James,
As Mike Denny alluded to, there are significant negatives to Libertarians in working with the NRA. The NRA is closely tied to conservatives and Republicans in the minds of many voters, and we are trying to appeal to leftists who make up the bulk of San Francisco voters and to whom the Republican Party is the enemy.
That is not to say we are unwilling to work with the NRA. We certainly value the contributions of any group that is going to stand up for the right to keep and bear arms (which the NRA usually does, if not always). If the NRA took steps such as sharing its resources for purposes of fighting this proposed handgun ban (I realize they aren't the national bank, but they're certainly better funded than we are) and signaling that Libertarian candidates can expect more frequent NRA endorsements in the future, that would help overcome the negatives and make it clearer to people in our party that it's in our interest to enter as a junior partner into a relationship that could give us a big black eye in the local press.
As far as donations go, the NRA must realize that it is competing for the donation dollars of gun-rights supporters with groups like the Gun Owners of America, the Second Amendment Foundation, and Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, all of which have taken stronger stands in favor of upholding the Second Amendment.
Yours in liberty,
<<< Starchild >>>
Hi Starchild,
We need to keep clear that this proposed gun ban is
outside of the issue of endorsing candidates.At this time the California Rifle & Pstol Association (CRPA)
is having their attorney Chuck Michel investigate the ordinance.
That is a valuable contribution that will help the NRA coordinate activities.I would hope that the Pink Pistols and SF Libertarian Party et al.
would welcome the opportunity to partner with the
CRPA/NRA to defeat the proposed gun ban.BTW: Thje NRA fund that finances these activities is called
the Institute for Legislative Action. www.nraila.org
They are constantly fighting these sort of attacks on the rights of
all Americans. You may want to donate to this fund,
It does not finance candidates. It just deals with legislative issues.Mike:
By "they", I assume you mean the anti gun zealots.Well, I am dissapointed to see that Green Party
representatives are now engaged in the same victim
disarament activities that the Democrat Party platform
calls for. Gonzales and Mirkamir are Greens and
this wan't in their party platform.The NRA is not the National Libertarian Party
nor is it the National Republican Party. It is by
no means the National Bank either.Donations to the NRA Political Victory fund go to
strong candidates in tight races. Just throwing money
at candidates b/c they are of this or that party is not practical.The NRA is a large organization that lobbies to protect
the right of the People to keep and bear arms.I plan to work with them to educate the San Francisco
popuation of the danger of the ballot proposal.-James Grant
From: Mike Denny
To: lpsf-activists@yahoogroups.com ; covolo@earthlink.net
Sent: Friday, December 17, 2004 9:41 AM
Subject: RE: [lpsf-activists] FW: [lpsf-discuss] SF gun ban - random thoughts on organizing against itGood comments Starchild. I’m afraid that if this fight is labeled “Republican”, it’s all over. There’s a reason they call the NRA the National Republican Party in the same way the Teachers’ Union belongs to the Democrats. If we don’t outreach to the left here in SF, we’re going to loose. An obvious NRA presence in the discussion will make that difficult and maybe impossible in my view.
Congrats Ron on your LTE. Well said.
Mike
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