The debate over gun control in America involves beliefs about the meaning of the Second Amendment, the precise meaning of "control," fears of gun confiscation, and other questions about gun ownership, the use of guns to commit crimes, the number of deaths attributable to guns each year, and so on. For those who propose or support gun control in some form, the issues may shift from time to time, with some groups seeing one aspect of the problem as more important and others emphasizing some other aspect. Opposition to gun control is often led by one organization, the National Rifle Association, and as a rule the issues never change for that group or its members. The NRA has a long record of absolute opposition to any form of gun control, a record broken only recently and only in order to prevent even greater gun control than was being proposed. The NRA has been extremely successful at stopping the passage of gun control legislation for two reasons: first, because it is an organization with a large war chest, it can influence through contributions to candidates; second, because it has a large membership, it can influence by mobilizing letter-writing and other means of expression from the membership.
Mitchell (1978) gives a good description of the history of this organization. The NRA was founded in New York State in 1871. In part, this was a response to the problems encounterd by many northerners entering the army during the Civil War some years before. They were not properly trained in the use of firearms, and in many cases guns were found abandoned on the battlefield unused. After the war, some retired officers remembered the lessons of the war and founded the National Rifle Association as a way of instructing members in the use of firearms. The NRA has nurtured affiliate rifle clubs in every state, raised competitive shooting to the level of a true sport, encouraged excellence at arms in the military services, and prepared...