The NRA is losing its grip - on reality and on politicians

[DonViejo]

By Jennifer Rubin February 26 at 10:15 AM

National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre and spokeswoman Dana Loesch have in recent days helped pull back the curtain on the mind-set of the NRA. This is not a group that wants responsible gun ownership. (Do responsible people have a weapon of war designed purely to kill as many people as possible as fast as possible?) This is not a group that is focused on making cogent arguments about gun legislation. Instead, like President Trump and Fox News, the NRA now operates in the fever swamp of what used to be a conservative party. Now, it’s a cult based on the preservation of Trump, a cult that requires conspiracies, bizarre rhetoric and out-and-out lies to keep its members in a high-pitch frenzy.

LaPierre ranted at the Conservative Political Action Conference, “If they seize power, if these so-called European socialists take over the House and the Senate, and God forbid they get the White House again, our American freedoms could be lost and our country will be changed forever.” If someone were mumbling like that at a bar, the bartender would be obligated to cut off his drinks.

The NRA’s arguments no longer depend on or even include facts; they are tribal calls to signal that it’s time for the faithful to toss away rational debate. (What about all the people saved by guns?! Any cursory look at the facts would tell you that’s a horrible argument, but it’s part of the NRA playbook. It’s what the NRA crowd says because … socialists are out to get them?)

When LaPierre cautions the CPAC crowd that he’s not talking about armed rebellion (was anyone??), he’s showing some rhetorical leg. He’s hinting (Who knows? “Some people say . . . ” as the president likes to tell us) there might be an even wilder, weirder edition of the NRA gospel to come. (Is telling us that he’s not for armed rebellion supposed to make his hyperventilating speech sound saner?)

Loesch gave her own vitriolic rant at CPAC (as she does regularly in her NRA propaganda ads). She didn’t bother with the dogwhistle at CPAC; she brought out the bullhorn on race and liberal media, two of the hot-button issues that bind Trumpkins together these days. “Many in legacy media love mass shootings. You guys love it,” she declared. “I’m not saying that you love the tragedy, but I am saying that you love the ratings. Crying white mothers are ratings gold to you and many of the legacy media in the back.” That’s not an argument; its defamation.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2018/02/26/the-nra-is-losing-its-grip-on-reality-and-on-politicians/?utm_term=.f18d84d0f3e2

[dalton99a]

1. Another great piece by Rubin.

[DonViejo]

2. I love her hammering of the GOP. Of course, once the Dems are in charge she'll turn back...

to her old ways and I'll turn back to loathing her

[dalton99a]

3. Yep. I have no doubt.

[Cha]

11. i know what you mean, Don.. she sure Nailed 'em with this..

"Now, it’s a cult based on the preservation of Trump, a cult that requires conspiracies, bizarre rhetoric and out-and-out lies to keep its members in a high-pitch frenzy"

[struggle4progress]

4. From the Scientific American article:

More Guns Do Not Stop More Crimes, Evidence Shows
By Melinda Wenner Moyer on October 1, 2017

... For clues on how guns affect violence, Kennesaw is an obvious place to start. On March 15, 1982, this city 24 miles north of Atlanta passed a controversial law: to “provide for and protect the safety, security and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants,” Kennesaw would require that every head of a household own a firearm and ammunition ...

... City officials tout that a year after the law was implemented, burglaries in Kennesaw dropped by more than half; by 1985 they were down by 80 percent. “It was a selling point for the town,” according to David McDowall, a criminologist at the University at Albany, S.U.N.Y. The lavish media attention that the law received probably helps: it's not just that Kennesaw residents have guns; it's that everyone knows Kennesaw residents have guns. (That said, the rule has never been enforced, and Graydon estimates that only about half of Kennesaw's residents actually own firearms.)

But while burglary numbers did drastically decline in Kennesaw after 1981, those statistics can be misleading. McDowall took a closer look at the numbers and noticed that 1981 was an anomaly — there were 75 percent more burglaries that year than there were, on average, in the previous five years. It is no surprise that the subsequent years looked great by comparison. McDowall studied before-and-after burglary numbers using 1978, 1979 or 1980 as starting points instead of 1981 and, as he reported in a 1989 paper, the purported crime drop disappeared. Kennesaw has always had pretty minimal crime, which may have more to do with the residents and location than how many guns it has.

Yet the sense I got in Kennesaw—which feels like a typical small city, not some gun-frenzied town — is that data don't matter to a lot of people. It was similar in other places I visited. What matters more is apparent logic: guns stop criminals, so they keep people safer. The night before I met Graydon, I attended a lecture by a Second Amendment lawyer in Stone Mountain, Ga., 30 miles southeast of Kennesaw. At one point, the lawyer mentioned Samuel Colt, who popularized the revolver in the mid-19th century. “I haven't seen the statistics, but I've got to assume that the instances of rape and strong-arm robberies plummeted when those became widespread,” he said. Numbers and statistics, in other words, were almost unnecessary — everyone just knows that where there are more guns, there is less crime ...

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. Good reading article. Thanks. . . . . . nt

[SunSeeker]

5. K & R

[EffieBlack]

6. But they're still managing to get Democrats to do their dirty work

As evidenced by folks on DU repeating their talking points ... so there's still hope for them.

[pangaia]

7. If someone were mumbling like that at a bar, the bartender would be obligated to cut off his drinks

[Skittles]

9. FUCK THE NRA

and fuck ANYONE who supports that terrorist organization

[Cha]

10. Damn, Con writer, Jennifer Rubin, Nails 'em!

"Now, it’s a cult based on the preservation of Trump, a cult that requires conspiracies, bizarre rhetoric and out-and-out lies to keep its members in a high-pitch frenzy"

[VOX]

14. Both in WaPo and on MSNBC, Rubin has excoriated #45 & Company...

As if she were the most liberal soul on Earth. Her every salvo could be written/spoken by a solid Democrat.

Where she plants herself post-45 will be interesting.

[Cha]

15. Let's hope there's a brilliant Prez, "post #45".. I remember

her as one to avoid when she was always whining about President Obama.

It's heartening to know that trump is a bridge too far even for some stalwart cons.

Mahalo for replying, VOX.. I meant to put this quote of Rubin's in my journal

[sofa king]

12. If we're lucky, they'll bust off as their own political party.

You know what's dumber than a bunch of Republican politicians? A coalition of one-issue conservative politicians. The stupid clogs up the flow of evil.

[Stonepounder]

13. I blew my Coke out my nose when I read the second paragraph!

[gyroscope]

16. Absolutely nailed it!

The NRA is definitely a cult.... and so is the GOP for that matter. With Dump playing the part of Jim Jones, the circus clown freak show becomes more insane with every passing day.