The National Rifle Association began in 1871 as an organization dedicated to shooting skills. As one of the NRA’s founders, Col. William C. Church, put it in an editorial on the NRA’s aspirations: The primary goal of the NRA would be to “promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis.”
In the more than 150 years since Church wrote those words, this association has realized those goals with each generation. That is not stopping today. We are investing heavily in our competitive shooting programs, in our education and training initiatives, and in our clubs and associations.
These programs are our beating heart. Out of these programs pump the knowledge and use of this right that we defend in the courts and legislatures.
As this basis is still very much at the center of the NRA, our Competitions division is now launching an AR-based competition model. The NRA America’s Rifle Challenge (ARC) is a competitive shooting program designed to encourage the millions of gun owners in this nation who enjoy shooting AR-type rifles to do more than just target practice; this new competition creates an exhilarating and challenging introduction to the action shooting sports. (Go to arc.nra.org for details.)
This new format is at the forefront of a robust reinvestment in this original mantra of the NRA, but it is hardly the only portion of this initiative. With the COVID years now behind us, we are getting back to full strength with our competitions that take place all over this great nation. Go to competitions.nra.org/competitions to get the latest information and developments on NRA National Matches, the Muzzle Loading Championship, the NRA’s Youth Hunter Education Challenge (yhec.nra.org) and for lists and links to NRA-sanctioned matches in action pistol, high power rifle and more.
With these competitions in mind, it is worth realizing that even Church might not have foreseen that, even as the NRA’s teaching and skills-development goals were being realized, the “promote” part of his declaration would grow in importance in response to relentless attacks on the right to arms. Indeed, over time, this has increasingly meant that we need more First Amendment-protected advocacy for this fundamental right. This is why, in NRA v. Vullo (2024), we went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to protect our right to speak boldly in favor of the Second Amendment.
This is all in keeping with this association’s core principles and, on this front, I am pleased to report that the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) has been busy working with members of Congress to completely remove suppressors from the National Firearms Act (NFA). As this was going to print, the U.S. House of Representatives passed President Donald Trump’s (R) “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which included a provision repealing the requirement that law-abiding U.S. citizens must pay a $200 fee and wait perhaps months for permission to buy and install hearing-protection devices on their firearms.
Some in the mainstream media will claim that suppressors are exotic and dangerous devices and that your NRA has moved away from its core mission as an organization founded to “promote and encourage” shooting skills. This is a false claim. Fulfilling our mandate includes both teaching gun-handling and shooting skills and advocating for this right.
Hearing protection is an important part of shooting safety. Noise-suppressing devices are hardly novel or new. They are as old as car mufflers, and firearm suppressors are now owned by millions of American gun owners.
Fostering an armed nation that knows how to shoot—and shoot safely—has always been core to this association.
The first NRA president was Gen. Ambrose Burnside. Another NRA president was general and President Ulysses S. Grant. These generals, as well as Col. Church and Gen. George Wingate, were concerned about the lack of marksmanship among their troops—and among Americans in general—and so they helped to create and to build the NRA we know today. (Indeed, nine sitting U.S. presidents have been or are members of the NRA, including President Trump.)
Our history is that of a grassroots effort to improve Americans’ understanding of their right to keep and bear arms, and we cherish that about this civil-rights association.
What this comes down to is that we are all NRA recruiters now. Take someone to a local NRA-sanctioned pistol or rifle match or to a YHEC event. Take guests to a Friends of NRA dinner. Bring someone to a nearby range and teach them the NRA rules of safe gun handling so they can then enjoy shooting paper, steel or clay targets. This freedom is something we must take in our hands. The tradition is only kept alive by us. Pass it down to the next generation and help them understand our shared heritage.
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