dromia wrote:Just for the record John I didn't say I would boycott the Phoenix.
I said that I would no longer be pursuing Gallery Rifle as a discipline in my club, if any of our members wants to do so then I'm sure I and the committee will support them, but I personally will not put my energies into a discipline that has someone with nfrances view as one of their leaders.
Childish if you think so, but I disagree. Me I'll put my energies into disciplines that support people with less narrow, divisive and unhealthy views, that is me exercising my choice at the end of the day I am supporting gun ownership.
Unpalatable as it may seem to you the NRA/Bisley and the rest divide is real and both sides take each other as they find them. You ask people to stop criticising the NRA and others want the NRA to be national and representative so that they don't feel the need to criticise. The NRA has a lot of historical baggage but they do nothing practical to challenge those views and show by example rather than rhetoric that they are a different animal now, if they did then putting the historical criticism to bed in a current context of different action would be easy and the naysayers would not have any traction. I ache to be able to say something good about the NRA to the shooters and gun owners who don't use Bisley.
Me I want to put my support behind something inclusive around the one thing that binds all people who shoot, gun ownership. The NRA is not that organisation. Where is the middle ground? where is the leadership and example? who should that come from?
Maybe it is a strong competitive spirit that makes shooters so keen to be at odds over anything they can find differences on I don't know but it is unhealthy and damaging to us all and malignant views like nfrances's have no place in my vision of the shooting world and I make no apologies about challenging them when they arise.
Personally I'm not interested in the 'historical baggage' right now - I finally joined last year when there were clear signs of improvement, and will give my financial and moral support while it continues...
...I understand some of your criticisms, especially about how 'national' the NRA actually is, but we've had the discussion about the location of Bisley so many times; it has to be somewhere...
...and I'll make the point again, that not all members want the NRA to be political...I'm happy with them concentrating on running and providing ranges for flagship events, club use, and even 'plinking'!
You can knock Bisley all you like, but can you imagine if events like the Phoenix became non-viable...what effect would that have on British shooting...?
