Quick.
What is America's "oldest civil rights organization"?
NAACP?
Wrong.
American Civil Liberties Union?
Guess again Bucko.
Southern Christian Leadership Conference?
Nay.
Yes, you sir, with the bulge under your jacket.
Did you say National Rifle Association?
Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!
And this week, our nation's self-proclaimed "oldest civil rights organization" is setting up camp in St. Louis, Missouri, for its annual meeting and gun industry exposition, a celebration of Freedom!, Freedom!, and yes, even more Freedom! -- especially if the true measure of freedom is easy access to increasingly lethal firearms. (For reasons unknown, the NRA recently amended its self-serving characterization of itself to "America's oldest civil rights and sportsmen's " organization. Perhaps even the NRA's hardened PR flacks couldn't continue to utter the original with a straight face.)
This three-day pro-gun pep rally -- numerous segments of it sponsored by members of the firearms industry -- will feature meetings, concerts, prayers, seminars, and a firearms expo (and while attendees with concealed handgun permits will not be able to bring their handguns into the exposition hall due to city law, they will be able to visit the display -- Booth 2439 -- of gun manufacturer Kel-Tec, maker of the pistol that concealed carry killer George Zimmerman used to shoot Trayvon Martin).
Virtually every topic imaginable that could fall under the rubric of what the NRA alliteratively labels "Firearms Freedom" will be discussed. Except, of course, there will be no mention of the carnage gun violence inflicts on Americans, their families, and their communities day in and day out. And the NRA is certain to assiduously avoid acknowledging the fact that it's holding its annual meeting in the state that leads the nation in black homicide victimization.
According to Black Homicide Victimization in the United States, an annual report issued this past January by my organization, the Violence Policy Center, Missouri ranks first in the nation for black homicide victimization with a rate of 34.72 per 100,000. The study uses 2009 unpublished Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) data, the most recent comprehensive state-by-state data available. Missouri's black homicide victimization rate of 34.72 per 100,000 was seven times the national overall homicide rate of 4.76 per 100,000. There were 239 black homicide victims in Missouri. Of these, 206 were male and 33 were female.
In 2009, 87 percent of black homicide victims in Missouri were shot and killed with guns. Of these, 65 percent were killed with handguns. Missouri also ranked first in the nation for black homicide victimization in 2008, with a rate of 39.90 per 100,000.
This type of grim irony, especially in the wake of the shooting of Trayvon Martin, is nothing new to the NRA. Following the 1999 mass shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, that left 13 victims dead, the NRA plowed ahead with an abbreviated version of its annual meeting in Denver -- despite desperate pleas from Colorado students and citizens and the mayor of Denver that the group move or postpone it.
And whether it's students slaughtered in their schools or the murder of African Americans at rates that seem almost inconceivable, nothing will ruin the NRA's pro-gun good times. The organization's reaction is as predictable as it is callous: it ignores the collateral damage of its actions, packs up its guns, wraps itself up in its Gadsden flag, and moves on to the next town.
Follow Josh Sugarmann on Twitter: www.twitter.com/VPCinfo
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NRA Annual Meeting This Weekend in St. Louis, MO--State Ranked ...
"There were 239 black homicide victims in Missouri. Of these, 206 were male and 33 were female."
And, using published FBI UCR numbers, it is likely that approximately 91%, or 217, of those black homicide victims were victimized by black offenders. Looks like black people are more dangerous to black people than guns.
ECS
Nice, Josh. You neglected to explain WHY the NRA was REQUIRED to hold its meeting in Denver as scheduled in 1999.
1. The meeting had been scheduled for Denver for three years.
2. The meeting had been planned for over a year.
3. The NRA was required by its charter and by federal law to hold its annual meeting in the announced site to swear in new officials.
4. The time requirements to legally change the site of the annual meeting could not be met due to the short time between the Columbine High School shootings and the scheduled meeting.
5. The NRA cancelled every other activity planned for the convention except the annual meeting itself which, as I indicated before, was required by its charter and federal law.
ECS
ECS
Not if you cooperate with the firearm's demands. When it jumps out of the night stand drawer and points itself at you, I find that talking calmly to it and offering it copius amounts of Hoppes #9 instantly relaxes it and it'll return to its resting place almost immediately.
Although the better option is to remove the mind control chip when you first purchase it. This removes all doubt that it will remain in control at all times and won't force you to draw it needlessly in times of high stress, like lukewarm chai tea at Starbucks.
ECS
Now where's that "Wheel barrow Full of Cash!(tm)" I get every month from being an NRA member? It's a few days late.
ECS
The First step is to take advantage of high profile incidents.
The Second step is to marginalize legal gun use and historic precedent.
The Third step is to make some guns seem more dangerous than others, even if they are not.
The Fourth step is to register every sale.
The Fifth step is a robust “Shall Issue” permitting process.
The Final step is to encourage and incentivize the forfeiture of arms.
The NRA wasn't viewed as a "civil rights organization" in its early days. They were all about safety and marksmanship.
The NRA adopted the civil rights role only AFTER well intentioned fools started chipping away at 2A rights. Citizens volunteered to get on board and donate lots of money to help create a powerful lobbying tool. Josh is only upset that his group has never done nearly as well. We get it Josh... your cause is losing and you're bitter. That's no excuse for dishonesty.
Carter changed the direction of the NRA in or around 1971. Not surprisingly, far reaching gun control laws became popular in the early to mid 1960's. Tell us again, enlightened one, who fired the first volley; congress or the NRA?
Need a towel? You seem to have egg on your face... again.
You are really grasping at straws with that one.
It's pretty much all he does.
Which is probably about the same as the city of Chicago.
Actually the the city of Denver asked them to keep the meeting there. The NRA had no choice but to have this meeting, it is planned a year in advance and is required by the laws of the state in which the NRA is incorporated. If they had not held the meeting, they could have been disbanded by law. What they did was to pare down the extremely large pre-planned convention to some bare essentials and a few seminars -- most of the convention was canceled.
The NRA rotates its meetings through most of the contiguous 48 states. whoopdyflippingdo. Looks like JS is scraping the bottom of the barrel for things to complain about.
1. How many of these firearms used in St. Louis shootings are legally obtained?
2. What does bringing in the brand of pistol used by Zimmerman have anything to do with your points? Should Kel-Tec not be able to sell any more firearms? Are you going to ban Ford from a car show because people might have died in their vehicles?
3. Please stop with the Columbine/NRA meeting rhetoric. The meeting was planned several months in advance and contracts were signed. They couldn't just "not have it".
Thank
Fortunately, the NRA does not represent the values of many Americans.
Maybe some people with criminal intent are the problem. Just a thought.
And while the country with the toughest gun laws - has the most violent crimes. Google it and see which country that is, (its not the US). So enough with the "guns are the problem" Josh, the problem is people killing other people.
False.