A three-year-old as a life member of the NRA? Really? Am I the only one who finds this a little odd?
Rick Santorum said his three-year old daughter Bella is a now a “life member” of the National Rifle Association (NRA).
“Karen and I are life members of the NRA, and we wanted to announce today that…now Bella is a life member of the NRA, too,” Santorum said in a speech before the pro-gun rights lobby on Friday. “I hope it is a long life.”
Bella suffers from Trisomy 18, a rare chromosomal disease that’s usually fatal in children.
Bella was released from a Virginia hospital last Monday after recovering from pneumonia, and Santorum suspended his campaign the following day.
I’m very pro-NRA, but don’t think it’s necessary to have toddlers as member.
Quite normal for a Dad or Grandpa, who’s a long time NRA member, to sign their child/grandchild up for NRA membership. Even sign them up when they’re just a few days old.
I would consider it unusual if Santorum did it for Bella and never did it for the rest. To me that would mean it was done for political calculation.
Odd because it’s a poor investment, not ’cause it’s the NRA.
This is not unusual. All kinds of people sign up their children. In their magazine issues right after the yearly convention, they picture the youngest & oldest members in attendance.
Considering that Bella will almost certainly be dead within 5 years, maybe he wanted to do it while he had a chance.
Dawww — sooo cute
My kids have been members since they were 7 years old and began competitive shooting sports. In Texas, you can also purchase a lifetime Hunting License.
I can understand buying a child a lifetime membership, if the child will ever use the membership.
But this is just blatantly political and fake.
Yes, kids with Trisomy 18 will nearly certainly die before they reach the age of 12. If Bella were a child who enjoyed shooting, I could see the membership being an investment in hope….for a long future.
But the problem is the fact that the poor little thing can’t walk or speak, let alone hold a firearm, or comprehend what the NRA or gun rights are about.
Using a child with crippling developmental disability in this way…just feels wrong.
Santorum has a young son that pheasant hunts. Why not a story about him hunting with his son and buying his son a lifetime membership?
Would seem more genuine and less gimmicky.