Organized effort by left to denigrate America’s oldest civil rights organization?

Buckle yourself in for a fun ride on the lunatic train.   We’ll be leaving in a moment, but first, the set up:

Founded in 1871, The National Rifle Association is America’s oldest civil rights organization, defending Americans’ right to self-defense for many decades now.

That doesn’t sit well will freedom-eschewing leftists who hate guns.

These foaming at the mouth would-be tyrants would like nothing more than to recreate the Medieval Times where the common man was debarred the possession and use of weapons.

In an Orwellian twist, these far-left ideologues advocate and agitate their misguided belief that disarming America would make our citizens safer from criminal attack when in reality the opposite is true.

In the past week, especially, the far left has been going apoplectic about the growing power and influence of the NRA.  Just how much is the NRA growing?  Let’s look at their most recent annual convention and meeting in Houston to find out (courtesy of Shall Not Be Questioned)…

Here are the stats for NRA Annual meeting 2013 in Houston:

•     New memberships and upgrades: $1,340,107. This is an 86% increase over last year. Wow.
•     NRA Store Sales: $672,762, which is a 54% increase over last year.
•     Foundation Banquet: $511,761. Largest ever.
•     ILA Dinner: $800,000+, New record.
•     Women’s Leadership Forum: $1.2 million. Largest ever.
•     And total attendance? 86,228. That’s 12,488 more than the previous record of 73,740. Wow.

It seems as these leftist haters of freedom are almost using the psychological projection in their remarks.

Psychological projection was first conceptualized by Sigmund Freud as a defence mechanism in which a person unconsciously rejects his or her own unacceptable attributes by ascribing them to objects or persons in the outside world instead. Thus, projection involves projecting negative qualities onto others, and is a common psychological process.  Theoretically, projection and the related projective identification reduces anxiety by allowing the unconscious expression of the unwanted unconscious impulses or desires through displacement.

Are you buckled in yet?  Here we go!

CNN Op-Ed:  NRA a “festering pool of anger and fear”

(CNN) –– The annual festival of conspiracy theorizing, belligerent fist-shaking and anxious masculinity known as the National Rifle Association convention came to Houston over the weekend, and it was everything the organizers hoped it would be.

…has such a twisted view of liberty that he believes the freedom to buy an AR-15 at a gun show without having to fill out a form is as important as freedom of speech or religion.

…who will troop to their convention and jump into their festering pool of anger and fear. They don’t seem to realize how it makes them smell.

Yeah, such a twisted view of liberty that we believe the Second Amendment is just as important as the First.  How radical, right?  Our friend over at Days of Our Trailers has a new patch that’s a take on the old expression “extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice” with his own “Treason against tyranny is fidelity to liberty” patch.

MSNBC:  Lawrence O’Donnell – NRA’s members ‘relentlessly ignorant’

(Mediaite) – “Wayne LaPierre’s sleazy, exploitative question, ‘how many Bostonians wished they had a gun two weeks ago’ was spoken by a man that knows nothing about Boston,” he said. “It was appreciated by a relentlessly ignorant NRA audience that knows nothing about what happened in Boston.” Finally, O’Donnell said, we don’t know how Boston suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev obtained the gun that killed one officer and wounded another, “but we do know getting that gun was made easier–much, much easier–by the life’s work of Wayne LaPierre.” 

MSNBC:  CT Senator Chris Murphy (Democrat):  Civil rights aren’t really civil rights

(RCP) – Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) on states nullifying federal gun laws:

I mean, let’s look at the context of nullification. Nullification was last used by Southern states to try to eviscerate Civil Rights legislation, to try to prevent states from basically enforcing desegregation and frankly, I think history will look back on this round of nullification as kindly as it did on the last round.

It is laughable also because it is a total bastardization of the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment is not an absolute right, not a God given right, always had conditions upon it like the First Amendment has. The idea that the Second Amendment was put in there in order to allow citizens to fight their government is insane.

MSNBC:  Chris Matthews – “Gun owners are racists, birthers”

(Via RCP) – To everybody watching, this isn’t just about guns — is about guns. It is about this war in this country, that’s gotten more divided, more polarized. And it’s about symbols like telling you you can’t have certain kinds of gun. You need certain kinds of freedoms with your gun, like no background checks. Or that you have an African-American president.

Now, here’s an example, the birther thing. It all ties together. You have to explain to me how they see the overlap of birtherism and guns, because I see it. Here’s the new NRA president, Jim Porter. He also doesn’t sound like he’s willing to go in that middle line there across the aisle. Last year he made a speech not only referring to Civil War as the war of northern aggression, here we go again, but also invoked birther language. Now, I missed this last week. Birther language. Watch him here talk about our fake president.

…[Gun owners] don’t accept an African-American president or president of color who has some antecedence in Africa

CT Senator Sidney Blumenthal (Democrat): NRA “offensive”, disgraceful and shameful

(TPM) – “Yesterday, when NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said of the organization’s critics ‘let them be damned,’ he was talking to 90 percent of Americans who support criminal background checks and other common sense gun violence prevention measures. His remarks disgrace the organization and its members – most of them supporters of expanding background checks.

“LaPierre also callously claimed that the horrific tragedy in Newtown was used to ‘shame’ the organization. The truth is that the NRA shames itself by misleading the American public and its membership about the need for sensible gun safety measures, and working to block such measures at all costs.

“I will continue to stand and work with victims of gun violence, law enforcement officials, and responsible gun owners to push for measures that keep our families and communities safe. The offensive remarks made this weekend by LaPierre and other top leaders of the NRA will only cause us to redouble our efforts for common sense reform.”

NY Daily News:  Supica – NRA Members “Mean, Dumb, Angry,” “Phony Patriots”…

(NY Daily News) – Sarah Palin showed up at the NRA convention the other day, which was merely perfect. She belonged there as much as anybody in the hall just because from the start, from the time John McCain picked her out of the chorus, Palin has most appealed to mean, dumb, angry crowds exactly like the one she found in Houston.

…She wants to be a populist and a patriot, the way the phonies cheering her on Friday think they’re patriots, and brave defenders of the Second Amendment. But all Palin did this time was turn herself out for the craziest and creepiest gun lovers on the planet. It is the same as turning yourself out for gun manufacturers.

MSNBC:  Chris Matthews – NRA Hitlerian

(Newsbusters) – As he played clips of Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck at this past weekend’s convention, Matthews railed, “First of all, it’s Hitlerian, generally speaking, demagoguery. It’s always about righteous indignation. All great demagogic speakers talk about how they’re coming to get us.”

Our thoughts on these individuals?