DRAWING
A BEAD
Pro-Gun
Groups Growing
Richard A. Pearson
Executive
Director, ISRA
I
remember having lunch with my dad at the Coral Cup restaurant in my hometown of
Chatsworth, IL,
when I heard about the Firearm Owner Identification Card Act being passed. It was 1968.
My dad commented that there was “something terribly wrong” with this
whole thing. He finished his lunch
quickly and headed off to see the local state representative, and I, being a
gun owner and not yet
a gun activist, went home and
wrote my first article. My dad’s and my
reaction was typical – although looking back, we should have coordinated our
efforts and got others to join us. Ours
was a combination of surprise, inexperience, and disbelief.
That same year
the Gun Control Act of 1968 was also passed.
The gun owners of the United States,
and Illinois in particular, were
nervous. In Illinois,
the NRA, then just a hobbyist organization, the ISRA, the NRA’s state
affiliate, and the Illinois Wildlife Federation (IWF), a sportsmen club that
coordinated local clubs, were all that stood in the way of these first waves of
attacks.
None of the gun owners in the United
States would realize for many years that the
Gun Control Act of 1968 was an Americanized version of Hitler’s Gun Control Act
of 1938. It would be another
20 years
before the discovery that Senator Thomas Dodd of CT had the Nazi law translated
and turned into US law. George Everett,
then an ISRA director, was one of the first to discover and point out this
dreadful and appalling fact. We in the
gun rights movement have been told not to bring up the correlation between
Hitler’s Gun Control Act and our own 1968 law for fear of being branded as
extremists. Brand me or not, it’s
true! Senator Dodd had the Nazi law
translated by the Library of Congress – it is now documented. The Gun control Act of 1968 was the Pearl
Harbor of the Gun Owning Community. No one ever conceived
that his
or her own government representatives could be so treacherous; we all know
better now.
In the late ‘60s and all of the ‘70s and ‘80s, the
gun rights movement was monolithic. The
NRA, not only was the big dog on the porch, it was pretty much the only
dog. Like any single watchdog, no matter
how tough, it can be overwhelmed with enough attacks. Starting in the mid ‘80s, an interesting thing
began to happen in the gun rights movement – small groups of gun enthusiasts
began to get together and form their own Second Amendment groups. Some evolved from a particular special
shooting interest, others from clubs, and still others from the need to defend
the Second Amendment.
At this moment there are well over 1,000 pro Second
Amendment groups in the United States. Some, like the NRA,
SAF, or
GOA,
are at the strength of an army; others are smaller and can be compared to a
battalion regimental platoon, or squad strength. Together though, they are like a stampede of
wild horses – spirited and with minds of their own. Yet, they all are headed in the same
direction. To anyone who gets in the way
of this stampede – watch out – you will get trampled! As you should be.
I recently attended the
Gun Rights Policy Conference
in Houston, TX, and had a chance to meet some of these diverse groups, here’s
just a sample – Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership,
Second Amendment
Sisters, Safari Club International,
Delta Waterfowl,
Pink Pistols,
Western
Missouri Shooter Alliance, People's Rights Organization,
CATO Institute,
Shooters'
Committee on Political Education,
African-American Arms Instruction, Ohio
Constitution Defense Counsel, Brassroots, and
Mothers’ Arms. All made up of very dedicated people.
The anti-gunners are becoming increasingly aware of
the quantity and diversity of pro-gun organizations. Gun ownership cuts all lines at race, gender,
religion, sexual orientation, and physical condition. If you look at the people who make up gun
owners, they look like the definition of who is covered by civil rights. It is now all of our jobs to keep the pro-gun
rights movement together and pushing against the anti-gun agenda and the
individuals who make it up. The
anti-gunners continually attack our rights, our beliefs, and our way of life;
they call us names and question our character.
In reality, they are traitors to the principles this country was founded
on. The tremor they feel is our feet,
millions of our feet coming; coming for them.
Become a member of the Illinois State Rifle
Association (ISRA) – to join, call (815) 695-3198 or join on this website.
Richard A. Pearson
Executive Director, ISRA