The problem of us being weak, politically, is succinctly put in the thread title: We're not a group, we're a collection of mini-groups, some with antipathy towards each other.
Operators hate Fudds.
Action pistol shooters hate Trapezoids
Every-day range users hate people that don't show up for a daily mag dump.
The only consensus that I've seen is that everybody hates .40s, and nobody needs a pedestal sink.
I understand that there's a broad generalization there, but the number of judgemental threads and comments that I've seen here about, "Group X does not do enough for the Cause...." is huge.
Hell, the only friends that we have on Bacon Hill are in Northborough, and 90% of the gun owners in the DPRM don't pony up the chump change for them to keep the lights on.
As for a lot of the club in question's members not shooting "with any regularity," perhaps there are other things in their life. Hell, at my Club, a large percentage is....old. They did their shooting, and built the Club, a few decades ago. Some of the guys at my club...well....I've never seen them on the range, unless it was to fix it up.
If a Club member wants to pay the dues, and not use the place....great. $ comes in, and there's no wear and tear. It's a personal choice to practice, or not. If you choose to practice, it's your choice to practice the amount that you think appropriate.
It's better to have gun owners that don't shoot much, than no gun owners.
ETA: As for looking down on people who "don't put the time in," what's the standard to meet? I generally don't carry; when I do, it's a PPK. I took it out, and out a mag's worth of holes in a target with minute-of-badguy accuracy at a range that's acceptable for a can't-see'the-tiny-sights pistol. Does that meet spec? And, as for field stripping, I do that when I clean it; if I have to do that under fire, I'll have more problems than a .32 can handle, and I'll switch to another platform. Or harsh language. Either way.