The National Rifle Association recently announced it would not be holding it's annual convention in Columbus Ohio, as previously had been planned, and this is said to be due to the restricitve gun laws in Columbus. I don't blame the NRA at all for this, in fact, I would suggest a number of good areas for their convention, places that have reasonable gun laws, and could use the economic infusion that a national major convention might bring them. I'm a supporter of the NRA, that is one of my few pet conservative issues, as I am an ardent supporter of the Second Amendment. Of course, it is not often that I engage in any kind of dialoque with any NRA members, in fact, I never do, because, frankly, I most generally otherwise don't fit in with these folks. They are usually conservative Christians, for example, and also mainly Republicans.
I remember a while back I was in Cincinnati, I attended an event at Fountain Square, run by some real far-right group. It was attended by a Congressman from the area, a Republican, whom the main speaker actually informed that he would be watched, in what was nearly a menacing manner. And no, he wasnt joking. This was a Pro-gun rights rally, among other things, mainly it was an anti-Clinton and anti-liberal rally, right before the 1994 mid-term elections, the one in which the democrats lost power in the House and Senate for the first time together in like sixty years. And they have yet to regain it. So you might say this period was a turning point.
Anyway, this guy, a militia type with military fatiques and a long pony tail, was speaking about the right to bear arms, and all the other stuff, when I was approached by this smiling man with dark hair, wearing glasses, asking me if he could give me his pamphlets. They were Christian pamphlets, tracts, about the usual shit probably, hell and damnation if you'r unsaved, no matter how good you are otherwise. I say probably, because I didn't see them, I told him I wasn't interested. I told him firmly, too. I had just recently converted to Paganism, and I was a real fire brand about it. I didn't talk to anybody about it in a preaching manner of speaking, now mind you, but I was really into it. Taken with it, all the way, and I wasn't going to hear any of this guys shit, or anybody elses like him. And I made damned sure they understood at least that much, if they ever approached me. So it was with this guy. I wasnt really hateful, I thought, though maybe I was, I just said plainly, I'm not interested. Then I turned back to hear the speech of the militia leader. I noticed this guy was nodding to an acquaintance, and indicated me, with a sneer. Suddenly, he started loking at me, up and down, walking around me a couple of times. I felt like he might start sniffing my ass any mintue, and in fact, I almost think he did. It was weird. Real weird, but I ignored him, and after a couple of minutes, he went on his way.
I wondered, what is he doing, throwing off on the way I was dressed, looking for cloven hooves and a tail, what the shit was this guys story? And it hit me. I didn't reject his God. I rejected him. That was the problem. And he hated me for it. I had humiliated him, and he couldn't deal with that. I then ignored him. I can only imagine how he took that. But he is I fear typical, all too so, of this crowd. Zealots. Fanatics. Better than Muslim fanatics only by a few degrees, and I'm not all that sure about that.
But I am a supporter of the Second Amendment, and as such I support the NRA, as they are the only organization of any note, in fact they are the only ones I know, who advocate for the Second Amendment. It's just too damned bad that their only supporters are nuts like the ones I had to contend with in Cincinnati that cold day in 1994.
