I recently opened my mailbox and found an envelope addressed to some unknown person (presumably the previous occupant of my apartment). However, there was no mistaking who the letter was from: the
NRA. From a Swedish perspective, this is a somewhat mysterious organization and you may only have heard about it in the context of
Michael Moore making fun of Charlton Heston (shame on you, Michael - you don't pick on people with Alzheimers for being confused). Americans are a little funny about their Constitution, and have kept it in essentially the original form for the last 200 years. In fact, it seems to be second most revered old document after the Bible around here - and I'm pretty sure that many people are just as religious about the Constitution as, well, actual religion. It contains a somewhat ambigously worded 2nd Amendment, refering to "a well regulated miltia" and "the right of the people to keep and bear arms". The former idea certainly helped win the Revolutionary War (a miltia is very handy when you don't have an actual army), but the latter phrase is at the center of a long-term and very inflamed debate about gun control. Essentially, should people be allowed to have all they guns they want? Coming back to the NRA, they're pretty firmly on the side of "more guns for everybody". The native Swede might find this a bit foreign, given the
strict gun laws and
relative lack of gun-related violence back home (American readers will likely find the high suicide rates of Finland and Sweden in line with their preconceptions). Personally I like shooting guns as much as the next man, but I'm kinda thinking that maybe people don't need more than, say, a rifle (for hunting) and a handgun (for target practice). See e.g.
last year's pumpkin.
Anywho, with the recent ascendancy to power of a liberal Democratic President and Democratic control of the House, shooting enthusiasts everywhere are more paranoid than Stalin locked in a closet with five dudes from a Gulag. Ammo has become increasingly expensive due to stockpiling by people who are convinced that someday soon the
Black Helicopters are going to come swooping down and take away their firearms. Enter, stage left: the NRA. I offer some excerpts from the 5+ page latter that I got from these nice people. This is about as American as it gets, for better or for worse:
- "We represent your 'special interest' -- YOUR FREEDOM!"
- "[...] a gun-owning voter who will work to elect the Second Amendment's allies and defeat her enemies!!!"
- "[...] you will do more to defend our precious constitutional rights in just one year than most Americans will do in a lifetime!"
- "Plus, if you join NRA in the next 30 days, you will recieve NRA's Heavy-Duty Duffel Bag [...] as a symbol of your history-making commitment to FREEDOM that few Americans can match."
- "Your commitment helps make the miracle of freedom possible."
As you might suspect, I did not send my check or recieve a duffel bag...
