the NRA is merely keeping what’s wrong with Australia top of mind for folks here at home who may not know the damage that was done by the so called buy back.
So why are Australia’s gun laws being mentioned in the MSM?
I’m sure it’s just a vast left wing conspiracy.
The NRA is spending my money writing press releases about irrelevant gun laws in Australia while CA, NY, IL, etc die on the vine.
It’s easy to talk about AU, hard to do anything in the commie states. Taking the easy road methinks.
No, not at all. Obama and the Democrats have made their intentions very clear. Fortunately the 2nd Amendment is great big road block to their aspirations, but it is not indestructible. The Progressives have proven that they are willing to change the meaning of words or subvert the law by executive actions in order to have their way. We need to maintain vigilance and protect our rights against those who would erode them or outright take them. I admit, I think the NRA sounds shrill at times, but recent events have left no doubt in my mind as to what the Progressive agenda is. I would rather donate too much and make too much effort to vote than err in the opposite direction.
I’d feel better if the NRA would push for strict interpretation of the constitution and less government. In addition the Supreme Court needs to either stick with the purpose of it interpreting or misinterpretation recently of’ the bill of rights & constitution. Also a change of lifetime appointments for them, maximum service times for all judges federal & state.
Congress can throw the libtards bastards off the SCOTUS. Can zero out the budget of the SCOTUS. Can rewrite the rules under which they operate.
BUT Congress would have to find a pair first.
I want mandatory limits on the terms & they need to remove POTUS pen from his hand insert in a cavity if he must have a pen. Most of the politicians need to get a pair.
Were I in Congress and had the votes to get rid of two justices and replace them, I’d eliminate Kagan, with her “living constitution” bullshit, and Scalia, who makes up “facts” to support slicing away at our rights to privacy and the Fourth. Sadly one of my preferred replacements was a federal judge killed in the attack on Gabby Giffords, a man who by his record considered the Second to be at least as absolute as the First. My other choice would be an ACLU attorney I know who keeps trying to convince his colleagues that the Founders meant the Second as a personal right just as much as they meant any of the others — or more, since the term “infringe” means don’t even touch peripheral matters. He once told a reporter that “The people have a right to be armed” is more certain than “the people have a right to know”.
He also has an interesting view that “the spirit of the Third” makes the militarization of the police unconstitutional.
A lawyer that has actually read and understands what the founders intended, unfortunately would never be chosen these days. Unless that said they were a gay, minority, Muslim or socialist PC freak. They would remove Robert’s for that one. Let us all pray or whatever your choice that the current illegal occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania does not get an appointment, and neither Clinton or Bush are our choices for POTUS
I hope that Hillary gets the nomination and runs on a gun control platform. I hope she is put on record saying she will push through gun registration and confiscation, one way or another. I hope she looks right at the camera and tells Americans “I’m going to take guns away from you”. Because if she does that kind of stuff, she will lose the election for certain. So, seriously, I hope she runs her mouth non-stop about gun control because that will ensure she never gets into the White House.
We, the non-Progressives, would still have to come out and vote.
We don’t yet know who the Republicans will nominate. It might be the most Conservative contender; the most Libertarian contender; some RINO; or, some compromise candidate. I wouldn’t bet on either of the first two.
So, what will we non-Progressives do if it’s some RINO or some compromise candidate? Cast another protest non-vote by sitting on our A$$? Righteous indignation got us 8 years of Obama. Righteous indignation could get us 8 years of Hillary. Is that what we really need to motivate us?
What we need is an honest-to-God (libertarian) populist, one who wants to reign in all the threats to our liberty, whether the big banks, corporate money in politics, police militarization, the “War on Drugs”, the “USA PATRIOT” Act, gun control, etc. Such a candidate would pull voters from the Democrats and independents, have a good chance of beating Hillary, and as president could be actually trusted in the White House.
The country is longing for a real populist. Obama won because he sounded like one, but turned out to be a traitor to half of what he promised. A real populist who campaigned against Obama and his failures and betrayals could beat Hillary in a breeze, if he campaigned on the reasons so many Democrats are disappointed with Obama.
NOPE. It may be even worse than stated by Barry Soetoro-one more anti-2A from the supremes and presto-we’re screwed. UNLESS you don’t comply… Don’t like appeals for $? Neither do I but I feel I got my money’s worth in Illinois. Aussies have very little comparison to America-and thanks for the update Richard!
The anti’s constantly tell us that “no one wants to take our guns,” then hold up England and Australia, which took everyone’s guns, as models to follow.
No, I don’t think the NRA is crying wolf. Gun confiscation isn’t going to happen here anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean the President and Hillary wouldn’t like to see it so.
The NRA is making an excellent point. It took the statists decades to achieve their dream of national health care which has resulted in the ACA. They will be just as patient and plodding to take our guns. And they’re not shy about confessing their tactics, which is culture and “public health.”
Yeah, the NRA is hyperbolic at times. But ignore them at their peril.
The antis aren’t ever going to give up and neither can we.
What do you want when most Democrat Voters are low Educational Voters on the Dole! don’t forget that 30% are illegal’s that want too Jack the US for everything we Got, goodbye bill of rights, this country has no way of stopping these Treasonous and Seditious Politicians! a New Sodom and Gomorrah being facilitated by the Beast Helpers,{ Obama and the Democrats}
I just finished read Robert Heinlein’s 1982 novel FRIDAY. Boy, was that guy prescient.
Awesome book.
Every few years I read it again.
The first two sentences in the book:
“As I left the Kenya Beanstalk capsule he was right on my heels. He followed me through the door leading to Customs, Health, and Immigration. As the door contracted behind him I killed
him.
I have never liked riding the Beanstalk. My distaste was fullblown even before the disaster to the Quito Skyhook. A cable that goes up into the sky with nothing to hold it up smells too
much of magic. But the only other way to reach Ell-Five takes too long and costs too much; my orders and expense account did not cover it.”
The main character is a young woman.
I’ve posted it before and I’ll post it again.. http://www.nra.org/ruger click to join at a discount. Join GOA too if you like..join them all. Are they crying wolf? I don’t think so. The second they/we let our guard down…that’s when the anti’s strike…
I’ve been a member of the NRA three separate times – I left the first two times because of its hysteria and aggressive fund raising tactics. But I came back because, as objectionable as the NRA’s hysteria, fund-raising tactics and non-cooperation with other pro-2A organizations may be, they do get the job done. I can now filter out what I don’t like about the NRA and rejoice in the rest of what it does for all PotG. As to the NRA’s non-tax exempt fund-raising, I now give what I can and the rest of their multitudinous appeals are round-filed. The apoplectic hysteria…well, it’s amusing sometimes. But underneath all that, I am glad we have the NRA and that it changed its mission from being a FUDD organization to protecting our 2A right. Without that, I hate to think where we’d be.
The NRA didn’t change its mission, it expanded it. All the original programs are still running, with a lot more. If enough members advocate for a program, there’s a good chance it will happen — I’m encouraging a program to get shooting into high schools.
I think the NRA is exactly right. If we don’t pay attention, we’ll be unarmed against both the criminals and the government. It worked for Hitler and the Democrats are trying to repeat it.
NO. The SOP of the “administration” is to float an idea and then let everyone forget about it and go to sleep. Then when we are least expecting it, the law, administrative order or executive order is rolled out on the unprepared and unsuspecting public. The enemies of freedom, like sharks often bump before they bite.
Get rid of guns in the rest of the Universe, get rid of your own, then come for mine.
My right to keep and bear arms outlives even the idea of America. Come after my guns if you want, but America ends first, your right to enforce anything (including through the use of force) evaporates LONG BEFORE then, and I will hunt you equally, and thereafter go after whatever else you hold dear. If we’re going to do “anything goes” a-holes, we’re going to do my version and I promise you won’t like it.
A (every) Gun Grab = A declaration of war. You could say it isn’t, but nobody asked you stupid.
Whenever somebody tries to tell me that Australia’s gun laws make their citizens safer, I show them this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh6dBMozGUs
The only thing that made the Australian gun buy back possible was the government was paying fair market value for the firearms, and accessories, to be surrendered.
Some people quit the sport. Most replaced their surrendered guns with new legal guns.
Instead of the sport fading into the twilight, we now have more gun owners owning more guns than ever before.
And the various groups and associations who previously wouldn’t be in the same building, much less the same room, are now communicating with each other on how to counter the anti gun groups.
I can’t imagine Hilary being so generous. It is not her nature. Hilary’s style is to do another Waco or Ruby Ridge to shock-and-awe a now cowed populous into submission.
Many more mass murders in Australia were committed not using firearms, but using matches. Or perhaps those modern military style assault matches, known as cigarette lighters.
173 dead in 2009 Victorian bushfires, 15 dead in the Childer’s Palace fire, 11-21 dead in Quakers Hill nursing home fire. To be fair, arson is only suspected for some of the Victoria fires.
I read recently that violent crime is actually higher than in the United States.
If you think the NRA is crying wolf then move to California, Canada, or better yet the UK where there have been pushes for “knife control”.
The 2nd Amendment isn’t going to be much of a roadblock if the next president puts a couple more super liberal justices on the SCOTUS. Liberal friends of mine are salivating at the prospect of “reinterpreting the antiquated 2nd Amendment”.
The liberals are getting bold. If they can get enough welfare voters to push everything they want through we can finally live in social justice paradise. Of course their communities shall be gated ones.
I am currently a NRA member. The NRA has fumbled the ball a few times to say the least. But we have no one else who can work congress like the NRA. No one is going to agree with everything anyone does, especially a group like the NRA who is battling a hostile media. Supporting the NRA is far better than supporting a group who only serves to fund the political aspirations of a certain family.
Game nearly over, folks. We are one SC appointment away from gun control more severe than in 1940. The anti-gun crowd knows the majority of Americans who vote are too occupied with celebrities to pay attention to anything that requires thinking. Not withstanding the 2010 and 2014 republican blow-outs, the establishment in DC is a single cabal with the mindset that citizens are subjects. The 2010 and 2014 election results are not the norm of history. People in Congress do not represent the voters in their districts so much as represent their party (look at how little effect the new republican members have). The lords on DC rule to protect their privileges, and will go where the votes are. It is folly to believe that the Senate (no matter who controls) will actually deny a leftist president his/her choice for SC (probably not even a nominee with a known criminal background). NRA is powerful, but all the pro-gun organizations combined cannot long survive the onslaught of the coming generations of adult children with voting rights.
Enjoy the current day at the beach while you can. One day, you will be faced with confiscation or else.
‘Ga Day !