A couple weeks ago, I wrote a diary about the 670 hunting and fishing organizations that signed a letter to Congress urging action on climate change. My organization, the American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA), was proud to sign that letter. As, hunters, we see first hand the impacts of global warming or "climate change".
There was a conspicuous absence from the signatories to that letter: The National Rifle Association.
You’d think the leadership of the National Rifle Association would be highly concerned about one of the most important issues facing our sporting community -- climate change -- because it is having a dramatic impact on hunters.
But, I’ve figured out why the NRA didn’t sign the letter.
Leaders of the NRA are playing politics again with issues of grave concern to America’s hunters and shooters. They have assumed a key role in the movement of "global warming deniers".
If you want clear evidence, check out the Heartland Institute’s "International Conference on Climate Change" held in NYC this week. Don’t let the name fool you. These are the folks who want to disprove global warming, a rebirth of the "flat earth society" if you will. Diarist Target Global Warming liveblogged the event here and here. Even the New York Times provided coverage:
The two-day gathering, which concludes Tuesday, was organized by the Heartland Institute, a Chicago group whose antiregulatory philosophy has long been embraced by, and financially supported by, various industries and conservative donors.
Riley E. Dunlap, a sociologist at Oklahoma State University who has studied the influence of conservative policy institutes, said in an e-mail message that such events were designed to foster the impression of "little Davids battling the Goliath of the environmental establishment."
But Dr. Dunlap said such activities were well financed and, "When you have the full support of some of the wealthiest and most powerful political actors in the nation, you can hardly be considered to be underdogs."
One of the "most powerful political actors" is none other than NRA Board member and right wing guru, Grover Norquist. His group, Americans for Taxpayer Reform, was a conference co-sponsor for the gathering of the self-proclaimed global warming "skeptics."
NRA Board Member Roy Innis, from the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was a speaker and his group was also a co-sponsor.
Not like we needed any further evidence that the current NRA leadership is nothing but a front for the radical right wing agenda, but there it is.
This is another example of how far removed the NRA leadership is from its membership. Not only does the group not focus on the real concerns of hunters, they’ve got board members sponsoring a conference that claims climate change doesn’t exist.
The NRA’s leadership has repeatedly worked against the interests of hunters and shooters. That’s probably because many of the NRA’s leaders don’t hunt. If Wayne LaPierre, Grover Norquist, Roy Innis and their allies actually hunted on a regular basis, they wouldn’t be skeptics. They’d know firsthand the problems climate change is causing. They’d understand why those 670 hunting and fishing groups consider it "our moral responsibility to confront climate change in order to protect our outdoor heritage and our children’s future."
There is no getting away from what the current leadership of the NRA has become. They’re a right wing front group in bed with the GOP -- lock, stock and barrel.
To the great detriment of America’s hunting tradition, NRA’s leadership has abandoned hunters for their cozy political allies. Their actions speak louder than words -- there is no room for real hunters. We hunters don’t fit into their extreme political agenda.
So, NRA board members sponsor a conference that denies global warming while 670 hunting and fishing groups are demanding action. That says it all.
The NRA lackeys have put a lot of time and energy into attacking AHSA and me. I just wish every now and then, they’d put half the amount of energy into something worthwhile that would have a positive impact.
They’ll keep launching full-scale attacks on AHSA and me. They don’t intimidate me. What I am fighting for is too important.