NRA Warns Hunters to Prepare for War

[airlocksniffer]

Fear politics at its finest:

https://fusion.kinja.com/the-nra-warns-hunters-to-prepare-for-war-1794922895

Hey, Big Fin is a professional hunter! (raking in the big bucks I'm sure ):

“The NRA does not have credibility with hunters to the degree some think,” said Randy Newberg, a professional hunter and TV host, after reviewing the NRA’s new ad campaign. “To those of us with an eye on the future of wildlife, clean air, clean water, and productive lands, this message isn’t going to change our direction. It will be taken for what it is, an effort by the NRA to increase their penetration among hunters.”

However, Newberg added, the tactic of playing to fears of outsiders and framing political fights as existential crises “works very well for [the NRA] in other arenas, so it only makes sense to do the same when trying to gain more appeal among hunters.”

 

[Nameless Range]

Gross.

Because many members of the NRA are also members of a religion called the NRA, I believe the NRA could put an end to the Public Land Transfer movement with one official statement. Yet, they are busy creating glossy videos in preparation for war with animal rights activists.

I don't see a hell of a lot of utility in the NRA from a hunter's perspective. In fact, though they proclaim to be on the side of hunters, the politicians they place on pedestals are often anti-hunting - if we accept that being anti-public-lands is being anti-hunting. And it is.

 

[mplane72]

The NRA still refuses to identify the real enemy of Hunters. That would be the PLT crowd, many of which they hold a lot of sway over. I don't have a good feeling about hunting being politicized by the NRA.

 

[buckbull]

I contribute to several organizations. I never think twice about donating to BHA, RMEF, or TRCP. Its getting harder to swallow the NRA pill. Their fear tactics for generating membership is nothing new, it just gets worse. Their methods must work, lots of folks buy in. NRA is in a tough position given that they have made their bed with the GOP and the GOP has been bought by mineral extractors who want more access and control to the federal lands we all love.

 

[Matt/VT]

This sort of politicization is definitely problematic for hunters. Not the right approach, in my mind.
Time for another message to them. Maybe ask for my membership money back. Right...

 

[Opoponax]

The NRA is a vile organization. A few days after my mom died, I was at her house. My sister and I were packing up her stuff, trying to figure out what to do, and obviously dealing with the grief of the situation.

The phone rang and so I answered it. It was an NRA rep. She asked for my mom, who was an NRA member. I informed the rep that mom had passed. There was a beat of a couple of seconds and then the rep asked me, "Would you like to become a member of the NRA?"

I would like to say that I said something clever or incisive right there on the spot. But I didn't. I just hung up. I was shocked, disgusted, and rendered speechless.

And it is that ruthless want of money that pervades the NRA. To me, that phone call was emblematic of what that organization is all about. There is a serious problem in this nation with gun violence. Not from hunters (obviously), but it is a problem nonetheless. And rather than work to solve the problem, the NRA seems to work only to exacerbate it. That they're now making a concerted effort to come after the hunting community is troublesome because I want in no way to be associated with the NRA.

 

[Irrelevant]

Am I mistaken that one of the two things the article claims PETA is trying to do to stop hunting, is also something B&C is fighting against; canned high fence hunts? So the NRA is then pro canned hunts?

 

[BuzzH]

If the NRA thinks this latest ridiculous campaign is going to work, they better think again.

The hunters I know are smart enough to see this latest smoke-screen as nothing but a way for the NRA to do what they do best, make money for their executives.

They have ZERO credibility as a hunting organization and IMO, should have stayed the hell away from everything to do with same. They are routinely on the wrong side of issues that truly do impact public lands, waters, wildlife, and ultimately hunting.

Just a continuation of their failure to understand what hunters are really about...

 

[Flatland Crusoe]

The NRA is a useless institution harboring some of the most detrimental "hunters" by which the rest of us are judged. Digging deeper into the cultural war trench is not how Conservation, hunting and gun rights will be preserved.

When I got American Hunter Magazine (gun club forced membership) I could hardly stand the 3rd grade level reading with zero insight or thought involved in their views of hunting. The NRA doesn't care about hunting and gun rights are maybe the least threatened aspect of hunting at this point.

 

[Gr8bawana]

What else would you expect fromthe NRA when the have ted nuggent as a board member?

 

[TheJason]

Awesome. Because taking an extremist tone really helps you build bridges and improve perception with the general, non-hunting public.

 

[RobG]

Interesting...

Notably, the NRA campaign does not advocate for any specific policy changes. Instead, it just asks for donations.

 

[Northwoods Labs]

The irony is I bet a lot of the shots in their videos came from federal public lands. Yet when we are fighting to maintain access to these lands the NRA is nowhere to be found. Disappointed to see Dave Draper involve in this, always enjoyed his contributions to field and stream

 

[Schaaf]

After years of the NRA sending mailers and asking for money, I haven't received a mailer in 6 months. Apparently 2 years of calls stating I was no longer going to be sending them money did the trick.

 

[esracerx]

I have little use for the NRA. The NRA uses hunters as a gun rights platform. The NRA uses us to help their cause way more than they help us.

 

[MThuntr]

After years of the NRA sending mailers and asking for money, I haven't received a mailer in 6 months. Apparently 2 years of calls stating I was no longer going to be sending them money did the trick.

They'll be back...I got one yesterday for the first time in over a year. Along with a Gianforte flyer claiming Quist was a puppet for Pelosi...I had a good laugh

 

[u1299]

The NRA lost me in 1984 when they became a radical extreme right wing bunch of lunatic a--holes and not one damn thing has changed in the 30 years since to make me change my mind. They can go to hell as far as I'm concerned.

 

[fwagner]

The NRA has always been a joke. Fear is there weapon of choice and the only thing then their elementary tactics are those who believe in them. Until the NRA backs the public land hunters and puts pressure on the Republicans they fund, I will never support them. Gr8bawana is right, Ted Nugent is a waist of oxygen and perfectly represents the foolishness of the NRA.

 

[Big Fin]

Hmmm. Didn't know that would end up in print somewhere, but I probably shouldn't be surprised. Below is the response I provide to his email with his sentence italicized below being the focus of my reply....

.....a very slick new website that is surprisingly heavy of angry, politicized rhetoric - previously I had only seen that kind of tone from the NRA regarding concealed carry, assault weapons, and campaigns. https://www.nrahunting.com/​

His email gave me the understanding he was seeking to learn from hunters, especially a hunter who is a Patron Level Life Member of the NRA, as I am. My response, from which a few pieces were cut and pasted is in full text below. Had I known it would get used as it did, the substance of my comments would not have changed, just more precision and context so nothing would be cut/pasted that might change a reader's understanding of my response.

The articles that make up the underlying pieces of that NRA campaign seemed pretty good to me. If you haven't read those, you should. Writers like Allen Morris Jones, Mike Schoby, and others, are smart minds in our community and I don't view their writings as "rhetoric."

To me, other than some good writers being the basis for the campaign, the campaign itself and call to action around those articles is a "yawner." Not surprising and nothing real eye-opening; business as usual. Maybe I'm too immersed in the daily throws of these topics for a web campaign influence me much. I found it interesting that others outside the hunting world found it to be a big deal.

Alex:

I got your message. Sorry I was in meetings all day.

Thanks for the link to that hunting campaign. I had not seen that. I personally know most the folks who contributed the articles to that website.

The tone of the website is typical of a “call to action” that the NRA would put together. Working on fears and putting things in very black v. white contrast, to create an “enemy.” Anti-hunting folks do have stated goals, and take actions, to eliminate hunting, so I am not too surprised that some in the hunting world use the term “enemy.” And less surprised that the group who would use that approach is the NRA. It works very well for them in other arenas, so it only makes sense to do the same when trying to gain more appeal among hunters.

That said, there is not much in those articles that I find rhetoric or politicized. Most of it is pretty much fact and the pieces are written by some very sharp minds with backgrounds in history, anthropology, sciences, etc. I do not split the world into enemies or allies, as does the NRA, though I don’t see this as politicizing. I don’t think I read about a single party/partisan/person/platform in any of it.

I don’t fear that the animal-rights movement is going to end hunting. They are an annoyance that operates on the same emotions some in the far fringe of the hunting world operate on; fear, distrust, anger, worry. That movement will not be the end of hunting. Yes, they will cause some disruptions and will be an obstacle to wildlife conservation models as has been used in America for the last 125 years.

Most hunters will read it and move on without donating or taking action. The NRA does not have the credibility with hunters to the degree some think. This campaign will appeal to some hunters who operate on fears. To those of us with an eye on the future of wildlife, clean air, clean water, and productive lands, this message isn’t going to change our direction. It will be taken for what it is, an effort by the NRA to increase their penetration among hunters. That low penetration among hunters, especially western hunters is not a fact they want the world to know. This is an NRA-style marketing campaign to improve their standing among hunters.

That said, I am curious what parts you find to be rhetoric and politicizing. I ask that, as I am always interested in how others see the debate/discussion from outside the ring of hunting and conservation that often engulfs me and might blind me to what others see as obvious.

Thanks for reaching out. Feel free to call tomorrow. I am open other than from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm Mountain Time.

Best,

Randy

 

[efw]

The NRA has done its job beautifully for a long time stopping serious infringements on second amendment rights. Unfortunately they've become top heavy salary-wise and spend at least the same on asking me for more money than I give them in annual membership dues.

For the last couple of years as a member I reached out repeatedly asking that they not send me anything at all through the postal service. They kept up, and the shrillness was more than I could bear. I let my membership lapse and donate to them thru round-up programs like MidwayUSA & Brownells offer.

They're a second amendment protection organization not a hunters rights organization (although I grant there is overlap). I don't expect BHA to lobby to protect handgun purchasers' rights...