On Monday, I mentioned that the National Rifle Association had a rare moment of sanity when it called out several groups who think it’s a good idea to carry semi-automatic rifles in public. Well, that didn’t last long. Yesterday, the NRA not only apologized for that statement, but declared–loudly–that it supports open carry.
The statement from the NRA’s lobbying wing, the Institute for Legislative Action, said that carrying rifles into public places was “downright weird” and “downright scary,” and could actually drive more people into the arms of the gun-control camp. It was issued in response to a number of incidents in Texas where several groups, led by Open Carry Texas, have been in the news for carrying rifles into coffee shops, restaurants and other places. In response to justifiable alarm from customers and employees, several chains have banned firearms from their premises.
However, on yesterday’s edition of the NRA radio show Cam & Company, ILA executive director Chris W. Cox, the NRA’s top lobbyist, profusely apologized for the statement and “any confusion that (it) caused,”? even going as far as to call it a “mistake.” He told host Cam Edwards that the statement was merely the “personal opinion” of an ILA staffer, and that he personally lectured that staffer for causing a “distraction” that had been harped on by the media for the better part of the last two days. “Our job is not to criticize the lawful behavior of fellow gun owners,” Cox said. Edwards nodded along, characterizing the statement as a “commentary piece” that wasn’t official NRA policy.
As if that wasn’t enough, Cox then went further, saying that the NRA firmly supports open carry.
“The National Rifle Association unapologetically and unflinchingly supports the right of self-defense and what that means is that our members and our supporters have a right to carry a firearm in any place they have a legal right to be. If that means open carry, we support open carry. If it means concealed carry, it means concealed carry. So unequivocally we support open carry, we’ve been the leader of open carry efforts across this country, the leader in opposing efforts to curtail the ability to carry firearms, and that’s something we’re proud of and we do every day for our members.”
This comes less than 24 hours after Open Carry Texas threatened to cut ties with the NRA unless it backed down from what it called a “disgusting and disrespectful” statement. Indeed, several of its members were in open revolt (the pun was intended) against the NRA, posting pictures of their cut-up membership cards. Anyone else think that this isn’t exactly a coincidence?
In groveling before Open Carry Texas, Cox may have thrown two of his NRA colleagues under the bus. If you’ll remember, in late April Open Carry Texas founder CJ Grisham got into a heated discussion with Alice Tripp, the chief lobbyist for the NRA’s Texas chapter, the Texas State Rifle Association, and NRA board member Charles Cotton. When Tripp said that she’d been bombarded with demands from state legislators to rein in the open-carry demonstrations, Grisham hurled the ultimate insult–the NRA and TSRA were siding with Moms Demand Action. That prompted Cotton to say that Grisham was using fighting words. I have to wonder what Tripp and Cotton have to say now that their top national lobbyist has essentially sided with Grisham.
Then again, it was probably too much to expect this moment of sanity to last for any significant period of time. After all, consider that we’re talking about an organization whose public face, Wayne LaPierre, still has a job after calling federal agents “jackbooted thugs.” And also consider that this is an organization that has stonewalled common-sense measures to keep felons, wife-beaters and anyone else who has no business being anywhere near a gun. Seen in this light, it looks like the NRA is afraid to sleep in a bed it has spent several years making.
Darrell Lucus is a radical-lefty Jesus-lover who has been blogging for change for a decade. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook.
