NRA and Business

Part III

Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President John F. Kennedy with a mail order rifle purchased for $19.95.  The rifle was advertised in the NRA's American Rifleman magazine.  During November 2013, the same month the United States is remembering the 50th Anniversary of JFK's assassination, this same magazine was advertising the following:

...high capacity concealed carry pistols, semiautomatic

military style assault weapons, including a mobil device

to aid the accuracy of snipers "that can take the guesswork

out of...long-range ballistic solutions."

The magazine also features a full-page ad presenting a

"Historic NRA exclusive offer from NRA corporate 

donor Universal Coin and Bullion to purchase a JFK

half dollar - - "the last circulating 90% Pure Silver

Half Dollar Minted in U.S. History" for only $11.95.

(For the record, UCB has given between $500K and 

$999,000 to NRA Corporate Partners and is a member 

of the "NRA Business Alliance.")

(Huffington Post-22 November 2013)

The point of the above reference is to cite the relationship of the NRA as an weapons business.  One of the main purposes of the NRA is to sell guns.  Furthermore, its marketing techniques challenge sensitive ethical boundaries, having the audacity to use JFK's assassination anniversary to market the silver half-dollar in the same magazine advertising high-capacity rifles helpful to snipers.  Was not Oswald a sniper?  Did not Oswald purchase his rifle from the NRA magazine?  

But business is business.  According The Rolling Stone magazine, "The NRA says it is not a trade organization.  Lie.  NRA patrons include 22 firearms manufacturers, 12 of which make assault weapons.  Industry donors, including Blackwater (now Xe), have funnelled up to $52 million to NRA bank account in recent years."

In 1995, Wally Arida, publisher of Gun Games, introduced his magazine at the NRA Convention.  "According to Firearms Business, Arida 'sees his magazine as a route for the industry to take a new direction in promotion and marketing.' He is quoted as saying, 'I'm trying to publish a magazine and build a whole industry around it.'" Arida asks: "Which gun is better for self defense? What bullet design causes the biggest wound channel?" And the NRA allowed him to advertise at their convention.  But, business is business.

Tom Diaz, in his book Making a Killing, comments: "The Violence Policy Center has documented financial links between the NRA and the industry, and the NRA and others are active participants in industry planning sessions.  The following conclusion from a 1993 Boston Globe series on the NRA summarizes well what is known about the NRA and the firearms industry: 

The bond between the gun manufacturers and the

NRA involves direct financial contributions, almost-

always-favorable reviews of newly developed products

in NRA publications like American Rifleman, and 

including NRA literature in the packaging of new guns.

Tom Diaz writes: "The United States is the world's greatest market for civilian firearms....Foreign gun companies have increasingly exploited the U.S. gun market." Now, look at the prolific marketing of weapons in the NRA's American Rifleman. But business is business.

The New Republic of 28 May 2013, reports that gun ownership is declining from 1/2 of American households in the 1970s to 1/3 of households today.  Senator Joe Manchin (Democrat from West Virginia and an NRA member), noted that "A recent Al Qaeda tape urged would-be terrorists to load up on arms at American gun shows."  And which organization is prominent at gun shows? But business is business.

The NRA is majorly involved in the business of promoting and selling all types of firearms.  Contrasted with its gun safety program called "Eddie the Eagle", is the powerful marketing of weapons. Indeed, this segment of the NRA is the largest part of its organization's reason for existence.  After all, business is business, regardless of the carnage it creates.

"By their fruits you shall know them."

Matthew 12:33

Peace!

Ron Letnes