Firearms Friday: NRA Decals

And we all have the pin to match our car!

One of the interesting things for me when my wife and I lived in Bala Cynwyd was the looks on faces when people would see the NRA sticker prominently displayed in my window. While they may have been appalled and had their liberal sensibilities offended, I remained entertained by their hoplophobia and had to keep myself from chuckling at their wide eyed stares. Having moved out to the country, that is no longer an issue but there is another entertaining aspect to the proud displays around me.

These days, rarely will I come across a car without an NRA decal or some other means of supporting the second amendment. This lack of decoration is usually accompanied by a New York or New Jersey license plate. Actually, looking around the difference is much more drastic than those previous experiences. Now, there is a variety of NRA stickers on display and there is clearly a pecking order to the cars in the parking lot of the local Turkey Hill.

Seldom will I come across a car with a single, basic, sticker. It seems as though the basic rule of thumb is that one should put a sticker in their window for each year that they are a member of the NRA. I guess you could say that this is the hillbilly equivalent of a beach tag collection. Some have about half a dozen while others clearly don’t care about seeing out through the side windows of their car. That is your basic membership level.

From there you have a number of other options. I probably see more Life Member stickers than any other kind on a daily basis. This is usually the people that put a lot of miles on their car and need the visibility. At some point, we all look at the annual cost of membership and realize that it make more sense to wait for one of the discounts offered on life memberships.

The next level up is the Endowment Member. It is pretty much guaranteed that if you see a car with an endowment member sticker, the person getting out will be wearing some piece of NRA clothing. This is also where you find the Golden Eagle members. Basically, this is the double down category of NRA members where multiple levels of membership apply. The same basic trend applies to members at the Benefactor and Patron levels the primary difference being the base price of the car to which it is affixed. And, yes, I am one of these Endowment Members.  

In the end, what is important is that we all have our membership and support for the second amendment in common. We also all have the same look on our faces when that New York plate pulls into the lot for a cup of coffee. And, of course, we all have the same smile when that person gets out of the car with their wide eyes and their panties in a bunch. You’re not in New York anymore and I’m not on the Main Line anymore!