Since it's inception, the National Rifle Association has excelled at improving the marksmanship skills of the shooting public and educating both new shooters and non shooters alike. There's little question that the adoption of a legislative wing in the 1930's has nurtured a powerful force for the advocacy of the Second Amendment. One cannot however, extol virtue and press ahead toward the future without a look at the sum-total. This would include a travel through history and examination of the National Rifle Associations actions or inactions, with issues from McClure-Volkmer, the 1989 Import Ban, 1994's Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act - otherwise known forever as "The '94' AWB" and most recently, their attempted derailment of DC vs Heller. The National Rifle Association has been criticized - often rightly so from within it's own ranks - for not doing enough to repeal existing restrictions, helping to draft restrictive legislation and seeming to possess a willingness to compromise with regards to legislative restrictions. I'm still waiting for someone to post a comprehensive list of what the NRA did to prevent '86' '89' and '94'.... The problem is - it's a hard list to assemble. Ask any C3 owner in 1986, how under the bus they felt with the NRA's complacence and see what response you get.
It's also hard to fully fall in line with what has been historically an American organization - brimming with patriotic symbolism, when they continually push cheap, imported, Chinese crap on their membership and the shooting public. The have put the once revered National Rifle Association moniker on "NRA Optics" for example - cheap, low-grade junk optics made in The Peoples Republic of China. This imported crap also includes caps, gym bags, briefcases, knives and beyond. They are also bedfellows with Tim Leatherman, who is no real friend to gun owners.
I think the real problem with the National Rifle Association comes from within some of its membership - who hold the NRA with an almost omnipotent regard. What the National Rifle Association needs in my opinion, is something which it lacks: A true platform for dissent and debate from within, (just ask Neal Knoxx). The NRA needs to be challenged by its membership on issues from politics, to spamming members, pushing imported junk, legislative reform, involvement, (or lack) in front-line battleground states, (like Massachusetts) and beyond. The trouble is, no such platform exists, nor is it in the best interests of an organization who at times seems more invested in shiny office buildings, thick salaries and deals with the devil - instead of a firm, aggressive commitment to the reestablishment of the Second Amendment. 'People Before Profit' - it's an old union organization term which could be put to far better use within the ranks of The National Rifle Association...
