Editing National Rifle Association (section)

===1970s–2000s===
Until the 1970s, the NRA was [[Nonpartisanism|nonpartisan]].<ref name="Lacombe-2019">{{cite news |last1=Lacombe |first1=Matthew |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Trump is at the NRA today. It didn't used to be a Republican ally. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/04/26/how-nra-became-core-member-republican-coalition/ |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |access-date=December 25, 2019 |quote=This is Trump’s fifth consecutive appearance at the event, which regularly hosts a parade of prominent Republicans—especially as the organization has increasingly pushed conservative viewpoints that go far beyond gun rights.}}</ref> Previously, the NRA mainly focused on sportsmen, hunters, and target shooters.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://newhampshirebulletin.com/2022/05/31/how-nra-evolved-from-backing-1934-ban-on-machine-guns-to-where-it-is-now-commentary/ | title=How NRA evolved from backing 1934 ban on machine guns to where it is now – commentary • New Hampshire Bulletin | date=May 31, 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Elving |first=Ron |date=2017-10-10 |title=The NRA Wasn't Always Against Gun Restrictions |url=https://www.npr.org/2017/10/10/556578593/the-nra-wasnt-always-against-gun-restrictions |access-date=2024-08-30 |publisher=[[NPR]]}}</ref> During the 1970s, it became increasingly aligned with the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]].<ref name="Lacombe-2019" /> After 1977, the organization expanded its membership by focusing heavily on political issues and forming coalitions with [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] politicians. Most of these are Republicans.<ref name="Glen H. Utter 2000 pp 99-100">Utter, 2000, pp. 99–100, 162</ref>

However, the passage of the GCA galvanized a growing number of NRA gun rights activists, including [[Harlon Carter]]. In 1975, it began to focus more on politics and established its lobbying arm, the Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), with Carter as director. The next year, its political action committee (PAC), the [[Political Victory Fund]], was created in time for the 1976 elections.<ref name=CPGCp158>{{cite book |last1=Shaiko |first1=Ronald G. |last2=Wallace |first2=Marc A. |year=1998 |chapter=Going Hunting Where the Ducks Are: The National Rifle Association and the Grass Roots |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VvNb5s8Z3b0C&pg=PA155|editor1-last=Bruce |editor1-first=John M. |editor2-last=Wilcox |editor2-first=Clyde |title=The Changing Politics of Gun Control |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VvNb5s8Z3b0C |location=Lanham, MD |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0847686155 |oclc=833118449 |access-date=April 8, 2014 }}</ref>{{rp|158}} The 1977 annual [[convention (meeting)|convention]] was a defining moment for the organization and came to be known as "[[Revolt at Cincinnati|The Cincinnati Revolution]]"<ref name=Knoxp299>{{cite book |last=Knox |first=Neal |year=2009 |title=Neal Knox: The Gun Rights War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dA3pGSYG2yIC&pg=PA299 |editor-last=Knox |editor-first=Christopher |publisher=MacFarlane Press |pages=299–300|isbn=978-0976863304 }}</ref> (or as the Cincinnati Coup,<ref name="kohn">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/inside-the-gun-lobby-112530 |title=Inside the Gun Lobby|magazine=Rolling Stone | first = Howard | last = Kohn | date = May 14, 1981 |access-date= January 1, 2019}}</ref> the Cincinnati Revolt,<ref name="lopez">{{cite news |last1=Lopez |first1=German |title=How the NRA resurrected the Second Amendment |url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/12/16418524/nra-second-amendment-guns-violence |work=VOX |date=October 12, 2017}}</ref> or the Revolt at Cincinnati).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-nras-true-believers-converted-a-marksmanship-group-into-a-mighty-gun-lobby/2013/01/12/51c62288-59b9-11e2-88d0-c4cf65c3ad15_story.html|title=How NRA's true believers converted a marksmanship group into a mighty gun lobby | first1 = Joel | last1 = Achenbach | first2 = Scott | last2 = Higham | first3 = Sari | last3 = Horwitz | date=January 12, 2013|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> Leadership planned to relocate NRA headquarters to Colorado and to build a $30&nbsp;million recreational facility in New Mexico, but activists within the organization, whose central concern was [[Second Amendment to the United States Constitution|Second Amendment]] rights, defeated the incumbents (i.e. [[Maxwell Rich]]) and elected Carter as executive director and [[Neal Knox]] as head of the NRA-ILA.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Achenbach |first1=Joel |last2=Higham |first2=Scott |last3=Horwitz |first3=Sari |date= January 12, 2013 |title=How NRA's true believers converted a marksmanship group into a mighty gun lobby |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-nras-true-believers-converted-a-marksmanship-group-into-a-mighty-gun-lobby/2013/01/12/51c62288-59b9-11e2-88d0-c4cf65c3ad15_story.html |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] }}</ref><ref name="Utter 2000">{{cite book |last= Utter | first = Glen H. | title = Encyclopedia of Gun Control and Gun Rights | year = 2000 | isbn= 978-1573561723 | publisher = Greenwood | pages= 137–38, 161–63, 166–67, 186, 219–20}}</ref> Insurgents including Carter and Knox had demanded new leadership in part because they blamed incumbent leaders for existing gun control legislation like the GCA and believed that no compromise should be made.<ref>{{cite journal| last = Walden | first = Michael | title = The Road to "Heller" | journal = Legal Change: Lessons from America's Social Movements | editor1 = Jennifer Weiss-Wolf | editor2 = Jeanine Plant-Chirlin | publisher = Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law | year = 2015 | page = 55 | url = https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/legal-change-lessons-americas-social-movements}}</ref>

With a goal to weaken the GCA, Knox's ILA successfully lobbied Congress to pass the [[Firearm Owners Protection Act]] (FOPA) of 1986 and worked to reduce the powers of the federal [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives]] (ATF). In 1982, Knox was ousted as director of the ILA, but began mobilizing outside the NRA framework and continued to promote opposition to gun control laws.<ref name=Knoxp314>{{cite book |last=Knox |first=Neal |year=2009 |title=Neal Knox: The Gun Rights War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dA3pGSYG2yIC&pg=PA314 |editor-last=Knox |editor-first=Christopher |publisher=MacFarlane Press |pages=314–20|isbn=978-0976863304 }}</ref>

At the 1991 national convention, Knox's supporters were elected to the board and named staff lobbyist [[Wayne LaPierre]] as the executive vice president. The NRA focused its attention on the gun control policies of the Clinton administration.<ref name="Utter 2000"/> Knox again lost power in 1997, as he lost reelection to a coalition of moderate leaders who supported movie star [[Charlton Heston]], despite Heston's past support of gun control legislation.<ref>{{cite book |first= Robert J. | last = Spitzer | title = The Politics of Gun Control | edition = 2nd | year =1998 | page =88 | publisher = Paradigm Publishers | isbn = 978-1594519871}}</ref>

In 1994, the NRA unsuccessfully opposed the [[Federal Assault Weapons Ban]] (AWB), but successfully lobbied for the ban's 2004 expiration.<ref>{{cite book |author=Richard Feldman |title=Ricochet: Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zi5yAwWxa50C&pg=PT174 |year=2011 |publisher=John Wiley |page=174|isbn=978-1118131008 }}</ref> Heston was elected president in 1998 and became a highly visible spokesman for the organization. In an effort to improve the NRA's image, Heston presented himself as the voice of reason in contrast to Knox.<ref name=Raymond2006>{{cite book |last=Raymond |first=Emilie |year=2006 |title=From My Cold, Dead Hands: Charlton Heston and American Politics |url=https://archive.org/details/frommycolddeadha00emil|url-access=registration |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0813124087 |oclc=77125677 }}</ref>{{rp|262–68}}