Sharpshooter

The US National Rifle Association is a behemoth but as it loses revenue and staff, is it starting to lose its influence on the average gun owner?

Ionce gave a talk to a wildfowling club, when somebody from the back began banging on about how the Americans knew how to protect shooting, whereas we Brits were a bunch of surrender monkeys. It emerged that he wasn’t a member of any UK shooting organisation but had lived for a while across the pond.

The National Rifle Association of

America (NRA) is indeed a remarkable organisation. It is one of the most influential lobbying groups in the US. Yet here are three things about the NRA that may surprise you. First, when it was founded, in 1871, the Americans modelled it on the British NRA. Secondly, only a fraction of US gun owners are members. Thirdly, nine US presidents — including figures as diverse as John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump — have been members.

The NRA is stonkingly effective. But it is a creature of the particular circumstances of gun ownership in the US, which are very different to the UK. Put simply, what works in the US may not work over here. In the US, gun ownership is a legal right and commonplace, whereas here we are a tiny minority, constantly having to justify ourselves.

In recent years, BASC membership has surged to well in excess of 150,000. That equates to nearly 25 per cent of UK certificate holders. By contrast, the NRA is truly gigantic, with nearly five million members. However, there are thought to be between 73million and 81million gun owners in the US, out of a total population of 326million. So it may be that less than seven per cent of US gun owners are members of the NRA.

The US’S constitution sets out the right of the people to “keep and bear arms” — the famous Second Amendment, enacted in 1791. There isn’t the same distinction between legal and illegal gun ownership that we have, because Americans don’t have certificates. Moreover, in the

US, the general public — and the police — support private gun ownership for personal defence. This effectively extends an appreciation of gun ownership far beyond the hunting community.

In addition to the card-carrying NRA members, a further nine million citizens have told researchers that they are members. This may be due to confusion about those who say they support the

NRA’S aims in general, as distinct from those who actually stump up $45 (about £35) annually or $1,500 (£1,178) for life membership. The NRA’S annual revenues exceed $400million, boosted by huge corporate and personal donations — particularly in presidential election years.

Critics of the NRA are eager to claim that the organisation’s political acceptability is fading in the wake of its response to recent school shootings. Some say that the NRA’S hardline leadership is out of step with the more moderate attitudes of the average US gun owner. Certain corporate sponsors have taken fright and some polls show a decline in the NRA’S public approval ratings. Moreover, the NRA’S membership income fell sharply last year and a small number of employees have been laid off recently.

Yet the organisation remains a powerful campaigning force. It puts the fear of God into anti-gun politicians, while lavishing funding on those who are pro. The NRA’S ongoing success must be seen in the fact that the 228-year-old Second Amendment still stands firm.

“It may well be that less than seven per cent of US gun owners are members of the NRA”