|
In order to have a healthy Second Amendment culture, you need a place where that culture can safely grow and welcome newcomers - places to shoot and established ways to deal with safety. This is the foundation on which everything else rests.
The NRA has done THAT job so well that everyone forgets that they are basically the only RKBA organization doing that job. For that reason alone, the NRA would be at the top of my list for national organizations when it comes to supporting RKBA.
My personal priorities list goes like this:
1. State organization - all politics is local. If gun grabbers don't get elected to city council they don't move up the ladder to Senator. Get involved at the local level first.
2. NRA - you are shoring up the foundation mentioned above and building the basis for your political action
3. SAF - SAF is a great group who knows how to do a lot with a little and is willing to work with other RKBA organizations and even let them take a lion's share of the credit in order to get results. If you want to support pro-2A litigation, this is THE go-to group
4. NRA-ILA, NRA-PVF, GOA - these are the groups that lobby Congress and help get friendly Congressmen re-elected. Each has their own strong points; but the thing to remember is that the larger group you try to organize, the more you must compromise to accommodate everyone. A "no-compromise" group is going to be small and in a fight where votes matter, that can sometimes be a liability. Likewise a large group of all kinds of shooters may not be as focused or responsive as a smaller organization.
5. NRA Civil Defense Fund - not really great at strategic constitutional litigation like SAF; but when someone is trying to shut down your local range on a noise complaint or prosecute a legitimate self-defense shooting, these are the guys who answer the call.
|