Leading the Call to Arms

Founded in 1871, the National Rifle Association is by far the most powerful component of America's gun lobby. With an annual budget of $30 million a year and a paid staff of 275, it coordinates a network of 54 state groups and 9,000 local gun clubs. Half of its money comes from dues (minimum annual fee: $15) and 15% from advertising, mainly by weapons manufacturers, in its monthly magazines American Rifleman, the American Hunter and the American Marksman.

The N.R.A. says it spends $4 million a year on direct lobbying, which does not include such grass-roots efforts as letter writing campaigns and appearances by its members at legislative hearings. Through its "political victory fund," the N.R.A. last year contributed $500,000 to political campaigns. (Reagan received $47,486.)

Says Billy Chapman, a former N.R.A. membership director who operates a gun store in a suburb of Kansas City, Kans.: "The average N.R.A. member is the average American citizen--a family man in his early 30s with just over two children, a home and two cars." In many areas, it is known more for its marksmanship competitions and outdoor recreational programs than for its political activities. Adds Jack Ludwig, past secretary of the Cincinnati Muzzle-Loading Rifle Club, an N.R.A. affiliate: "It is a very old and honorable organization that does a lot of good for shooters and hunters. If you are interested in cars, you join a car club. If you're interested in guns, you join a gun club."

In the mid-'70s the N.R.A. leadership tried to keep the association from becoming primarily a political pressure group, and even decided to move the organization's headquarters out of Washington, D.C. But a coup led by zealous gun-law opponents at the 1977 N.R.A. convention rescinded the move and replaced all of the group's leaders. The new regime, dedicated to hard-line political action, is headed by Harlon Carter, a former Border Patrol official. The N.R. A. is currently conducting a membership drive, in hopes of swelling its ranks to 2 million by the time of the annual meeting next month in Denver.

In 1971 a group of gun enthusiasts who feared that the N.R.A. was not diligent enough in its opposition to gun-control laws formed the Citizen's Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Led by Lobbyist John ("Magnum") Snyder, a former Jesuit seminarian, the committee has nearly 300,000 members and a $1.7 million annual budget. Its monthly newsletter is called Point Blank. Another N.R.A. spin-off is the Second Amendment Foundation, named after the Bill of Rights provision that guarantees citizens the right to bear arms. A fourth gun lobby, the Gun Owners of America Political Action Committee, was founded in 1975 by California State Senator H.L. Richardson. The organization, which has 350,000 members, has helped raise $5 million to support and oppose candidates across the nation.

The main opponent of these groups is a fledgling lobby called Handgun Control Inc., which was founded by former Du Pont Executive Nelson Shields III after his 23-year-old son became a victim of San Francisco's "Zebra" killings in 1974. In the wake of the murders last December of Musician John Lennon and Author-Cardiologist Michael Halberstam,* membership jumped from 90,000 to 130,000. Sacks of mail, including donations, were arriving last week at the organization's Washington headquarters in response to ads taken out after the Reagan shooting. Handgun Control Inc. now has its own political action committee, a lobbyist and a computerized mailing list--and hopes to copy the successful strategy of the N.R.A.

* Halberstam's killer, Bernard Welch, was convicted by a Washington jury last week.

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