The NRA Isn’t that Powerful. Its Creed Is.
The NRA is a profoundly weaker and more divided organization than it once was. But its legacy, even if it fails to survive, will be the culture and ideology of gun rights it helped cultivate.
Posts
Gun reform, going nowhere fast: After Oxford High, there’s no appetite for legislative change
/in New York Daily News/by Frank SmythGun reformers must rethink what they want and learn how to talk to gun owners. Unless they can start the conversation by credibly saying no one is ever going to come for your guns, they will likely continue to fail.
The NRA turns 150: The organization has a rich history. Most of it has been buried.
/in USA Today/by Frank SmythThe NRA in New York copied the British Royal NRA’s name, the distances to its targets on Wimbledon range, and even their solid iron designs weighing up to 400 pounds each – shipped by steamer across the Atlantic.
Holocaust, guns and the truth
/in New York Daily News/by Frank SmythRepublican Party leaders finally called out Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — a supporter of QAnon and the big lie about the 2020 election — after she compared health measures requiring facemasks, to Jews in the Holocaust forced to wear Stars of David. But the National Rifle Association has manipulated the Holocaust to advance its modern political agenda, too.
The slope is not so slippery, actually: Dems must tackle disinformation about gun control head-on
/in New York Daily News/by Frank SmythGun groups have been circulating for months what they call the “Biden plan to destroy the Second Amendment.” They claim that this is the fateful step that could start the slide to disarmament, and then genocide.
The NRA’s 40-year problem: It chose its leadership and gun-rights zealotry over integrity and a simpler mission
/in New York Daily News/by Frank SmythThe financial scandal that erupted inside the National Rifle Association reminded me of a scandal nearly a century before. NRA leaders back then, however, handled it differently from the way leaders have done today.
Five myths about the National Rifle Association: No, the NRA did not start out as a civil rights organization.
/in The Washington Post/by Frank SmythHere are five myths about the NRA’s mission and history — some told by critics, others told by the NRA itself.