The NRA has been phoning me recently. Well, not the NRA itself; some independent contractor with a tape recorder and an automated dialing machine has been using the NRA's phone number to call me. I don't take the calls -- why would I want to talk to a machine that emulates the listening inability of its sponsoring organization? -- but the letters "NRA" on the caller ID do cause me to think more about the NRA's various positions.
You know, it is a funny thing, but the more often any position is raised in conversation, no matter how illogical or inconsistent it might be, the less absurd it begins to sound.
In the case of the NRA, the one idea which comes up incessantly is the registration of some firearms leading inexorably to the eventual confiscation of all firearms from all people. I used to think that was a bizarre thought; short guns, maybe, but certainly never long guns. Not in this country. But the NRA has been relentless in raising the idea over and over and over again.
I have to say that registration and confiscation is sounding a lot more plausible now.
Maybe it wasn't just the NRA's publicity juggernaut which has accustomed my mind to this non-traditional view. That pair of terrorists who used long guns some years back in the D.C. area may have helped, for example. But the truth is that I hardly ever think about those 2 guys shooting out of the trunk of their car. The memory wouldn't have come up now if it weren't for the whole topic being raised again by those letters "NRA" on my telephone's caller ID display.
I am in favor of fewer firearms overall, though I'd start with the sorts of weapons used mainly for shooting up civilian villages. I do think anyone who chooses to own a firearm of any kind ought to have extensive safety training -- lots more than is exhibited by the typical trespasser on my property.
I'm particularly in favor of the complete annihilation of the international arms trade. I think that I'd even prefer to see most of the world's handguns go the way of the floreana mockingbirds of Ecuador. But if ever I extend these ideas so far as to include the shotguns owned by farmers and sportsmen, you'll know that the NRA has been a big part of the change.