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NRA Effectiveness

The National Rifle Association (NRA) is so effective as a lobbying force that it is often referred to as the “101st Senator” (Zehren, 1994, 1). The pro-gun lobby is an organization with so much clout when it comes to gun legislation that President Clinton recently called the House Republican gun show proposal a document “ghostwritten by the NRA” (Walsh and Suro, 1999, 1). The NRA has always enjoyed a high level of power as a lobbying group, but during the late 1980s a revolution occurred within NRA ranks that saw the evolution of a more politically powerful and effective NRA than ever before. Despite public outcry and national media focus on a spate of fatal shootings over the past ten years, the NRA has remained quite effective at blocking key pieces of legislation pertaining to gun control. Without doubt, the NRA is the single most ferocious and effective political lobby in the United States, with perhaps only the American Medical Association, Insurance companies, and the tobacco industry as peers.

A decade or so ago, things were somewhat different. In the late 1980s, the NRA was beginning to lose power. A decade of drug-related shootings and murders began to turn the tide of public sentiment against the NRA, a wave that was eroding political support for the pro-gun lobby. Chastened by defeats in Congress and experiencing declining membership of more than 500,000 over three years, internal turmoil erupted within the NRA during 1987-1991 (Cauchon, 1994, 1). Newly formed factions within the NRA viewed former leadership as a bunch of tree-huggers who were more focused on hunting and shooting than political power. Slowly but purposefully, the new guard slowly gained control of the 75 member board of directors of the NRA and ousted anyone in support of the old guard. The old NRA, says current Vice President Wayne LaPierre was “out of touch with grass-roots America” (Cauchon, 1994, 1).

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NRA Effectiveness. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 04:15, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1686027.html