Photo

Has the National Rifle Association spawned a movement it can’t control, more radical than the radicals and ultimately self-destructive?

On Monday I wrote that the N.R.A.’s lobbying wing, the Institute for Legislative Action, had condemned recent open-carry demonstrations in Texas. A statement on the N.R.A. I.L.A. website called bringing AR-15s to lunch at public venues “downright weird” and “downright scary.”

But the N.R.A. didn’t hold its left-of-insane position for long. After the “downright scary” crowd, led by the organization Open Carry Texas, protested that accurate appellation, the N.R.A. I.L.A. removed the offending statement from its website. It also posted a video of Chris W. Cox, the N.R.A.’s chief lobbyist, explaining that the organization “unequivocally” supports open carry and insisting that it’s “been the leader of open carry efforts across the country.”



The N.R.A.’s relationship with Open Carry Texas is beginning to look rather like that of the Republican Party to the Tea Party. Republicans, at least, will sympathize with the N.R.A.’s need to walk back reasonableness. On immigration, taxation and countless other subjects, the Republican establishment has tried to stake out right-wing but somewhat realistic positions, only to hastily retreat back to the fringe for fear of losing the Tea Party.

Open Carry Texas seemed unimpressed by the N.R.A.’s gesture of submission. C.J. Grisham, the organization’s president, told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that the N.R.A.’s initial statement was “ignorant” and noted that he’d received no direct apology.

“If the N.R.A. wants to work with us to get open carry passed, that’s great, but we’re going to fight to get open carry passed with or without the N.R.A.,” he said. “They are not the copyright or patent holders of the Second Amendment.”

The N.R.A. can’t be over-pleased with this development—with Mr. Grisham’s confidence that the N.R.A. is, basically, unnecessary to his goals. Because, to put it simply, Open Carry is much less sophisticated than the N.R.A. from a strategic standpoint.

Consider that one of Mr. Grisham’s top priorities is rescinding the Texas law that forbids firearms in places where alcohol is sold. Or that he seemed shocked when the gun-control advocacy group Moms Demand Action publicized photos from his own website of Open Carry Texas members toting guns at a Target.

“What Moms Demand Action is doing is digging into our photo archives and trying to smear us,” Mr. Grisham told The Journal.

If the photos are from your own website, you’ve done the smearing yourself.

As the now-removed N.R.A. statement noted, “the dubious practice of using public displays of firearms as a means to draw attention to oneself or one’s cause“ is “counterproductive for the gun owning community.” That’s not just speculation; it’s backed up by the evidence that, after open-carry demonstrations, “two popular fast food outlets” requested that patrons “keep guns off the premises.”