I can't believe you keep repeating the fiction that the NRA rose from the ashes of the KKK. Check your history, man. By the way, the Democratic Party has given up the gun control fight at the national level. Given your "insider" status, I am surprised that you have not gotten the memo. I personally feel that there is a need for some gun control, depending on the locale, but that it should be a state or local issue.
Did you know that it was Ulysses S. Grant who crushed the KKK in 1971, and that he later served as the 8th president of the NRA?
BTW, you have no idea what an asshole you are when you call ManyMoose names.
There was also a national movement to crack down on the Klan, even though many Democrats at the national level questioned whether the Klan even existed or was just a creation of nervous Republican governors in the South.[26] In January 1871, Pennsylvania Republican senator John Scott convened a committee which took testimony from 52 witnesses about Klan atrocities. Many Southern states had already passed anti-Klan legislation, and in February congressman (and former Union general) Benjamin Franklin Butler of Massachusetts (who was widely reviled by Southern whites) introduced federal legislation modeled on it.[27] The tide was turned in favor of the bill by the governor of South Carolina's appeal for federal troops, and by reports of a riot and massacre in a Meridian, Mississippi courthouse, which a black state representative escaped only by taking to the woods.[28]
Benjamin Franklin Butler wrote the 1871 Klan Act. In 1871, President Ulysses S. Grant signed Butler's legislation, the Ku Klux Klan Act, which was used along with the 1870 Force Act to enforce the civil rights provisions of the constitution. Under the Klan Act, federal troops were used rather than state militias, and Klansmen were prosecuted in federal court, where juries were often predominantly black.[23] and decimated throughout the rest of the country, where it had already been in decline for several years. Prosecutions were led by Attorney General Amos Tappan Ackerman. The tapering off of the federal government's actions under the Klan Act, ca. 1871–74, went along with the final extinction of the Klan,[29] although in some areas similar activities, including intimidation and murder of black voters, continued under the auspices of local organizations such as the White League, Red Shirts, saber clubs, and rifle clubs.[30] Even though the Klan no longer existed, it had achieved many of its goals, such as denying voting rights to Southern blacks.
Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871
However, it took several more years for all Klan elements to be destroyed. On Easter Sunday, 1873, the bloodiest single instance of racial violence in the Reconstruction era happened during the Colfax massacre. The Massacre began when black citizens fought back against the Klan and its allies in the White league. As Louisiana black teacher and legislator John G. Lewis later remarked, "They attempted (armed self-defense) in Colfax. The result was that on Easter Sunday of 1873, when the sun went down that night, it went down on the corpses of two hundred and eighty negroes."[31]
In 1882, long after the end of the first Klan, the Supreme Court ruled in United States vs. Harris that the Klan Act was partially unconstitutional, saying that Congress's power under the Fourteenth Amendment did not extend to private conspiracies.[32] However, the Force Act and the Klan Act have been invoked in later civil rights conflicts, including the 1964 murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner[33]; the 1965 murder of Viola Liuzzo;[34] and Bray v. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic in 1991.
en.wikipedia.org
The NRA was founded on November 17, 1871, by two Union Army officers, Col. William C. Church and Gen. George Wingate, who were upset with the poor marksmanship of their troops. In a magazine editorial written by Church, he stated their primary goal was "providing firearms training and encouraging interest in the shooting sports".[1] From 1873 to 1892, the NRA operated a rifle range at Creedmoor in Queens Village, New York, where National Guardsmen were trained and international competitions were held. Civil War Gen. Ambrose Burnside, also a former Rhode Island governor and U.S. Senator, was the first NRA president.[1] Former President Ulysses S. Grant was elected eighth president of the National Rifle Association in 1883.[2]
In 1934, the NRA formed its "Legislative Affairs Division". While it did not directly lobby until the formation of the Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) in 1975, it did mail out legislative analyses and facts to its members, so they could take action themselves. During World War II, the NRA reloaded ammunition used for guarding factories involved in wartime production, and sought to help arm Britain against potential invasion with the collection of over 7,000 firearms for that country's defense.[1]
In May 1977, the NRA began a rightward shift after controversy erupted within the organization over the possibility of banning "Saturday night specials." In the so-called "Cincinnati Revolt", more than 2,000 NRA members met in the Cincinnati Convention-Exposition Center until nearly 4 AM[3]. Harlon Carter, a member of the NRA's Executive Council who had been fired as political action director, was elected the new leader of the NRA. He announced:
Beginning in this place and at this hour, this period in NRA history is finished. There will be no more civil war in the National Rifle Association.[4].
Since this change, the NRA has consistently opposed any proposed legislation that purports to limit access to guns by law-abiding citizens. However, they do strongly support some laws restricting access to guns by criminals (notably Project Exile in Richmond, Virginia). The shift also resulted in the ouster of at least one board member who "was told this is a single-purpose organization" after he expressed support for strong wilderness preservation.[5]
The NRA publishes several magazines. The organization's official journal is American Rifleman. American Hunter was added in 1973, detailing hunting tactics, locations, and gear. American Guardian, created in 1997, originally focused on self-defense and recreational issues; in 2000, it was renamed America's 1st Freedom and now covers legislative and political topics. Women's Outlook addresses home security, personal protection, and programs like "Women on Target" and "Refuse to Be A Victim"[6] (Women's Outlook ceased publication in the Summer of 2006. Its editorial content was merged into America's 1st Freedom).
In 1990, the NRA Foundation, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, was established to fund gun safety and educational projects.
The NRA has served in a variety of roles over its existence. Besides its political functions, it has been — at various times and in various degrees — an organizer of shooting competitions; a general promoter of marksmanship and firearms safety; an advocate for gun owners, collectors and sportsman; and an umbrella body for the many local and regional clubs involved in the various firearms-related hobbies.
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