NRA Geez?!

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dontcatchmany

New member
Earlier this year I did a Lifetime Membership to the NRA.

I truly appreciate the NRA's fight to beat the opponents of the 2nd Amendment and I also will also give my life to protect the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as I did with my service in Vietnam in 68/69.

However the NRA seems to stoop lower than AARP in their dollar bill cravings. :mad:

Almost every week I get two or three mailings from NRA wanting me to buy some crap insurance or enter in some sort of raffle or what ever low life money grabbing scheme de jour.

NRA seems to be attempting to be the most contemptuous money grabbing used car salesmen ever. Sickening and perverse IMHO. Can these folks attempt to have a little class?
 
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Tom Servo

Staff
From the NRA's site:

Q: How can I reduce the amount of mail I receive from the NRA?

A: Simply email us at membership@nrahq.org or dial 800-NRA-3888 and request to be placed on the "Do Not Promote" list. This will significantly reduce the amount of mail you receive without affecting important mailings, magazine service, or your membership renewal.
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dakota.potts

New member
This is good to know, Tom.

We are also inundated by a ton of NRA mail. We have been signed up for 6 months (I think we've got a 3 or 5 year membership) and they're sending us stuff asking if we'd like to renew early.

It personally makes me mad that they continue to ask for money, but they don't put that membership money towards the ILA, which is the branch I mainly want to be supporting. I understand it probably takes an unfathomable amount of money to run an organization of that size, but to me it feels duplicitous.
 
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dontcatchmany

New member
Tom,

I sincerely appreciate the data and will use it.

However, I still question the NRA's ability to stoop to some type of money making that seems to be of a low character.

Are not there better ways? I ask this to the NRA and not you sir.

Again, thanks for the link and data.
 
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Mike Irwin

Staff
"It personally makes me mad that they continue to ask for money, but they don't put that membership money towards the ILA"

Yep, it really stinks that NRA won't put membership dues towards the Institute for Legislative Action.

Then again, Federal law prohibits the use of membership dues for legislative functions.

I'll say that again.

It's against the law for NRA to use membership dues to fund the Institute for Legislative Action.

That is true of any organization like NRA that has an arm that does legislative affairs and lobbying.


"We have been signed up for 6 months (I think we've got a 3 or 5 year membership) and they're sending us stuff asking if we'd like to renew early."

I hate that, too, but just about every organization does it. A few years ago I got a "thank you for your renewal" letter from an organization to which I belonged.

Inside with the letter was a request to renew my membership.
 
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BarryLee

New member
The thing to remember is our foes are often funded by taxpayers, so they have an almost unlimited budget. The NRA only has the funds we as members donate or a portion they receive from these various promotions.

The fight is not over and after 2014 there will most likely be a major assault on our Second Amendment Rights, so we need to assure that the number one Gun Rights group is properly funded.
 
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FrankenMauser

New member
"We have been signed up for 6 months (I think we've got a 3 or 5 year membership) and they're sending us stuff asking if we'd like to renew early."

I hate that, too, but just about every organization does it. A few years ago I got a "thank you for your renewal" letter from an organization to which I belonged.

Inside with the letter was a request to renew my membership.
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GOA is so bad about that, and won't stop doing it, that I'm not going to renew my membership when it expires (next month?).
I get a renewal notice at least every 2 weeks, usually every 10 days, or so.

If they didn't waste their funds on 35 lbs of paper for the useless mailers they send to me, it would be the equivalent of a renewal... :rolleyes:
 
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dakota.potts

New member
Really Mike? That's interesting. I didn't realize there were laws against that.

I would still like to see, perhaps, maybe taking money off of the membership dues if you contribute to the ILA or something as the law allows. But that does clear up a lot of confusion to me as to why they charge so much for memberships and then need donations for the ILA. It actually makes a lot more sense now.
 
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Paul B.

New member
I kow it's irritating as hell when all that mail and their phone calls at inconvenient times come in butI've learned to live with it. :( I may even start donating a few bucks again. Why? I came to the realization that Micheal Bloomberg alone can easily outspend the NRA when it comes to gun control. WE aleady know where he stand when it comes to people's rights. :mad: Then add the war chests of the Brady bunch, and all the other anti-gun groups and it puts us in a not too pleasant spot. In our governemt, money talks and BS walks. If the NRA is outspent, they're not gonna win any battles. Supposedly the NRA has 5 million members now. If every member donated just $10, that's only $50 million, a drop in the bucket to what just Bloomberg is willing to spend. I don't find that to be a too pleasant thought. If those 5 million member would commit to $10 a month that would be 600 million if my math deficient brain is anywhere near correct. That would go a long way toward making a heavy duty war chest gainst the likes of Bloomberg and crew. Th thing is, will the membership stand up and put their money where it counts?
Paul B.
 
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FrankenMauser

New member
I would still like to see, perhaps, maybe taking money off of the membership dues if you contribute to the ILA or something as the law allows. But that does clear up a lot of confusion to me as to why they charge so much for memberships and then need donations for the ILA. It actually makes a lot more sense now.
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We've discussed it here, quite a few times in the past.
Next time you have an NRA membership/renewal form in front of you, read the entire thing. Somewhere on there, you'll find it stated quite clearly that membership dues cannot be used for lobbying by the ILA.
 
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kilimanjaro

New member
The NRA, like any other gun rights organization, has to work for it's money. I'm a life member, and just toss the insurance quotes and credit card offers in the fireplace along with the rest of the junk mail. I know they would rather fund the ILA with $10 a year or $5 a month from every one of the 5 million members, but the facts are that they have to seek other means of funding, like it or not.

The anti-gun organizations are funded by billionaires, leftist trust funds, and tax money. That's what we should be complaining about.
 
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thallub

New member
The NRA is forced to solicit contributions because only about ten percent of NRA members ever contribute to the ILA. i'm among the ten percent who foot the bill for those who never contribute.
 
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johnwilliamson062

Moderator
The NRA with memberships is like a club or a sporting association such as IDPA more than a "gun rights organization." At least in how money is spent if not culture. Federal laws mentioned before guarantee that. NRA has 3 million members at $15 or more a piece, so they take in at least 50 million a year I imagine. Their filings must be available somewhere.

SAF used to be MUCH better about this than NRA. The first few years I received very little junk mail. Now I get at least a few things tucked in with my newsletter each month and often a second solicitation of some sort. They seem to be big on the "matching donation" solicitations.
 
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UncleEd

New member
It's true, the NRA can't use membership dues for the ILA. Those dues go to the museum, many staff salaries, and other programs such as Eddie Eagle.

I don't like all the solicitations either but I just ignore them except for a periodic ILA contribution. I figure if I can afford some pretty decently expensive guns, and want to keep them, I can afford some extra money for the ILA.

Think of the perhaps 100 million Americans who have guns, enjoy them, use them responsibly and don't contribute even a dime to membership let alone the ILA.
 
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g.willikers

New member
Their latest mailing for donations also includes chances on a 12 gun raffle.
All EBRs, too.
That should get some positive action.
 
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Bullcamp82834

New member
The NRA sends me at least a couple invitations a year to join.

I've been a member since about 1969 when I took my first hunter safety course in Ohio as a kid.
They don't need to expend resources recruiting me. I'm already in and always will be.

If every other member gets the mailings I do the NRA is spending their money in a wasteful way. I called them about this issue once but it did no good.
I wish they would be more careful and spend every dollar for maximum effect.
 
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Mike Irwin

Staff
Direct mail marketing IS maximum effect.

It is still the most successful way of reaching members available.

There is a simple premise by which direct mail operates.

It pays for itself.
 
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Ted D

New member
I donate $100 a year.to support Our GUN RIGHTS.If every member would do that it would ad up.Most people waste 100 on crap in one week.Just my 2cents.
 
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arch308

New member
I'm with you Ted. I only keep my NRA membership current. All extra donations I can afford go to the NRA-ILA or PVF.
 
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