The main purpose of the National Rifle Association (NRA)

The main purpose of the National Rifle Association (NRA)[1] is to “promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis”.[2]  Along with this key initiative, the NRA has other promoting sights that harbor the same motto such as the Institute for Legislative Action[3], and the NRA Foundation[4] (Source Watch, December 2005).

The goals of the NRA may be considered conservative because it is an organization priding itself on the proper use of gun control, and it repeatedly goes back to the second admendemnt that allows citizenry to bear arms.  The goals tend to be more on the conservative side since the point of the organization is for citizenry to keep and use firearms and hold a militia in case of infringing governemnt control.  The side that counteracts any deceitful government with military action as the second amendment states[5],

The Second Amendment guarantees: "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." This guarantees a citizen's right to keep and bear arms for personal defense. The revolutionary experience caused our forebears to address a second concern -- the ability of Americans to maintain a citizen militia. The Founding Fathers trusted an armed citizenry as the best safeguard against the possibility of a tyrannical government.

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The NRA then is a conservative organization.  This is true because the NRA is only for law-abiding citizens having guns while a liberal stance would be for no one having a gun.  That is the main difference.  Conservatives then believe that guns are used for self-defense.  The main base of the NRA is shooting according to a scientific basis, and therefore gun control is not ideal for an NRA member.  They believe that gun control laws are not applicable in today’s society although there are staggering statistics that prove that gun control does work because per capita countries with gun control laws have less gun related incidents and death[6].  In all the NRA is a very conservative organization.

One of the main politicians that oppose the gun control issue is former congressman John Thune[7].  The politician that is for gun control is Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle.  Their views are very much strictly conservative opposing fundamental liberalism.  In areas such a gun control and the laws arising in the senate for or against these laws both politicians have adamantly stood in contrast to the other, as the NRA website states in Cox’s article,

Since 1986, Daschle has cast literally dozens of anti-gun votes in the U.S. Senate. He voted for the Clinton gun ban in 1994 and again earlier this year. He voted for prohibitions that would have shut down gun shows across America... And as the leader of his party in the U.S. Senate, Daschle carries far more clout and control over fellow Democrats than you might think. And time after time, he has chosen to use that raw power against gun owners. In contrast, Daschle’s challenger, former Congressman John Thune, has been a committed defender of Second Amendment freedom since his first vote in Congress. During his tenure in the House, John Thune voted to prohibit the federal government from keeping computerized records of gun purchases and to protect the American tradition of weekend gun shows.

These two politicians are polar opposites with issues concerning guns.  Of course on of the biggest debates on gun issues arose in the 2004 elections with John Kerry being obdurately opposed to guns and even wanted to ban them while Bush of course took the other stance and advocated guns and by extension the NRA.

In the NRA’s goals of liberty, equality, and democracy hold true to the idea of freedom.  That is why the Second Amendment is so vital to the NRA’s standing infrastructure; it allows citizens to hold onto freedom with militia and guns in case of the inception of an autocratic government or despot scenario.  In this belief the NRA has a foundation dedicated to education about freedom and guns.

The goal again of the NRA is to “promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis”.   The ideal of democracy is a nation for the people and the NRA seeks to uphold that goal.  In order to do so, and the maintain liberty, and equality the NRA foundation is a modicum that allows for people to exerise their right of bearing arms, as the website states,

Established in 1990, The NRA Foundation, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization that raises tax-deductible contributions in support of a wide range of firearm related public interest activities of the National Rifle Association of America and other organizations that defend and foster the Second Amendment rights of all law-abiding Americans. These activities are designed to promote firearms and hunting safety, to enhance marksmanship skills of those participating in the shooting sports, and to educate the general public about firearms in their historic, technological and artistic context.

The Foundation is about protection; protecting freedom through use of guns.  In all, the goals of the NRA in direct accord with their view of liberty, equality and democracy.

There are however interest groups that exist that oppose the NRA and their beliefs.  Some of these groups are affiliated with animal protection.  Though the NRA does hunt animals they do so with proper licensure.  The animal rights groups (FETA, National Humane Society of America) oppose the use of trapping, baiting, and hunting with dogs.  The opposition stems from the NRA believing every animal should be hunted without restriction to the animal rights groups wanting to limit hunting on specific species (bear, dove, etc) because of endangerment and other issues.

In other instances the NRA helps to control a rising population of animal through hunting, as the website further states,

Animal "rights" extremists from The Humane Society of the United States and other groups came out in strong support of a bill to stop the bear hunt in Maryland. Maryland DNR opposes the legislation and maintains this is needed to properly manage the bear population.

The opposition to guns and by extension to the NRA is that they do not regulate their hunting but instead say that hunting a citizen’s right.  On the other hand, the NRA helps to maintain population control by hunting.  If hunters (or NRA active supporters) did not hunt then the population might get out of control and that animal would invading the space of humans, and in the case of the white-tailed deer their numbers would increase steadily and more people would get into wrecks because their population wasn’t checked through the use of fire-arms.  Also, in the view of an NRA member, hunting is a legitimate means by which to supply their family with food; so not only is hunting good for society but it is also good for the family.

The NRA also has volunteer positions in its organization.  These positions include duties such as protecting freedom for gun owners.  Volunteers answer calls for the organization, and are called EVC (Election Volunteer Coordinators).  These volunteers as the NRA website states,

…all EVCs serve on a voluntary basis, and ARE NOT employed by NRA. Rather, like you, they are NRA Members and volunteers who have stepped forward to help organize fellow Second Amendment supporters in an effort to protect our freedoms. If you are able to give ANY time to assist with volunteer activities in support of local pro-gun candidates, please contact the EVC in your area.

The point of becoming a volunteer is to be actively involved in the protection of the Second Amendment in one’s own community.  A volunteer makes their surrounding community aware of the NRA and its issues through town-hall meetings, writing letters, writing newspaper articles, and in other ways during election years so that the citizenry is aware of the gun issues at hand are better equipped with gun knowledge.  There are also volunteer organizations involved with promoting the ideas of the NRA, one of which is the Firearms Coalition of Colorado and as the NRA website states,

Formed 14 years ago to fight the City of Denver`s attempts to ban numerous semi-auto firearms, the Firearms Coalition of Colorado (FCC) exemplifies just what it means to be a "volunteer organization." During the last 14 years, working side-by-side with NRA-ILA, FCC has steadfastly continued its efforts to thwart countless attacks by anti-gun politicians at the local and state levels. These are the ladies and gentlemen that you commonly find working at 3:00 a.m. if that is what it takes to get the job done.

The purpose of volunteers and volunteer organizations is to promote gun awareness and to advocate the Second Amendment.

The NRA is an organization dedicated to fire arms and the proper use of such firearms.  It is a strong advocate of the Second Amendment and is proud to take control of guns and the rights of the citizenry to use those guns for personal purpose without the interference of the government.  As their website states, and this paper reiterates, the NRA was

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the “lobbying” arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is committed to preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

It is therefore an organization priding itself on protecting an individual’s freedom, equality and democracy.  To achieve this, volunteers work during elections to ensure everyone is aware of gun issues and how to ensure that guns are not banned from the country.  The right to bear arms is important to the NRA because it ensures that an autocratic government does not take control of the nation, and guns are an important decipherer in that equation of freedom.

Work Cited

Friends of NRA.  ;http://www.nrafoundation.org/;

NRA Organization.  ;http://www.nraila.org/index.aspx;

Source Watch.  (December, 2005).  National Rifle Association.      ;http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Rifle_Association;

[1] A foundation founded in 1871 (

[2] This quote can be found on the NRA website at, http://www.nra.org/
[3] This is the NRA’s lobbying arm, which means it is a group of legislatures promoting the cause of the NRA with politicians and other public officials.
[4] a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, which provides "a means to raise millions of dollars to fund gun safety and educational projects of benefit to the general public." (NRA website).
[5] This quote is found on the NRA website and it furthers to explain the cause of the organization in regards to its fundamental motto and the fact that the NRA is trying to protect and legislate a citizens right to weapons in case of a tyrannical government.
[6] There is a list of other conservative related issues pertaining to the NRA that are: conservatives believe that background checks are not necessary for owning a gun, it is unlawful to license gun owners, again there is the Second Amendment for the bearing of arms to protect individual rights, the NRA also holds true that it is wrong for individuals to sue gun companies.
[7] Of South Dakota

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