Brief History of the National Rifle Association :: NRA Guns Historical Militia Essays

Brief History of the National Rifle AssociationThe National Rifle Association in its simplest form is the largest gunclub in the world. The shaping was founded in 1871 by former Union Armyofficers to encourage sport shooting in order to have a fine tuned militia incase of emergency. The Union officers believed that a well regulated militiawas integral for the security of a free state. It is an organization thatopposes gun control, it believes in the individual defensive measure of the uses offirearms, and it is interested in all aspects of shooting sports.1To twenty-four hour period, the organization stands with approximately 3.4 million members.Within the NRA, there be four major organs. The Institute for Legislative accomplishment (is the lobbying arm), the political Victory Fund (which is a politicalaction committee), the Civil Rights Legal Defense Fund (deals with scholarlyresearch and legal developments), and the Grass grow Division (whichspecializes in raising support thro ugh grass roots methods). As a membershiporganization, the NRAs directions is set by voting members. The direction ofthe policies are carried out by a 75 member board that is geographicallydistributed. The Board of Directors are elected by secret ballot.2Brady ActThe Brady Act was authorize by Congress in November of 1993 and was thensigned into law by President Clinton later in the month. The act was originallynamed for anti gun lobbyist Sarah Brady, and non for former press secretary JimBrady. It was through Jim Bradys support and the media coverage that linkedhis name to the act. The act requires that there be a waiting period of quintstate government business days at the time an individual applies to purchase ahandgun from a federal firearm license. During the five day wait, the localsheriff or police chief must make a reasonable effort to see if the purchaseris prohibited from owning a handgun. The police authorized may approve the salebefore the five day period only if the record check has been completed or if hebelieves the purchaser demand a handgun immediately to protect himself or hisfamily.3Presently, the Clinton administration isnt complying with the Brady Act.The act requires that within 60 months of enactment, the Attorney General mustestablish a subject field instant criminal background check system that allowsfederal firearms licensees to have access through some type of electronic method.The reason for the delay lies with the occurrence that U.S. Circuit Courts have spliton whether the Brady Act violates the 10th amendment of the Constitution byallowing law enforcement agencies to conduct criminal records checks in