NRA turns 149 years old
Living in the Northwest, one thing becomes clear: Folks take the Second Amendment very seriously.
My granddad used his rifle as a literal means to feed the family from an early age. He grew up so poor that a scurrying squirrel or rabbit was often dinner, and even by the time he raised his own family in Wyoming his rifle still kept their bellies full when money was tight.
He never used a gun for anything else, but he did teach his daughters and granddaughters how to use one. (And to silently honor the spirit of animals taken for nourishment.) Otherwise, he never thought about his gun.
He said it was a tool, and nothing more.
But most gun owners have a broader relationship with firearms. For many Americans, they are symbols — of independence, of patriotism, of freedom. Gun ownership has become synonymous with an array of rights passionately protected by the National Rifle Association and reaching beyond the firearm itself.
It wasn’t always so. Nearly a century and a half ago, Col. William C. Church and Gen. George Wingate, unhappy with the lack of marksmanship displayed by Union troops in the Civil War, formed the National Rifle Association in November of 1871 to improve accuracy.
The NRA’s primary goal, according to an editorial written by Church, was “to promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis." At its first rifle range on a New York farm, members practiced and competed in annual matches. By 1903 the NRA brought in America's youth through rifle clubs and shooting sports events — growing from an initial 200 to more than one million participating youth, according to NRA.org.
While policy was not its initial focus, today the NRA is considered the most powerful lobbying organization in the country, with an estimated membership exceeding five million. Its first legislative push, however, was not to expand gun rights — but to limit them.
The NRA in early years worked with the federal government to limit gun ownership and establish controls in certain cases involving mental illness and ex-convicts. In some states they worked to define permits for concealed-carry. Even into the 1960s, the NRA worked with the White House and Congress to support and enforce restrictions after the assassinations of President Kennedy and M.L. King, during a time of rising concerns about crime.
The 1970s brought a shift in the NRA’s leadership, along with its policy goals. Gun restrictions became synonymous with freedom restrictions. This firm new stance against gun control came at the same time U.S. Supreme Court decisions loosened restrictions on funding rules for certain lobbying organizations.
These two combined to create the formidable force that is the NRA today.
After the assassination attempt on NRA member President Reagan, which wounded his press secretary Jim Brady, a new groundswell for gun control led to the 1993 Brady Bill, establishing a permit waiting period (and other restrictions). The following year, Congress added a ban on “assault weapons” — combat style semiautomatics used by militaries and in war zones. The NRA did not support these, but did succeed in inserting a 10-year sunset on the ban, so Congress let it expire in 2004.
Constitutions are simply worded things, leaving the details open to court interpretation and governments coping with evolving societies. The Second Amendment is very brief:
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
The U.S. Supreme Court’s most recent decisions confirm that this right to “keep and bear arms” is not limited to armies or civilian militias, but also applies to individuals. From there, the debate rages on.
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Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Contact her at Sholeh@cdapress.com.