Jim Austin

His previous columns are archived HERE.

JIM AUSTIN

Your gun lobby at work for you

I think the National Rifle Association has had a free ride long enough. I haven't excoriated the NRA in about six months. Too long I think.

The main reason I haven't yanked on President Heston's chain lately is that; frankly, I had run out of ammo.

Apparently the simple fact that we have more murders per year than Chechnya, all due to our institutional handgun psychosis, isn't enough to persuade the legions of NRA advocates. One child dead a day or a week or whatever it is just isn't enough reason to have intelligent gun regulations in this country.

It's not the NRA's fault though, it's ours and the gun manufacturers.

You don't blame the rottweiler for attacking an innocent, you blame the owner.

I have said time and again that the NRA isn't about gun rights, it's about gun sales. The NRA wouldn't advocate giving you enough gunpowder to blow your nose if it wouldn't put money in the pockets of their masters, the gun manufacturers.

But that's old news.

You either think that's just fine, or you think that the gun lobby is a pack of hagfish, or you don't give a hoot. What's new is that the NRA is about to reveal their global side. Here's the deal: from July 9 – 20 the U.N. will hold an international conference to discuss the mayhem created by the sale of small arms by global arms manufacturers. Some bleeding heart liberal at the U.N. thought that 500,000 deaths per year attributed to small arms was too many.

This figure includes genocide in Rwanda, drug cartel slaughter in Colombia, Muslim extremist uprising in the Philippines, and our own homespun variety of murder, which takes place in all our major cities, high schools, and post offices nationwide.

Who do you think will be protesting this conference?

You are correct of you said the National Rifle Association. Maybe they should rename themselves the IRA (International Rifle Association).

No, maybe not -- that name is already taken by another gang of murderous thugs.

Why would an organization that is interested only in our right to bear arms give a damn about the rest of the world? Do they want to spread their self-serving and severely twisted interpretation of the second amendment to the entire world? The NRA is merely fulfilling its role as lickspittle mouthpiece for the gun manufacturers of the USA.

Just as Gerber exports baby food to other countries, so our gun dealers make millions shipping small arms to anyone who wants them. Some of the more zealous dealers were indicted during the Gulf War for smuggling weapons to Iraq.

Sewer rats are paragons of morality and virtue compared to these creatures so ably represented by the NRA.

One thing the NRA is very anxious to do is prevent Colin Powell from attending the conference. His presence will certainly lend credence to the proceedings.

The National Rifle Association has no doubt been sending thinly veiled threats to his office implying a lack of support for the GOP if he should attend. I hope he won't pay any attention.

Just in case, why don't you drop Secretary Of State Powell a line or an e-mail encouraging him to see what the U.N. has in mind.

If you still believe that the National Rifle Association cares about your individual gun rights, your safety, or the safety of your family, then ask yourself what the hell are they doing in New York trying to stop the U.N. from regulating arms sales to butchers in Rwanda and South Africa?

Next time you see a photograph of arch-terrorist Osama Bin Laden, check the sidearm; chances are it was made in New Haven Connecticut. And is that an NRA sticker on the stock?