Now the true colors of the National Rifle Association are beginning to show. The NRA has invited Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, along with Governors Scott Walker and Jeb Bush, all seeking the GOP nomination for president in 2016 to their annual convention. However, Rand Paul and Chris Christie were not invited. Christie wasn’t for obvious reasons, but Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) wasn’t because he’s just too dang strong on the Second Amendment.
The Daily Beast reports that Paul did request to be invited, but was denied:
However, a source with knowledge of Paul’s dealings with the NRA said the claim that he did not request an invitation to the convention was “not true.”
Further, the source said, “Is that really how invitations work?”
take our poll – story continues below Completing this poll grants you access to Freedom Outpost updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to this site’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Paul has an A-rating from the NRA, but the objective grading of his gun-rights credentials has little to do with the politics of the pro-gun lobby, wherein his involvement with extremist groups tied to his father, former congressman and libertarian-icon Ron Paul, has not won him many friends.
“Sometimes the NRA doesn’t like it when people are bigger defenders of the issue than they are,” the source suggested. “They also don’t like it that he helps other, stronger groups like the Gun Owners of America and the National Association for Gun Rights.”
Paul has been known to work largely with National Association for Gun Rights. In fact, he’s authored numerous fundraising pleas for the organization, many of which this author has been the recipient.
According to the Wall Street Journal:
NAGR President Dudley Brown said Wednesday that Mr. Paul is the only current or likely 2016 candidate affiliated with his organization. Mr. Paul remains a NAGR member, Mr. Brown said, but added that it is unclear if NAGR will continue to use Mr. Paul’s name in fundraising appeals now that he has officially launched a presidential campaign.
The Kentucky senator, Mr. Brown said, is an excellent fundraiser for NAGR.
“It was no secret that Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is 93% more pro-gun than the NRA,” Mr. Brown said.
Mr. Brown slammed the NRA as a tool of the Washington insiders Mr. Paul has focused his campaign on opposing.
“I’ve been a gun lobbyist for 22 years and there’s never been a point at which we did not have tension,” he said. “We’re younger, we’re hungrier and we care less about the cocktail parties in Washington, D.C.”
Whose fault is it that GOA and the NAGR are more principled than the NRA?
Speaking of Gun Owners of America, GOA president Larry Pratt told Freedom Outpost that he believed this non-invitation was “payback” for Paul’s endorsements of NAGR.
“I think this does have more to do with the fact that he (Paul) has signed a lot of fundraising letters for NAGR,” Pratt said. “The NRA doesn’t like them. They’ve been kind of nipping at NRA’s heels, so this is payback.”
GOA has received endorsements from Rand Paul’s father, Ron Paul. In fact, when one visits GOA’s website, they’ read Paul’s endorsement, “The only no-compromise gun lobby in Washington.”
As for Paul, he recently told Dave Weigel, “The interesting thing is that there’s probably no greater advocate for the Second Amendment in Congress than myself. To not be invited, probably, will serve more to cast aspersions on their group than it would on me. Because my record’s pretty clear. It probably looks a little bit petty for them not to invite a major candidate because I raised money for other Second Amendment groups.”
The NRA has a long history of compromising on the Second Amendment.
Both NAGR and GOA have been effective organizations in the fight against more infringement by the federal government against the rights of citizens to keep and bear arms than the NRA, often acting as bumpers to make the NRA not compromise. Evidence of this was in the 2013 defeat of the Manchin-Toomey gun control defeat, as well as the numerous other attacks by socialists in Congress against the Second Amendment in the wake of the Sandy Hook incident.
As for the NRA, the organization was contacted for a statement, but as of the publishing of this article, they have failed to return our call. However, Politico does claim:
The National Rifle Association says the only reason Sen. Rand Paul didn’t get an invitation to its annual convention in Nashville this weekend was its inability to accommodate all the 2016 GOP presidential hopefuls.
Seeing as two of the candidates invited don’t meet the requirements of being natural born citizens, I just don’t buy that excuse.
Don’t forget to Like Freedom Outpost on Facebook and Twitter, and follow our friends at RepublicanLegion.com.
