NRA threatens politicians
The National Rifle Association wants politicians to know they’ll “pay a price” for opposing them.
Click here for reuse options!“We have a God-given right to defend ourselves, and firearms are an effective means to doing just that,” said Chris Cox, the NRA Institute for Legislative Action’s executive director, on ABC’s “This Week.”
“Politicians who want to divert attention away from the underlying problems and suggest that we are somehow to blame will pay a price for it.”
Copyright 2016 Liberaland
62 responses to NRA threatens politicians
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oldfart June 19th, 2016 at 11:51
Nowhere in the Constitution does it say…” god said so”.
Dwendt44 June 19th, 2016 at 12:22
Of course, good christians could get rid of their assault weapons and just pray the danger away, right?
Mike June 19th, 2016 at 12:32
Interesting, as an atheist I find myself arguing for the opposition here…
No one influenced Jefferson more than John Locke…he not only adopted Locke’s philosophy of Natural Law but included it in the Declaration of Independence. (incorporated into the constitution, i.e. 9th amendment)
Locke argued that people are born with certain “natural” or “inalienable” rights. These include the right to “life, liberty and property.” Government did not give people these rights; rather they are born with them and as such, no government can take them away.
We might parse words like “God” or Creator”, but if your rights are not derived from your creator, where do they come from…???
The only possible answer would be that the state grants you these rights, and that is everything the Founders rejected. The Founders believed that people formed governments to protect their rights, which they called a “social contract.” People agreed to obey the government and in return, government had the responsibility to protect peoples’ natural rights.
However, while I might allow his claim to a “god-given right”, the Founders put in place a mechanism to regulate those rights so as to balance the “social contract” …
You are also free to exercise your god-given right (or creator-given as the case may be) to ban ownership of a dangerous weapon that only upsets the balance of the social contract.
Comicus June 19th, 2016 at 12:51
There is no need to invoke mythological creatures. We, the people are the government, so we, the people, grant ourselves these rights.
Mike June 19th, 2016 at 17:52
In that case, you have no rights … only gifts the state chooses to bestow upon you …
You are neither born free nor entitled to anything whatsoever.
Comicus June 20th, 2016 at 00:27
Which gods did these rights come from? The Hindus alone have 320 million gods. Please clarify your position because I don’t believe you’ve thought it out very well.
Mike June 20th, 2016 at 09:33
They answered that question repeatedly …
Any God or no god … I think you missed the point because you’ve never actually read anything about Jefferson, Locke, Hobbs, Madison, or Hamilton …
You seem to forget (or don’t know) a large number of Founders were Deists, Atheists, Agnostics, and skeptics … Only one belonged to a church of any sort.
Comicus June 20th, 2016 at 18:28
You asked who confers rights if not a ‘Creator’ or ‘God’. As we are the creators of our ‘Creator’ or ‘God’, we ultimately are the source of the natural rights conferred by either.
Mike June 20th, 2016 at 23:12
That works ….
anothertoothpick June 19th, 2016 at 13:07
17th-century English philosopher John Locke discussed natural rights in his work, identifying them as being “life, liberty, and estate (property)”, and argued that such fundamental rights could not be surrendered in the social contract.
It seems to me that Locke was favoring the land owners and Jefferson was favoring “we the people” maybe?
Jefferson wrote “Life Liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Not estate (property).
Maybe Jefferson and Madison were not so much in lockstep with John Locke?
Here….check this out mike.
https://infograph.venngage.com/p/2036/john-locke-and-thomas-jefferson-comparecontrast
See what you think.
Your post is awesome.
Mike June 19th, 2016 at 18:06
Don’t kid yourself … the first “we the people” were only the land owners…no one else was allowed to vote or guaranteed any of the protections of the constitution.
I think there are even more similarities than those listed…
Having read a lot of both Locke and Jefferson I can only say it gets weird….two guys that not only owned slaves, but bought, sold, and fked them, everyday … taking about everybody being born equal and natural laws of freedom and all that…
anothertoothpick June 19th, 2016 at 18:19
Thanks Mike.
granpa.usthai June 19th, 2016 at 13:38
god was probably out deep sea fishing when that part was added in. It’s in a secret code that only those who should rule can decipher. It’s invisible to the average human eye. WTH good is a gun that’s taken from the cold dead hand of the one it was suppose to be protecting? (think about it)
KABoink_after_wingnut_hacker June 19th, 2016 at 11:58
We have a right to defend ourselves indeed.
And by getting assault weapons off the streets of our nation we are doing just that!
Gina Bousquet June 19th, 2016 at 12:04
The powerful lobby now openly threatens politicians? Down with them, they don’t own the Nation!
anothertoothpick June 19th, 2016 at 12:48
Today the Republican Party remains in hock to the NRA leadership and through them to their paymasters in the gun-making industry. The NRA runs an official list, like the old Communist Party, of preferred candidates and grades them according to their adherence to the strict constructionist interpretation of the Second Amendment.
If a candidate fails to offer total support for absolutist gun rights, the NRA funds a campaign in the next party primary to unseat them. Polls suggest, however, that the NRA leadership no longer represents the wishes of its members towards moderate gun controls, and since the Sandy Hook massacre of schoolchildren, the extremism of NRA leaders like Wayne LaPierre, whose tin-eared response to the shootings so jarred voters in all parties, suggests the existence at the top of the organization of a self-serving, superannuated elite that no longer commands the confidence of its rank and file.
http://blogs.reuters.com/nicholas-wapshott/2013/01/18/how-the-nra-hijacked-the-republican-party/
HI Gina!
Gina Bousquet June 19th, 2016 at 13:37
Hi anothertoothpick! :) Thank you for the smart answer, and the link!
anothertoothpick June 19th, 2016 at 13:42
You are welcome Gina.
What cha up to today? are you going to drink some coffee and go check out the progress of the Olympics?
Are you going to visit with your friends now that you feel better?
hahahahahahaaaa
Maybe you are going to listen to some music today? Who Knows?
> just funning with ya<
Gina Bousquet June 19th, 2016 at 13:49
I’m just marveled at having the house all to myself, the family is out. Such peace and quiet! Music is always! :) (I’m totally against the Olympics in Rio– Zika epidemic and political and financial turmoil!)
anothertoothpick June 19th, 2016 at 14:01
SWEEEET! You have got, like the perfect day going on there.
I am in the middle of reading a book that allison told me about “Dog Whistle Politics” and it is a great book. I turn off all the noise (TV, radio everything) and get lost in the book.
The best thing about reading is there is no noise. ahahahahahahahahha
I just got off my motorcycle (went to a car show and took a helicopter ride $30 15 minutes in the air) and now I am ready to do some reading.
And of course I am chatting with YOU!
Gina Bousquet June 19th, 2016 at 14:02
Sounds like a wonderful day my friend! ;)
Dwendt44 June 19th, 2016 at 22:19
The NRA hasn’t represented its rank and file members for over 30 years. The members just haven’t caught on to it yet. The NRA represents the gun and ammo industry, period. Over 70% of NRA members support universal background checks and over half support a limit on the size of magazines. Those figures jump to over 80% when you ask just Democrats and Independents.
cogitoergodavesum June 20th, 2016 at 09:49
The NRA stopped representing the wishes of its members a long time ago.
It represents the wishes of gun sellers.
An ignorant and frightened populace being necessary to the profitability of the weapons industry, the right of gun manufacturers to own media and politicians
shall not be infringed.
Mike June 19th, 2016 at 18:42
Well boys and girls…
Every two years congressmen need a few million dollars to keep their &175k job…that money sometimes comes from a very fruitful tree in a forest of death called the NRA … and they all lived happily ever after…
Gina Bousquet June 19th, 2016 at 19:13
Supposing not all of them are bought by the NRA, maybe there can be hope of facing their power…
Mike June 19th, 2016 at 19:42
Everything is about money in DC … We have the best government you can buy …
We’re no different than Brazil, maybe worse on a lot of different levels …
The opposition merely has to have matching funds
Gina Bousquet June 19th, 2016 at 19:53
I suppose that’s correct! :)
Guy Lauten June 19th, 2016 at 12:08
“firearms are an effective means to doing just that,”
so are howitzers & flamethrowers.
Mensa Member June 19th, 2016 at 12:23
If the Fascist Government criminalizes surface-to-air missiles, only criminals will have surface-to-air missiles.
Freedom!
Tommie June 19th, 2016 at 12:51
And so are crock pots, just ask Tucker Carlson! Haha!
Mensa Member June 19th, 2016 at 12:20
>> firearms are an effective means to doing just that,”
So is landmining. you front yard!.
Freedom!
Mensa Member June 19th, 2016 at 12:26
In November we have an opportunity to punish every politician who takes NRA blood money.
Obviously, thanks to GOP gerrymandering, we can’t vote them out.
But we can soften them up with 30 second ads.
anothertoothpick June 19th, 2016 at 12:30
at least 70 percent of Americans said they favor background checks. Often, far more do. In October, a CBS News/New York Times poll found that 92 percent of Americans — including 87 percent of Republicans — favor background checks for all gun buyers.
But our pockets are not deep enough.
Reel_Me_In June 19th, 2016 at 13:14
It is only a matter of time, a dozen or so more Orlandos or Sandy Hooks, before the NRA will be extinct.
Americans simply won’t tolerate the atrocities for much longer.
anothertoothpick June 19th, 2016 at 13:28
Not sure what you are saying.
Reel_Me_In June 19th, 2016 at 13:32
I’m saying that mass murders, with guns, are bringing about the end of the right to bear arms. A huge percentage of Americans want reasonable restrictions on firearms. When the democrats sweep in November, 2017 will be the year of restricting the right to bear arms in the USA.
That will be the beginning of the end of the right to bear arms in the USA. It will be very gradual, but, in the end, Americans will only be able to own standard deer rifles and revolvers.
anothertoothpick June 19th, 2016 at 13:35
Thanks Reel_me_in for your response.
I think we are in agreement here.
Reel_Me_In June 19th, 2016 at 13:39
I’m sick of politics. The sociologic and scientific facts are inescapable.
What we have in Orlando is a situation where a “social-mediated terrorist” exploited the Constitutional right to bear arms in the USA in order to carry out the mass murdering terrorist act.
The 2nd Amendment was explicitly used to harm Americans. And it COMPLETLEY evaded our security apparatus.
It means one of two things, either our interpretations of the USA Constitution is wrong OR the USA Constitution is flawed.
anothertoothpick June 19th, 2016 at 13:48
Truer words where never spoken.
Gina Bousquet June 19th, 2016 at 13:56
You’re right.
Reel_Me_In June 19th, 2016 at 14:00
I’m not a Constitutional scholar, but I’ve read the Constitution and I already know that, in its original form, it’s a very seriously flawed document. There is no debate about this. Some elements of the USA Constitution are still in their original form. That fact suggests a significant possibility of those paragraphs being seriously flawed.
Gina Bousquet June 19th, 2016 at 14:05
Debate about the Second Amendment is a must.
anothertoothpick June 19th, 2016 at 14:18
The original document did not include “Bill of Rights”.
But I have to say that Jefferson and Madison and a few others, (I have only studied those two) with all their flaws, where very insightful.
On the second amendment though, their was no way they could have known about a weapon that could kill 50 people in a bar, in minutes.
By the way, nowhere in the constitution, the debate, or in the Federalist Papers are the words “gun ownership for personal protection” ever mentioned.
In fact, at the time most colonies had very strict gun laws.
Gina Bousquet June 19th, 2016 at 13:54
…
Mike June 20th, 2016 at 23:21
Call me a skeptic, but I’m gonna have to see it to believe it.
Tommie June 19th, 2016 at 12:49
Isn’t that somewhat a death threat? Nobody is coming for your guns, so calm down on the tough guy speech!
Reel_Me_In June 19th, 2016 at 12:57
Here is a fact that people on both sides of the issue need to consider:
Every time an Orlando or a Sandy Hook occurs in the United States, it brings us closer and closer to the elimination of the right to bear arms.
Consider that fact. Then, think about the ramifications.
Chip01 June 19th, 2016 at 13:02
LOL.
CAn you give an example (bold or not) where this right has been eroded?
Reel_Me_In June 19th, 2016 at 13:04
It hasn’t been eroded in any way, shape, or form. There hasn’t even been the slightest, infinitesimal erosion. Buying a semi-automatic in the USA is as easy as buying bubble gum…literally.
Now…consider what I have in bold.
anothertoothpick June 19th, 2016 at 13:21
Agreed, we are in dangerous territory here.
This is why we need some common sense laws.
Ed VanDyke June 19th, 2016 at 16:24
The likes of the NRA ARE considering the implications. Every time an Orlando or a Sandy Hook occurs, they sow that same fear, and reap the benefits of selling more guns, increasing the likelihood of more mass shootings, allowing them to sell more guns and on, and on, and on… The more they sell, the the more money they have, the more they can buy the government and keep the cycle going. We have a government run by arms dealers, and this is how it looks. It’s pretty disgusting, but I gotta hand it to them- They’ve beaten the Universe’s absolute, fundamental laws, and discovered perpetual energy… All it takes is money, fear and death…
granpa.usthai June 19th, 2016 at 13:28
FU2!
the nra sure as hell does not represent me or MY 2nd amendment rights.
I have the right to keep and bear nuclear arms!
and this right shall not be infringed upon!
Buford2k11 June 19th, 2016 at 13:34
Ok then, he just proved that the NRA is a terrorist organization…
Ed VanDyke June 19th, 2016 at 15:54
Our ONLY “God given right” is “free will”. That same right enables us to mow-down rooms of people with high-capacity rifles… It’s about time we start enforcing the man-given rights, and exercising limitations of same. As much as they all seem to want to pretend they are, all these self-righteous A-holes with guns are NOT defacto serving God’s will…
Ed VanDyke June 19th, 2016 at 16:37
‘Nuff said.
The Original Just Me June 19th, 2016 at 18:48
All of those Politicians who are shaking in their boots over this THREAT are Republican. Those who are Laughing their asses off are Democrat.
whatthe46 June 19th, 2016 at 18:51
such true words.
The Original Just Me June 19th, 2016 at 19:01
November will tell.
Amersham46 June 19th, 2016 at 19:45
Coming from a heavily armed lobby group
bpollen June 20th, 2016 at 00:03
Please provide documentation validating this gift. According to my sources, Gawd said “thou shalt not kill.”
StoneyCurtisll June 20th, 2016 at 10:34
Looks like the NRA is becoming more “radicalized” and likely to lash out in violence than ever before….
Mariah Miracle June 21st, 2016 at 09:14
The NRA are gloating right now, but sooner or later IT WILL come to an end. The American people (even NRA members) are getting fed up with individuals who shouldn’t have access to weapons of mass destruction, being able to get them. We have to vote the politicians (republicans) out who are beholden to the NRA’s blood money. When is enough, enough. How many more innocent Americans have to be slaughtered before something is done to keep weapons out of the wrong hands.