NRA Telephone Survey (Oct 2009)

This Sunday afternoon I received a phone call  from a woman asking if I would answer a one-question survey about the Second Amendment. I said, “yes”. The caller asked me to listen to a recorded comment by  Wayne LaPierre from the NRA.

(I may not have this exactly right and if any of you have had any of these calls,  please correct me in the comments.)

Mr. LaPierre begins to talk about the United Nations having a  plan to ban guns in America and that they are meeting at this very time. The UN was planning a media campaign to make this happen. Unless the NRA and people like me are roused to action this may occur. The UN planned to make treaties banning guns in America. ( Words to that effect)

I was perplexed by this  and admit that I did not listen to retain information. I was listening to place it into context but could not  think of anything I had read recently that fit.

When the recorded message  was done, a man came on the line and asked me if I thought it right that the United Nations and Hillary Clinton should have the right to  ban guns in the US. I told him that I objected to his question and said ‘no’.  Then I asked him what Hillary Clinton had to do with any of this.  He replied that her ambassador to Mexico was returning to report on how American guns are a problem for Mexico and that this would effect the rights of Americans to have guns.

I said that this was a distortion of the truth. I said that the issue in Mexico is the amount of American guns that are falling into the hands of the drug cartels  and that this is not  about the right of Americans to keep and bear arms. This is about the international drug trade being supported by an international gun trade.

At this time the caller thanked me for my time and hung up.

I have been a member of the NRA and this is not normal for them to: 1. confuse the rights of Americans with the international drug and gun trade, 2. to malign a government official through innuendo and 3. to take an absurd stand that treaties on the promulgation of guns to drug cartels  will somehow effect the Second Amendment. I am hoping that this man was way off message.

Even if I don’t have the words exact, I can assure you that my description reflects the impression I recieved . The NRA telephone call was designed to invoke the conservative fears of the UN, the fears of Hillary Clinton, and fears of  international treaties to take guns away from Americans to promote support for the NRA.

There is something wrong with the NRA if this is the message they are sending to ordinary Americans like myself. Let me know if you have had a similar call.

By the way, HERE is the NY Times article in February about drug cartels and American gun dealers.

And HERE is a Washinton Post article from April describing the Obama Administration efforts to attack the drug cartel’s assets and the “Iron River of Guns” flowing into Mexico. Please note the correction at the top of the article; it is important. The orginal article said that 90% of the narcotrafficante guns can be traced to the US. The correction says that 90% of the guns submitted by Mexico to the US for tracing do in fact originate in the US. 

If the NRA’s official position is to oppose  controlling the international gun trade then the NRA has either bedded down with gun manufacturers or it has implicitly endorsed the selling of guns to criminal enterprises.

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8 thoughts on “NRA Telephone Survey (Oct 2009)

  1. They called my house tonight but I didn’t answer because they’ve been calling a lot thinking I’m going to send them money. I love when they call with surveys.

  2. Got the same call today, and your summary of it, including the question following it, is accurate.

    I told the guy that I thought the question was inane, and the taped message preceding it full of misinformation, after which he hung up. It’s quite telling that the NRA feels the need to hide their propaganda behind the thin veil of a “survey” that is very obviously only interested in one response. I wonder whether they are going to publish the answers to their “survey”…

    LaPierre has been politicizing the NRA (and polarizing gun politics and policies) for quite a long time now, and this call is not out of character for the NRA of his era. Their vitriol may have become a tad more desperate since their favored party has been relegated to the back of the bus, but they did the same thing during the Bushocene, the only difference then was that they were aligned in spirit and agenda with the powers that were.

  3. I got this call tonight so they have not given up this deplorable tactic yet. I told them that I doubted the veracity of the message and thought the whole survey was disgusting.

  4. Remember that most likely the person on the other line calling you is an acting.
    Remember telemarketing is the only decent paying job offer in a state and city that may have little to no work.
    Remember they have families to feed, bills to pay, lives to life.
    Remember they may or MAY NOT agree with what they are calling on.
    Remember to stay courteous and never say something you would not say to a person face to face. You should never use the phone as a reason to make the other feel inferior.
    Remember I do not agree with NRA and I work as one of those people who call you. As my job. To pay my bills, put food on the table.

    PS
    Instead of yelling about someone calling and interrupting your breakfast/lunch/dinner/sleep/shower/family time/movie time/tv time/personal or relaxation time/on a the other line/on a long distance call/in a meeting/ calling too late or too early/ or disrupting you as you are “just walking out the door” to leave…. just be normal and don’t pick up the phone. Because as you are doing that, someone is still clocked in and unfortunately, technology does not allow us to see you on the other end of the line….but sometimes I wish it did in order for me to avoid a major cussing and screaming by someone who could have just simply avoided the situation by A) simply not answering or B) Turn phone connection on and then back off (aka hanging up immediately without a word spoken).

    PPS
    I dislike bothering you at home for a living just as you dislike seeing the name on your caller id.

    1. I never implied that I yelled or was rude in any way. I referred to the survey as disgusting which it is. When you are a fireman by profession you expect to be called to put out fires. When you are an EMT you expect to be called to horrible accidents. When people are call homes on a no call list and conducting this kind of survey they might expect so irritated responses. It can be said that that would be an expected part of the job.

  5. iknow,

    I don’t have to be nice to you or ignore you. You do this for a living and not because you believe in what you are doing.

    I retain the right to be obnoxious to those who call me without invitation.

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