The National Rifle Association (NRA)

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The NRA The National Rifle Association (NRA) was founded in 1871 by Col. William C. Church and Gen. George Wingate. When asked about the reason for creating the NRA Church said the goal was to “promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis”. One important aspect during the start of the NRA was the development of a practice ground. In 1972 a farm was purchased on Long Island for the purpose of building a rifle range. In 1903 the NRA gained interest in promoting shooting sports among youth with the establishment of rifle clubs at major universities and colleges. The NRA formed the Legislative Affairs Division 1934 in defense of attacks on the second amendment. The NRA did not lobby directly yet, rather they mailed out facts to their …show more content…
In 1960 the NRA became the only national trainer of law enforcement officers when they introduced the NRA Police Firearms Instructor certification program in 1960. Today there are over 13,000 NRA-certified police and security firearm instructors. On the civilian side, the NRA continues to be the leader in firearm education. There are over 125,000 certified instructors who train around 1,000,000 gun owners a year. Since the establishment of the lifesaving Eddie Eagle GunSafe Program in 1988, there have been over 28 million pre-kindergarten to fourth grade children have learned that if they see a firearm they stop and tell a grown up. In 1990 the NRA made a move to help ensure that the financial support for firearms would continue to be available by establishing the NRA Foundation. The NRA Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, which provides a means to raise millions of dollars to fund gun safety. When the NRA started it’s primary focus was gun safety education. While they have evolved over the years their focus on gun safety has remained a constant. Today the NRA lobbies for the security of the second amendment. (Phillips, …show more content…
In our political system there is almost always some compromising needed between the two parties in order to pass any legislation. With the NRA being so strongly against any gun control it becomes incredibly difficult to pass any legislation regarding gun control. Due to the lack of any gun control laws many people can get access to firearms who likely should not have access. For instance people on terrorist watchlists and mentally unstable people, who likely should be denied access to guns, are in many cases still allowed to purchase them legally. The NRA has also lobbied to severely cut funding to organizations who were studying gun injury prevention. Research such as this has helped deaths from motor vehicle crashes drop by 31 percent in the past two decades. These are just a few of the many criticisms of the NRA. (Johnson,
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