Top Picks

Description

Watch: http://youtube.com/slatester http://slatev.com Follow: http://twitter.com/slateviral http://facebook.com/slatevideo The House of Representatives voted recently to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. Seventeen Democrats crossed party lines to vote for the measure after the National Rifle Association indicated future endorsements could ride on their vote. The NRA is considered by many the most powerful lobbying group in the country, despite relatively modest financial resources and just 4 million members. What makes the NRA so influential? Focus and emotion. The NRA focuses almost exclusively on gun control, which enables its leaders to doggedly pursue their legislative ends. And many NRA members are as single-minded as the organization itself. Polls often show that more Americans favor tightening gun control laws than relaxing them, but gun rights advocates are much more likely to be single-issue voters than those on the gun control side. The NRA was founded shortly after the Civil War by Union veterans who felt the Confederacy only lasted as long as it did because of the Southerners' superior marksmanship. It wasn't till the politically volatile 1960s that the group started to be more active. Racial tensions, the assassination of the Kennedys, crime and riots resulted in politicians blaming guns. In 1968, Congress passed the first major gun control legislation since the 1930s. A backlash ensued, as firearms enthusiasts feared the government planned to take their guns. When NRA leadership balked at pushing their legislative agenda, a group of activists staged a coup and turned the group into a political force. Decades later the organization's lobbying arm, the Institute for Legislative Action, has a strong ground game, thanks in part to gun magazines, gun shops, and shooting clubs around the country. The NRA can reliably deliver votes, and in the halls of Congress, their members are seen as more engaged and mobilized than even seniors or union members. It's an organization that can quite easily bring out the big guns—metaphorically, of course.