What is the NRA?

[Isabel1130]

I realize that this board attracts an international shooting community and I have been guilty of assuming that certain things were common knowledge which aren't.

The NRA has gotten a lot of bad press in the last several years, because it serves the interests of the National Democratic party in the U.S. to demonize the NRA as their prime opponent in their quest to turn the USA into a more civilized European style socialist democracy. While I believe their motives are sincere, I have lived in a European Socialist democracy, and I prefer the United States as it is now.

Members of the Democratic party are not uniform in the beliefs of some of their leaders, as many of them come from rural areas, where they grew up shooting and hunting. The National democratic party did not really become the party of an anti gun agenda until the late 1960's.
While the NRA does "lobby" and has been at the forefront of preserving what they see, as fundamental constitutional rights, this is not their only purpose. Gun ownership is an issue in the United States that crosses party lines. There are many democrats in the House and Senate with an A rating from the NRA because they represent states and districts which have large rural populations, who like guns, and like shooting. Many politicians have lost their seats by not understanding that this was a very important issue to many voters. So, for the foreign readers who think the reelection of President Obama demonstrates a mandate for stricter gun control, in the US, you would be misinformed.
The NRA is the National sanctioning body for most of the target shooting competitions in the United States. USA Shooting, which sanctions the International events is tiny in comparison. The NRA classifies shooters, runs matches, and provides firearms safety training all over the country. The biggest matches are of course, the National Rifle and Pistol Championships held at Camp Perry Ohio every year. If you want to see the best face of target shooting in the US, I urge you to attend.

http://compete.nra.org/