NRA is a non-profit, completely voluntary organization that is devoted to the educating members of the efficient use of firearms and allowing the population to bear arms in the America. It was founded by W. Church and G. Wingate in 1871 with the original goal to teach the NY national Guard on how to become proficient and marksman in order to prevent and control riots in the future. The association was not so popular until the 20th century. Because of the Boer War which occurred in 1901, curiosity of military in NRA organization has steadily increased, due to the unskilled farmers with bad shooting accuracy took part in the military actions. Soon after that the American Army began investing money in NRA-supported shooting competition in 1912 at the NRA shooting range on Long Island, NY. Furthermore, NRA was provided with ammunition and outdated weapons by the Army, so that its members could use and train on them.
The NRA truly believes that Americans have the right to bear arms. Nowadays, the organization is comprised of more than 5 million members, The NRA has a lot of educational programs which are directly related to gun safety issues. Furthermore, they sell their own merchandise and publish magazines such as “America’s 1st freedom”,” American hunter” and “Women’s Outlook”. Besides this the organization is interested in younger generations. They support the Boy Scouts of the America and held a variety of shooting competitions.
With all the publicity, the NRA organization has split the society onto 2 pats: the first one side with all the arguments and points that this association provides, another one – is more neutral or skeptical. However, the influence of such powerful structure is weighty. Basically they educate people and youth on gun safety, the importance of knowing the truth about crime statistics, legitimate self-defense and information about guns in general.
The NRA has got a lot of support. With its 5 million members – they have a weighty influence in Senate lobbies. According to the recent polls more than 51% of the population does support NRA. To understand the idea why do people support the NRA we just need to grasp the simple idea: why would someone limit your right on protect yourself and keep guns if you did not kill anybody or commit crime connected with it? The population is trying to defend their rights. Ordinary people usually are the stakeholders. They do support this organization due to the previously mentioned reasons, but the main one is to their rights.
Six out of seven polls that were held by the Gallup company, starting from 1993, the majority of the society does have a favorable opinion and support NRA. Moreover, the newest survey that comes from December 2012 confirmed this fact: 54% of the population supports the association at the same time the Republicans held the majority over the Democrats.
Finally, the National Rifle Association is a very influential and important organization. However, there are “two sides of the coin”. Personally I think that there are more benefits from NRA activities rather than disadvantages. With the right to bear arms, all the social activities such as (camps, trainings, educational programs for people of all ages and even kids), shooting competitions, and even more, different Accidental death and dismemberment coverage make NRA look even more appealing.
References
Benefits of Membership. (n.d.). NRA. Retrieved July 21, 2013, from http://www.nra.org/benefits.aspx
NRA | History. (n.d.). NRA. Retrieved July 21, 2013, from http://home.nra.org/history
Newport, F. (n.d.). NRA Has 54% Favorable Image in U.S.. Gallup.Com - Daily News, Polls, Public Opinion on Politics, Economy, Wellbeing, and World. Retrieved July 21, 2013, from http://www.gallup.com/poll/159578/nra-favorable-image.aspx
