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The NRA: From Gloom to Complacency?
The mood at the National Rifle Association's annual convention this election year was optimistic and cheerful, even before the bourbon kicked in. But are gun-rights advocates getting too comfortable? Possibly.
I traveled to Louisville, Kentucky last week, for the National Rifle Association’s annual convention. I was there to take part in a program on the D.C. gun control case currently before the Supreme Court, D.C. vs. Heller. But I managed to do a bit of schmoozing with some of the folks there, and even attended a gun-blogger meetup at the Maker’s Mark Bourbon Lounge, where the company and the bourbon were both excellent. The most surprising thing is how happy people were, even before the bourbon kicked in.
I wrote about the Second Amendment quite a bit back in the 1990s (examples here and here) and I used to attend gun-related events regularly. But it had been close to a decade since I had gone to one, and the change in attitude since then struck me as pretty dramatic. In the 1990s, with the Clinton Administration and Congressional Democrats leading a war on gun ownership, gun owners and gun-rights activists were in a defensive crouch. They were gloomy, depressed, and often alienated from the political process. Courts were the domain of the enemy.
I was struck by the contrast this time around. People seemed much happier, and more optimistic. Most, I think, expected that the Democrats would retake the White House in the fall, but they didn’t seem to expect a return to the Clinton gun-grab efforts.
It’s easy to see why. Hillary is now going out of her way to explain what a hunter she’s always been, and how much she values gun rights. Obama is tagging along as best he can, talking about the Second Amendment and the Constitution, though his record as a Director for the virulently anti-gun Joyce Foundation makes that even less persuasive than Hillary’s attempts. But sincerity isn’t the point, since we’re talking politicians here. The point is that they feel they have to lie. Democrats seem to have given up on gun control — they’ve picked up Congressional seats mostly by running pro-gun candidates in conservative districts — and gun-rights people find themselves a constituency that’s now being courted by both parties, rather than being taken for granted by one.
Even the courts seem a bit friendlier, with the Fifth Circuit finding an individual right to arms under the Second Amendment in United States v. Emerson and the D.C. Circuit finding such a right — with teeth, this time — in the Heller case now before the Supreme Court. The conventional wisdom, shared by people on both pro- and anti-gun sides of the issue, is that the court will probably find that the Second Amendment protects some sort of individual right to own a gun, that the right is nonetheless subject to reasonable regulation, and that the District of Columbia’s near-total gun ban violates that right by being too extensive and intrusive to be “reasonable.” This will then leave to the lower courts, and future Supreme Courts, the question of what other regulations might be unreasonable and also — a question not arising in the Heller case because the District of Columbia is a federal enclave and not a state — whether the Second Amendment is “incorporated” via the Fourteenth Amendment so that it applies to the states as well as the federal government, as most other Bill of Rights provisions are and do.
Those decisions will likely stretch over a decade or more and — as I noted in my talk — a single Supreme Court decision doesn’t necessarily accomplish much on its own. Follow-through is crucial, and the Supreme Court over the next decade is likely to feature more than one justice appointed by the next President. Clinton and Obama may try to sound reassuring about guns when they’re running for office, but it’s a safe bet that their Supreme Court nominees will be less friendly to Second Amendment rights than McCain’s.
So does this mean that the NRA crowd has gotten too complacent? Possibly. There hasn’t been a serious threat to gun rights in a decade, and the biggest campaign for the gun-rights crowd has been the expansion of generous concealed-carry laws to cover nearly the entire nation, with restrictions on gun-carrying in places like parks, restaurants, and other public places gradually falling as well. In that kind of environment, it’s easy to lower your guard, and they’ve come a long way from the Charlton Heston “cold, dead hands” days.
On the other hand, in today’s environment, it’s also easy to see where the momentum is – and the Supreme Court is likely to go along or face serious blowback on its unenumerated rights jurisprudence. Give credit where credit is due: For a civil rights group, especially a group dedicated to a civil right that has faced as much sustained attack from politicians and the media as gun rights have, to reach the the point where complacency is a risk is no small accomplishment. Perhaps the gun-rights activists, and the candidates, are merely responding to public sentiment. If so, the gun-rights community really is in the catbird seat. We’ll find out if that confidence is justified soon enough.
Glenn Harlan Reynolds is the Beauchamp Brogan Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Tennessee. He blogs at InstaPundit.com.
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17 Comments
1. David Thomson:NRA members are getting far too comfortable. They notice that Democratic Party legislators are often fearful of directly opposing their gun rights. But these gun owners forget that the leftist establishment no longer particularly counts on the legislative process. Instead, the leftists are waiting to get the right set of judges! What they can’t get from the voters and elected officials—they hope to obtain from an imperial judiciary.
May 19, 2008 - 5:56 am 2. SayUncle » NRA Con Round Up:[...] Thoughts on the convention from Glenn Renolds. [...]
May 19, 2008 - 6:09 am 3. mostlygenius:I think it is simply that the majority of the membership thinks it has everything that it wants. Most gun owners support ‘reasonable restrictions’ but everyone has different idea about what reasonable is.
The sport shooters can be satisfied with more restrictions than the defensive gun owners can swallow. Members with a less than activist stance don’t see restrictions as the thin edge of the wedge.
May 19, 2008 - 6:12 am 4. kevinonh:The good news is that the Democrats in the 1990s lost close elections because of pro-gun voters.
The bad news is that the elections this time around – particularly at the state and local level – probably aren’t going to be close, and they see their chance.
The good news is that all of those conservative judges are making reasonable rulings.
The bad news is that a liberal President is in a position to replace judges.
I wouldn’t get too comfortable, folks.
“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance”
May 19, 2008 - 6:38 am 5. David Thomson:“I think it is simply that the majority of the membership thinks it has everything that it wants.”
At this point in time, they indeed do have the upper hand over the left-wing establishment. But will this continue indefinitely into the future? I can easily imagine Barack “Barry” Obama appointing judges who will turn their lives upside down. Do you really want someone like Harold Koh making these sorts of decisions? John McCain will select “strict constructionists.” Gun owners will likely not have anything whatsoever to worry about if the Arizona U.S. senator becomes our next national leader. The same is not true with Obama.
May 19, 2008 - 7:12 am 6. Hal von Luebbert:“Complacent” isn’t really the right word, and I wonder if this is more Operation MOCKINGBIRD (look it up – it’ll do you good) deception. The fact is that the corporately owned government of the U.S. ignores the law whenever it feels like it, continuing until it is somehow stopped – which often isn’t. When a cop takes your gun, you can get it back only by hiring a lawyer who charges per hour what you make in a week. The lawyer, who is licensed to practice by the state that took your property, will argue before a judge purchased and paid for by the same corporations who own the government. Like all civil rights, ownership and carrying a weapon cannot be protected by means of the corruption-dominated legal and governmental system extant today. Anyone who believes he will win in court or legislature just because he is right, or because his rights are guaranteed by the law, is a fool not paying attention. Only one thing works – the ability to politically or economically destroy those who violate or plot against the law. If the NRA forgets this, as the general public obviously has, we will have to fight on our doorsteps to defend our rights (anyone paying attention to the situation with the Mormans in San Angelo, Texas?). Anyone who doesn’t recognize that is another oblivious fool.
May 19, 2008 - 7:17 am 7. Rustmeister:I think the optimism comes from events leading into the convention, but I doubt most members are thinking it’s going to be smooth sailing from here on in.
Once the Democrat candidate is chosen and their voting record starts getting attention, you’ll see the fighters come out.
May 19, 2008 - 7:33 am 8. A. Reader:Interesting that a Toronto paper published a completely opposite opinion:
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/427320
May 19, 2008 - 10:00 am 9. Voolfie:I wonder if, perhaps, what may appear – at first glance – to be complacency, isn’t simply a well-deserved round of self-congratulations. I have no doubt that on Wednesday, November 5th – the sleeves will be rolled back up and the (maybe greatly) harder work of keeping our most basic rights safe from the Democratic masters of Orwellian “Newspeak” will begin. If the conventional wisdom is correct about a Democratic landslide in the Fall, the next four years are going to be tougher, not easier.
May 19, 2008 - 10:11 am 10. Ten:…the corporately owned government of the U.S. ignores the law whenever it feels like it…
Hal von Luebbert makes a point Reynolds should research and comment upon. Deeply and frequently: The System is by now so beholden to power and special interest, that it, as far as we subjects whose rights are destroyed are concerned, operates as a monolithic bloc. This, of course, is what happens when you do a few basic things, or rather allow them to occur:
1. Elect panderers. A good example is the NRA and its members believing Clinton somehow doesn’t yet represent a dire threat to the Second Amendment.
2. Give panderers the ability to become career politicians.
3. Allow lobbies that buy laws that serve commercial interests.
4. And, to enable all this anti-personal rights stuff, replace a government dedicated to preserving personal them with a service provider. When the hordes of Socialists show up in Portland for Obamessiah worship, you know we’ve tipped that direction. JFK’s adage to do for your country is dead.
The problem with the mere left versus right power-grabbing that’s gripped this country and paralyzed its government respecting the individual’s sovereignty, is that only the flavor of entitlements, favors, assaults on personal rights, and private sector-invading legislation changes. As much on the right as the left, make no mistake.
I’m glad von Luebbert has brought the problem of authoritarianism to light in the context of an article about personal liberty. As a presumed libertarian, Reynolds — as well as a conservative blogosphere that’s been almost entirely lax in exposing the problem of collective power — should write about how we’ve basically sold anything and everything to the highest bidder walking the halls of power. The result is precisely as von Luebbert notes.
May 19, 2008 - 1:20 pm 11. Son:IF…N.R.A. members have fallen into a state of complacency they are simply reflecting the condition of the N.R.A., who has been collecting $$s for decades and not much else.
May 20, 2008 - 11:15 am 12. Gene Hoffman:Any real accomplishments achieved in the order of slowing gun control has been due to the men and women citizen voters who have a dedicated interest in the 2nd Amendment.
One might also consider the distinct possibility that by throwing a bone to the citizens of this nation in the form of favorable 2nd Amendment rulings, it’s much easier to disembowel the other troublesome aspects of the Constitution and it’s pesky Amendments.
There are currently 27 Amendments to the Constitution. When was the last time you read them?
When was the last time you considered their current interpretation?
When was the last time you determined how they are being subverted, ignored, violated, or upheld in your community?
This is your job as a citizen of the USA. Those who rely on the NRA, or any other ‘citizens group’, to protect and maintain their rights as citizens are simply shirking their responsibilities as citizens.
I’m sure NRA members (of which I am one as well) are very happy about the state of affairs as Heller nears. However, I’m concerned that the guys who actually did the work – Levy and Gura – were not invited and treated like kings.
Would the NAACP have neglected to invite Thurgood Marshall after Chambers?
-Gene
May 20, 2008 - 1:21 pm 13. Chuck:I just recently got my lifetime NRA membership. I determined to put my money where my mouth was. Made me feel real good. I also belong to Ducks Unlimited, National Wild Turkey Federation and other outdoors clubs. I belong to each for a different reason. I am a strict constitutionalist, thus I belong to the NRA. The others are looking after our wildlife habitat. The NRA has been a shelter in the storm and we need to keep on suppoting it with our money and our time. tthe
May 21, 2008 - 7:01 pm 14. Smokey:I became an NRA member in 1997. They never sent my magazine, despite numerous, repeated requests.
My 3-year membership expired. I sent in more $$$ for another membership, then moved to a different address. I requested an address change. Didn’t happen. I called again, talked to some geezer who absolutely promised me that he had fixed my address.
I still didn’t get the magazine I’d ordered. This went on until I gave up. I haven’t renewed since.
If the NRA doesn’t get its act together and service its membership, that membership will gradually disappear. As ALWAYS, this type of problem comes from the TOP.
My message to the NRA [which I still love]: WAKE UP!!
May 21, 2008 - 9:06 pm 15. Gozer the Carpathian:Well after reading “America’s First Freedom” every month for a few years now I can say that the NRA isn’t complacent. We’re always reporting, if not activly fighting all sorts of gun ban/control efforts across the globe. They’ve been pushing for state laws across the nation to prevent New Orleans style gun grabs (I think 5 states have laws against that BS now), more concealed carry laws, more fair enforcement of concealed carry, they recently won a fight in Florida to allow folks to carry firearms locked in their cars on buisness property. There are LOTS of fights all the time (especially here in California) so I wouldn’t say they’re being lazy.
More like on a winning high. The fight has been long and it continues today, so you’ve gotta smile now and then. Too much gloom and doom for too long drags down folks after all.
May 22, 2008 - 10:09 pm 16. Instapundit » Blog Archive » A RIFLE IN ONE HAND, A LAPTOP IN THE OTHER: The Christian Science Monitor interviews some gunblogge…:[...] Read the whole thing. Meanwhile, here’s my report from last year’s NRA convention. [...]
May 17, 2009 - 1:16 pm 17. Herb:I am planning on attending the Charlotte convention next year and I am excited about all the recent trending…the increased # of concealed carry applications, the increased sales etc because it all points to a more aware population.
Nov 19, 2009 - 4:14 am