The National Rifle Association (NRA) As George Stephanopoulos, a former Clinton spokesman once said: Let me make one small vote for the NRA. They're good citizens. They call their Congressmen. They write. They vote. They contribute. And they get what they want over time.(qtd. in nra.org) The NRA is indeed all of these things, with programs to benefit a variety of Americans, sponsorship of one of Americas oldest sports, and as an organization that will stand up for its political beliefs regarding the Second Amendment. (www.nra.org) Formed in 1872 when military leaders were disappointed with the marksmanship of their soldiers, the NRA has always faced political opposition for promoting marksmanship. Although it was founded largely
Funds granted by the NRA Foundation benefit a variety of constituencies throughout the United States. (nrafoundation.org) According to Congress (qtd. in nraila.org) information on foreign country gun laws states: From available statistics, among the [27] countries surveyed, it is difficult to find a correlation between the existence of strict firearms regulations and a lower incidence of gun-related crimes. [I]n Canada a dramatic increase in the percentage of handguns used in all homicides was reported during a period in which handguns were most strictly regulated. And in strictly regulated Germany , gun-related crime is much higher than in countries such as Switzerland and Israel , that have simpler and/or less restrictive legislation. This further illustrates why the NRA feels so strongly that more regulations would not only impede our constitutional freedom, but do little to modify the gun violence that pro-gun control supporters are trying to reduce. Since 2004, the NRA has had several congressional victories for Pro-Gun measures. The "Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act" is the most recent NRA backed legal success. This bill amended federal emergency laws to prohibit federal, state, and local authorities from confiscating lawfully-owned firearms during emergencies or disasters. This bill passed the U.S. Senate, and President Bush signed it into law on October