A tiny minority know the benign, moderate history of the National Rifle Association, from its founding in 1871 to its radicalization about 1970.
This moderate history took a major ideological right turn in the 1970's. Now, it may be the most feared lobby force on Capitol Hill. Nearly everywhere: To oppose the NRA is to lose your seat in Congress.
Will the 2070's look back on the NRA of post-1970 as a great step toward individual freedom, or as one of the deadliest mistakes in U.S. society?
Want to read the short version? See Jill Lepore, "Battleground America: One Nation, Under the Gun," in The New Yorker, April 23, 2012.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/04/23/120423fa_fact_lepore
Excerpts:
In 1939, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that "the 2nd Amendment is restricted to the keeping and bearing of arms by the people collectively for their common defense and security" and "is not one which may be utilized for private purposes but only one which exists where the arms are borne in the militia or some other military organization provided for by law and intended for the protection of the state."
"The NRA supported the 1968 Gun Control Act, with some qualms."
"In the 1970s, the NRA began advancing the argument that the 2nd Amendment guarantees an individual's right to carry a gun, rather than the people's right to form armed militias to provide for the common defense."
Want to read a longer version? See Adam Winkler, Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America.
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