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For the first time, the definitive account of America's most powerful, most secretive, and most controversial nonprofit, and how far it has strayed from its origins.
The National Rifle Association is unique in American life. Few other civic organizations are as old or as large. None is as controversial. It is largely due to the NRA that the U.S. gun policy differs so extremely, some would say so tragically, from that of every other developed nation. But, as Frank Smyth shows, the NRA has evolved from an organization concerned above all with marksmanship, and which supported most government efforts around gun control for a hundred years, to one that resists all attempts to restrict guns in any way. At the same time, the organization has also buried its own remarkable history.
Here is that story, from the NRA's surprising roots in post-Civil War New York City to the defining event that changed its culture forever, the so called "Cincinnati Revolt" of 1977 - to the present day, where President Donald Trump is the most ardent champion in the White House the NRA has ever had. For anyone who has looked at access to guns in our society and asked "Why?” this is an unmatched account of how we got here, and who got us here.
The National Rifle Association is unique in American life. Few other civic organizations are as old or as large. None is as controversial. It is largely due to the NRA that the U.S. gun policy differs so extremely, some would say so tragically, from that of every other developed nation. But, as Frank Smyth shows, the NRA has evolved from an organization concerned above all with marksmanship, and which supported most government efforts around gun control for a hundred years, to one that resists all attempts to restrict guns in any way. At the same time, the organization has also buried its own remarkable history.
Here is that story, from the NRA's surprising roots in post-Civil War New York City to the defining event that changed its culture forever, the so called "Cincinnati Revolt" of 1977 - to the present day, where President Donald Trump is the most ardent champion in the White House the NRA has ever had. For anyone who has looked at access to guns in our society and asked "Why?” this is an unmatched account of how we got here, and who got us here.
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Reviews
"Frank Smyth's surprising and eye-opening history reveals how the NRA, which once supported reasonable gun safety laws, became an extreme, no-compromises warrior for the Second Amendment and transformed America. This is a must-read for anyone interested in guns, American politics, or the daily tragedy of gun violence."
Adam Winkler, author of Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America
"This is the book for anyone who has ever wondered why the United States is incapable of even minor regulation of firearms, despite alarming levels of gun violence and consistent, broad public support for it. Frank Smyth has delivered a clearly-written, diligently-researched, and level-headed answer. He documents how the NRA, once primarily a sporting group that advocated sensible gun controls, has buried its past, rewritten history, and transformed itself into an enormously influential right-wing force that has elevated gun fetishism into a political ideology that, for many, borders on religion."
Mark Bowden, journalist and author of Black Hawk Down and Killing Pablo