FN FAL
Freight Dawgs Rule
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2003
- Posts
- 8,573
I was reading this month's GAN while waiting at an FBO. While reading the letters to the editor, it was evident that in a recent issue of GAN a suggestion was made in an article that in order for General Aviation to regain the "high ground", that they should investigate how the NRA (National Rifle Association) was managing to be so successful.
Makes sense to me. Study an organization, see what mistakes they made, see what worked for them and then regroup. Nahhhh...that would be too simple. It was apparent from some of the letters to the editor, that pilots once again have donned their blinders and would rather have their heads left in the sand.
The complaints made by some pilots from Oregon and other places, launched into an assault mode...they complained about the 1994 Clinton 'Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act' getting repealed and how the NRA has criminally pursued the bribing of politicians with money and how the NRA has bastardized the 'true' meaning of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution.
These complainers truly missed the point of the original article...which was to look for new ways to be successful as a special interest group. They totally missed the correlation and went into an 'anti-gun' mode. After several encounters with GA people out in the world and after reading these letters, I truly think that GA is doomed to be regulated out of airspace and out of existence, through lack of interest and ignorance.
One writer called the NRA a 'fringe' group, while calling General Aviation 'mainstream'. I had to laugh, as a fringe group, the NRA has elected and re-elected a US President, and we have gotten unlawful federal regulation off the books and have vigorously pursued getting pro-gun legislation on the books. We have decimated the liberals from the House and the Senate, as repayment in kind for pushing legislation that has unlawfully infringed upon the guaranteed constitutional rights of citizens and won.
For someone to call people who back the Second Amendment to the US Constitution a 'fringe' group...is ludicrust. There are over 300,000,000 firearms in private ownership in the US...more than one per citizen. The right to bear arms has been guaranteed in the Constitution for more than 200 years and is here to stay...hardly what I would call 'FRINGE'.
On the other hand, General Aviation is half as old the Constitution and is NOT a constitutionally guaranteed right. What fraction of a percent of the population owns a personal aircraft? What fraction of the population holds a pilots certificate for personal use? ...mainstream? Yea, if you count all the people that watch TV documentaries on aviation and watch air shows.
The closing of Meigs field by order of a MAYOR...shows how precarious the position General Aviation is in. Having had personal experience with an airport neighbor that tried to get our aviation related business shut down at a local airport and the great lengths that family went to get the feds involved in an unsuccessful 'witch hunt', reminds me that General Aviation is under the same assault as people who enjoy gun rights...and they just aren't getting it.
Makes sense to me. Study an organization, see what mistakes they made, see what worked for them and then regroup. Nahhhh...that would be too simple. It was apparent from some of the letters to the editor, that pilots once again have donned their blinders and would rather have their heads left in the sand.
The complaints made by some pilots from Oregon and other places, launched into an assault mode...they complained about the 1994 Clinton 'Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act' getting repealed and how the NRA has criminally pursued the bribing of politicians with money and how the NRA has bastardized the 'true' meaning of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution.
These complainers truly missed the point of the original article...which was to look for new ways to be successful as a special interest group. They totally missed the correlation and went into an 'anti-gun' mode. After several encounters with GA people out in the world and after reading these letters, I truly think that GA is doomed to be regulated out of airspace and out of existence, through lack of interest and ignorance.
One writer called the NRA a 'fringe' group, while calling General Aviation 'mainstream'. I had to laugh, as a fringe group, the NRA has elected and re-elected a US President, and we have gotten unlawful federal regulation off the books and have vigorously pursued getting pro-gun legislation on the books. We have decimated the liberals from the House and the Senate, as repayment in kind for pushing legislation that has unlawfully infringed upon the guaranteed constitutional rights of citizens and won.
For someone to call people who back the Second Amendment to the US Constitution a 'fringe' group...is ludicrust. There are over 300,000,000 firearms in private ownership in the US...more than one per citizen. The right to bear arms has been guaranteed in the Constitution for more than 200 years and is here to stay...hardly what I would call 'FRINGE'.
On the other hand, General Aviation is half as old the Constitution and is NOT a constitutionally guaranteed right. What fraction of a percent of the population owns a personal aircraft? What fraction of the population holds a pilots certificate for personal use? ...mainstream? Yea, if you count all the people that watch TV documentaries on aviation and watch air shows.
The closing of Meigs field by order of a MAYOR...shows how precarious the position General Aviation is in. Having had personal experience with an airport neighbor that tried to get our aviation related business shut down at a local airport and the great lengths that family went to get the feds involved in an unsuccessful 'witch hunt', reminds me that General Aviation is under the same assault as people who enjoy gun rights...and they just aren't getting it.
