While you were hunting, the NRA has been using your dues to defend armed abusers and disparage Georgia’s heroes.

Tomorrow, the National Rifle Association (NRA) will convene in Atlanta for their annual meeting and convention. The event begins less than three weeks after the tenth anniversary of the Virginia Tech massacre and exactly one week after the 18th anniversary of the Columbine massacre.

The timing is insensitive. But then again, the NRA would be hard-pressed to find a month that is not marred by a tragic anniversary or — at the very least — a body count in the thousands. In 2015, more than 36,000 people died from gun violence, surpassing the number of motor vehicle traffic fatalities. In Georgia, someone is killed by a gun every 7 hours.

As a native Georgian, I understand hunting culture and responsible gun ownership. Some of my friends and family members are gun owners; some of my older relatives are even members of the NRA. When I tell them about the legislation the NRA spends their dues to oppose — legislation that would remove guns from domestic abusers or allow family members to temporarily remove guns from those who are a danger to themselves or others — they are shocked.

I understand the confusion among longtime members of the NRA. The NRA used to be reasonable. They used to be an organization that promoted sportsmanship and valued responsible gun ownership and safety. The NRA even advocated for commonsense gun violence prevention legislation and regulations on firearms. But over the last few decades, the organization has drifted further and further from their original mission. Their reasonable defense of the Second Amendment has mutated into a repudiation of any gun regulations whatsoever.

In recent years, the NRA has advocated gun ownership for domestic abusers, felons, and other dangerous individuals. They have held researchers hostage by supporting a ban on gun violence research. They have tried to prevent doctors from asking about guns in the home. They have opposed background checks for private gun sales to strangers. They have advocated for guns in bars, schools and daycare centers, playgrounds, stores. They have have said gun suicides cannot be prevented, implicitly calling these deaths inevitable. They are calling for the legalization and deregulation of silencers. They are trying to push guns into Georgia’s college classrooms against the wishes of most Georgians and the state university system.

In short, the NRA has become a fringe group, a movement of extremists whose agenda directly contradicts the views of historic gun rights supporters like President Ronald Reagan, who supported measures like background checks, waiting periods, and regulation of assault weapons. The radicalization of the NRA even led President George H.W. Bush to resign as a lifetime member in 1995.

In addition to their irresponsible opposition to any regulatory measures, the NRA has sown the seeds of division. They have embraced unrepentant bigots like NRA Board Member Ted Nugent and President Donald Trump, who will headline the convention on Friday. They have called men of color “thugs,” perpetuated racist terminology like “black-on-black crime,” and referred to communities like Atlanta as “violent inner cities.” They called the Black Lives Matter movement an example of the “violent left” that their supporters must counter with guns. They blamed the victims of the 2015 Charleston church massacre for their own deaths, saying they should have been armed in their place of worship, their sanctuary.

Last year, in a clear indication of the issue’s urgency, Atlanta’s civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis led a sit-in to address the issue of American gun violence. When Lewis throws his weight behind a cause, it indicates the issue is worth examining. But apparently, Trump and the NRA have no respect for heroes like Lewis. Earlier this year, Trump dismissed Lewis as “all talk” — a laughable comment coming from a feckless and historically unpopular president. NRA leadership claimed Martin Luther King, Jr. — whose life was stolen by a gun — “would be ashamed” of John Lewis. This rhetoric was quickly denounced by those on both sides of the aisle. If anyone should be ashamed, it’s those who have tied themselves to the NRA.

I am proud to be from Georgia. We are an ever-evolving state — a state that has become increasingly diverse and has been enriched as a result. We are a state of responsible gun-owners and non-gun owners. We are a state that reveres our heroes. We are a state that values human decency. The contemporary NRA does not exemplify these values. Their priorities are antithetical to our own. They are not welcome in Atlanta. Their dangerous ideology does not belong in our state.