Top 5 Gun Rights Organizations Better than the NRA
By Aya Katz
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is the best-known gun rights organization in the United States, but it is not the best at representing its membership. Over time, this national organization has come to stand for the established order of things, fighting to preserve the legislative status quo, rather than to defend the rights of citizens to keep and bear arms. The NRA has come to accept laws infringing on Second Amendment rights, while taking the financial contributions of gun owners for granted.
Recently, the NRA endorsed Donald Trump for President, even though Trump supports taking guns away from people on the secret government no-fly list. By doing so, the NRA chose a secret list compiled by the government over Second Amendment rights protected in the constitution. Trump supports a policy of stop and frisk, and would allow the police to take guns away from citizens on mere suspicion.
When Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson spoke up to defend the Second Amendment, the NRA suggested that Johnson was not a viable candidate. This means that currently, the best-known organization in the United States entrusted with the mission of protecting Second Amendment rights is actively working to infringe on those rights.
But did you know that the NRA is not the only gun rights organization in the United States? Here is a list of five organizations better than the the NRA.
1. The Second Amendment Foundation
The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) was founded in 1974 by Alan Gottlieb. Known as the “legal arm” of the gun rights lobby, SAF has initiated and won a number of lawsuits, including McDonald v. City of Chicago in which the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment applied to the individual states.
The SAF sponsors a number of other organizations under its umbrella, including Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership.
The Second Amendment Foundation and its affiliates take much stronger stances on the Second Amendment than does the NRA.
2. Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership
JPFO was originally founded by Jews who wanted to fight the evils of disarming innocent populations, but it has always been open to people of all religious beliefs or no religious beliefs. The goals of JPFO are as follows:
Destroy so-called “gun control” (code words for disarming innocent people).
Expose the misguided notions that lead people to seek out so-called “gun control”.
Encourage Americans to understand and defend all of the Bill of Rights for all citizens. The Second Amendment is the “Guardian” of the Bill of Rights.
Founded in 1999, JPFO is a 501 (c) (3) educational civil rights organization, not a gun lobby. They represent citizens and gun owners. They want everyone to know what historically happens to populations once they are disarmed, and they understand that registration of guns is just one step along the path to disarmament.
So-called “gun control” is a deadly lie. Firearms registration lists lead governments-gone-bad straight to gun owners. Licensing and registration of guns has resulted in outright banning and confiscation over the last one hundred years of world history. The bloody results of these mass citizen disarmaments have been horrific.
This group is much better than the NRA in its understanding of the issues.
3. Gun Owners of America
Although GOA was founded by H.L. Richardson, who was also a member of the board of directors of the NRA, the current leadership of GOA often derides the NRA for caving in to pressure from anti-gun politicians. Ron Paul calls them “the only no-compromise gun lobby in Washington.” GOA’s Erich Pratt has said: “The problem with secret government watch lists is that they are full of non-criminals. No one should lose their rights, including those protected by the Second Amendment, without being convicted…”
The GOA is definitely better than the NRA.
4. National Association for Gun Rights
The National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR) claims 4.5 million grassroots activists. Its mission is “to halt the radical anti-gun agenda across the nation.” NAGR activists don’t simply fight against the encroachments on gun rights, they work to advance the constitutional rights of citizens to bear arms. Their agenda is explained clearly in this statement from their site:
Constitutional Carry is the simple idea that law-abiding people shouldn’t be forced to get a government permission slip to exercise their right to self-defense. No one should be treated like a criminal simply for wishing to carry a firearm in defense of themselves or their family.
NAGR strongly believes that Constitutional Carry is the way our founders intended for citizens to exercise their constitutionally protected right to bear arms. NAGR has helped propose Constitutional Carry legislation in dozens of states, and was instrumental in passing Constitutional Carry in both Kansas and Maine in 2015.
NAGR is a better advocacy group for gun owners than the NRA.
5. Constitutional Rights PAC
Constitutional Rights PAC is a Super PAC and is not limited to a single issue, but one of its current projects is to end gun free zones.
They write:
You helped us Stop Obama’s Gun Grabbing Agenda last year by standing with us for Gun Appreciation Day where we turned out 700,000 people nationwide and handed Obama his first defeat. …End Gun Free Zones now before more innocent, defenseless lives are taken.
This is much better than the NRA.
And while we are listing groups that support the Second Amendment unconditionally, we should also remember the Libertarian Party. Unlike the Democrats and the Republicans, there is nothing in the LP platform that violates the Second Amendment. The Libertarian Party is much better as a gun rights advocacy group than the NRA. This might be why the NRA does want us to vote Libertarian. By now, it should be clear to anyone paying attention that the NRA is an organization that takes money from gun owners and then uses it to work against the Second Amendment. Thankfully, we do have other options.