NRA Membership down as much as 30%

[AndyS]

11. Deflection is a normal reaction in the process of recognizing that one has a problem.

The modern gun culture is well documented with it's beginnings in the '70s coup of the NRA, until recently the largest most influential power in the gun culture, and the subsequent movement from gun safety, marksmanship and responsibility to a sell guns through fear movement. That's also well documented.

It's like the stages of grief; denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance. When someone is told they are the victim of a destructive cult (root of the word culture) they deny. If told again they are a victim they tend to get angry. Next they bargain: when this happens then you'll see I'm right. Soon the victim becomes dejected as they come to terms with the real world facts. Finally, sometimes after years, they accept and cease being victims.

It's like dealing with anti maskers or anti vaxers. No matter how much data is shown and how convincing the science is they cling to the dogma of the cult and then get angry about the evidence. Then the bargaining begins: in this case if the NFA was just clarified we could come to terms. Eventually when it becomes clear that that won't work they get sad and eventually come to accept that they were duped by the cult leaders. That is when they can truly break free.