Editing National Rifle Association (section)

===Elections===
[[File:Wayne LaPierre by Gage Skidmore 5 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Wayne LaPierre]], NRA executive vice president, in 2017]]
The NRA Political Victory Fund (PVF) PAC was established in 1976 to challenge gun-control candidates and to support gun-rights candidates.<ref name=BruceWilcox1998p186>{{cite book |editor1-last=Bruce |editor1-first=John M. |editor2-last=Wilcox |editor2-first=Clyde |year=1998 |title=The Changing Politics of Gun Control |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VvNb5s8Z3b0C&pg=PA186|location=Lanham, MD |publisher=Rowman and Littlefield |page=186 |isbn=978-0847686148 |oclc=833118449 }}</ref> An NRA "A+" candidate is one who has "not only an excellent voting record on all critical NRA issues, but who has also made a vigorous effort to promote and defend the Second Amendment", whereas an NRA "F" candidate is a "true enemy of gun owners' rights".<ref name=Lowes140311>{{cite news |last=Lowes |first=Robert |date=March 11, 2014 |title=NRA Opposes Surgeon General Nominee Vivek Murthy |url=http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/821816 |website=Medscape |publisher=WebMD {{subscription required}} |access-date=June 9, 2014 }}</ref>

The NRA endorsed a presidential candidate for the first time in 1980, backing [[Ronald Reagan]] over [[Jimmy Carter]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Schmidt |first=Gina M. |title=100 Years: Remembering President Ronald Reagan |url=http://www.nraila.org/news-issues/articles/2011/100-years-remembering-president-ronald.aspx |publisher=National Rifle Association of America Institute for Legislative Action |access-date=February 2, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130218232039/http://www.nraila.org/news-issues/articles/2011/100-years-remembering-president-ronald.aspx |archive-date=February 18, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Facts on File 1980 Yearbook, p.844</ref> The NRA has also made endorsements even when it viewed both candidates positively. For example, in the [[2006 United States Senate elections|2006 Pennsylvania Senate elections]], the NRA endorsed [[Rick Santorum]] over [[Bob Casey Jr.]],<ref>{{cite news |last=O'Toole |first=James |date=October 25, 2006 |title=Santorum touts gun stand: Senate candidate showcases NRA endorsement |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06298/732722-177.stm |newspaper=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]] |publisher=PG Publishing |access-date=April 19, 2012 }}</ref> even though they both had an "A" rating.  Despite this endorsement, Santorum lost to Casey.

Republicans joined forces with the NRA and used the recently passed gun control measures to motivate voters in the 1994 midterm elections.<ref name="Siegel-2013">Siegel, Reva B. "Dead or Alive: Originalism as Popular Constitutionalism in Heller." ''The Second Amendment on Trial: Critical Essays on District of Columbia v. Heller'', edited by Saul Cornell and Nathan Kozuskanich, University of Massachusetts Press, 2013, pp. 104.</ref> In 1993, with Democrats in the majority of both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, President [[Bill Clinton]] signed the [[Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act|Brady Bill]], named after the press secretary who was shot and paralyzed during the 1981 [[Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan|assassination attempt of President Reagan]].<ref name="Siegel-2013"/> The Brady Bill created a mechanism for background checks in order to enforce the GCA of 1968 and prevent criminals and minors from purchasing guns.<ref name="Siegel-2013" /> In addition, the [[Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994]] included a 10-year ban on the sale of assault weapons. In 1994, the ban was favored by 78% of Americans according to a CBS poll.<ref>Young, John T., et al. "Trends: Guns." ''The Public Opinion Quarterly'', vol. 60, no. 4, 1996, pp. 647.</ref>

According to Yale professor [[Reva Siegel]], during the 1994 midterm elections, the NRA "spent more than $3.2&nbsp;million on GOP campaigns and helped win nineteen of twenty-four 'priority' races the organization targeted, leading to a House with a majority of members who were 'A-rated' by the NRA."<ref name="Siegel-2013a">Siegel, Reva B. "Dead or Alive: Originalism as Popular Constitutionalism in Heller." ''The Second Amendment on Trial: Critical Essays on District of Columbia v. Heller'', edited by Saul Cornell and Nathan Kozuskanich, University of Massachusetts Press, 2013, pp. 105.</ref> Groups like the NRA seeking to expand interpretation of the Second Amendment to include an individual right to a gun, coincided with the '[[New Right]]', a political movement concerned with gun control, and social issues such as school prayer and abortion.<ref>Siegel, Reva B. "Dead or Alive: Originalism as Popular Constitutionalism in Heller." ''The Second Amendment on Trial: Critical Essays on District of Columbia v. Heller'', edited by Saul Cornell and Nathan Kozuskanich, University of Massachusetts Press, 2013, pp. 95.</ref> Leader of the new House Majority Leader [[Newt Gingrich]] stated that support for or against gun control defined ones partisan identity.<ref name="Siegel-2013a"/> NRA leader Knox echoed this sentiment, assuring members that Republicans would be defenders of Second Amendment rights and repeal recently passed gun control legislation.<ref name="Siegel-2013a"/>

The NRA spent $40&nbsp;million on [[2008 United States elections|United States elections in 2008]],<ref name=GAS2012>{{cite book |chapter=National Rifle Association (NRA) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oD46JBOhMU0C&pg=PA616|editor-last=Carter |editor-first=Gregg Lee |year=2012 |title=Guns in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture, and the Law |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QeGJH48PT0kC|location=Santa Barbara, CA |publisher=ABC-CLIO |pages=616–20 |isbn=978-0313386701}}</ref> including $10&nbsp;million in opposition to the election of Senator [[Barack Obama]] in the [[2008 United States presidential election|2008 presidential campaign]].<ref name=Cox081019>{{cite news |date=October 19, 2008 |title=NRA has 'anti-gun' Obama in its sights |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2008/10/19/nra-has-anti-gun-obama-in-its-sights/ |newspaper=[[Orlando Sentinel]] |agency=Cox News Service |access-date=June 6, 2014 }}</ref>

In 2010, ''[[Citizens United v. FEC]]'' was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, paving the way for [[dark money]] to flow into U.S. elections.  As of mid-September 2018, the NRA has become one of just 15 groups which account for three-quarters of the anonymous cash.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/09/12/three-quarters-secret-political-money-comes-15-groups/1272183002 |title=Exclusive: Three-quarters of the secret money in recent elections came from 15 groups |author=Fredreka Schouten |date=September 12, 2018 |website=USAToday.com|access-date=September 13, 2018}}</ref>

The NRA spent over $360,000 in the [[Colorado recall election of 2013]], which resulted in the ouster of state senators [[John Morse (Colorado politician)|John Morse]] and [[Angela Giron]].<ref name=Siddiqui130910>{{cite news |last=Siddiqui |first=Sabrina |date=September 10, 2013 |title=Colorado Recall Results: Democratic State Senators Defeated In Major Victory For NRA |url=https://huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/10/colorado-recall-results_n_3903209.html |website=[[HuffPost]] }}</ref> ''[[HuffPost|The Huffington Post]]'' called the recall "a stunning victory for the National Rifle Association and gun rights activists."<ref name=Siddiqui130910/> Morse and Giron helped to pass expanded [[National Instant Criminal Background Check System|background checks]] and ammunition [[High-capacity magazine ban|magazine capacity limits]] after the [[2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting|2012 Aurora, Colorado]], and Sandy Hook, Connecticut, shootings.<ref name=AP130910>{{cite news |date=September 10, 2013 |title=Morse, Giron Lose Recalls Over Gun Laws Support |url=http://denver.cbslocal.com/2013/09/10/sen-john-morse-in-trouble-in-early-recall-election-results/ |publisher=CBS Local Media |agency=[[Associated Press]] |access-date=June 6, 2014 }}</ref>

On May 20, 2016, the NRA endorsed [[Donald Trump]] in the [[2016 United States presidential election|2016 US presidential election]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Reinhard |first=Beth |date=May 20, 2016 |title=Donald Trump Wins NRA Endorsement |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-expected-to-win-nra-endorsement-1463769758 |newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |access-date=May 20, 2016}}</ref> The timing of the endorsement, before Trump became the official Republican nominee, was unusual, as the NRA typically endorses Republican nominees towards the end of the general election. The NRA said its early endorsement was due to the strong gun control stance of [[Hillary Clinton]]<ref>{{cite news|title=Trump wins NRA endorsement, blasts Clinton on gun stance at forum {{!}} Fox News|url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-wins-nra-endorsement-blasts-clinton-on-gun-stance-at-forum/|access-date=May 21, 2016|website=[[Fox News]]|date=May 20, 2016}}</ref> In the [[2016 United States presidential election]] the NRA reported spending more than $30&nbsp;million in support of Donald Trump, more than any other independent group in that election, and three times what it spent in the 2012 presidential election.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/11/the-nra-placed-big-bets-on-the-2016-election-and-won-almost-all-of-them/|title=The NRA Placed Big Bets on the 2016 Election, and Won Almost All of Them|last=Spies|first=Mike|date=November 9, 2016|website=[[OpenSecrets|Open Secrets]]|access-date=January 19, 2018}}</ref>