At Rep. Reed’s Town Hall Meeting in Penn Yan on Saturday (Dec. 15), there was a brief, but important dialogue between two constituents, one who is a grandmother and a former teacher; the other, the Yates County Chairman of SCOPE (Shooters Committee On Political Education) and a long time NRA member.

The topic the group was discussing was the mass killings in Connecticut. It had moved away from reasons not to change the gun laws (that would ‘infringe on freedom) to discussing “what’s going on in his (the shooter’s) head”.

The Grandmother made a statement: The NRA are not in favor of the instant background checks for mental illness. Nor are they in favor of background checks when people buy guns at gun shows.

SCOPE Chairman: That’s not true.

Grandmother: That’s not true?

SCOPE Chairman: No. They support background checks.

Grandmother: At Gun Shows?

SCOPE Chairman: Sure. Absolutely. 

Interesting. NRA supports background checks?

I guess you can say that in New York (and California, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Oregon, Illinois and Colorado) because those states already require background checks on all gun sales at gun shows. But, what about the other states? The NRA has a history of being against background checks.

An article in the ‘HuffPost Detroit’, dated December 13, 2012, a day before the Newtown Mass Killing, states “A bill pushed by the National Rifle  Association to eliminated criminal background checks for many handgun buyers in Michigan was rejected by lawmakers Wednesday, after a heavy lobbying effort by law enforcement officials, municipal leaders and gun control advocates.”

NRA CEO, Wayne LaPierre, in his much anticipated so-called Major News Conference (There were no questions asked) explained ways to reduce gun related murders. Background checks was NOT one of them. You would think if the NRA supports background checks, they would say it. Instead of supporting background checks, he blamed twenty year old video games and Oliver Stones movies.

Besides LaPierre did not support background checks in Friday’s speech, the Chairman of the Yates SCOPE didn’t mention background checks in an interview he gave the Finger Lakes Times which was published in its Friday, December 21 edition. Yates SCOPE Chairman John Pendergast blamed the MEDICAL ORGANIZATIONS. He must know something that we don’t because he has determined that “this person potentially should not have been on the street.”

With all the evidence I see, I don’t think the NRA  supports background checks. Do you?

Related articles

• NRA Silent on Assault Weapons Ban (thetruthaboutguns.com)
• One Of My Readers Comments On The NRA (dekerivers.wordpress.com)
• Nadler statement on the NRA’s proposal (timesunion.com)
• Today’s fringy NRA, out-of-step with America and gun owners (dailykos.com)
• That NRA ‘solution’… (cedarlounge.wordpress.com)