CNN Reporter Learns About NRA and America's Support of Gun Rights

I think most of the firearms community would agree that introducing new people to firearms will go a long way to protect our rights.  NSSF has in the past hosted media days in the hope of having the media more informed on a subject they may have to cover.  So, it was refreshing to read an article this morning where a CNN reporter openly admitted she did not understand America's fascination with firearms and decided to take the opportunity of the NRA Annual Meeting taking place right across from her employer, to learn more.

The reporter, Moni Basu is a native of India who became a U.S. citizen about 10 years ago.  She begins by talking about how she was raised in "ahimsa, the tenet of nonviolence toward all living things"  and how the county overthrew British rule by "Gandian-style civil disobedience, not a revolutionary war."

Basu said when she returns to India her friends and family want to know about America's "love affair" with guns.  Her report is an honest look at people attending the NRA Annual Meeting with no pre-conceived opinions interjected.  For instance:

Self-protection, I discover, is a huge reason many Americans own firearms.

Take Chloe Morris. She was born in Atlanta to Filipino parents; on this day, she's brought her mother along to hear Trump, the first sitting President to speak at an NRA convention since Ronald Reagan.

Morris is 35, petite and soft-spoken, but she's fierce about her opinions on guns.

"I'm 5 feet tall and 100 pounds," she tells me. "I cannot wait for a cop to come save me when I am threatened with rape or death."

Morris was once opposed to guns. "Extremely opposed," she says.

She earned a master's degree in criminal justice from Georgia State University. "I know the law," she says. "For me guns were not the answer."

But a few years ago, a dear friend was assaulted in her own home in an upscale Atlanta subdivision. The incident struck fear in Morris. She would never let herself become a victim.

She took shooting classes and became a Glock instructor. "I teach for free. I want women to be safe.

"I own 10 guns. I have a 14-year-old son. I started teaching him to shoot when he was 5. I'm a lifetime member of the NRA."

She pauses, and her next sentence surprises me.

"I don't think I can even kill another person -- except when my life is in danger."

She also relates the discussion of freedom many people mentioned to the experience of India where the people were disarmed by the British to keep them from rebelling against colonial rule.  She ends the article with:

I leave the convention trying to reconcile what I've gathered on this day with the philosophy of nonviolence with which I was raised. I am not certain that vast cultural differences can be bridged in a few hours, but I am glad I got a glimpse into the world of guns. I have much to consider.

It's a long article but an honest look at some of the folks attending the NRA Annual Meetings, and a good read.