NRA Stuff
I’ve yammered on before about how the NRA isn’t all that popular with us evil black rifle types. Well, now hunters aren’t too pleased with them either:
After years of close association with the Republican Party and hard-nosed opposition to federal land-use regulation, the National Rifle Association is being pressured by its membership to distance itself from President Bush’s energy policies that have opened more public land for oil and gas drilling and limited access to hunters and anglers.
“The Bush administration has placed more emphasis on oil and gas than access rights for hunters,” said Ronald L. Schmeits, second vice president of the NRA, a member of its board of directors and a bank president in Raton, N.M.
Some EBR folks are upset because they cater to the fudds. The fudds are upset because they aren’t fuddy enough. I think we EBR folks need to have a sitdown with the fudds.
January 10th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
I won’t comment publicly, but there’s more to the issue with NRA than what’s reflected in the story. For example, when’s the last time you saw an article where an NRA officer (not staff) who doesn’t even have a serious staff at headquarters (unlike the President – and Schmeits is not even the next in line, he’s down from that) serving as a spokesman for the organization? You don’t. There’s a reason. To the best of my knowledge, that policy has not changed. Fun times in Fairfax, I’m sure.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
I’m not impressed by the story. It was written by a WaPo reporter who quotes the AHSA, thus pretty much guaranteeing it was biased against the NRA and Republicans. Ding, Dong The NRA-is-Dying! stories have been circulating ever since Bush I turned in his NRA membership over the JBT quote. Like the stories about the Great War Between Hunters and Shooters, it’s mostly minor issues that are distorted by wishful thinking of the MSM.
From what I’ve seen, most of the “conservative” hunters who have been complaining about the NRA and the roadless rule are the outdoor writers and the upper-class professionals who aren’t rich enough to hunt on private preserves but still expect a similar experience on public land.
They often bitch about other hunters, too. Snooty liberal outdoor writer Tom Wharton of the Salt Lake Tribune usually churns out one or two “Modern-Hunters-are-all-NRA-Slobs” column every year.