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
The Myths Fueling Today’s Armed Right How the NRA seeded the storylines animating the violent groups that will be patrolling this year’s election
/in The New Republic/by Frank SmythAmerica’s pro-Trump armed right would not be the first to invent a new ideology to justify their violence. Genocidaires developed propaganda ahead of the mass violence in late-1930s Germany and early-1990s Rwanda.
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.
The Early NRA Had Nothing to Do with the KKK: Neo-Nazis and others only got closer later.
/in The Progressive/by Frank SmythThe role that race has played in the NRA is actually different from what many people may think.
Five Years After Sandy Hook, Major U.S. Papers Still Have a Serious Gun Problem
/in The Progressive/by Frank SmythThe news and opinion section at each The New York Times and The Washington Post are out of synch whether to identify “independent” gun rights scholar David Kopel’s NRA funding.
“The Price of Freedom”: For the Gun Lobby, Mass Shootings Cannot Be Avoided
/in The Progressive/by Frank Smyth“This is the price of freedom,” former, disgraced Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly wrote Monday on his own website hours after the Las Vegas country music concert shooting.