The NRA stands for The National Rifle association, and has been in existence since 1871. According to the NRA, their main goal is to “promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis.” They also claim to be mostly teaching different people across America how to use firearms safely. Education and safety are their main concerns, again, according to the NRA. The NRA also fixates on one of the most controversial amendments in the Constitution, the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment states “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” The problem is that the NRA only focuses on the part about people having the right to keep and bear arms. The NRA’s inability to see anyone else's point of view on this is bad and frustrating.
The NRA is also a huge influence to politicians. They have payed 54.1 million dollars for campaign contributions! During Presidential elections, the NRA works very hard to fund campaigns that will promote their agenda. There are only 6 Republican politicians that have not gotten campaign contributions from the NRA, and even Democrats have received campaign contributions from the NRA! Campaign contributions are used to spread ideas to different politicians. This is also how they block different bills from being proposed that would promote gun safety and gun violence protection. The NRA thinks that these bills will prevent them from having guns the way they want to. For example, Republican Senator Pat Toomey tried to propose different anti-gun laws, but due to the NRA’s influence, none of his ideas could get off the ground. The NRA also prevents researches in the Government from researching about gun violence. I think they are trying to cover up different statistics that would show how and gun violence is.
Since the Parkland shooting, the NRA has not been very thoughtful on what they say about different people. After Parkland, the NRA said that Parkland survivor David Hogg was a crisis actor, and that the shooting wasn’t real. Right before the bar shooting in California, the NRA tweeted about an article that Doctors with the support of the CDC (Centers For Disease Control) wrote about gun violence. The NRA told the Doctors to “stay in their own lane”. Well, a few hours later, reports went out that 12 people were killed at a country bar in California. The Doctors later asked the NRA if they would be willing to help stop gun violence, and if not to move out of the way. The Doctors also pointed out that gun violence related deaths are completely preventable. Hopefully the NRA can agree with the CDC and will eventually help prevent gun violence.
The NRA has nearly 6 million members since becoming an organization in 1871.They are a huge roadblock in making American’s safe related to gun violence. As divided as America currently is along party lines, I don’t think this issue could get fully fixed anytime soon. A good start would be more thorough background checks and Red Flag laws in every state. My opinion is that gun stores should have standardized background checks, so everybody can do it the same way. This could help see if anyone has had trouble in the past with a gun, if they have had a violent background; or if they have a mental illness. There should be more laws passed on
keeping your guns safe,and not letting others use them for violent crimes, and also raising the age for when you can purchase a gun, just like what Washington State proposed. Guns can be allowed in America, but we need to start making change with background checks and Red flag laws. The NRA also needs to get out of the way.
I’m Charlie Cohen, and thanks for reading. Feel free to comment down
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