Like me, those of you of a certain age might remember when President Jimmy Carter decimated the ranks of the CIA, firing hundreds of “spooks” who, forced to fend for themselves, unsurprisingly ended up creating all manner of problems when they went to work for various Banana Republics.
Alas, that seems to be exactly what is happening in the gun rights movement as the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR), now discredited as a shill for predatory fundraising on issues it cannot impact, is forced to retrench, sending its employees back onto the street to ply their unsavory wares right here in North Carolina.
‘NCGR’
First it was Noel Fritsch and Riley O’Neal, both trained by NAGR, with their entity calling itself “North Carolina Gun Rights” whose acronym (NCGR) sounded suspiciously like “GRNC.” In the finest NAGR tradition, this pair denounced Representative Larry Pittman (R-Cabarrus) and his original constitutional carry bill as inadequate, instead promoting an as-yet introduced constitutional carry bill from Rep. Chris Millis (and implying that they were involved in crafting Millis’ bill). In truth, not only had Millis not coordinated with NCGR (they got their information second hand), by all reports NCGR barely showed up at the legislature, having no apparent impact on the legislative process. This, of course, didn’t stop them from fundraising on the issue.
In an article entitled “New Gun Rights Group Seeks … Confusion?”, NC Capitol Connection described the duo’s labyrinth of entities thus: “The group’s director is Reilly O’Neal, and in addition to being the director of NCGR he is the owner of Tidewater Strategies, LLC, which happens to be the recipient of NCGR’s largest disbursement of 2016 in the form of a $4,000 payment for political strategy consulting. Tidewater also built NCGR’s website.”
‘NC Firearms Coalition’
Directed by former NAGR operative Patrick Parsons, this group is actually headquartered in Georgia, where Parsons directs “Georgia Gun Owners” – a group which itself has a poor reputation for attacking pro-gun legislators for the supposed sin of being insufficiently pro-gun.
Parsons’ forte seems to be scare-tactic fundraising on gun control bills already dead. In less than a year, Parsons has already put out no less than five hair-raising mail solicitations, four of which exclaimed: “STOP ROY COOPER’S GUN CONTROL BILL! URGENT ACTION NEEDED: DEFEAT H.B. 723.”
Alas, three of those letters were sent after HB 723 was already dead for having failed to pass at least one chamber prior to the April “crossover deadline.” (Actually, the letters appear identical except that one is dated July 24 and the other two August 21.) In truth, HB 723, introduced by perennially anti-gun Democrat Reps. Harrison, Insko, Fisher, and Cunningham, never stood an icicle’s chance in hell of passing in a Republican legislature, even when it was theoretically alive. Moreover, as anti-gun as Governor Roy Cooper might be, nobody has produced any evidence whatsoever that he was behind the bill. In sum, Parsons’ practices what I call “predatory fundraising,” a NAGR tactic using scare tactics on gun control bills which present no serious threat.
The ‘real deal’
When you get fundraising emails and letters from these (or other) organizations, ask yourself what they are really doing to defend your freedom. More often than not, the answer is “nothing.” By contrast, Grass Roots North Carolina has been defending gun rights since 1994. On principle, GRNC does not pay its officers, preferring instead to remain all-volunteer not only to more efficiently use your money to defend your rights, but also to avoid the potential conflicts of interest so common in politics.