A Good Guy With A Gun

By Jackson Tobes

The NRA states that gun control would not help prevent mass shootings in schools, but putting armed guards within schools, rebuilding the psychiatric program, and arming more citizens with guns in order for them to protect themselves will. The NRA also supports for more criminal charges for those trying to buy guns, but have committed a felony, and can no longer legally purchase a gun. The NRA  believes in strict training, originally founded in the hope that our Army would have the best riflemen from around the world, trained in focusing on accuracy,with knowledge on the weapons they’re using, and how to be the most proficient killers.

The NRA’s appeals are mostly emotional, relying on the ideals of patriotism, that we as a country are not safe from terrorists and that the second amendment rights will be nullified unless action is taken to prevent it. On a whole, the NRA are an organization that have become the ultimate protector of citizens second amendment rights.

The National Rifle Association(NRA) was founded by General Ambrose Burnside, who became the first NRA president in 1871, in order to promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis. Ever since then, the NRA has grown exponentially, promoting the use of guns for sport, especially among America’s youth, being educators for proper hunting, and training America’s finest, the Police Force. The NRA-ILA, a group that has since become a political powerhouse and a lobbying arm, was created to protect and promote second amendment rights.  

The NRA-ILA are the second amendment saviors, and the organization within the NRA that protects its own assets. Supported by the Republican party, gun manufacturers, and its followers, the NRA is based mostly on the idea of a “good guy with a gun will kill the bad guy with a gun”.    

 

 

 

The more people that support the NRA, the more money they make in order to fight for citizens second amendment rights. The NRA’s support from gun manufacturers shows how they support legal transactions because they benefit from it. The reasoning behind why the NRA does not support new gun control laws is because it will give them less money, the market would become smaller.

The NRA has control over their followers because their followers are people who also love guns. They are willing to pay a hundred dollars a year for full membership, to be on mailing lists, and to have the knowledge and get the training to become a natural born marksmen. NRA members are trained to be able to hunt for themselves, protect themselves, and harm others. The argument the NRA uses for their training is not for military use, like in past history, but for people’s own protection. The republican party also puts their hands into the NRA’s affairs, making statements on how they agree and give money to the NRA.

The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting happened in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14th, 2014. The crime was perpetrated by Adam Lanza, using a semi-automatic AR-15 assault rifle, and two pistols, a Glock and a Sig Sauer. After entering the school, he shot 20 students ranging from ages 6 to 7, and shot 6 adults. After a standoff with the police, he committed suicide within a classroom. The children were then evacuated to the firehouse where parents met them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The NRA argues that if a armed security guard, then the gunman would have been killed before entering the building. If all schools did this, then the mentally ill with guns wouldn’t be able to massacre children because they would be killed by people already there with guns, a good guy with a gun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only way to get through the front entrance is to be buzzed in, but the shooter, Adam Lanza, shot out the door to get into the building. NRA CEO and Vice President Wayne LaPierre stated in a speech that the gunman would’ve been stopped before committing the mass shooting if an armed guard was there.

This supports the NRA’s ideologies and also gives them leverage to say that if an armed guard was there, it wouldn’t have happened, so if we have an armed guard at schools, school shootings would not happen at all.

With President Obama’s term ending soon, he was able to bring about stricter background checks and stop the gun show loophole. The future of the NRA is based all on the next president. If the next president is a democrat, the laws might be changed to lean more towards stricter gun control. The NRA-ILA will have to go full force in order to protect citizens second amendment rights for large caliber weaponry. At this point in time though, the election race seems to be neck and neck for a democratic or republican candidate.