Matthew Duncan Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 If I renew my membership they will send me a range bag and a LED flashlight. Sure that's a double good deal so I send in my money. A few months pass and several more NRA mailings asking for money for this and that but no range bag or flashlight. Get another mailing and buried in it is a small notice that if I really want the range bag and flashlight then check here and mail to here. I check and mail and about another 2 months and my "free" range bag and flashlight arrive. Fast forward a bit. The present Yankee Federal administration has me ticked off. So when the NRA offered a life membership at a reduced fee (no free leather jacket) and a payment plan I signed up! Been a life member for near on 2 years now. Yesterday the NRA sent me a Statement of Account with a current balance of $750 !!!!!!! What the....so I sort thru th mailing to determine why the NRA thinks a life member owes them money. They want me now to become a "Endowment Life Membership" at a cost of $1,000 and the $750 is a "credit" towards the endowment. AND if I send them the $250 I'll get a special NRA tactical briefcase. Well NRA you have just pushed me of the edge too. I ain't giving no more money so your vice president can get payed a salary of a million dollars. I'm going to up my membership to Gun Owners of America to a life membership! GOA don't play these games! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner Gatlin, SASS 10274L Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 I'm a member of both. Everything has their issues. Oh well... GG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim No Horse Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Got the same problem with those guys....feels like I am being played by con men they send so much junk mail...Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoken D Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 It's a business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Nelson Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 I'm a member of several organizations that apparently think I'm a milk cow, but the NRA is probably the most demanding. Well, after the IRS. My biggest complaint isn't the begging for money, it's the borderline deceptive methods they use to do it. For example, I got a "your membership is about to expire, renew now!" letter about 8 months after I paid for a 2 year renewal. I'll give 'em this though: their phone solicitors are nice people. I've never had one argue when I asked them to not call me. They've always been polite and professional. (Although the fact I've had to ask more than once is annoying. No mean no. Apparently the calling list gets rebuilt occasionally.) I'll stay a member to support their training and education work, but I'm not going to support the ILA. They've been of little help here in New York, which they seem to consider a lost cause. Maybe it is, but I'm not ready to give up on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim No Horse Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Don't give up... the 2nd is the key to the safety and security of our Republic...Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rattler Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 And I have just one question, what gun rights group are the politicians most afraid of??? Love them or hate them it's the NRA!!! That's why they will always have my support! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papa Irish Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 I am a life member. I did it on the installment plan. Had a lot of the same problems until I called them. It all got straightened out. Remember the NRA scares the hell out of most politicians, no matter what they say out loud in public. Keep the faith and your guns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yul Lose Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 The NRA fights the good fight. I'd hate to see what our gun rights would be without them and the others. They do need money to survive. Just because they don't have much of an influence on the state level, in your opinion, doesn't mean that they don't fight for your 2a rights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Until I hear someone from government or the press condemn the evil Second Amendment Foundation, CCRKBA, or any other pro-gun group instead of blasting the NRA and all of their lobbyists who are allegedly controlling everything, I'll keep on supporting the NRA above all others. What's an annual NRA membership cost these day, $50.00? (I've been a Life member since 1975 so I don't know.) What do you spend on an average one day small match (entry, ammo, travel, food, everything combined, $50.00. Imagine if every gun owner in America spent less that a buck a week and joined the NRA what a complete PANIC that would cause in the anti-gun ranks. An estimated 150,000,000 NRA members all challenging the antis and all their BS..... and potentially voting for gun rights and against the grabbers. If you are a gun owner and not an NRA member you are giving power to the grabbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Milo Talon SASS #23163 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 The NRA has my full support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 And the alternative is? Right. There is none. I merely trash can most of the mail and contribute when I can as I see fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Fernando Slim, SASS #20521 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 I will stick with the NRA. I joined in 1953, Life in 1956, Endowment in 1997. Granted, we do not enjoy getting requests for money (and I am sure they don't expect all requests to be honored) but the legal expenses are still there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess Money Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 The NRA has my full support. Mine too! However, it would be beneficial, pricewise, for the organization to at least update and maintain their membership base and renewal notifications. I continue to get mailings with expen$ive insert$ asking me to "Join the NRA!" Obviously I they don't realize I've been in their membership data bank since 1969. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tex Jones, SASS 2263 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 SASS is just like the NRA. Both survive by raising money, continuously. Have to support a proven and staunch defender of our rights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 For instance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackwater 53393 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 I'm a long time member of the NRA. I don't have much disposable income so my membership fee, (haven't been in a position yet to take advantage of any of the special deals when they were offered) is all they get usually. I also am a member, for the last couple of years, of the GOA and the SAF. I figure if we set more hounds on their tails, the gun grabbers will be harder pressed and have to employ more resources to fight on multiple fronts, and those who represent us will be reminded that there is more than one group who feels the way we do. I also correspond with my reps, and I vote and they KNOW IT!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Nelson Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 What's an annual NRA membership cost these day, $50.00? (I've been a Life member since 1975 so I don't know.) $35, and you get a magazine subscription with it. It's a good deal. I belong to other national organizations that charge more. I don't deny that the NRA is necessary politically. There are some downright crazy people out there trying to take our rights away. I just don't like being taken for a dupe when it comes to their fundraising. Sometimes it feels like they think I'm really as dumb as the anti-gunners say I am. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Ask them to stop contacting you with those things and they will. BTW, I also belong to several other pro gun groups, just recently dropped California R&P Assoc. because I'm moving out of this state and will support my new state organization Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Duncan Posted June 15, 2014 Author Share Posted June 15, 2014 And the alternative is? Right. There is none. I merely trash can most of the mail and contribute when I can as I see fit. Join Guns of America for one year. Their email updates on where they are involved in and laws they are fighting are very impressive to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Join Guns of America for one year. Their email updates on where they are involved in and laws they are fighting are very impressive to me.They are not an alternative to the NRA but rather an adjunct like Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and many other groups. They do good work, but in my opinion the NRA is the Mother of all gun rights groups.And all of them require donations to be effective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramblin Gambler Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 It's funny, I'm a life member of the NRA and my experience is exactly the opposite of OP's. I'm actually upset at them that they don't send me fundraising letters anymore. They have started calling me in the past year (since I went to the NRA convention I think), and that's sort of a separate issue. I tell them everytime that there's no way I'm giving my credit card number to someone who cold calls me, that I want them to send the fundraising letters again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner Gatlin, SASS 10274L Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 They are not an alternative to the NRA but rather an adjunct like Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and many other groups. They do good work, but in my opinion the NRA is the Mother of all gun rights groups. And all of them require donations to be effective. +1 GG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 I think of 'em like the Salvation Army at Christmastime. For all the good they do I'll contribute what I can when I can. I won't drop money into the kettle every time I see it, but I don't expect Santa to stop ringing his bell every time I walk by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawnee McGrutt Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Joined NRA earlier this year, have yet to receive any copies of American Rifleman. Wasn't the reason I joined, but do like the magazine. We do need a national organization to keep the jackals off our tails. Shawnee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLACKFOOT SASS #11947 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 The last time that they called me with a "premium offer" I told them that I would pay my membership dues on time and for them to keep their Chinese made crap!! Blackfoot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cypress Sun Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 I think of 'em like the Salvation Army at Christmastime. For all the good they do I'll contribute what I can when I can. I won't drop money into the kettle every time I see it, but I don't expect Santa to stop ringing his bell every time I walk by. Now that's a helleva analogly, I like it. That pretty much sums it up for me. I'm a Life Member, got the same thing as Matt. Just another fund raiser, all it is. I do think that the "your membership is expiring" notices (that I used to recieve) were extremely deceptive...........almost to the point of elderly abuse. I just can't imagine how many old folks, with failing memory, kept "renewing" their membership. I found it shameful. They are the biggest and baddest of the pro-gun lobby but don't forget.........the VP and board of directors make a hell of a salary and your paying it. I will a donation of my choosing at times, the rest of the solitations I toss. CS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Nothing's perfect. Except my wife of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruff Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Nothing's perfect. Except my wife of course. Bob, No it is my wife that is perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Bob, No it is my wife that is perfect. They are both perfect of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 All lobbying organizations have to be this way. I vote Republican mostly but Demo now and then locally, so I'm on all the mailing lists. Both sides cry that the sky is falling all the time, but for the opposite reasons. I support the NRA, pay the annual fee, and don't worry about the junk mail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Nelson Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 All lobbying organizations have to be this way. Not all. The American Radio Relay League (national association of ham radio operators) conducts fundraisers, and their membership is easily as old as the NRA's, but they don't send out membership expiration notices a year early. I support the NRA, pay the annual fee, and don't worry about the junk mail. Same here. I'm not quitting, for the same reason I vote in every election: I figure I'm not allowed to complain if I don't participate. But now that I know what to look for, it's fun to pick apart each fundraising letter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Nelson Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 They are both perfect of course. So was my wife, and she told me that every chance she got. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 Not all. The American Radio Relay League (national association of ham radio operators) conducts fundraisers, and their membership is easily as old as the NRA's, but they don't send out membership expiration notices a year early. Well, I doubt that they quite as large or need to raise as much cash as NRA does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Nelson Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 Well, I doubt that they quite as large or need to raise as much cash as NRA does. This is true. They do lobby the FCC and Congress regularly, and are involved in some lawsuits occasionally, but we don't have thousands of mothers marching on Washington demanding that all radios be outlawed, or at least restricted to using only Morse code. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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