On the heals of the National Rifle Association Annual Meeting attended by tens of thousands of freedom loving American's from all walks of life, we have another NRA attack column entitled "I hunt, but appose the NRA".
"I wrote an op-ed for today’s New York Times, pointing out the obvious: that the NRA doesn’t have hunters’ best interests in mind. Not surprisingly, the emails are already pouring in. I’ll blog about these responses in a few days. For now, I’m off to buy a few hard copies of the paper."
This column then first appeared in the New York Times on April 24, but has also been subsequently published in other locations as well using different headlines.
So here we have a single individual - that some have characterized from correct, to simply ill informed, to blatantly ignorant, to a useful idiot – writing a column for the New York Times in exchange for promoting her book. That’s business.
The individual? Lily Raff McCaulou a self-described hippie of sorts who now lives in beautiful Oregon with her husband and (congratulations are in order) their newborn son.
"I grew up in Takoma Park, Maryland, which is a cool, hippie suburb of Washington, D.C. I graduated from Wesleyan University with a degree in film studies and worked in New York City’s independent film industry before becoming a newspaper reporter in 2004."
Why Lily? The New York Times is fully aware (and frightened) that for years now the number of women entering the hunting and shooting sports is a key reason behind much of the growth for the NRA, the hunting community, hunting as a tradition and the industry. Women like Lily now comprise approximately 9% of the hunting community; facts that Lily herself cannot dispute.
Better yet, a young woman who clearly seems to believe (at the moment) that the sole purpose for owning firearms is for hunting and not for self-defense. So, who better than a new woman hunter, using two last names to use and exploit for their own purposes to disparage the NRA?
Despite this, I for one welcome Lily into the hunting community as I do hundreds of new hunters each year here in Massachusetts as certified Basic Hunter Education Instructor.
However, before casting future youthfully exuberant stones at her peers who have laid the foundation she now walks upon, she should endeavor take more time to understand where our hunting tradition started and as an ethical and involved hunter seek to protect all aspects of it from those who seek to destroy it.
Case in point, the New York Times shining example of gun control utopia: Great Britain. If Lily, as a self-proclaimed Journalist, does a bit of research she will discover current crime statistics in England, what they were before and after gun control started, the slippery slope of gun control advocacy and the final impact it has had on our neighbors hunting traditions across the pond.
Better yet, a little generic history lesson is in order by making reference to "First they came…" by a German pastor Martin Niemöller as it adequately summarizes what occurred and could occur here in the United States if not for NGO's like the NRA and its hard working members:
First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
I’m sure Lily can infer the meaning of the above, but let me make it perfectly clear:
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana
Once done exploring the failed Great Britain disarmament experiment, Lily will most likely look more carefully and respectfully at the NRA and organizations like it. In fact, I'd encourage Lily to join for just one year at my cost and elect to receive the NRA American Hunter magazine.
In that year as an NRA member, Lily will find that she is in good company when it comes to topics of habitat preservation, using science for population control (hunting), and the many, many issue threatening her new found sport.
Lily's next assignment is to read a book written by the Executive Editor of American Hunter magazine Frank Miniter called The Politically Incorrect Guide to Hunting.
As maturity sets in, surely Lily will seek to protect what will have become a precious year old son from life's dangers (with a firearm if necessary) as would a mother bear would protect its cubs.
Lily will also uncover, real threats to that evil black scoped bolt action rifle slung over her shoulder pictured on her blog or at least other firearms used lawfully in hunting such as the AR-15.
If by then, Lily still values this sport and is honest she will no longer be able to ignore these very real threats as a hunter and endeavor to do something about them.
Once done with these assignments, Lily, like many others already have, will cast aside their prior brainwashing and rue the day when she held her current views. She will then gladly become a Life Time NRA member. The NRA will still be here and waiting with open arms to receive her.
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