Descendant of NRA's First President Says Ancestor Wouldn't Approve of Today's NRA

Jeremy Burnside is like all too many Americans. His life has been affected by gun violence and in many ways changed forever. Writing in an op-ed published this weekend in The Charleston Gazette, he recounts a 2001 shooting at his graduate college, the Appalachian School of Law, where a student shot and killed the school's dean, a teacher, and a student.

This past New Year's Eve, he lost his good friend Lori Francis to gun violence.

But Jeremy Burnside is different than most Americans in that he is related to the first president of the National Rifle Association. The op-ed states, "My distant ancestor, Major Gen. Ambrose Burnside, was the first president of the National Rifle Association. Gen. Burnside would have liked Lori Francis. He would have liked her heart and passion. Gen. Burnside would not like, however, what his organization has become and what it promotes. The NRA was founded by some old Army officers disappointed by their soldier's marksmanship skills. Its purpose was `providing firearms training and encouraging interest in the shooting sports.' It is now a gun-promoting juggernaut that appears to suggest that teachers should be armed to combat the growing number of school shootings. I don't think my ancestor would approve of the NRA's solution to stopping violence in America today."

Jeremy Burnside offers an analysis that many say is far too simple, except for those whose lives have been forever altered by gun violence: "Regardless of who pulled the trigger, I blame the gun. Guns were invented with the specific purpose to kill. People were not. Disturbed people pull triggers, but do not directly send speeding bullets through people's skin and souls. My friend, University of Charleston alumna Lori Francis, is no longer living because she couldn't stop the bullet that ended her life."

Here's the original op-ed:

Jeremy M. Burnside
# Guns kill people: Abolition is the only way to stop the madness

On New Year’s Eve, my friend and rowing teammate was killed by a gun in Dunbar. Regardless of who pulled the trigger, I blame the gun.

Guns were invented with the specific purpose to kill. People were not. Disturbed people pull triggers, but do not directly send speeding bullets through people’s skin and souls. My friend, University of Charleston alumna Lori Francis, is no longer living because she couldn’t stop the bullet that ended her life.

I wrote the Gazette in 2003 regarding a shooting at my graduate college, the Appalachian School of Law in Virginia. Ironically, I finished that submission two hours before I rode my bicycle toward my Lee St. apartment, past the Kanawha County Board of Education building, which was suffering after-affects of another school shooting. For the second time in two years, a former teacher of mine was shot.

I used to think school shootings followed me. But now, I realize that school shootings rather follow a national trend that shows no signs of slowing. It does not slow because the only solution is one that makes the most sense — but sounds the most ridiculous.

In my 2003 submission, I called for abolition of guns. I cited school and workplace shootings initiated by disturbed people, but concluded by bullets. I continue to call for the abolition of guns for the same reason that left my friend and her parents dead in their Dunbar apartment: Americans are in love with guns and are not brave enough to part with them.

The constitutionality of possible gun abolition would be an issue with many Americans who are law-abiding gun owners. But it is the courts that interpret the Constitution, not the popular vote. The Second Amendment states: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” In United States v. Miller, the U.S. Supreme Court interpreted this provision to mean that citizens do not have an individual right to bear arms unless they possess “some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia.”

In United States v. Warin, the Sixth Circuit provided more context to this interpretation, stating: “Since the Second Amendment ... applies only to the right of the state to maintain a militia and not to the individual’s right to bear arms, there can be no serious claim to any express constitutional right to possess a firearm.” Neither Miller nor Warin has been overruled.

My distant ancestor, Major Gen. Ambrose Burnside, was the first president of the National Rifle Association. Gen. Burnside would have liked Lori Francis. He would have liked her heart and passion. Gen. Burnside would not like, however, what his organization has become and what it promotes. The NRA was founded by some old Army officers disappointed by their soldier’s marksmanship skills. Its purpose was “providing firearms training and encouraging interest in the shooting sports.” It is now a gun-promoting juggernaut that appears to suggest that teachers should be armed to combat the growing number of school shootings. I don’t think my ancestor would approve of the NRA’s solution to stopping violence in America today.

In the late 1990s, you may have seen Lori Francis rowing on the Kanawha River. She rowed hard and never complained. She rowed on a lightweight crew but had a heavyweight heart. She rowed with a peaceful fluidity. Lori will never row again as her dreams were cut short because of a gun. In 2007, more innocent people like Lori will die in West Virginia because of other guns. There will be several school and workplace shootings in 2007. People will die in those shootings because of guns. As usual, no one with power and influence will offer any solutions other than arming more people with more guns.

It’s about time the coxswains of our government do something about the guns that are shooting holes in the boat they command, which we call America. As they continue to promote more guns for more crime, our vessel of prosperity and peace continues to sink. How much longer can stubbornness for a misguided view of the Second Amendment keep us afloat? Sadly, not long enough for our society to ever row like Lori did.

Burnside is a trial lawyer in Cleveland. He graduated from the University of Charleston in 1999 and was an employee of the West Virginia Senate and Kanawha County Public Defender’s Office.

Needless to say I disagree with Burnside, but he's welcome to his opinion.
The NRA, as the oldest civil rights organization in this country, has changed in it's mission over time. But so has this country's attitude toward guns and the right to own and bear them.