Klystron wrote:

The NRA spends a great deal on advertising and communications. I
would expect a group of hams to be able to keep in touch for much less,
mainly via the Internet (I doubt that an expensive, glossy magazine
would be necessary and the NRA has TWO of them).
The NRA lobbies the Federal government, all fifty state governments
and any municipalities that can or might pass gun-related ordinances. A
ham radio lobby would only need to lobby the Federal government. Only
one office would be needed.
Elected officials cannot pick and choose who will lobby them. They
must deal with whatever groups we the people choose to fund and send to
Washington. "Credibility" comes from votes and money, not from sucking
up to Beltway insiders.


Then there'll be only little credibility. Even if all of the roughly
700,000 radio amateurs in the U.S. belong to such an organization, that
number--spread over our fifty states and territories--means very few
votes and very little money.

I don't see it your way. The ARRL has nowhere near 700,000 members but
it is very effective in lobbying government. It does so with few votes
and little money to spread about. It wasn't long ago that some folks
outside amateur radio wrote about wishing they were as good at lobbying
as radio amateurs.

The point to all this is that it is quite easy to sit on the sidelines
and snipe at the ARRL and to put forth unsubstantiated charges against
it from behind the cloak of anonymity. It is quite another to put
together an alternative to the ARRL. If you desire to do so, nothing is
stopping you.

Dave K8MN