quote:

Originally posted by bubbatime:
Life member and I receive 0 calls from them per year, a monthly magazine, and maybe one or two mailings a year. I believe you have to login to your account, and uncheck all the promotion stuff.

ditto,


maybe a bit more than that for mailings,
that I toss,

don't know if I have an online account, never bothered to look


one thing that they do well, is manage scores etc for competitions, or at least they did when I was shooting high power years ago,

they do seem to be having an on again, off again pissing match of somekind with CMP/camp perry, but not sure why

Life member here, I never receive phone calls from them, and other than my magazine hardly anything in the mail, just like bubbatime said.

Interesting read:

RICOCHET Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist by Richard Feldman.

quote:

Originally posted by hvactech:
Interesting read:

RICOCHET Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist by Richard Feldman.

Linky: http://www.mlscommunication.com

In 2015 the NRA reported that Wayne LaPeir received $5 MIL compensation for his services. This may include growth of stock options,so figure could be a bit inflated. Still, this is outrageous for an organization to pay top executives this kind of money and then go out to harangue membership for donations.

I have observed that Mr LaPiere is untruthful at times and really puts himself on the level of a propagandist, apparently trying to make members angry. I find this to be upsetting since we have a just cause. We do have right and responsibility to defend ourselves! Our case can be made very effectively with the facts and close adherence to the truth. No need for exaggerations and labeling/name calling unless you are trying to raise money.

We have no shortage of people who are afraid of guns and go along with gun ban schemes. We do need the NRA, just wish we had better management.

The NRA gets high marks for their management of training,range support and competition programs. I have met a lot of nice people in these programs, while learning how to shoot. I particularly enjoyed programs in the CMP and AMU. Here the NRA shines.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

quote:

Originally posted by sureshot45:
I'm no longer a member due to the calls, I asked them repeatedly not to call me and they continued. Then 3 months before time to renew they started calling even more to let me know it was time to renew. After the 3rd time I told them if they called back I would not renew. They called again a week later...

Y'see, this is the problem. Members tell me that all you have to do is opt out, but that's not necessarily true.

Every single time this subject comes up in the forum, the same contradictory statements appear. I'm not calling anyone a liar. I am saying that the NRA is - apparently- inconsistent and capricious in their fundraising efforts. Some NRA members opt out, and they're left alone. Other NRA members opt out, and they continue to get hounded by the NRA, incessantly. I'm not havin' it, and the NRA is not the Second Amendment.

Before I started being Life member, I opted out of calls and promotions. It worked fine. No calls. No promotions.

I belong and will continue to but it does irk me a tad to see money wasted.

They sent me two renewal letters a month or so apart... warning me my membership was about to expire... you must renew NOW or risk losing your benefits... One year into my paid up three year membership.

And the "free gifts" for signing up... I think the money could be better spent than buying crap with our own money and giving it back to us.

Like any large organization, they'll have their issues, but there is no question that we wouldn't have the rights we enjoy today without them.

quote:

Originally posted by hvactech:
Interesting read:

RICOCHET Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist by Richard Feldman.

Hvactech, you've obviously read the book. How did it affect you? Are you pro/anti NRA? Or, is it more complicated than that?

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:
Lifer here. I don't get calls, just the monthly magazine and the occasional mailed solicitation that goes right into the trash. Overall, I'm pleased and thankful for their support for our rights.

Same here. Thank God for the NRA.

I’ve been a life member since I got out of college, asked them to stop constant begging, they stopped.

quote:

Originally posted by George43:
I have perceived a disdain of the NRA amongst some members of the forum. Why is that?

I became a Life Member for them to fight for the 2nd Amendment, not continuously send me offers to become a member of a wine club. That said, I still support them for lack of a better option that has such political access and influence.

Contrarian here. I get nagged a lot more, by worse organizations.

I shred most of what they send, but it's not a big fraction of the shred load. I have a fairly sophisticated anti-junk-caller setup and if they are caught up in that along with the over 350 junk callers stopped since that started, it's no biggie.

I like what they do in promoting our hobby/rights, and in helping train folks, and throwing sand into the gears of the anti-gun machinery. Are they perfect? No. Are they the only ones on the right side? No.

My range is a 100% NRA range (I think there is a financial incentive behind that) so I went Life member a while back. I kick a bit into the ILA now and again, to provide more sand for them to throw. No regrets.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
Like any large organization, they'll have their issues, but there is no question that we wouldn't have the rights we enjoy today without them.

No question? So, since you're telling us that you know without any doubt that the NRA has preserved our freedoms, please list some instances that demonstrate this.

Listen to what you are saying. You cannot prove your claim, because you would need access to the events of an alternate universe in which everything in our world is exactly the same with the exception of the existence of the NRA.

Its an unprovable claim and there is most certainly room for doubt.

I swear, it really does seem to me that some of you think that our Second Amendment rights are granted to us by the NRA. The NRA is a lobbying group, not God Almighty. The NRA is not the Constitution. The NRA is not the law of the land. I know I'm supposed to genuflect at the alter of the NRA, so you can accuse me of blasphemy and call me a heretic if you wish.

quote:

Originally posted by Mountain Walker:
In 2015 the NRA reported that Wayne LaPeir received $5 MIL compensation for his services. This may include growth of stock options,so figure could be a bit inflated.

What stock options could they offer him? There is no NRA stock because it's a non-profit. He may get bonuses and incentives in addition to a base salary.

There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to the amount of pestering they do. A few years back I received one or two phone calls a week and about the same in mailings. Shoot, I haven't heard a word from them in months.

While I'm at it, I'll tell you something else- I know that there are others here who feel as I do, but they don't want to say anything for fear of being branded anti-gun or ungrateful or just plain stupid. For years, when this subject came up in the forum, I simply bit my tongue. That's the truth. I was fearful of speaking my mind on the subject in my own forum. That should give you an idea of what it's like to stand back and observe all the adulation for the NRA, as if the Second Amendment is the creation and possession of a lobbying group. A heretic such as myself should be careful about having the umitigated gall to say something counter to the endless praise of the NRA.

I feel the money I donate to them each year is money well spent IMHO. Are they a PITA? yes. Would we be better off without them? no! I don't think so.

I don't fault anyone for supporting the NRA. I'm simply saying that I do not care for their fundraising techniques and I do not automatically and irrevocably tie my Second Amendment rights to a powerful lobbying group.

Member here and I am one that has drank the koolaid the NRA is a required lobby group. I recognize the phone number that calls about every 3 months and typically don't answer it. I tolerate that by thinking of all the left wing anti-gun/anti-right/anti-american fund raising groups and imagine how much they get bugged to "donate" to the cause. So I dutifully donate here and there, buy something from the catalog, order my Christmas cards from the mailer that comes. I do enjoy receiving and reading the American Rifleman. They seem to be a big target of the left, typically being an NRA member is saying anti-leftist, that on its own is reason enough for me to support them. They have a channel to congress/senate, with some pull. I like the Americas original civil rights organization push back. I can not show (prove) what our gun world would look like with out an NRA, especially with respect to CCW, but I suspect it would not be the same. I can not defend anything they have not done in specific states or situations. If anything it is cheap insurance against the left with a monthly rag and some occasional swag.

I am the NRA and I vote.