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The National Rifle Association (NRA) boasts over 4 million members and is one of the most powerful political action committees in America.*** The NRA is committed to preserving the right of law-abiding individuals to purchase, possess, and use firearms legitimately, and has fought vigorously to prevent restrictions on firearms in America. For seven years, the NRA has led opposition to the Brady Bill and continues to criticize its ineffectiveness and oppressive nature. In the midst of surging controversy concerning gun control, the NRA argues that complete banning of guns would exacerbate rather than alleviate gun violence. Instead of endangering lives, the NRA promotes the welfare and safety of Americans. .
First of all, the NRA advances the well-being of Americans by championing every citizen's constitutional right to bear arms. Over 200 years ago, the founding fathers of the United States drafted the Constitution. The preamble of the United States Constitution clearly states its objective: to establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. The bill of rights is the set of amendments to the Constitution intended to secure these objectives for the individual citizens of the United States. The second amendment states: "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed"**. This amendment was written in the wake of the revolutionary war, when the ability to raise arms against the imperial force made the new republic possible. Securing the ownership of arms as a right was central to creating a government that would not infringe on the liberty of its citizens. Accordingly, it recognized that every citizen has the right to bear arms in personal defense, and that an armed populace is instrumental in fighting oppression.
