Daylight seen

between NRA

and gun owners

If you run a big organization in Washington that depends on donations from fired-up members — and there are many such groups — the last thing you want to hear is that your members share some common ground with your enemies.

That’s the uncomfortable Christmas present the National Rifle Association received last week from, of all sources, a conservative Republican pollster.

Frank Luntz, a regular guest on Fox News programs, released a survey showing that gun owners aren’t as black and white on some gun issues as the NRA would have politicians and the American public believe.

Luntz polled 832 gun owners, which included 401 NRA members, in a survey that, it must be said, was commissioned by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a vocal opponent of NRA policies.

It is clear from the survey that gun owners, like most Americans, believe in the Second Amendment right of private citizens to own rifles and handguns. The U.S. Supreme Court officially confirmed as much last year, and it’s safe to say this will never change.

That is, in large degree, thanks to the work the NRA has done over the years to make it so.

But the Luntz survey shows that gun owners may not share some of the NRA’s more strident stands.

For instance, 69 percent of NRA members and 85 percent of gun-owning nonmembers support background checks for gun-show sales.

This would require those selling guns at shows to do the same sort of background checks done in legitimate gun stores across the United States.

It simply stands to reason that felons and other unqualified people know of this loophole. And it’s equally reasonable to think that guns purchased at these shows end up resold on the streets of Roxbury and Dorchester in Boston.

In fact, a Lewiston woman was recently slain in Boston in what police suspect may have been a guns-for-drugs transaction.

That the NRA continues to support this practice makes little sense and may even be contrary to its members’ own opinions.

The Luntz survey also found that 82 percent of gun owners favor banning gun purchases to people on terrorist watch lists.

The NRA’s argument has been that the lists are inaccurate and contain the names of some law-abiding citizens.

That may be, but having a small number of people jump through a few additional hoops to buy a gun seems a small price to pay to prevent a terror suspect from obtaining a gun.

We are blessed to live in a state with a very high rate of gun ownership and a very low rate of gun crime. And we certainly appreciate the NRA for its many endeavors, from running gun-safety classes to its support of local gun clubs to its vigilance in protecting the Second Amendment.

But, like most NRA members and gun owners, we also realize that its a complex world that does not lend itself to absolutist positions on every issue.

The NRA might find it had even greater public and member support if it bent a little on some of these common-sense proposals.

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