History

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Gun violence in United States

The National Rifle Association (NRA) is a non-private organization that is based in America (Meehan, 2015). The organization was founded in the year 1871 to advocate for gun rights. The group has consecutively informed its members about the firearm-related legislation since 1934 and has directly lobbied for and against such legislation since 1975. The organization was founded to advance the rifle marksmanship, and the modern NRA has continued to teach firearm safety as well as competency. The NRA has several publications such as magazines which it publishes and sponsors competitive marksmanship events. According to the NRA statistics, the organization surpassed 5 million members by May 2013. According to observers and lawmakers, the NRA organization is depicted as one of the top three most influential lobbying groups in Washington DC. The NRA as the main arm that advocates for gun control have received major criticisms by the gun control and gun rights advocacy groups, politicians as well as political commentators. NRA has been the focus of intense criticism during the aftermath of high profile shootings, especially in school shootings.

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence well known by the abbreviations CSGV along with its sister organization, the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence (EFSGV) are both national and non-profit advocacy organizations that are dedicated towards research that is based on prevention of gun violence (Spitzer, 2014). The organization was established in the year 1974 and has since played an active role in the reducing American gun violence through cutting-edge policy development and strategic advocacy. The mission of the CSGV is to eliminate all guns from the public as they believe that the American communities have the right to live in communities that are free from gun violence. To pursue this mission, the organisation is dedicated to eliminating gun violence through policy development, effective advocacy along with strategic development.

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence has gone to an extra mile and is dedicated to its responsibilities of reducing gun violence. The reason why it has been able to achieve a better compliment is that it is the eye checker to the NRA criticizing it in the events whenever there is a mass shooting and therefore seen to be much friendly to the citizen. The organization is dedicated to building peace through reducing the number of guns that are owned by citizens. The organization’s argument of the importance to license the guns was a great step to ensuring that peace has been restored to the American nation. It is therefore evident that the coalition to stop gun violence is doing far much better than the National Rifle Association in securing the resources that are aimed at the implementation of their goals. The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence is governed by four core areas and addition of areas of engagement (Bieler, 2016). The four core areas include: creating innovative and data-driven policy, disarming domestic members, preventing firearms suicides and as well fight the national rifle association’s insurrectionist interpretation of the second amendment. The other five areas of further engagement include instituting universal background check, opposing guns in public, working with communities that are most impacted by gun violence to creating a grassroots movement for change. Also renewing the assault weapons ban and supporting the repeal of the protection of lawful commerce in arms act is the engagement areas to which the coalition to stop gun violence are dedicated to working and improving.

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence as the main opposing body to the National Rifle Association has a great point of winning the debate. The organization’s activities in dealing with disarmament and working data-driven policies are among the areas to which they are eligible for knocking the NRA down. The reason is that data is used to analyze situations as facts and the reason for pushing the disarmament is due to the high data reflecting the massive killings of individuals that have resulted from gun violence. The idea of the Coalition to stop gun violence in working with the communities that have been highly impacted by gun violence is a big step to pressurizing the government to listen to their demands. The communities affected by gun violence are responsible for initiating grassroots movements that may even become revolutionary and therefore a major reason for the success of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. In the urge to stop gun violence, the organization opposes guns in public; this is to prevent an event of provocation that may arise resulting in shootings and eventual mass killings. The organization is also committed to preventing firearm suicide as they are on the rise in the American population contributing to almost 60% of all gun deaths.

As the national rifle association is a lobbying group, there are no significant requirements for being a member (Garner, 2016). The only specific requirements to be an NRA member is the willingness to pay the organization between 25 dollars to 35 dollars per year to be a member. There are no major requirements to become a member of the National Rifle Association, and thus anyone can join. Despite the requirements, the organization has continued to witness a reduced number of members currently as it is losing influence among the American population.

After becoming a member of the National Rifle Association, a member is deemed to enjoy several benefits as incentives. Among the incentives that are provided by the organization include 24/7 defence on a person’s gun rights, choice of magazine, an official membership and decal as well as 2,500 dollars on no-cost firearms insurance. The protection of the person’s gun rights along with the firearm insurance are among the reason why a majority of the individuals like to become members of the organization.

Being a believer in the NRA organization, it would be important for me to join the organization. The reason behind is because I will have all my gun rights covered and in case of any damage to my gun, the organization will take care of it. In addition to the gun rights, I will have the privilege of enjoying the $2,500 no cost firearms insurance that will cover me with only being required to pay for the membership fee to which is much less compared to the benefits. Also, I will be able to receive any journal or article of choice regarding the topic that I feel I want to read more.

There are major challenges that face the National Rifle Association locally in the United States, nationally and internationally as well (Rossi, 2017). Locally, the organization is faced with stiff criticism from the opposing groups such as the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence to whom advocates for the disarmament of the people. On the other side, the NRM advocates for the protection of the gun rights and thus the issue of disarmament is a bigger challenge especially to the membership that has drastically reduced over the past years. The local, national and the international community are much against the NRM organization and therefore get to be criticized highly in the events when there are mass shootouts such as schools. The reason to why they are criticized is because of their aid to cover the rights of the gun owners and the continued lobbying through legislation to allow the citizens acquire weaponry of choice as they are covered. It also happens that the NRM is a huge organization that is supported by the rich individuals and the politicians as well and therefore enjoys the massive support and in return have the upper hand in the American politics. Despite the support by higher-ranking personnel, the organization continues to face rivalry through demonstrations from the communities in the grassroots level as they are the main victims of gun violence.

The NRM is more of a political organization rather than a social organization. The National Rifle Association is owned and supported by political officials to whom tend to have the upper hand in the American politics, providing support to candidates that are on their side. On the other hand, the NRA is a social organization, providing insurance services to its members and protecting the gun rights of its members.

For an organization be popular and successful, it has to have a large backing of people to whom they claim to represent. In the case to which the people do not anymore contribute to the organization by activating their membership, the organization loses its popularity and thus it no longer influence the country. Similarly, the National Rifle Association is not an exemption. Due to the high criticism and the call to end gun violence in the American community by the rival organizations, the popularity of the NRA is slowly diminishing and with time it will only have fewer members on their list. According to research, it is documented that the organization does not update their member’s list but keep on adding new members not taking into consideration the ones who have already died. The reason behind is to show the members and the general population that the organization is still relevant and still have a massive following with them, this is to bring more people into being their members. In the case of lost popularity, the organization may not further have the upper hand in influencing certain outcomes.

Work cited

Bieler, Sam, et al. “Engaging Communities in Reducing Gun Violence.” (2016).

Garner, Robert. Political animals: Animal protection politics in Britain and the United States. Springer, 2016.

Meehan, Brian. The political economy of the United States private security industry. Diss. The Florida State University, 2015.

Rossi, Peter H. Under the Gun: Weapons, Crime, and Violence in America. Routledge, 2017.

Spitzer, Robert J. “Gun control: Constitutional mandate or myth?.” Moral Controversies in American Politics. Routledge, 2014. 203-237.