They're calling it the NRA verdict, even though it really revolved around Wayne LaPierre. Either way, the proverbial 800-pound gorilla of the gun rights movement is still wounded and not nearly as effective as it was.
Anti-gunners have been celebrating the news.
A lot of pro-gun folks were as well, but for very different reasons.
Folks on this side were glad to see Wayne gone, blaming him for a lot of issues with the nation's oldest civil rights organization. On the other side of the fence, they thought it meant they'd won.
In fact, it seems that Brady not only figures the NRA is dead, but that it's time to turn attention toward the new heavy hitter in the pro-gun movement.
A national gun control organization is taking responsibility for the NRA’s legal problems, setting its sights on a firearms industry trade organization, and calling on people to join its fight.
In a March 14 email, Brady—formerly The Brady Campaign—is soliciting signatures on a petition for Congress to pass more gun control laws to end the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF).
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The Brady email hailed the verdict as a result of its work and called on Brady supporters to turn their attention to the NSSF.
“Luckily, we at Brady know how to fight the NSSF because we’ve been fighting the NRA for years, and we’re seeing the disgraceful end of their organization play out because of our dedicated work. We may know their tricks, but we’re going to need all the support we can get if we’re going to overcome another extremist gun lobby group, and that’s why I’m reaching out today,” reads the email written under the name Kris Brown, President of Brady.
The email doesn’t specify how Brady assisted New York Attorney General Letitia James. But, it does provide a list of its complaints against the NSSF.
According to the email, the NSSF spends millions of dollars lobbying on behalf of the gun industry. The email says the NSSF opposes universal background checks, state laws to allow lawsuits against gunmakers whose products are used in the commission of a crime, and has branded President Joe Biden as “waging war on the Second Amendment.”
“I think, if anything, [the email] is a testament to the effectiveness of NSSF and our ability to advocate for our industry,” Mark Oliva, Managing Director of Public Affairs for the NSSF, told The Epoch Times.
He's right, too.
The NSSF has been an effective voice for gun rights, particularly as the NRA has been distracted with the whole LaPierre fiasco.
Now the question is whether there's literally anything Brady can do, and on that, I'm more than a little skeptical.
First, there was a lot of shady stuff going on at the NRA, carried out by LaPierre. If there was even a hint of anything similar going on at the NSSF, Brady would have mentioned that in and amongst their complaints.
Instead, their issue is that the NSSF is doing its job.
It's a gun industry organization. Of course it's going to lobby for the gun industry. That's what its members expect. Part of that means taking issue with gun laws that will inhibit the sale of a constitutionally protected product.
Brady may want to take on the NSSF, but they're not the reason the NRA is dealing with the aftermath of what happened. We don't know they had anything to do with the court case, for one thing, but for another, all of that was because of one man thinking he was above the rules.
If they had a whiff that was happening elsewhere in the gun rights world, they'd be banging that drum.
Instead, it's just empty threats and fear that they've supposedly toppled the giant that stood in their way--they didn't because it's not toppled, merely wounded--only to find another giant standing there.
Well, learn to deal with disappointment.
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