The Day I’ll Join The NRA – An Open Letter To Ted Nugent
Dear Ted: First, I personally thank you for the valuable work you have done, and are doing, for the Second Amendment. You have used your talent, success, wit, and celebrity to fight for our freedoms.
Additionally, you are a member of the Board of Directors of the NRA. So this letter is directed to you in strictly that capacity.
Why? Because I believe that you will listen. And you have the standing and respect within the NRA to actually do something regarding the issues I’d like to bring to your attention.
We at JPFO recently received a letter from an angry and very articulate fellow who took the vast majority of gun owners to task for not being NRA members. He rightly points out that there are more than eighty million gun owners and only five million members of any pro-gun organization, the NRA obviously being the largest.
I read this fellow’s letter a couple of times, and could not fault him on his spirit or personal philosophy.
What bothered me was that he was asking me to join the NRA.
Head on over to http://www.ammoland.com/2010/05/03/open-letter-to-ted-nugent/ to read the rest of Mr. Zelman’s open letter to Ted. He brings up some good points. I think that while the NRA has a lot to offer, it could do so much more.
[…] Via the Weapon-Blog the reposting Ammoland Aaron Zelman’s letter to Ted Nugent creeps out again. Mr. Zelman ticks out a series of points which he said would have help/convinced him to join the NRA. They are the salient points and foundations of the Jews For The Preservation Of Firearms Ownership, the group he founded. […]
I don’t understand why all the self-proclaimed “purists” on the 2nd Amendment – like Dudley Brown – seem to spend more time attacking NRA than actually defending the 2nd Amendment. Organizations, like people, are imperfect. Even among gun owners, the NRA isn’t going to please everyone. However one thing is all but certain – if it weren’t for the NRA, the 2nd Amendment would no doubt be nothing more than a curiosity of American history by now. Constantly tearing down the NRA over one or two issues you disagree with board members over is akin to burning down your own house because you don’t like the furniture. If you discourage people from joining NRA, just what the hell do you think you’re proving? Are you helping defend the 2nd Amendment when you talk people into joining a group with no real political clout – as opposed to the NRA? I think some folk forming splinter groups who claim to be more holy than the NRA concerning the 2nd Amendment, are doing so for the sake of ego and attention – nothing more. Dudley Brown – if you have differences with the NRA, then make those differences known and work from the inside for change. Stop tearing down the only real voice with REAL clout gun owners have – the NRA. Unless of course your personal need for attention ultimately outweighs your concern for the 2nd Amendment. The more I think about it, if I were a leftist who wanted to subvert the NRA and the 2nd Amendment, I don’t think I could conceive of a more clever approach than what Dudley Brown has been doing.
I’m an NRA member. But that’s not my only 2A membership. The NRA is the giant, but I think it’s good to support other organizations as well. Like you said, nobody’s going to be 100% happy with any one group.