NRA Smoking Crack?

The National Rifle Association's magazine articles usually have the same two-part contradictory message: 1]NRA has led gun owners to a ceaseless string of political victories (so send money). 2]Your gun rights have never been more in peril (so send money). While thumbing through this month's rag from the NRA, I happened upon an article by Dave Kopel, titled "Will The Supreme Court Set Speech Free?"

Unlike NRA's self-promoting magazine staff-writers, Kopel is an author, attorney and political scientist whose opinions I do respect. NRA must respect his opinions as well, since they often include his articles. I'll assume that, since they included this article in their publication, NRA agrees with the premise of the article.

The article begins: "Today, one of the gravest long-term threats to your Second Amendment rights is the weakening of your First Amendment rights--including your right as a member of the National Rifle Association to participate in free speech in the months before a federal election." The article is about the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), which the Supreme Court is set to re-review this month.

The article calls the law "anathema to democracy." It contends that BCRA is actually worse than the Sedition Act of 1798, which punished criticizing government officials, because "if you could prove that your criticism [...] was accurate, then you would be entitled to an acquittal. In contrast, the BRCA restricts even truthful statements about federal candidates."

This mirrors the words of NRA Executive VP Wayne Lapierre, who, shortly after BCRA became law, called it "the most significant change in the First Amendment since the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, which tried to make it a crime to criticize a member of Congress." The NRA quickly filed suit against the law at that time, but ultimately lost.

What does all this have to do with the NRA smoking crack? BCRA is more commonly known by the name "The McCain-Feingold Act." McCain as in Arizona Senator John McCain, who NRA endorsed for president in 2008.

McCain, who did commercials for the George Soros funded anti-Second Amendment group "Americans For Gun Safety." McCain, who sponsored legislation that could have shut down gunshows. John McCain who supported legislation that would "force federal agents to increase efforts in arresting and convicting honest gun owners who may inadvertently violate one of the many federal anti-gun laws, which punish mere technicalities, such as gun possession." McCain, who received an "F" grade from Gun Owners of America in 2004 and 2006.

This McCain:


I might have been able to let the NRA slide on its endorsement of this statist ogre. Perhaps it was just a one-time transgression by an organization frightened by the prospect of Barack Obama as president, I reasoned.

But when I flipped a few pages further in the magazine, I came across an article about NRA's annual "Celebration of American Values." Whose picture should I see, grimacing grotesquely behind the podium, as an honored speaker at the event? The king of the RINOs himself, Crash Bandicoot, aka John McCain. Apparently, in the NRA's view, authoring a bill that is "anathema to democracy" and constantly trying to shitcan the Constitution are "American values" to be "celebrated."

Come on NRA! Quit using MY dues money to promote this self-serving prick! He's just using you and will stab us in the back the next chance he gets. In the immortal words of Smash Mouth: "Put away the crack before the crack puts you away."