I was raised in a gun-friendly family and received my first rifle at age 13.  It is not surprising I qualified as an expert marksman in the Army.  Further, infantrymen develop an almost intimate relationship with their weapon, especially when they realize that weapon may save your life.  I still love guns!

When I was discharged, I naturally joined the National Rifle Association.  After all, they were the leading provider of gun safety training in the country.  I even toyed with the idea of teaching courses on gun safety.  There was scant conversation at the time about the Second Amendment.  Their most common lobbying effort was to help states rationalize their regulations on hunting, such as hunting seasons, licenses, etc.

Then, the NRA went crazy, and I came to believe they were the greatest threat to the Second Amendment — because they were crazy.  Their crazed ideological positions would cause legislators to over-react.  I resigned.  So, it is with some satisfaction that the NRA is now in trouble.  Their cash flow is 2016 and 2017 was a negative $62 million, after making a $30 million campaign contribution to the President’s 2016 campaign.  With speculation that Russia funneled money into the NRA for the Trump Campaign, it is not surprising that the state of New York is investigating.  Also, membership is highly confidential, and the NRA swears is holding at 5 million, but I doubt it.  There are too many stories of young people and moderates of all types simply resigning, as I did.

This weekend, a 19-year-old punk with an assault rifle assaulted a synagogue in California.  Why does any 19-year-old need an assault rifle?  Keeping such a weapon out of his hands is NOT a threat to the Second Amendment.  Good sense will not destroy the NRA, nor the Second Amendment.

The freshly-resigned president of the NRA is Oliver North, and he has been campaigning to fire the very public executive director, Wayne LaPierre, whom I believe is a raging extremist.  He should be fired immediately.  He has destroyed the NRA and will not be missed, not even by gun-lovers like myself!