NRA's next shill (UPDATED)

...isn't for gun rights, it's selling WINE for $6.99/bottle, which is either a loss-leader or it's "two-buck Chuck" and not worth swilling.

Am I the ONLY one who thinks that the NRA is like a kid in a candy store here? They are absolutely nutso with their mailing list. They are worse than Publisher's Clearing House.

Does anyone out there have a clue as to who I might direct a polite letter to within that benighted organization? A person who actually gives a rip about how we feel about our NRA?

Perhaps a movement to boycott this year's convention is in order.

You will note that I haven't even mentioned the propriety of an organization supposedly devoted to teaching gun safety selling alcoholic beverages....

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UPDATE: 042808 2106 PDT: Just when you thought the NRA couldn't get worse, I open my mail and there is a letter, dated 4/12/08, asking me to renew my membership. Fine. Except my current membership extends until 11/30/08, or over seven months from the date of this letter of renewal. I have zero other memberships in anything that would ask me to renew an annual membership when I had over half of it remaining. Not only that, but the letter, signed by Wayne LaPierre, who I USED to respect, tries to lay a guilt trip on me if I don't renew this early:

"Also, you'll save the NRA the cost of sending more notices. That means more of your dues can go directly to critical NRA projects including our safety programs, our crime-fighting efforts and, most important, our fight to save your guns!!!"

OK, Mr. LaPierre, here's a flash for you: I don't want you to save my guns, I want you to help save my gun rights. There IS a difference, and you don't seem to notice that difference much. My guns aren't going anywhere without my OK, but under the NRA's stewardship, my gun rights have been steadily eroding.

Oh, and while I'm responding to your letter, let me add that it's YOUR CHOICE to send me all these early renewal notices which incur you additional administrative overhead expense. I know perfectly well when my membership dues are due, thank you, and rest assured that you will get them sometime in November.

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Comments

[Kurt P]

When I get their mail, unless It's something I'm expecting (new cards, renewals)-it usually goes into the trash unopened.

[donna]

Hey Rivrdog, another thing to look out for is magazine subscriptions I subscribe to "Reminisce" (about the good ole days) I renewed in Dec for 20 months. A month later get another bill, paid it because I forget I paid in Dec. Get another bill couple of weeks ago then realized I paid. Called them up amd my subscription now expires Dec/Jan 2012. What the hell takes them so long to post the payments? One other time I was paid ahead on some magazine when they cancelled it. Instead of a refund they sent me some other crappy magazine. I feel better now, thanks for letting me bitch.

EDITOR'S NOTE: It's never a bitch when you're enlightening me, my dear.

[Nels Tomlinson]

I became a life member of the NRA about 20 years ago. I wanted to do something positive to preserve civil liberties in America. It wasn't a very effective investment. Today, I wish I had joined JPFO or so instead.

Rivrdog, why don't you ask folks about the pros and cons of the several pro-gun rights organizations? I haven't done any research on who's effective, who's lobbying, who's grass-roots, and who's mostly fund raising, like the NRA. This might be a good place to thrash out a consensus on which organizations are worth the dues, and I could freeload on other folk's research.

[Morenuancedthanyou]

If you call the NRA's 800 number and tell them to shut off the junk mail spigot, they will shut it off. Worked for me anyway.

[Aaron Neal]

I was an NRA member for about a year. I didn't renew when I figured out that, if they were sending all members the amount of crap they were sending me, they were spending more on begging than they were on fighting for gun rights.

Not to mention the underhanded ways they begged - sending videos, memorial coins, etc, that I didn't order, and asking me to pay for them after the fact.

NRA has good training programs that are worth some support, but as far as gun rights go, I consider them less than worthless - they're soaking up money that could go to organizations that REALLY support, and fight for, gun rights.

[Assrot]

I don't know what to tell you 'dog. I've been a life member of NRA for quite some time now. I've written letters and emails until my fingers are raw and never get a response to a single gotdam one of them. The only way I know for you to be heard by the NRA is to agree with something they write in one of their magazines and then they will publish it without asking your permission.

If you go to their web site and poke around, I think there is a place where you can put in your member number and ask to be taken off the junk mail list. I did it a few years ago and now all I get is the monthly magazine. I don't get any of the junk mail and I don't have any dues since I am a life member already.

I send them a donation once a year and that's it. When they start doing a better job of defending my 2nd amendment rights, maybe I'll send them a little more. They have surely gone down hill in the past decade or so. Who else do we have though? They are all the same. Every one of the so called pro-gun, 2nd amendment defense organizations spend more money sending out junkmail than they will ever make back from the average member. Every time they mail you a letter it's a gotdam emergency that requires at least a $50 donation and they send this damn junk out faster than a jack rabbit with his tail on fire.

I don't know bud. I think we're going to get screwed on the whole deal in the end. My only consolence is that it won't matter to me much longer. I figure I got about another 20 years on this planet if I'm lucky. I do worry about my kids and grandkids growing up in a Socialist country with the likes of Obama or the Hildebeast at the helm.

Molon Labe,
Joe