The National Rifle Association (NRA) is one of the leading interest groups in the US. The NRA was founded in 1871 as the governing body for the sport of shooting with pistols and rifles. By the 21st century, the NRA had amassed a membership of over five million including hunters, gun enthusiasts, police, gunsmiths, gun collectors, and target shooters. One of the NRA’s important activities of the 21st century is its highly effective political campaigning and lobbying against proposals for legislative control of firearms in the US, often by arguing that such measures infringe on the individual liberties as outlined in the Second Amendment of the US constitution. This paper will examine the National Rifle Association (NRA) in depth including its origin, its membership and its contribution to the changes in the legislature among other things.
Discussion
History
The National Rifle Association (NRA) was granted a charter in 1871 by the state of New York. The organization was founded by former Union Army officers after realizing that many of the Northern soldiers were poorly trained and had limited use of weapons (Patrick 7). They envisioned for an association similar to the British National Association. The former Union Army officers outlined that the Northern troops would fire about a thousand shots only to hit a single target. They outlined such poor marksmanship to the volley tactics devised for less accurate and older muskets.
Due to the need for better training, the association was formed. The idea was to train and educate a new generation of marksmen whether for hunting, war or recreational target shooting. In the wave of increased crime involving guns in the 1960s coupled with riots in the cities, a lot of private citizens turned to gun purchases for personal protection and this expanded the membership of the NRA (Hammer 6).
Early Support for Gun Control
Unknown to many, for a very long time up to the 1970s, the NRA worked with the federal government to regulate the number of weapons among civilians led by NRA leader Frederick. In 1934, the National Firearms Act came into effect. This law placed restrictions on handguns, sawed-off shotguns, and machine guns. In particular, the NRA worked alongside the government in regulating guns including the assassinations of prominent Americans such as President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy. It was during this time that Congress restricted felons, curtailed mail order guns, drug abusers and mentally ill persons from buying guns (Loesch 11).
Legislative Victories
After these periods of cooperation with the government, the NRA leadership took a turn and became an opponent of the federal government’s proposed new proposed gun controls. However, the NRA has seen more victories on the state level than on the federal level. Hence, in the last few decades, this interest group has been extremely successful in the loosening of gun laws on the state level. As of today, the NRA has had over 230 full legislative victories in the past ten years alone in the state level.
For instance, Virginia has passed over 16 laws that are favorable to the NRA since 2003. Others include Mississippi and Utah with 11, Texas and Arizona with 10 and West Virginia and Indiana with 9. During these periods, these states have either generally been led by pro-gun Democrats or Republicans. Lawmakers and observers see the association as one of the three most influential interest groups in America. The lobbying arm of the association is the NRA-Institute for Legislative Action.
One of the cornerstone policies of the NRA push on state-level has been the Right to Carry laws. 31 states have implemented these laws since 1989. The legislation that the NRA had advocated for and won are very diverse but mostly center around the ability to bring guns to more places in the US, expanding hunting rights and emergency protection for the owners of guns (Hammer 14). Some of the most successful NRA pushes and victories of the past decade include emergency power laws, castle doctrine laws, range protection laws, protection from out-of-state sting operations and laws that forbid gun rights limitations from municipalities.
The castle doctrine laws, also known as stand your ground laws offer defenses for individuals that have been charged with criminal homicide. This doctrine states that a person has no duty to retreat during a time when her or his property is under attack and may use reasonable force including deadly force to defend himself, property or another person. As Melzer (74) explains, the NRA lobbied heavily so that this law offered citizens to use deadly force under the doctrine in circumstances such as when threatened with death or great bodily harm. In a total of 46 states, the doctrine is extended to any place legally occupied, place of work or in a car. The doctrine even allows a person to attack an intruder rather than retreat (Lott 40). At the core of this doctrine is that a person can use deadly force and not be charged with homicide and often, this deadly force is offered by a gun.
On the other hand, emergency power laws forbid restriction or prohibition of ammunition or firearms in emergency times. During Hurricane Katrina in 2006, the superintended of New Orleans issued an order for the confiscation of guns in the disaster region (Winkler 33). The NRA objectives have been to prevent such acts by the governments. The NRA has also been instrumental in the passing of range protection laws that essentially exempt gun ranges from complaints relating to noise. These laws have ensured the effective expansion of firearms into new regions due to the establishment of gun ranges across the country.
Impact of the NRA on International Gun Laws
The NRA has not only influenced the legislative space in the US but also in the rest of the world. In the global front, this interest group has slowed down and diluted the terms under the Arms Trade Treaty. The United Nations (UN) has been agitating for the restriction of arms to regimes across the world committing war crimes and genocide. However, the NRA saw such a move as an attempt by this international body to regulate firearms and freedom in the US.
By resisting the pressure from the UN, the NRA was essentially blocking the attempt by the UN to regulate firearms in countries abroad, hoping to protect both markets for the manufacturers of guns as well as gun ownership (Keene and Thomas 67). By lobbying the congressional leaders inside the US, the group ensured that ultimately, the treaty was not ratified by the Congress despite it having been signed by President Obama.
The NRA has also fought to defeat legislative proposals on gun control in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Canada. For instance, in the early 1990s when the Canadian legislators were pursuing means of strengthening gun laws, the group lobbied its members to boycott hunting in Canada. Hunting is an important tourist attraction in the nation’s tourism industry in Canada (Erickson 1). Through its influence on the Canadian Shooting Sports Association, the group was able to dissuade Canadian legislators from pursuing stringent gun laws. Hence, the right to own a gun, a uniquely American debate has been spread to countries across the globe.
Membership
There are various avenues for joining the NRA that include standard membership, probationary membership, discounted membership, junior membership, under 21 memberships, association membership, school membership, shooting trade membership and club membership among other slots. As an interest group, the NRA has an open membership policy and accepts persons of all ages, professionals and even nationalities. The only requirement is that one pays 40 dollars per year. As reported in the May 2018 report, the association today has about 6 million members (Erickson 1).
Conclusion
The paper sought to examine the National Rifle Association (NRA) in depth including its origin, its membership and its contribution to the changes in the legislature among other things. As revealed, the association was founded by former Union Army officers with the intention of raising the marksman levels in the use of firearms. As examined, the NRA has witnessed huge success in the US legislative process, especially at the state level in regard to gun rights. Moreover, the association has in eth recent past extended its influence on the rest of the world. Despite recent mass shootings in America, the NRA continues to receive applications from prospective members every year.