The NRA seems to be broadening the issue of gun control into a broader culture war issue. But it doesn’t seem to be the old religious/moral culture war, it’s more a liberty culture war.
It makes sense from a strategic point of view because it ties into the somewhat libertarian trend among conservatives and definitely Tea Party supporters focused on individual autonomy and self-reliance. It also puts the purpose of the 2nd Amendment, freedom from tyranny, in a broader social context of an overreaching government.
It’s not just about guns, it’s about liberty.
The National Rifle Association kicked off its annual convention Friday with a warning to its members they are engaged in a “culture war” that stretches beyond gun rights, further ramping up emotions surrounding the gun control debate.
NRA First Vice President James Porter, a Birmingham, Ala., attorney who will assume the organization’s presidency Monday, issued a full-throated challenge to President Barack Obama in the wake of a major victory regarding gun control and called on members to dig in for a long fight that will stretch into the 2014 elections.
“This is not a battle about gun rights,” Porter said, calling it “a culture war.”
“(You) here in this room are the fighters for freedom. We are the protectors,” said Porter, whose father was NRA president from 1959-1960.
Rob Heagy, a former parole officer from San Francisco, agreed with Porter’s description of a culture war.
“It is a cultural fight on those 10 guarantees,” he said, referring to the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution. “Mr. Obama said he wasn’t going after our guns. As soon as the Connecticut thing happened, he came after our guns.”
That theme carried throughout the day and reached a crescendo in a 3 ½-hour political rally punctuated by fiery speeches from state and national conservative leaders.
Sarah Palin’s speech at the NRA convention was well received and hit on those themes:
Ted Cruz challenged Joe Biden to a debate:
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Comments
O’bammy has already curtailed gun rights by simply make a lot of ammo supplies dry up.
The only cure for this is Congressional action that would direct him to knock it off and expose him for what he is. Sadly, I don’t see this happening anytime soon…
There is a bill already in the House.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about gun control in the wake of the Kermit Gosnell murder trial.
Tell ya what: I’ll give up my guns less than one minute after abortion is banned except in cases of rape, incest and the life of the mother.
Seems only fair, if we’re indeed talking about “saving the children.”
…and a minute after you give up your guns, the other (left) side will suddenly reverse field and revert back to square one, but this time without the constraint of an armed populace.
Someone (Franklin?) said that a democracy is two wolves and a lamb discussing what to have for dinner, and a republic is the same trio having the same discussion, but the lamb is armed.
We are the lambs. They are the wolves.
Buy. Black. Rifles.
…’nuff said!
America, confirm thy soul in self control.
It would be a very lopsided debate between Ted Cruz and Joe Biden. In the battle of wits, it’s better to be armed, than unarmed.
Here is [my] Senator Cruz’s full speech to the NRA forum.
http://barracudabrigade.blogspot.com/2013/05/ted-cruz-rocks-texas-nra-speech-must.html
This afternoon, we’re going to the NRA gun show. People are even flying in from all over for this year’s NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits.
Because so many people are showing up and parking will be scarce, I’m riding mass transit! No worries, I will be armed. 😉
I’ll wager that the safest place on earth this weekend will be George R. Brown Convention Center.
http://www.nraam.org/
Thank you kind sir for sharing the vid with us.
I kinda hate all the presidntial talk about my Senator but I see why it is happening
I want him to be President one day but maybe not in 2016
we need him representing us in Texas for awhile
thanks again!
Aaaaaaaaa-men!
Ted Cruz is the real deal. The Lefties love to talk about how smart Barack Obama and Hillary are, but together, on their best days, they couldn’t match Senator Cruz in either intellect, passion, guts or humanity. Why? Ted is the real deal, and the aforementioned politicians are as contrived as the former’s resume (were it to exist) and as phony as Hillary’s tears.
This is a fight that is winnable. The tools work.
A constant meme is the left’s attack on civil rights.
Another is the history of the NRA from its roots to help freed blacks defend themselves against the Democrat racists.
I see nothing that gives the left traction that is going to work over the long haul.
Emotion wringing only works for a short time then it takes on a look and feel of cynicism.
The NRA is non-partisan and multi-racial and is standing against attackers of something the people have by rights.
As a lifetime member of the NRA, I’m happy to hear they are changing from a culture defending gun rights to a culture of liberty. It’s not just about guns, it’s about all the rights in the Constitution and they are all equally important.
When the NRA judges candidates by the gun issue only they end up unintentionally endorsing folks like Senator Reid. By judging overall we can geta clearer picture of each candidate.
One last thing to My Sharia Moor, I won’t give up my guns for anything.
The NRA position is right, but hardly a new revelation…even for them.
We’ve known this all along.
Note to the Beaner (it isn’t RAAA-CIST! if I capitalize it):
My comment was meant to imply that I’m defending my 2nd Amendment rights with the absolutism demonstrated to me by the pro-abortionists.
Point taken on the absolutionism but what is the RAAACISM all about.
I was trying to be funny. No offense was intended.
I’ve lived in predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods most of my life. 🙂
I’ve always said that if the we defended the Constitutionally prescribed Second Amendment with the same unbending, unwavering tenacity that the Left defends the POTUS-constructed “right” to an abortion, we’d all be driving M2 Abrams main battle tanks and packing GE mini-guns.
The only “red line” over which Obama and the Left will not let ANYONE step is the abortion line.
They have the courage of cowards.
erratum: SCOTUS-constructed
This is absolutely a culture war, and the normal people out here didnt start it. Liking guns– or even being anything other than wholly ignorant about them– is a cultural signifier among the shiteratti in academia, government, and the liberal northeast media establishment.
The Unpeople of Jesusland like them some guns. And those people are Beneath Us. Therefore, we will legislate their culture out of existence. So goes the cultural argument.
I am not licensed to carry and I don’t know whether I ever will be. But I understand that the unalienable right to arm myself comes from God, courses through my blood through His grace, and will ever be intrinsic to me, as it is intrinsic to all men.
God damn the Acela Corridoristas! God DAMN them. I am a member of GOAL and the NRA because they defend my civil rights with vigor and passion and damn straight they engage in the very real culture war on my behalf!
Cold dead hands indeed. But should it come down to it, it won’t be my hands that are cold and dead because my side has the guns.
And we have Wayne LaPierre’s NRA Convention Speech posted as well:
http://www.commoncts.blogspot.com/2013/05/video-2013-nra-annual-meetings-wayne.html
[…] NRA’s new liberty culture war not like the old culture war The NRA seems to be broadening the issue of gun control into a broader culture war issue. But it doesn’t seem to be the old religious/moral culture war, it’s more a liberty culture war. […]
[…] NRA’s new liberty culture war not like the old culture war The NRA seems to be broadening the issue of gun control into a broader culture war issue. But it doesn’t seem to be the old religious/moral culture war, it’s more a liberty culture war. […]