NRA, say whaaat?

In 2006, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Tom Menino formed the group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, whose mission statement reads that "support for Second Amendment rights goes hand-in-hand with keeping illegal guns out of the hands of criminals." At first glance, this seems like a natural relationship among politicians that have a vested interest in lowering crime and instances of illegal gun usage; the NRA, on the other hand, begs to differ.

Despite what conservative second-amendment fanatics may suggest, MAIG is not a liberal machine in the slightest. It strives to preserve states' rights regarding weapons, having helped defeat the Thune amendment, and tracks the use of illegal guns by terrorists in order to demonstrate the need for legislation tailored against people seeking to obtain weapons illegally (not registered guns or their owners at large). Hell, even Walmart is in on the fun, participating as part of the Responsibe Firearms Retailer Partnership. No joke.

But, somehow without surprise, the NRA is on the attack. Mayors that have joined MAIG are now being targeted by phone and mailer campaigns that smear them as members of an extremist anti-gun movement. Regardless of how the mayors actually feel about the Second Amendment (and many of them are advocates for the right bear arms), the NRA is dragging their reputations down among communities for whom this issue can decide a vote one way or another. The only machine in this situation is the NRA, which won't bother to look into MAIG activities but instead self-induces the stereotype of the "bitter gun owner" that Obama received so much flack for mentioning. Well, ladies and gentlemen, that stereotype is alive and well within the NRA; all guns, all the time. Should we just be handing them out to everyone on the street? How's that for a pro-gun campaign.