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Copied from National Rifle Association

1934–present

Insurgents including Harlon and Knox had demanded new leadership in part because they blamed incumbent leaders for existing gun control legislation and believed that no compromise should be made

Political Expansion

At the 1991 national convention, Knox's supporters were elected to the board and named staff lobbyist Wayne LaPierre as the executive vice president. The NRA focused its attention on the gun control policies of the Clinton Administration. In 1993, with Democrats in the majority of both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, President Bill Clinton signed ‘The Brady Bill’, named after the press secretary who was shot and paralyzed during the 1981 assassination attempt of President Reagan. 'The Brady Bill' created a mechanism for background checks in order to enforce the GCA of 1968 and prevent criminals and minors from purchasing guns. In addition, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 included a 10 year ban on the sale of assault weapons. In 1994, the ban was favored by 78% of Americans according to a CBS poll.

Republicans joined forces with the NRA and used the recently passed gun control measures to motivate voters in the 1994 midterm elections. According to Yale Professor Reva Siegel, during the 1994 midterm elections, "(The) NRA spent more than $3.2 million on GOP campaigns and helped win nineteen of twenty-four “priority” races the organization targeted, leading to a House with a majority of members who were 'A-rated' by the NRA". Groups like the NRA seeking to expand interpretation of the Second Amendment to include an individual right to a gun, coincided with the ‘New Right’, a political movement concerned with gun control, and social issues such as school prayer and abortion. Leader of the new House Majority Leader Newt Gingrich stated that support for or against gun control defined ones partisan identity. NRA leader Knox echoed this sentiment, assuring members that Republican’s would be defenders of Second Amendment rights and repeal recently passed gun control legislation.

Litigation
While the NRA was initially apprehensive to join litigation in the 2008 landmark gun rights case of District of Columbia v Heller, it did file an amicus brief with the Supreme Court. In a 5 to 4 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that the District of Columbia's gun laws were unconstitutional, and for the first time held that an individual's right to a gun was unconnected to service in a militia. Some legal scholars believe that the NRA was influencial in altering the public's interpretation of the Second Amendment, providing the foundation for the majority's opinion in Heller.

Public opinion and image

Recent polling trends show a significant decline in NRA favorability.

A 2018 NBC News/ Wall Street Journal poll found that "for the first time since at least 2000, Americans hold a net unfavorable view of the NRA"- the poll showed respondents view of the NRA was 40% negative and 37% positive. The poll showed that compared to the same question in 2017, the favorability rating of the NRA overall dropped 5%, noting that the shift was largely due to favorability declines among certain demographics: married white women, urban residents, white women (overall), and moderate Republicans. Several 2018 polls had similar results.

A February 2018 Quinnipiac poll found that 51% of Americans believe that the policies supported by the NRA are bad for the U.S., a 4% increase since October 2017.