I think the idea of a national organization that supports our right to keep & bear firearms is a good thing. I think the work that the NRA has been doing to support our 2nd Amendment right has been excellent overall. I have been a member of the NRA for a long time. I used to pay my dues annually but because I thought they were doing a good job of protecting and promoting our rights, I became a Life Member of the NRA. I thought it was the best organization to join in order to support our right to keep & bear arms, so much so that I also paid for my son's life membership in the NRA.
In the years that I have been a member, I have taken a couple of NRA Law Enforcement Firearms Instructor Training Courses. With what I learned at those courses, I trained many other people to shoot. I did so without regard to gender, race, creed, (and so on). I repeatedly have encouraged others to join the NRA and to utilize NRA programs such as firearms training courses and instructor training courses, I think they offer excellent training.
Sometimes though, I think the NRA is out of line, that they seemingly begin to, or even completely, forget the best interests of their overall membership. A case in point is, what I believe to be, their practice of discriminating between the sexes when it comes to some of their programs. In all the years that I have been an NRA Member, I do not recall ever seeing them offer programs geared specifically toward men. Yet, they offer courses and programs that are geared specifically toward women and some, in fact, exclude men. Here is how they describe the course they are offering at the annual NRA meeting this year: "It is a 17-hour NRA Pistol Instructor Training Course offered by Women - For Women Only!" (It is an exact quote and yes they capitalized the words for women only. It can be seen at this web address, it is the first seminar shown on the page:
http://www.nraam.org/events/seminars.html.
I think that is outlandish. Correct me if I am wrong, but women in the shooting world often complain about how shooters and non-shooters alike, all too regularly, see women as different when it comes to firearms ownership, possession, carry and use. I most certainly have seen articles both in print and online, and have heard many a discussion that women resent such treatment, that they want to be treated as equals instead. Is that all just so much exaggerated nonsense? I ask this last because it seems when some women are actually treated that way, as different, they flock toward such treatment. They actually seem to promote what they have rallied against by attending seminars and courses such as the these offered by the NRA. Me, I have absolutely no problem with treating women as equal to men when it comes to firearms training. I have trained both men and women alike. I have treated each and every shooter whom I have ever trained with the respect that is due to them regardless of their natural state of gender. Can each shooter have special needs in training? Sure they can but, as it seems to me, not based upon gender. So I trained students of both sexes the same. It seems to me that it would, or should, be an insult to women or to men if I had done otherwise and it should be an insult to every one of the NRA membership when the NRA does otherwise.
Don't know what Women's Only Programs I am talking about. Click on the link and you can see which they are: http://www.nrahq.org/women/2011-am.asp
Want to see the respective Men's Programs offered by the NRA. Just do what I did and run a search of their site for Men's Program's. Or if you trust me, I can save you the trouble by posting the search results here:
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If you do not trust me, go ahead, search away on the NRA's site for the ever elusive NRA men's programs.
Now, don't get me wrong. If women want to get together with themselves to enjoy shooting events, that is all well and fine. Same goes for men. If the NRA wants to give women's shooting courses just for women, again - fine by me. The thing is though, there really ought to be equal treatment when it comes to this, so why not offer men's only programs too! Or is it that the NRA is saying that women have special needs when it comes to firearms, that they are not equal to men in the shooting world? Along the lines of what I have heard from women, they want to be treated equally with men in the world of firearms. If that is true, and I believe that is true when it comes to all things firearms, then why on earth would the NRA apparently discriminate against men by having programs set up exclusively for women? Are they saying that women are so vastly different than men in their abilities and training needs, when it comes to shooting or to self defense, that they need to be sequestered from men for the training purposes? Apparently, the NRA doesn't want to come right out and make a public statement to that effect, yet they have these women's programs and are pushing a totally exclusive of men gender biased seminar at their annual meeting this year.
Why aren't men receiving the same attention for their gender group from the NRA? Why doesn't the NRA offer men's programs exclusive of women? Why would the NRA offer shooting programs exclusively geared toward women and not toward men? I think it comes down to one thing and one thing only, the almighty dollar. I think they found a way to make a buck by catering to one gender over the other. If that is correct, they ought to be ashamed of themselves. Women and men should be treated equally when it comes to firearms and shooting and the NRA should not exploit one group over another using gender based stereotypes to make a buck. The 2nd Amendment, of our Constitution, within our Bill of Rights, does not say one gender has more or less of a right than the other to keep and bear firearms. I'd like to keep it that way.
All the best,
Glenn B
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