You would think the world's oldest civil rights organization, as the NRA calls itself, would speak out about the events in Ferguson. Aren't the law enforcement personnel in the hot seat the same jack-booted thugs the NRA screeched about 20 years ago?
But wait! The racial unrest is doing a better job of selling product than the NRA's "they're gonna take your guns" marketing after President Obama's election and the Newtown massacre. It has started a feeder frenzy of gun sales among area residents, says CNN. People are scooping up shotguns, AR-15s, concealable handguns, Glocks, Rugers, firearms with high capacity magazines and a "boatload" of ammunition, as fast as they can says Steven King, owner of Metro Shooting Supplies, a gun shop in the St. Louis suburb of Bridgeton.
At Mid America Arms in St. Louis, sales have jumped 50 percent.
Much as it tries to update its image with its African-American spokesman Colion Noir and Gabby Franco (not only a woman but an Olympic shooter from Venezuela who legally emigrated--3 PR points!) NRA can't shake its White Power roots. In 1967, it supported California Governor Ronald Reagan's Mulford Act that restricted people carrying guns--because Black Panthers were carrying them. "There's no reason why on the street today a citizen should be carrying loaded weapons," said Reagan at the time.
As recently as 2007, a racial-fear mongering NRA brochure draft was leaked to the press that shows an Aryan nation under siege by African-Americans. The brochure, called Freedom In Peril; Guarding the 2nd Amendment in the 21st Century, was intended for fundraising but is so paranoid and racist, it seems right out of the satirical newspaper the Onion. In high budget illustrations, homeowners are shown defending themselves from a Helter Skelter-like apocalypse by shooting from their rooftops. "Thousands of lawful Americans were reduced to the final and purest form of self-reliance in the face of terrifying anarchy," said the brochure about the unrest after Hurricane Katrina.
While the NRA has almost equal fear of "bad guys" which usually means African-Americans and government officials with their black helicopters, in New Orleans both fears were combined in one entity since most law enforcement personnel were African-American. No wonder the brochure spells out special hatred for former New Orleans Police Department Chief Eddie Compass as a top enemy.
Does the NRA's recruitment of Colion Noir mean it is no longer a tacit White Power organization? Only if you ignore the comments of NRA board member Ted Nugent who characterized President Obama as a "sub human mongrel." Nugent also said the President is "a piece of s**t, and I told him to suck on my machine gun." If the "world's oldest civil rights organization" disagreed with the uncouth and racist remarks, would Nugent still be a board member?
Tell corporate America to get off the gun violence "sidelines." Join the action against Hallmark, the only major corporation that has publicly sworn it will never support anti-gun initiatives. When corporations want sane gun laws, we will have sane gun laws.
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