Political Interest Groups: The NRA Vs The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

This paper compares the lobbying efforts of two political interest groups on the opposite side of the gun control issue in the United States: The National Rifle Association and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. The paper examines the groups' structure, lobbying efforts, links to other groups and political parties, and fundraising efforts.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) has its own lobbying arm the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA), established in 1975 ("About the NRA-ILA," n.d.). The ILA "represents" the interests of more than four million members of the NRA. The stated purpose of the ILA is to ensure that gun control legislation does not pass whether on a local, state or federal level.

The ILA uses two methods of lobbying. The first is to alert individual members through direct mail, web site, phone calls, faxes, etc. when such legislation is proposed. The second is to approach the representatives themselves (or to have individual members write to their representatives to let them know how they feel).

It is no secret that the NRA has always felt itself closer to the Republican Party. But this has become more evident in the 1990s. The PAC contributions to the GOP steadily rose from 61% of the total in 1990 to 87% in 2002 (Zeller, 2002). In total, its PAC gave out almost $17 million during the 2000 election campaign alo