// a href = ./ //

    A prominent, long-time St. Louis area gun rights advocate is giving up his lifetime membership in the NRA.

   Adolphus Busch IV sent a letter to the National Rifle Association Thursday, asking them to immediately take his name off their roles.  

   In the letter, Busch wrote that he was resigning his membership because of the NRA’s stand on background checks, which he says is supported by a majority of NRA members.  Busch cites NRA Vice President Wayne LaPierre's support of background checks as "reasonable" in 1999 and questions the shift in position.    

   Busch also questions the organization's position on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips.  Busch charges that the NRA has become a lobby organization for gun and ammo manufactures instead of gun owners.

Here is the content of Busch's letter to the NRA:

Adolphus A. Busch, IV

Belleau Farm

1600 Highway 79

O’Fallon, MO  63366

Delivered by UPS

April 18, 2013

Mr. David A. Keene

President

National Rifle Association of America

11250 Waples Mill Road

Fairfax, VA 22030

Mr. Keene,

This letter shall serve as formal resignation of my life membership in the NRA. I ask that you immediately remove my name from your membership roles and provide me an acknowledgement of this action.

As most in your organization would admit, I have historically been a staunch defender of the NRA purpose and tradition in representing the interests of gun owners.  I have personally devoted countless financial resources and time to nurture an intelligent environmental policy that provided for the proud tradition of personal hunting for generations to come.

It disturbs me greatly to see this rigid new direction of the NRA. As a starting point, one only has to ask why the NRA reversed its original position on background checks.  Was it not the NRA position to support background checks when Mr. LaPierre himself stated in 1999 that NRA saw checks as “reasonable”?  Furthermore, I fail to see how the NRA can disregard the overwhelming will of its members who see background checks as reasonable.  In fact, according to a Johns Hopkins University study, 74% say they support background checks.

I am simply unable to comprehend how assault weapons and large capacity magazines have a role in your vision. The NRA I see today has undermined the values upon which it was established. Your current strategic focus places a priority on the needs of gun and ammunition manufacturers while disregarding the opinions of your 4 million individual members.

One only has to look at the makeup of the 75-member board of directors, dominated by manufacturing interests, to confirm my point.  The NRA appears to have evolved into the lobby for gun and ammunition manufacturers rather than gun owners.

In closing I find it important to extend my personal thanks to Chris Cox and David Lehman for their support of so many important environmental issues.  I will miss that level of friendship and support, but must take this action based upon my personal feelings toward the distorted values I see emerging within the NRA.

Sincerely,

Adolphus A. Busch, IV

   WATERTOWN, Mass. (AP) - Police say one of two suspects in the shooting of an MIT police officer is dead and a massive manhunt is underway for another, who is tied to the Boston Marathon bombing.

   Shortly after the MIT officer was shot Thursday night, police got a report of a carjacking in Cambridge, just outside Boston.

   Police say of the at-large suspect, "We believe this to be a terrorist."

   The FBI is investigating whether the fatal shooting of a campus police officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and gunfire and explosions in a nearby town are related to the Boston Marathon bombings.

   A Massachusetts State Police spokesman said early Friday that one person suspected in the gunfire and explosions has been accounted for and one is at large.

   The FBI said it is working with local authorities to determine what happened.

   The MIT shooting on the Cambridge campus Thursday night was followed by reports of violence in nearby Watertown, about 10 miles west of Boston.

   State police spokesman David Procopio said there is a "strong possibility" the incidents are related.

   The MIT officer had been responding to report of a disturbance Thursday night when he was shot multiple times, according to a statement from the Middlesex district attorney's office and Cambridge police. It said there were no other victims.

   In Watertown, witnesses reported hearing multiple gunshots and explosions at about 1 a.m. Friday. Dozens of police officers and FBI agents were in the neighborhood and a helicopter circled overhead.

   State police spokesman David Procopio said, "The incident in Watertown did involve what we believe to be explosive devices possibly, potentially, being used against the police officers."

   Boston cab driver Imran Sais said he was standing on a street corner at a police barricade across from a diner when he heard an explosion.

   "I heard a loud boom and then a rapid succession of pop, pop, pop," he said. "It sounded like automatic weapons. And then I heard the second explosion."

   He said he could smell something burning and advanced to check it out but area residents at their windows yelled at him, "Hey, it's gunfire! Don't go that way!"

   MIT said right after the 10:30 p.m. shooting that police were sweeping the campus in Cambridge and urged people to remain indoors. They urged people urged to stay away from the Stata Building, a mixed-use building with faculty offices, classrooms and a common area.

   Hours later, MIT, which has about 11,000 students, said the campus was clear but the shooter was still on the loose.