I was a member of the NRA for a while. It came with my Hunter Safety Course (taught in a high school classroom after hours using real rifles) and my NRA Marksmanship Course (taught in a school basement big enough for a short shooting range). I gave up on them when they were bought out by firearms manufacturers in the mid-70's. Actually, "bought out" is the wrong term here - the manufacturers supported a slate of candidates for leadership posts with typical campaign material - posters, buttons, etc, at the 1976 annual convention. The new leadership transformed the association from the "shoot safe, shoot well" emphasis encouraged by its founders (retired Civil War Generals who hoped to improve the shooting skills of the draft-age population) into a "buy more guns" emphasis. They did well by invoking hysterical fears over threats to the Second Amendment, raising money both from members and corporate sponsors. Anyone who has had a kid in a large non-profit soccer club has suspicions about what happens when too much money is lying around. Same thing applies here.
