Goal #5: Return the NRA to an exclusive focus on Second Amendment issues.
Anti-gun organizations typically have a single focus – erosion of the Second Amendment in any way possible. We believe that the NRA should similarly have a single focus: protection, promotion, and expansion of Second Amendment rights. This includes all things gun-related (gun safety, gun education & training, personal protection, shooting competitions, recreational shooting, hunting, gun collecting, etc.). It does not include issues like abortion, immigration, and other political lightning rods that have little or nothing to do with the Second Amendment. Let’s get out of the weeds and back on track.
"Far Afield"
In a recent complaint filed in Virginia state court, NRA lawyers freely admitted that “certain NRA stakeholders” are “concerned that NRATV’s messaging” has veered “far afield of the Second Amendment” and has “deviated from the NRA’s core mission and values.” We agree. But errant messaging isn’t limited to NRATV. Over the years, the NRA as a whole has grown more and more politically partisan. Exclusive affiliation with one political party has had two negative effects: (1) it has led the NRA to latch itself to hot-button political issues that have nothing to do with the Second Amendment, and (2) it has alienated thousands of members and potential members who support the Second Amendment but don’t otherwise fit the NRA’s political stereotype.
One Mission. One Focus.
Article II of the NRA bylaws declares that the organization’s primary purpose is to “protect and defend” every citizen’s “right to use, keep[,] and bear arms, in order that the people may exercise their individual rights of self-preservation and defense of family, person, and property.” Therefore, we will work to ensure that the NRA abandons all projects, messaging, and partnerships that do not directly relate to the Second Amendment. By avoiding unrelated political and social battles, the NRA can concentrate all its resources on educating and advocating to preserve America’s rich tradition of arms.