NRA Is Not A Bad Word!

I hate when liberals use the “NRA” as a pejorative. Often I hear things like, “Where did you get your information the NRA?” as if that would be a bad thing.
One of the problems is that the people arguing against firearms often don’t know much about it. This is like arguing with someone that does Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu about training safety (when you have never trained at all) and saying “where do you get your information a BJJ school?” Of course you wouldn’t say that and who would know more about firearms safety and laws then the NRA. Of course I understand that there would some bias in NRA material but there are bias in everything you read and that doesn’t necessarily mean that they don’t have good and creditable information. Especially when you have people just waiting to discredit you (like the NRA does), you will be very diligent in making sure your information is correct.
Another problem is the stigma that the left has managed to place on the NRA. As if the NRA is some large corporation that buys off politicians and no one likes or agrees with. There are many lobby groups, for all kinds of reasons, like the NRA that never get used in this way. Every day thousands of corporations lobby hundreds of thousands of dollars to get anti-fire arm legislation passed. The NRA is merely a very large group of citizens each chipping in small amounts of money so that together they can counter the corporate lobbies. Rooting for the NRA is actually like rooting for the average working man who united found a way to fight the corporate machine. What could be wrong with that?
The Fact of the matter is I’m not even a member of the NRA and have read many books (not published by the NRA) that support my beliefs. So why does this bother me so much…? It is because the reason that they use the “NRA” as a pejorative is to dismiss your argument. Rather to change or divert the argument to the sources rather then argue the facts head on. This is infuriating! If you don’t want to talk about it, fine believe what you want but don’t degrade people just because you have no argument. I am not one of those in your face people that love to argue but there are a few things that I am passionate about (Firearms, Jiu-Jitsu and a few others) that I wont shy away from if it is brought up.
I once had a co-worker that found out I was pro-firearm from a mutual friend. I don’t like to have these kinds of arguments at work but she repeatedly pressed the issue until I caved in and decided to discuss it. As soon as I started bringing up different fact and statistics she immediately used the “Where did you get your information the NRA?”. I told her no, and I would be more then happy to bring her in some books as long as I got them back. Well long story short she kept them all for a month and never read a single one. I told her it was fine but don’t challenge someone on their facts unless you are prepared to read them for yourself.
When I was younger I loved to start fights and argue all night. I think ever since I joined Crazy 88 I have become mellower. I don’t know if that is because I’m getting older or if it is because I get all of my aggression out. It’s probably because after all the training I’m just too tiered. Whatever the reason one thing that still gets me hot is when people are dismissive…Hmmm maybe I will sign up for the NRA.