The SSAA (Sporting Shooters Association of Australia) publications have shown us that they would like to have guns available for self-defence. The SSAA is closely tied to the extremist gun doctrines of the NRA (National Rifle Association of America). Until 2007 the SSAA was proud to tell everyone (On the front page of its commercial magazine, the Australian Shooter) that it was affiliated with the NRA, but as the public became aware of the danger that NRA gun doctrine extremism posed to this country the SSAA apparently decided to conceal its association with the NRA. The SSAA was wise to do this, because the leader of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, recently made a public announcement that:

IT’S THE GUYS WITH THE GUNS WHO MAKE THE RULES

This arrogant and offensive statement is an affront to all decent members of any democratic society. But, it does show the danger that the NRA and its followers pose to the world’s true democracies.

Unfortunately, the SSAA didn’t detach itself from the NRA’s values or affiliations. The SSAA is a founding member of the World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities (WFSA). This gun manufacturing led organisation is little more than an attempt to hide the profit-driven interests of the world’s gun manufacturers behind a patina of ‘sport’ respectability. If you have any doubt about this, examine the membership list on the WFSA website. The NRA and other American gun extremist groups are members.

Then, of course, we have the NRA/SSAA closeness, as shown when the national president of the SSAA, Bob Green, hosted the NRA president and his wife – when they recently visited Australia.

The SSAA wants to have gun ownership for self-defence. It’s understandable that gun manufacturers would want a community divided and driven by fear and loathing, because that’s the way to sell guns – create a condition where every person lacks trust in others. When shooter groups promote their desire for self-defence guns in the home they are promoting a society dominated by fear; this may suit their associates who manufacture guns, but as we see it, it’s a violent future that every decent Australian should despise.

Soon after the NRA’s recent convention, the American gun control organisation, the Brady Center, published a thoughtful article on the promotion of fear by the NRA. For educational purposes we reprint sections of this article by Brady Center lawyer Dennis Henigan, as it shows the dangers inherent in the NRA’s devotion to guns for self defence.

For the NRA, It’s All About Fear  

 by Dennis Henigan on May 4th, 2011 Permalink

The NRA is the most accomplished marketer of fear in American political life.

There is, first, the fear of imminent violent attack. I’m not talking about a healthy concern for personal and family security. The NRA, and its gun industry patrons, need average Americans to believe that the threat of attack is constant and pervasive; that we are at serious risk all the time and everywhere we go. It’s not enough to have a gun in the home for self-defense; you need multiple guns throughout your home so you’re never too far from your gun. It’s not enough to carry a concealed weapon outside your home; the law must allow you to carry it virtually anywhere an attack might conceivably occur, into restaurants, bars, sports stadiums, community centers and churches.

Indeed, NRA Executive Director Wayne LaPierre devoted much of his convention speech to reciting statistics about our continuing violent crime problem (which is interesting, given the NRA’s competing message that crime rates are down because states have made it easier to carry concealed weapons). According to the gun lobby, even our college campuses (with murder rates 44 times lower than the national rate) are sufficiently unsafe to justify forcing universities and colleges to allow concealed weapons on campus. Legislation to enact this absurd idea into law fortunately has failed 51 times in 27 states in recent years, the latest being Governor Jan Brewer’s recent veto of NRA-supported legislation in Arizona.

Second, there is the fear of government. The flip-side of all the NRA’s talk of freedom is that the government is an ever-present threat to our freedom. The NRA has long maintained that the Second Amendment is not primarily about allowing individuals to pursue hunting or the shooting sports, or even for personal self-defense, but rather to allow the armed citizenry to resist abuses of power by government officials. As an NRA lawyer once put it, “the founders sought to protect arms from government interference, because those same arms might be needed to protect the people from government.” In the NRA’s world, our freedoms ultimately are ensured not by the right to vote, or to peacefully protest government policies, or by an independent judiciary providing legal redress against government abuse, but rather by armed citizens, constantly on guard for any sign that the time for violent resistance has arrived. Tragically, some, like Timothy McVeigh, not only internalize the fear, but act on it.

We in Gun Control Australia ask: When will the Sporting Shooters Association president tell Australians that his organization does not support the NRA’s desire to have:

 Guns for self-defence

Guns in schools and churches

Guns in hotels and restaurants

Guns in the workplace?