So, here I am, sitting in a public meeting with an elected official.
The topic: guns.
There are police chiefs, mayors of Florida cities, teachers’ union representatives, mental health professionals, a few other clergy members — and a guy sitting next to me who looks like Clint Eastwood.
We all have those tent name cards — with mine proclaiming my name and my title.
His place card proclaims his name and title — “sportsman.”
So, I ask him: “What do you do?”
“I’m a businessman — and a life long member of the NRA.”
Gulp.
Because, here’s the deal: I think that the NRA is, to say the least, one scary organization. And if I didn’t believe that, then this now infamous ad would convince me.
I mean — seriously, folks.
How many times have you seen “The Wizard of Oz?” That part where the Wicked Witch of the West turns over the hour glass? Wasn’t that meant as a threat to the life of poor Dorothy?
Is there any other way to interpret the overturned hour glass in the NRA ad?
Like I said, this is one scary organization.
So, that’s what filling my brain and my stomach when this gentleman reveals his passion to me.
Except, during the news conference that follows, this gentleman takes the microphone.
He introduces himself as, yes, a sportsman.
And as a man who has a second home in Montana. And as a man who owns multiple firearms.
And as a man who likes to hunt.
Then, he goes ballistic (sorry) on……
The NRA.
“They are a bunch of liars!” he yells. “The NRA gets money from the gun companies! That is what keeps them afloat. That money goes directly to politicians! I have criticized Wayne LaPierre [the executive vice president of the NRA] to his face!”
He then goes on to explain the different kinds of guns that are available, and the nuances in assault weapons, semi-automatic weapons, and the like.
Even though I have declared myself allergic to this kind of “mansplaining[1]” about guns, this was different.
Because he wasn’t defending the use of those guns.
He wanted us to know what we are up against.
I went over to him, and I shook his hand.
“Would you come speak at services at my congregation?” I asked him.
“Like, when? On a Sunday morning? I’m not in town that much on weekends.”
As the sages of the Talmud said: Mai nafka mina? What do we learn from this?
First: “Do not judge your neighbor, until you have come to his place.”
Which can only mean: yes, he’s a member of the NRA. And he told me that 80% of NRA members are actually in favor of more extensive background checks.
Of course, I had not known that.
As much as I revile the NRA and its stranglehold on too many politicians, and its worship of the Second Amendment over every other amendment, I re-learned a lesson
