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NRA official sets stage for annual convention: we are engaged in a "culture war"

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XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
http://www.sfgate.com/news/texas/article/NRA-official-Culture-war-more-than-gun-rights-4483274.php

HOUSTON (AP) — The National Rifle Association kicked off its annual convention Friday with a warning to its members they are engaged in a "culture war" that stretches beyond gun rights, further ramping up emotions surrounding the gun control debate.

NRA First Vice President James Porter, a Birmingham, Ala., attorney who will assume the organization's presidency Monday, issued a full-throated challenge to President Barack Obama in the wake of a major victory regarding gun control and called on members to dig in for a long fight that will stretch into the 2014 elections.


More than 70,000 NRA members are expected to attend the three-day convention amid the backdrop of the national debate over gun control and the defeat of a U.S. Senate bill that would have expanded background checks for gun sales. It was introduced after December's mass shooting at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school. A small gathering of gun control supporters were outside of the convention in Houston.

Porter's remarks came in a short speech to about 300 people at a grass-roots organizing meeting and set the tone for a "Stand and Fight"-themed convention that is part gun trade show, political rally and strategy meeting.

"This is not a battle about gun rights," Porter said, calling it "a culture war."

"(You) here in this room are the fighters for freedom. We are the protectors," said Porter, whose father was NRA president from 1959-1960.


Rob Heagy, a former parole officer from San Francisco, agreed with Porter's description of a culture war.

"It is a cultural fight on those 10 guarantees," he said, referring to the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution. "Mr. Obama said he wasn't going after our guns. As soon as the Connecticut thing happened, he came after our guns."

That theme carried throughout the day and reached a crescendo in a 3 ½-hour political rally punctuated by fiery speeches from state and national conservative leaders.

"You stood up when freedom was under assault and you stood in the gap, you made a difference," former U.S. senator and Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum told the cheering crowd of more than 3,500 at the rally.

"This is a critical time in American history. Something big is happening in America," Santorum said. "Stand for America. Fight for America."

Texas Gov. Rick Perry criticized gun control supporters as opportunists who prey on the raw emotions of tragic events.

"You can almost set your watch for how long it takes for people who hate guns, who hate gun owners, to start a new campaign, after a mass shooting," Perry said.


Obama, who has pushed for gun control measures, was a prime target for criticism the entire day. NRA Executive Director Chris Cox bragged about the organization's political victory.

"It was great to see the president throw a temper tantrum in the Rose Garden," Cox said.

Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, called the culture war reference a sign the NRA is worried about polls that show most Americans support some expansion of background checks.

"They want to make it a culture war," Horwitz said. "They have to make it into something bigger. On the issue of background checks, they can't possibly win."

Gun control advocates were determined to have a presence outside the convention hall. Across the street Friday, the No More Names vigil read the names of gun violence victims since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. Gun control advocates also planned a petition drive to support expanded background checks and a Saturday demonstration outside the convention hall.

Erica Lafferty, whose mother, Sandy Hook principal Dawn Hochsprung, was killed by the gunman, was outside the building and said she hoped to talk to as many NRA members as she could.

"I am not against people owning guns. I am asking for safe and responsible gun ownership and gun laws. I don't understand where the problem is with background checks," Lafferty said.


While national polls have shown that a majority of Americans are in favor of expanding background checks, many convention attendees said Friday they were not in favor of such efforts.

"We already have something like those laws now. We don't need new laws on top of the old laws. They need to enforce the laws that we have," said Charles Henderson, 59, a farmer from Amarillo, Texas.

Inside the hall, visitors strolled past acres of displays of rifles, pistols, swords and hunting gear. Under Texas law, attendees could carry concealed weapons with a permit.

Debbie and Daniel Ferris of Gun Barrel City, Texas, attended the grass-roots organizing workshop and agreed with Porter's assessment of a culture war.

"It's about fighting tyranny," said Debbie Ferris, who has been an NRA member for five years. Her 35-year-old husband is a lifetime member.

"We don't like to be pushed around," Daniel Ferris said. "We are free Americans."

Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice presidential nominee and ex-Alaska governor, spoke to personal freedoms at the political rally as well, saying NRA members should "keep the faith" and "stand up and fight for our freedoms."


But gun control supporters promise to keep pressing the issue and have made significant strides at the state level.

Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, has said he will re-introduce the bill to require criminal and mental health background checks for gun buyers at shows and online.

Colorado lawmakers recently passed new restrictions on firearms, including required background checks for private and online gun sales and a ban on ammunition magazines that hold more than 15 rounds. Connecticut added more than 100 firearms to the state's assault weapons ban and now requires background checks for private gun sales.

Maryland and New York have passed sweeping new guns laws, and in Washington state, supporters of universal background checks recently announced a statewide campaign to collect 300,000 signatures to take the issue straight to voters.

"There are 90 percent of Americans that support this," Lafferty said. "We are not going away. It's a huge issue."

Some images from the first day of the convention.

Guns!

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Giant flags!

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Paraphernalia!

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"You can almost set your watch for how long it takes for people who hate guns, who hate gun owners, to start a new campaign, after a mass shooting," Perry said.
Such a fucking persecution complex.

I don't give a fuck about gun owners. I just hate killed children. Is that so hard to understand? Stop thinking about yourself for a change and try to think of ways for their to be less innocent people killed with guns.
 

Savitar

Member
These are the nutters that love the thought of a fight with the government yet would cry pitifully if gone toe to toe with the army.
 

Divvy

Canadians burned my passport
Man there are like almost no minorities in the 122 pictures of the convention on that page.
 

Kaako

Felium Defensor
Smh at this kind of mentality. Shit like this is just dangerous imo as well. Culture war, us vs them, preserving our way of life, and so forth...
 
How long till the NRA ends up on the FBi watchlist?
I mean, they act almost like some underground resistant group nowadays.
their neverending campaign against the current goverment and the president are over the top.

"culture war"? wtf
 

MaddenNFL64

Member
They're ready to fight a war. Like kill people, For their fucking contraptions. Kill for your toaster too, you fucks.

I'm not even about banning guns, I just want it to be treated like the deadly weapons they are. The deadliest objects we use are cars, the second are guns. Treat em the same.
 

relaxor

what?
Why to old Rick Perry the mass murders are as natural as the full moon, and who're we to stop the heavenly bodies?
 
These are the nutters that love the thought of a fight with the government yet would cry pitifully if gone toe to toe with the army.
Yeah it's hilarious.
>hate the government and fear it's power
> have a politician speak at your rally and support a big military budget
 

Jintor

Member
Texas Gov. Rick Perry criticized gun control supporters as opportunists who prey on the raw emotions of tragic events.

"You can almost set your watch for how long it takes for people who hate guns, who hate gun owners, to start a new campaign, after a mass shooting," Perry said.

This is perhaps the dumbest fucking thing I've ever heard.
 
Can we talk about how the fucking Tea Party and NRA freedom fighter fuckers desecrated the "Don't Tread On Me" slogan and flags from the Revolutionary Era? I am seriously upset over this fact.

With that said, the whole gun fetishism in this country is fucking disgusting. "I don't dial 9-1-1"? Go a head and take the law into your own hands you redneck fuck.
 

MaddenNFL64

Member
Yeah it's hilarious.
>hate the government and fear it's power
> have a politician speak at your rally and support a big military budget

They are of the thought the god fearing personnel of the U.S armed forces will disobey direct orders and switch to the confederates, or whatever they'll call themselves. I'm sure the U.S government will also hand the traitors, a-10's, abrams, and apaches.
 
Why to old Rick Perry the mass murders are as natural as the full moon, and who're we to stop the heavenly bodies?
If anything we should be helping the gods in sending up more customers, considering how many innocent lives Perry has cut short so he can look "tough on crime" in a goddamn political campaign.

His hands are soaked with as much blood as Adam Lanza's.
 
More than 70,000 NRA members are expected to attend the three-day convention

You know, if big evil Obama really wanted to, a single well placed drone strike pretty much clears up the rest of his presidency.

Sort of ironic that anti-government nuts would congregate so that the government could take them out oh-so easily. And naturally, their key speakers are members of government too.
 
Let's put it another way.

If you have a fearful paranoia of Obama coming to take your guns away and cling to them like an obsession....he probably should.

This is clear signs of mental illness.
 

Rajack

Member
I'm pro second amendment and even I want these nutjobs to get the fuck out of this goddamn solar system. Fucking war mongering shitheads.
 
It's true that the gun debate is more of a cultural debate than anything else. Who gets to decide what is the norm in society? Humans are a very social and factional culture. If you are "normal" or in the dominating faction in society, that is a very good thing and elevates you above the groups that are not "normal" or are the weaker elements of society (see Syria, the minority Alawites are fighting to retain their dominance in Syrian society). The gun people want to make sure that guns are still seen as normal and positive so that they do not lose more cultural influence. Also, the NRA represents the gun manufacturers and wants to keep their profits healthy.

Most division issues in society are cultural wars basically. People are just fighting proxy wars (abortion, religion, drugs, guns, etc) to make sure that their group is powerful in society and that they have as much influence as possible. Also explains why when 100x the number of people die every year from car accidents than terrorism, people still focus on terrorism. Terrorism threatens people's power and influence. Car accidents, diseases, etc. don't.
 

Ominym

Banned
If I ever see someone wearing a shirt that says, "I don't dial 911" with an M1911 on it? I'm going to assume that person is a psychopath.

I mean, fucking honestly. I swear people that are that into self-defense just seem like they're chomping at the bit to "defend their home." It's honestly like they want to kill someone.
 

MaddenNFL64

Member
If I ever see someone wearing a shirt that says, "I don't dial 911" with an M1911 on it? I'm going to assume that person is a psychopath.

I mean, fucking honestly. I swear people that into self-defense just seem like they're chomping at the bit to "defend their home." It's honestly like they want to kill someone.

It's fucking freaky. They talk about it all the damn time.
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
When the fuck are the silent majority of NRA members going to take back their organization? Where are the 75% of members who support expanded background checks?

If I ever see someone wearing a shirt that says, "I don't dial 911" with an M1911 on it? I'm going to assume that person is a psychopath.

I mean, fucking honestly. I swear people that are that into self-defense just seem like they're chomping at the bit to "defend their home." It's honestly like they want to kill someone.

Oh they are. They're desperate for any excuse to murder someone. We see it time and time again in areas with aggressive 'self-defense' laws.
 
When the fuck are the silent majority of NRA members going to take back their organization? Where are the 75% of members who support expanded background checks?

Too afraid to step forward lest they be shot for trying to take away their second amendment rights.
 
I don't see any problem with owning a gun.

The problem is the gun culture the NRA nutcases are promoting and the people following it. And this, right here, is batshit insane. Like, idiocracy insanity.
 
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