National Rifle Association
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| National Rifle Association | |
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| Formation | 1871 |
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| Headquarters | Fairfax, Virginia |
| Membership | 4.3 million members |
| Website | |
The National Rifle Association, or NRA, is a non-profit group for the promotion of marksmanship, firearm safety, and the protection of hunting and personal protection firearm rights in the United States, established in New York in 1871 as the American Rifle Association. It sponsors firearm safety training courses, as well as marksmanship events featuring shooting skills and sports. The NRA is sometimes said to be the single most powerful non-profit organization in the United States. It predicates its political activity on gun ownership being a civil liberty protected by the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights, and is the oldest continuously operating civil liberties organization in the United States. According to its website, the NRA has 4.3 million members.[1]
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[edit] Sport and Safety Programs
[edit] NRA firearms safety programs
The NRA sponsors a range of safety programs to educate and encourage the safe use of firearms.
NRA hunting safety courses are offered all across the U.S. for both children and adults. In recent years gun safety classes oriented more towards firearm safety, particularly for women, have become popular. Intended for school-age children, the NRA's "Eddie Eagle" program encourages the viewer to "Stop! Don't touch! Leave the area! Tell an adult!" if the child ever sees a firearm lying around. The NRA has claimed that studies prove the "Eddie Eagle" program reduces the likelihood of firearms accidents in the home, and the program is used in many elementary schools nationwide.
[edit] Shooting sports
Historically, the NRA has governed and advanced the shooting sports in the United States. In recent years, however, its role in the shooting sports has become somewhat less direct.
In 1992 the NRA ceased to be the National Governing Body for Olympic shooting (USA Shooting is now the NGB), and in 2000 the NRA chose not to be a member of the National Three-Position Air Rifle Council. The NRA is not directly involved in the practical pistol competitions conducted by the International Practical Shooting Confederation and International Defensive Pistol Association, or in cowboy action shooting; both of these types of events have grown dramatically in recent years.
However, the National Rifle and Pistol Matches at Camp Perry are sponsored by the NRA, which most consider the "World Series of competitive shooting". Commonly known as Bullseye or Conventional Pistol, shooters from the military as well as many top-ranked civilians gather annually in July and August for this well-attended competition. The NRA also sponsors its National Muzzleloading Championship at the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association's Friendship, Indiana facility.
The NRA functions as a general promoter of the shooting sports. The NRA house magazine, American Rifleman, covers major shooting competitions and related topics, and the NRA offers a publication dedicated to competitive shooting, Shooting Sports USA. Most competitive shooters are NRA members.
The current NRA competitions division publishes its own rulebooks, maintains a registry of marksmanship classifications, and sanctions matches.
[edit] Grass Roots Shooting Support
Through the NRA Foundation and Friends of the NRA, the NRA also raises funds and distributes grants to local clubs. In addition to competitive marksmanship and gun safety, local programs supported by the NRA include instructor/coach training, gun collector programs, programs for law enforcement officers, disabled shooting services, youth programs, and wildlife conservation and management.
[edit] NRA history
The NRA was founded on November 17, 1871, by two Union Army officers, Col. William C. Church and Gen. George Wingate, who were upset with the poor marksmanship of their troops. In a magazine editorial written by Church, he stated their primary goal was "providing firearms training and encouraging interest in the shooting sports".[1] From 1873 to 1892, the NRA operated a rifle range at Creedmoor in Queens Village, New York, where National Guardsmen were trained and international competitions were held. Civil War Gen. Ambrose Burnside, also a former Rhode Island governor and U.S. Senator, was the first NRA president.[1] Former President Ulysses S. Grant was elected eighth president of the National Rifle Association in 1883.[2] Other Union generals, including Phillip H. Sheridan and Winfield Scott Hancock also served as president at various times.
In 1934, the NRA formed its "Legislative Affairs Division". While it did not directly lobby until the formation of the Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) in 1975, it did mail out legislative analyses and facts to its members, so they could take action themselves. During World War II, the NRA reloaded ammunition used for guarding factories involved in wartime production, and sought to help arm Britain against potential invasion with the collection of over 7,000 firearms for that country's defense.[1]
In May 1977, the NRA began a rightward shift after controversy erupted within the organization over the possibility of banning "Saturday night specials." In the so-called "Cincinnati Revolt", more than 2,000 NRA members met in the Cincinnati Convention-Exposition Center until nearly 4 AM.[3] Harlon Carter, a member of the NRA's Executive Council who had been fired as political action director, was elected the new leader of the NRA. He announced:
- Beginning in this place and at this hour, this period in NRA history is finished. There will be no more civil war in the National Rifle Association.[4]
Since this change, the NRA has consistently opposed any proposed legislation that purports to limit access to guns by law-abiding citizens. However, they do strongly support some laws restricting access to guns by criminals (notably Project Exile in Richmond, Virginia). The shift also resulted in the ouster of at least one board member who "was told this is a single-purpose organization" after he expressed support for strong wilderness preservation.[5]
The NRA publishes several magazines. The organization's official journal is American Rifleman. American Hunter was added in 1973, detailing hunting tactics, locations, and gear. American Guardian, created in 1997, originally focused on self-defense and recreational issues; in 2000, it was renamed America's 1st Freedom and now covers legislative and political topics. Women's Outlook addresses home security, personal protection, and programs like "Women on Target" and "Refuse to Be A Victim"[6] (Women's Outlook ceased publication in the Summer of 2006. Its editorial content was merged into America's 1st Freedom).
In 1990, the NRA Foundation, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, was established to fund gun safety and educational projects.
The NRA has served in a variety of roles over its existence. Besides its political functions, it has been — at various times and in various degrees — an organizer of shooting competitions; a general promoter of marksmanship and firearms safety; an advocate for gun owners, collectors and sportsmen; and an umbrella body for the many local and regional clubs involved in the various firearms-related hobbies.
[edit] NRA Museum
The NRA operates the National Firearms Museum at its headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia. The museum is free of charge, and houses a collection of firearms and miscellaneous items. The museum is self-guided and operates like a timeline, showing some of the first arms and armor and progressing to firearms of today. The NRA also has a library for research purposes.
[edit] Political lobbying
Many consider the NRA to be one of the most influential political lobbies in the U.S. because of its ability to consistently deliver large numbers of votes in elections, as well as its record of campaign contributions and activities in lobbying for gun and hunting rights. Political lobbying is an activity permitted under its 501(c)(4) tax status.
[edit] Second Amendment
In its lobbying for gun rights, the NRA asserts that the Second Amendment guarantees the right of individuals to own and use guns. This interpretation emphasizes that "the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed", and purports to clarify the intent of "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State" portion, which itself is predicated on the Founders definition of "militia" as the body of citizenry at large.
The NRA typically opposes measures which it asserts would conflict with the Second Amendment and/or the right to privacy enjoyed by law-abiding gun owners. It asserts that any attempt to regulate arms conflicts with the second clause of the amendment; the "right to keep and bear arms." The NRA has supported gun rights on other grounds as well—they opposed the Brady Bill in the courts on Tenth Amendment grounds, not Second Amendment.
[edit] Past Elections
[edit] 1994
In the 1994 election, the NRA is often credited with defeating Congressmen Jack Brooks and Tom Foley (the first Speaker of the House to lose a reelection since 1860). Bill Clinton wrote:
| “ | The NRA had a great night. They beat both Speaker Tom Foley and Jack Brooks, two of the ablest members of Congress, who had warned me this would happen. Foley was the first Speaker to be defeated in more than a century. Jack Brooks had supported the NRA for years and had led the fight against the assault weapons ban in the House, but as chairman of the Judiciary Committee he had voted for the overall crime bill even after the ban was put into it. The NRA was an unforgiving master: one strike and you're out. The gun lobby claimed to have defeated nineteen of the twenty-four members on its hit list. They did at least that much damage and could rightly claim to have made Gingrich the House Speaker. | ” |
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—Bill Clinton, My Life pp 629-30 |
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[edit] 2000 Presidential Election
Kayne Robinson, NRA First Vice President, said in 2000, regarding the forthcoming election of George W. Bush: "If we win, we'll have a Supreme Court that will back us to the hilt. If we win, we'll have a President, with at least one of the people that's running, a President where we work out of their office. Unbelievably friendly relations."
Some people credit the NRA's heavy campaigning in Arkansas and Tennessee in the weeks before the 2000 Presidential Election with swaying voters from Al Gore and causing him to lose both states. Had Gore won either state, he would have won the presidency. Bill Clinton won both states in 1992 and 1996, and Clinton has even remarked in interviews since 2000 that the only reason Arkansas voted for George W. Bush was because of the NRA's extremely heavy campaigning on the theme that Gore would "take their guns". Bush won Arkansas 51%-46% and Tennessee 51%-47% vs. Gore.
[edit] Past campaigns
Many gun-control laws that the NRA and its supporters fought vigorously have been passed throughout the country. These laws range from the near-total ban on gun ownership in Washington, D.C., to the outlawing of entire classes of firearms in many states as well as at the federal level, to the licensing of firearms owners in some jurisdictions.
Because of a belief that laws should focus on criminals not hardware, the NRA opposes most new gun-control legislation, calling instead for stricter enforcement of existing laws such as prohibiting convicted felons and violent criminals from possessing firearms and increased sentencing for gun-related crimes. The NRA also lobbies for "shall issue" right-to-carry laws for concealed carry licenses in many states. The NRA also takes positions on non-firearm hunting issues, such as supporting wildlife management programs that allow hunting and opposing restrictions on devices like crossbows and leg hold traps.
One example of the NRA's legislative effectiveness is that, while 7 US states and the District of Columbia still generally restrict the issuance of concealed carry permits ("may issue" or "no-issue"), 38 states have mandatory shall-issue issuance of such permits upon the applicant demonstrating completion of a training requirement or other basic criteria, 3 states have may-issue permits that are liberally issued by local law enforcement, and 2 states (Alaska and Vermont) have unrestricted universal concealed carry without any permit requirements.
The NRA is officially nonpartisan and has endorsed both Democrats and Republicans; however, Republicans tend to share its views more often than Democrats, and this is reflected in the large preponderance of endorsements. The NRA's policy is that it will endorse any incumbent who supports its positions, even if the challenger supports them as well. This was evident in the 2006 Congressional Elections when the NRA endorsed Rick Santorum over Bob Casey, Jr. even though they both had an "A" rating from the NRA Political Victory Fund.
[edit] Current campaigns
[edit] Lawsuit protection
As of September 2003, the NRA's focus at the federal level is on a bill to protect manufacturers from certain types of lawsuits. The "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act" (S.659/S.1806) is also supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, and opposed by many gun-control groups. The Senate amended the bill to extend the assault weapons ban and close the so-called "gun-show loophole", whereupon the NRA withdrew its support; the bill was defeated on March 2, 2004.
A new "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act" (S.397) passed the Senate (65–31) in late July 2005, passed the House (283–144) on October 20, and was signed by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2005. The bill carried two amendments: requiring the purchase of a trigger lock with any handgun purchase; and authorizing the Department of Justice to study the penetration characteristics of ammunition and make a determination if the ammunition fits the category of "armor piercing". These amendments were rejected by other pro-gun organizations that think these concessions will lead to more restrictions and impetus for lawsuits for those that do not use trigger locks.
[edit] "Assault weapons"
In 2004 the NRA successfully opposed renewal of the federal assault weapons ban of 1994, which banned many features of certain semiautomatic rifles and certain types of removable magazines, against a campaign to make the ban permanent and/or expand it. The ban expired at midnight, September 13, 2004.
[edit] Confiscations in New Orleans
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, multiple reports of confiscations of civilian weapons by law enforcement began coming out of New Orleans. Warrantless weapon searches of evacuees were carried out prior to allowing them into evacuation centers,[7] unconstitutional house-to-house weapon confiscations were reported,[8][9] and the superintendent of police was quoted as saying "Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons" and "We are going to take all of the weapons".[10]
On September 12, 2005, National Rifle Association executive vice-president Wayne LaPierre spoke out against these confiscations. "What we’ve seen in Louisiana — the breakdown of law and order in the aftermath of disaster — is exactly the kind of situation where the Second Amendment was intended to allow citizens to protect themselves," LaPierre said. The NRA filed suit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District in Louisiana.
On September 23, two weeks after seizures began, NRA and SAF filed for a temporary restraining order. On September 24, 2005, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana issued a temporary restraining order barring any further gun confiscations and ordering the return of lawfully owned firearms to their owners. On March 1, 2006, the NRA filed a motion for contempt against the city of New Orleans, its mayor, and the chief of police for failure to comply with the restraining order. On March 15, 2006, lawyers from both sides reached an agreement in the case of NRA v. Mayor Ray Nagin, which is pending before a federal court. The city of New Orleans admitted that it holds a number of confiscated firearms, and the Property and Evidence Division of the New Orleans Police Department is to return the firearms to their owners on request and proof of ownership or affidavit. In the chaos and destruction following Katrina many homeowners have, however, lost everything including the paperwork that would prove ownership. At this time (2006) the majority of the seized firearms have not been returned to the rightful owners. (See Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.)
In June, 2006, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco signed the NRA-backed Act 275, forbidding the confiscation of firearms from lawful citizens during declared emergencies. Similar legislation had already been adopted in nine other states.
On October 4, 2006, President George W. Bush signed into law the NRA-backed Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act of 2006 (incorporated into the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations bill). This legislation prohibits the confiscation of otherwise legal firearms from law-abiding citizens during states of emergency by any agent of the Federal Government or anyone receiving Federal funds (effectively, any Federal, state, or local governmental entity). Introduced in Congress by Rep. Bobby Jindal and Sen. David Vitter, both of Louisiana, this bill enjoyed broad bipartisan support, passing the House of Representatives with a margin of 322-99 and the Senate by 84-16.
Also see Civil disturbances and military action in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and GiveThemBack.com
[edit] San Francisco's Proposition H
In November 2005, 58% of voters in San Francisco, California, approved "Proposition H" banning the sale, manufacture and distribution of firearms and ammunition, as well as possession of handguns, within city limits effective January 1, 2006. (The last gun dealer in the city had closed several years earlier because of a special tax.) San Francisco thereby became the third major city in the United States with a handgun ban, after Chicago and Washington, D.C.
The day after the election, the National Rifle Association and other gun advocates filed a lawsuit challenging the ban, saying it oversteps local government authority and intrudes into an area regulated by the state. (A previous handgun ban, adopted in 1984, was successfully challenged on similar grounds.) On June 12, 2006 Superior Court Judge agreed with the NRA position, saying that California law "implicitly prohibits a city or county from banning gun possession by law-abiding adults."[11] The city is expected to appeal the decision.
[edit] Current leadership and policies
The NRA organization is governed by a large (typically 75 member) board of directors. The directors choose the president, the leading spokesman for the organization, from among their members. Although traditionally this position changed annually, for several years it was consecutively held by Charlton Heston, who was a compelling promoter of the NRA agenda. Heston became afflicted with Alzheimer's disease and stepped down in April 2003. Sandra Froman is currently president. Marion P. Hammer was the first female president, serving from 1995 to 1998.
The organization also has an Executive Vice President, who is not a director but functions as Chief Executive Officer, appointed at the pleasure of the directors. Wayne LaPierre has held this position since 1991.[12]
[edit] Criticism
[edit] From gun control advocates
The NRA is criticized by gun control groups such as the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, Brady Campaign, Million Mom March, and Americans for Gun Safety. A variety of newspaper editorial boards, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and USA Today, disagree with the NRA's policies, such as in September of 2004, when they called for the extension of the assault weapons ban;[citation needed] in general, criticism of the NRA is higher in urban areas than rural areas.[citation needed] These groups tend to point to instances of gun violence, claiming that they could have been prevented through legislation.[citation needed]
[edit] From other gun rights organizations
The NRA has been criticized by other gun rights groups for doing too little to get existing restrictions repealed, and sometimes helping to draft restrictive legislation. This critique is most often voiced by gun rights organizations and libertarians who take a more comprehensive view of the Second Amendment and Bill of Rights, and are viewed as being less amenable to compromise on these issues, e.g. Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, and Gun Owners of America. The GOA has castigated the NRA in the past for what it perceives as its willingness to compromise on legislative restrictions concerning access to firearms [1].
JPFO and its leadership has also criticized the NRA's political strategy on several occasions, lambasting what it views as their counterproductive focus on Capitol Hill lobbying, as well as taking the NRA and its leadership to task for not explicitly making a connection between gun control measures introduced in the United States and those implemented by the Weimar Republic and subsequently the Nazi regime in pre-war Germany, as well as other totalitarian, anarchic, or ineffectual regimes that were eventually overthrown [2]. To a certain extent, this criticism has been addressed in recent years by Wayne LaPierre, who has attempted to convince the public that the atrocities committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina during the Yugoslavian Civil War, as well as the Rwandan genocide of 1994, can be traced to a lack of institutional, individual gun rights in those countries.
The NRA has also seen internal dissent from its membership, including a prolonged series of verbal attacks and campaigns initiated by Neal Knox, a former vice-president of the organization who attempted to depose both Wayne LaPierre and Tanya Metaksa, the former executive director of the NRA's Institute For Legislative Action, in leadership elections during the late Nineties [3].
In addition to the generic criticism voiced by other more absolutist gun-rights organizations and public figures, Knox and his supporters allege that the NRA has failed to protect the rights of gun-owners during debates over proposed federal gun laws. They cite the NRA's involvement in the passage of the Firearm Owners Protection Act, otherwise known as the McClure-Volkmer Act, which amended the Gun Control Act of 1968 to allow purchases from licensed gun dealers at gun shows within the same state, and allowed unlicensed individuals to purchase guns at the same shows for very specific purposes [4].
Although this represented a significant liberalization of the 1968 Gun Control Act, the fact that the NRA did not seek its outright repeal led some critics, such as Knox, to assert that it had abandoned its members..
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Some NRA members and other gun rights supporters have taken issue with NRA's endorsement and/or high-grading of candidates for state and local offices that have poor voting records on gun rights issues. These critics claim that NRA endorses some Republican candidates to curry favor with the party, and endorses some candidates that are likely to win election in order to inflate NRA's claimed electoral "victory rate." NRA's responses to such complaints have included arguments that Republican-led legislative bodies are typically more favorable to gun rights than under Democratic leadership, and that pragmatism dictates that "the good not be sacrificed for the perfect." Further, the high victory rate among NRA-backed candidates is seen by NRA as a valuable measure of its strength that is helpful to its lobbying efforts.
Among the broader conservative community, the NRA has recently garnered extensive criticism for endorsing and supporting candidates who are generally perceived as being liberal on several or many other issues, e.g. former Congressman Joe Schwarz [5], and Senator Arlen Specter [6], or who have a distinctly liberal position on a hot-button political subject such as amnesty, or whose support for gun rights has been called into question, e.g. Congressman Chris Cannon [7].
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c d http://www.nraila.org/Issues/FAQs/Default.aspx?Section=27
- ^ Labor Law Talk Library
- ^ http://www.vpc.org/nrainfo/chapter2.html Revolt at Cincinnati, Violence Policy Center
- ^ "Concerned NRA Members Redirect Their Association," American Rifleman, (July 1977) p. 16
- ^ http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20060904&s=blanding090406
- ^ http://www.nrahq.org/women/ NRA Women's Programs, www.nrahq.org
- ^ http://www.khou.com/news/local/houstonmetro/stories/khou050902_mh_domelatest.1aad400d.html
- ^ http://www.columbiatribune.com/2005/Sep/20050909News015.asp
- ^ http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/12600933.htm
- ^ http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0909katrina09.html
- ^ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/13/BAGJSJCVF01.DTL
- ^ http://nramemberscouncils.com/wayne/bio.shtml
[edit] References
- Anderson, Jack. Inside the NRA: Armed and Dangerous. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Dove, 1996. ISBN 0787106771.
- Brennan, Pauline Gasdow, Alan J. Lizotte, and David McDowall. "Guns, Southernness, and Gun Control". Journal of Quantitative Criminology 9, no. 3 (1993): 289–307.
- Bruce, John M., and Clyde Wilcox, eds. The Changing Politics of Gun Control. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield, 1998. ISBN 0847686140, ISBN 0847686159.
- Davidson, Osha Gray. Under Fire: The NRA and the Battle for Gun Control, 2nd ed. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1998. ISBN 0877456461.
- Edel, Wilbur. Gun Control: Threat to Liberty or Defense against Anarchy? Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishers, 1995. ISBN 0275951456.
- Langbein, Laura I., and Mark A. Lotwis, "Political Efficacy of Lobbying and Money: Gun Control in the U.S. House, 1986". Legislative Studies Quarterly 15 (August 1990): 413–40.
- LaPierre, Wayne R. Guns, Crime, and Freedom. Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 1994. ISBN 0895264773.
- McGarrity, Joseph P., and Daniel Sutter. "A Test of the Structure of PAC Contracts: An Analysis of House Gun Control Votes in the 1980s". Southern Economic Journal, Vol. 67 (2000).
- Spitzer, Robert J. The Politics of Gun Control, 2nd ed. New York: Chatham House Publishers, 1998. ISBN 1566430720.
- Sugarmann, Josh. National Rifle Association: Money, Firepower, and Fear. Washington, D.C.: National Press Books, 1992. ISBN 0915765888.
- Trefethen, James B., and James E. Serven. Americans and Their Guns: The National Rifle Association Story Through Nearly a Century of Service to the Nation. Harrisburg, Penn.: Stackpole Books, 1967.
- Utter, Glenn H., ed. Encyclopedia of Gun Control and Gun Rights. Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Press, 2000. ISBN 157356172X.
[edit] External links
- Official website (US)
- NRA News (Video features)
- NRA Institute for Legislative Action
- GiveThemBack.com The NRA's response to firearm seizures following Hurricane Katrina.
- Canada's NFA - National Firearms Association
- NRA Whittington Center Raton NM
- USA Shooting
