America's Gun Culture and Its Effect on the 2012 Election

THE NRA NEEDS A BIGGER TENT...

The NRA must expand its membership and lobbying to include fishermen, boaters, RVers, equestrians, divers, ranchers, farmers, off-roaders and prospectors - as well as manufacturers who produce products and equipment for these groups.

By now it should be obvious that the NRA will have fewer and fewer members as areas open to hunting and shooting are being closed down. Every years millions of acres of our "public lands" are being closed to the public.

Everyday, across the nation, we all pay for the environmental crusade of the “eco-elite”. When a rancher or farmer is forced to stop or curtail operations for one “environmentally correct “ reason or another we all pay in higher food prices. When a utility company can’t produce power because of concerns about nuclear plants or can’t build hydroelectric plants because of a threatened fish or snail, it costs us all. When a home builder can’t build homes for a growing nation without spending millions in environmental studies - the fees are paid by the home buyer. Manufacturers of all types products are shackled by huge costs and fees generated by environmental, regulation, litigation and legislation and when you buy your next car, piece of lumber or box of detergent you’ll be paying.

It seems no price is too great for the “Crusaders of Environmental Purity”. That may be true for the Martin Sheens and the Barbara Striesands and other members of the “eco-elite”, but what about the working people laboring under the ever increasing burden of these costs? Try and explain to a family trying to keep food on the table or staggering under medical bills that it was necessary to spend millions of dollars doing studies and building fences and closing roads to protect some weed, insect or salamander!

And, what about the cost in freedom and the human spirit when access to our lakes, streams, rivers and forests is being lost as the result of draconian environmental regulation?

When the eco-elite demand and litigate that roads and campgrounds be closed do we consider that not everyone is a young, healthy member of the Sierra Club, able to hike many miles into the woods to enjoy nature. Isn’t the disenfranchisement of the handicapped, the infirm, families with young children, the working poor and seniors from the outdoors too high a price to pay? Would we accept this discrimination in any other sector of our society?

Is a legacy of closed roads, abandoned campgrounds, fences, outlawed recreational activities. and high fees for what little recreational opportunity remains really what we want to leave future generations?

The NRA must expand it's lobbying efforts and membership to include all groups and companies who are affected by being disenfranchised from our public wild lands. 20 million+ members would have a lot more clout than 4 or 5 million.

It the NRA doesn't learn this lesson soon they will simply become irrelevant.

R.L. Schaefer of CA 12:03PM April 23, 2012