Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Have you heard about this? There is a new organization for responsible, rational gun owners who are among the 90% of Americans who support universal background checks, limiting the size of ammunition clips, etc.
"UNRA: United Network of Rational Americans," is a response to the industry lobbyist for the merchants of death, the National Rifle Association. Poll after poll demonstrates that the NRA does not represent the positions of responsible, rational gun owners, including its own NRA members. Now there is a rational alternative to the NRA.
From the home page of UNRA's web site:
Join The UNRA today. It's free.
Announcing “The UNRA:”
“Protect Gun Rights AND Our Children,”
New Advocacy Group “The UNRA” Offers Voice
to Gun Owners Who Support
Universal Background Checks and Rational Gun Laws
Gulf Shores, AL
– Launching today, a new online advocacy group, “The UNRA,” will offer
gun owners who support universal background checks and other responsible
gun violence prevention measures as a place to voice their opinions to
Congress. “The UNRA” (United Network of Rational Americans) calls upon
Congress to “protect our rights AND our children.”
In its first action, UNRA today released a solemn video in observance of
the 32nd anniversary of the assassination attempt of President Ronald
Reagan that reminds today’s Congressional Republicans opposed to tough,
enforceable background checks for all gun sales that Reagan believed the
nightmare he faced may have been avoided if background checks had been
required by law in 1981. WATCH IT HERE. [Below the fold.]
The UNRA was created by Watchdog Causes, LLC, the founders of “Dogs Against Romney.”
“As life-long
Southern gun owners, we strongly support America’s history of
responsible gun ownership,” said Watchdog Causes’ founder Scott Crider.
“Like most gun owners, we also believe universal background checks are a
necessary step that will save lives and will in no way undermine the
2nd Amendment.”
Groups like the
NRA have failed to listen to their members, Crider said. “88% of the
American people are behind universal background checks, including 74% of
NRA members, but the NRA leadership is not. They aren’t listening to
their members. They’re listening to the big gun manufacturers who only
care about their bottom line and keeping the flow of increasingly more
deadly, more expensive guns going into the marketplace – regardless of
whose hands those guns fall into.”
Universal
background checks, if implemented, will close gaping loopholes in
America’s gun trade that enable criminals and people with dangerous
mental disorders to easily obtain weapons and accessories, including
military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines like those
used to slaughter 20 innocent children and 6 educators at Sandy Hook
Elementary School in Newtown, CT nearly 100 days ago. We learned
Thursday that the disturbed young man shooter in Newtown was able to
fire 154 rounds in under five minutes with these tools of mass
destruction.
FACT:
Background Checks Work. According to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun
Violence: “Since the Brady Law took effect in February 1994, more than
1.6 million prohibited gun buyers have been blocked from buying a gun
from licensed gun dealers across America. Those prevented from buying
guns have had felony records, domestic violence abuse histories, drug
addictions, and mental illnesses that posed threats to others. A large
number have been fugitives.”
FACT: But the
Private Sale Loophole Means 40% of Gun Sales Unacceptably Go Unchecked.
According to FBI data: In the 38 states that have not fully closed the
private sale loophole, an estimated 9,856,984 background checks were
conducted between November 2011 and November 2012, out of an estimated
16.5 million total firearm transfers in those states. 40 percent of this
total—6.6 million transfers—occurred without background checks.
“Closing the
private gun sale loopholes is a no-brainer. Virtually everyone wants
universal background checks, and it doesn’t affect law abiding gun
owners or undermine the 2nd Amendment,” Crider said. “Hell, the NRA once
supported it. The Republicans in Congress in the pocket of the big gun
makers who oppose universal background checks despite near universal
support from their constituents are poster children for irrational
Americans.”
The UNRA is free to join and can be found online on Facebook and Twitter.
The group plans
to provide a platform for gun owners and 2nd Amendment supporters to
voice support for universal background checks to members of Congress.
Events will be organized online, and on-the-ground, Crider said.
The UNRA Official Bumper Stickers & Magnets