GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Government and Politics

Government and Politics

Introduction

Despite this having been the lowest year in recollection for mass shootings, FORTUNE's yearly review of the most mighty petitioning associations disclosed that the National Rifle Association (NRA) was advised the most influential by lawmakers and congressional staffers_the capital insiders nearest to the petitioning action. The NRA furthermore graded No. 2 general in the yearly, mail-in review which inquired all kind of Washington players, for example lobbyists, trade association bosses as well as lawmakers and their staffers, to rate the leverage of petitioning, approaching in just behind the perennial No. 1 in FORTUNE's Power 25, the Association of Retired Persons (AARP). Rounding out the register of the peak five concern assemblies are: National Federation of Independent Business (also joined at No. 2); American Israel Public Affairs Committee (down from No. 2 last year to No. 3); and the AFL-CIO (No. 5). FORTUNE's Power 25 register and the accompanying item "Follow the Money" by FORTUNE's Washington Bureau Chief Jeff Birnbaum, emerge in the December 6 topic of FORTUNE and are accessible on www.fortune.com as of Monday, November 15, at 8:30 a.m. ET.

National Rifle Association (NRA)

The National Rifle Association, (NRA) in its simplest form is the largest gun club in the world. The organization was founded in 1871 by former Union Army officers to encourage sport shooting in order to have a fine tuned militia in case of emergency. The Union officers believed that a well regulated militia was integral for the security of a free state. It is an organization that opposes gun control, it believes in the individual defense of the uses of firearms, and it is interested in all aspects of shooting sports.

Today, the organization stands with approximately 3.4 million members. Within the NRA, there are four major organs. The Institute for Legislative Action (is the lobbying arm), the political Victory Fund (which is a political action committee), the Civil Rights Legal Defense Fund (deals with scholarly research and legal developments), and the Grass Roots Division (which specializes in raising support through grass roots methods). As a membership organization, the NRA's directions is set by voting members. The direction of the policies is carried out by a 75 member board that is geographically distributed. The Board of Directors is elected by secret ballot.

Rivalry of NRA and AARP

In supplement to the NRA's increasing leverage regardless of a democratically hostile weather, the 1999 Power 25 review disclosed a new set of victors and losers amidst Washington powerbrokers that may influence next year's elections. In what allowances to good report for Al Gore_who wants to win the Democratic presidential nomination on the back of work support_five of the Power 25 assemblies were from coordinated work, the biggest number of unions since the review started in 1997. A newcomer this year was the United Auto Workers amalgamation (No. 24), and rejoining the register after an nonattendance last year were the National Governors' Association (No. 12), and two more unions, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal ...