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by Don Azarias
January 16, 2013
Having been a Life Member of the National Rifle Association (NRA) for more than four decades, it behooves me to respond to some of those unfounded allegations and criticisms directed against the NRA by people who are grossly influenced by their disdain and contempt for an organization that they have limited conception or are completely ignorant of. And there are some who are simply swayed by their preconceived notion.
For the readers’ information, the National Rifle Association (NRA) was founded on November 17, 1871 in the state of New York by Army and Navy Journal Editor William Conant Church and General George Wood Wingate, a Civil War general. Its first president was another Civil War general, Ambrose Burnside. Wingate and Burnside fought for the Union Army during the Civil War. The NRA organization itself is more than 140 years old and still going strong. Needless to say, it had endured the test of time.
I know that I’m not being objective in my argument if I employ a one-track mind in my defense of the NRA. It would be a great disservice to a venerable organization, that I’m a part of, if I don’t set aside my bias and not recognize the fact that, over the years, the NRA may have failed to adapt to the changing times. The NRA should recognize the fact that, since its founding more than fourteen decades ago, firearms had evolved from single shot gunpowder and flintlock muskets to more powerful assault rifles capable of firing 3,000 rounds per minute.
As a Life Member of the NRA, I do believe and support the Second Amendment, the right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms in defense of their lives and homes and that’s not going to change. However, I have to agree that it’s not really necessary for anyone—NRA member or non-member—to own multiple assault rifles, automatic or semi-automatic. But the law should not infringe on the rights of gun collectors who buy various types of firearms, legally, for their own personal and private collections.
When some people blame the NRA for the recent killings of innocent adults and children, I feel that they are directing their anger toward a venerable organization that had done a lot to prevent those kinds of tragedies, involving the use of firearms,that had shaken the foundation of this great nation.
Let us all be reminded that the NRA and law-abiding citizens didn’t cause these carnage; people with criminal minds and people with mental problems did. Studies show that when a criminal is hell-bent on committing a crime, he can obtain firearms, from any source, by hook or by crook, in order to accomplish his evil intent. Who can stop him? No one. Is it fair to blame the NRA? No, absolutely not. But do those NRA pundits and critics care to suggest that performing mental evaluation on gun buyers is the right thing to do? No. Yet they are always ready to point their accusing fingers at the NRA.
During its infancy and up to this very day, the NRA organized rifle clubs in other states, and many state National Guard organizations sought NRA’s advice to improve their marksmanship. The NRA continues to promote these kinds of programs that have proven beneficial to both, law-abiding citizens and law-enforcement agencies.
The NRA maintains ties with other organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America and 4-H Club. NRA relations with these groups include monetary donations, equipment donations to supply firearms ranges, and provision of instructors to assist in their programs. Notably, the Boy Scouts of America has strict guidelines on who is allowed to operate their ranges, the recognized personnel groups including NRA Certified Instructors along with military and law enforcement.
The NRA also sponsors a range of safety programs to educate and encourage the safe use of firearms. NRA hunting safety courses are offered all across the U.S. for both children and adults. In recent years gun safety classes oriented more towards firearm safety, particularly for women, have become popular.
The NRA, in its instructional guide, The Basics of Personal Protection In The Home (published in 2000), has chapters on Basic Firearm Safety and Safe Firearm Storage. The NRA functions as a general promoter of the shooting sports. The NRA house magazine, American Riflemen, covers major shooting competitions and related topics, and the NRA offers a publication dedicated to competitive shooting, Shooting Sports USA. Most competitive shooters are NRA members.
To further its cause, the NRA created the NRA Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Its sole purpose is to raise 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. Funds granted by The NRA Foundation benefit a variety of constituencies throughout the United States including children, youth, women, individuals with physical disabilities, gun collectors, law enforcement officers, hunters and competitive shooters.
Instructors not only teach firearms usage, care, and cleaning, but can coach students and other persons and help them develop Marksmanship skills. In order to help encourage firearms practice, the NRA has a Marksmanship Qualification Program.
The NRA publishes gun safety rules. Three rules are given special importance and are known as the fundamental NRA rules for safe gun handling:
1. Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.
2. Always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
3. Always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.
It would also be worthwhile for people to know that several U.S. Presidents have been NRA members. They are Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard M. Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Do I have to remind you that they are honorable men?
To all of those people who have the wrong impression of the NRA, let me assure you that it was not established solely for the purpose of encouraging people to keep and bear arms for all the wrong reasons. It was not. Its aim is far nobler than that.