What To Do About the NRA

Trey Smith

Our leaders are scared to cross the National Rifle Association (NRA) because of their powerful lobbying arm. So, any hope for genuine reform in our ridiculous gun laws is anything but a sure thing.

The other day I was thinking about what to do about the NRA and I came up with an idea. Before I tell you what it is, I thought I'd share (retired) columnist Donald Kaui's idea.

Declare the NRA a terrorist organization and make membership illegal. Hey! We did it to the Communist Party and the NRA has led to the deaths of more of us than American Commies ever did. (I would also raze the organization’s headquarters, clear the rubble, and salt the earth, but that’s optional.)

Not a bad idea, not bad at all. Actually, my idea isn't all that different. I think the NRA should be labeled a hate group -- like the KKK.

Groups like the Klan target particular segments of the population. For years, these racist groups have targeted blacks. Not all blacks, mind you, only the ones they considered "uppity" and "uppity" historically has been defined as anyone who stood up for their basic human and civil rights. Those blacks who "knew their place" -- I hate even typing that out in quotation marks -- tended not to be molested.

By contrast, the NRA seems to hate life itself! (While lefty types like to say, "people before profits," the NRA slogan could just as easily be "guns before people.") How else could you describe a group that screams, "The best way to curb gun violence is to put more guns in people's hands"?

In our society, more guns equates to ever more shootings. That's more dead mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, friends, coworkers, neighbors and complete strangers. As many commentators have stated, if more guns meant greater safety, then the US should be one of the safest nations in the world! Of course, we all know that this just ain't so.

Terrorist organization or hate group. Either works by me.