February 28, 2012
Self-defense is a fundamental right. The U.S. constitution, the constitutions of 44 states, common law, and the laws of all states recognize the right to use arms in self-defense. RTC laws respect the right to self-defense by allowing individuals to carry firearms for protection.
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February 28, 2012
On February 28, Representative Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) introduced H.R. 4089, the “Sportsmen’s Heritage Act of 2012.” This is a compilation of four different bills (H.R. 991, H.R. 1558, H.R. 2834 and H.R. 3440) that promote America’s hunting heritage. The bill will positively impact sportsmen throughout the country. For this reason, the NRA fully supports this bill.
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January 9, 2012
2012 NRA-ILA Firearms Fact Card
A brief summary of the history of and key issues involving the Second Amendment.
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September 26, 2011
The expansion of America’s urban and suburban areas has crowded out many shooting areas and made it increasingly difficult to find a place to shoot. Senators Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and James Risch (R-Idaho) have introduced S. 1249, a bill that would help remedy this problem by promoting the construction and maintenance of target ranges on public lands. In the U.S. House of Representatives, Reps. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) and Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) have introduced a companion bill, H. R. 3065.
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February 22, 2011
H.R. 822, introduced in the U.S. House by Representatives Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) and Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), would allow any person with a valid state-issued concealed firearm permit to carry a concealed firearm in any state that issues concealed firearm permits, or that does not prohibit the carrying of concealed firearms for lawful purposes.
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September 26, 2008
In 1969, President Lyndon B. Johnson's National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence recommended "a system of giving each gun a number and the development of some device to imprint this number on each bullet fired from the gun."
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September 25, 2008
Americans use upwards of seven billion rounds of small arms (rifle, shotgun and handgun) ammunition every year, mostly for target practice, competition and hunting.
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December 16, 2006
Anti-gun proposals at the federal level receive the most attention, but similar proposals and restrictive ordinances at the local level also threaten honest gun owners` rights and the fundamental American principle of equal protection under the law for all citizens.
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April 6, 2012
An important provision of federal law, intended to protect the right of law-abiding gun owners to transport firearms throughout our nation, has been ignored by anti-gun local officials and effectively gutted by the courts. H.R. 4269, introduced by U.S. Reps. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), Ted Poe (R-Texas) and Bill Owens (D-N.Y.), would rewrite the law to give it the effect Congress intended when it was passed more than 25 years ago.
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March 13, 2012
On March 12, S. 2188, the “National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2012,” was introduced by U.S. Senators Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Joe Manchin (D-W.V.). A nearly identical bill, H.R. 822, passed the House of Representatives on Nov. 16, 2011, by a vote of 272-154.
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March 6, 2012
In 2010, the BLM closed 400,000 acres of publicly-owned, national monument lands in three states to recreational shooting activities. BLM is currently proposing to close an additional 600,000 acres in southern Arizona. In response to this, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) introduced H. R. 3440, the “Recreational Shooting Protection Act.”
H. R. 3440 prevents a ban on recreational shooting on BLM monuments. The bill requires congressional approval for any recreational shooting closures or restrictions proposed on BLM-managed national monuments. This bill further directs the BLM to manage national monument land in a manner that supports, promotes, and enhances recreational shooting opportunities.
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February 13, 2012
H. R. 2834 / S. 2066 recognizes the rightful place of recreational hunting, fishing, and shooting on Federal lands, supports Executive Order 13443 that directs Federal land management agencies to facilitate the expansion and enhancement of hunting on Federal lands, and ensures sound scientific management of wildlife and their habitat.
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February 3, 2012
A compilation of the news reports about the criminal acts committed by members of "Mayors Against Illegal Guns."
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October 21, 2011
H.R. 1581, the Wilderness Area and Roadless Area Release Act, sponsored by Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), will make public hunting lands not suitable for wilderness designation available to millions of Americans that are unfairly closed out from them now.
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October 21, 2011
S. 901 and H.R. 1997, introduced by Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), are designed to ensure that our public lands are truly that: open to the public and available for reasonable and responsible public use, including hunting.
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October 21, 2011
H. R. 991, introduced by Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) would allow the Secretary of the Interior to issue import permits for polar bear trophies legally taken in Canada before the Secretary of the Interior changed the listing of all polar bears globally to the status of "threatened."
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October 14, 2011
H.R. 58/S. 1691, introduced by Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK) in the House and by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) in the Senate, would remove several antiquated and unnecessary restrictions imposed on interstate firearms business since 1968.
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September 27, 2011
Finding a place to hunt is one of the biggest concerns of hunters and NRA-ILA is actively working on multiple fronts to promote solutions to this growing problem. One such solution is called "Open Fields."
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September 20, 2011
In response to an August 2010 petition to the Environmental Protection Agency asking the agency to ban traditional lead ammunition and fishing equipment, U.S. Representatives Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), Mike Ross (D-Ark.), Bob Latta (R-Ohio) and Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) have introduced H.R. 1558, the “Hunting, Fishing and Recreational Shooting Protection Act.” Companion legislation, S.838, has been introduced in the U.S. Senate by Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and John Thune (R-S.D.).
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June 28, 2011
In recent years, one of gun owners’ top priorities has been to remove restrictions on where law-abiding persons may legally carry a firearm for self-defense. The removal of the restriction on carry in national parks and national wildlife refuges was a major step forward in the effort to remove unneeded restrictions on the fundamental right to self-defense.
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June 3, 2011
Semi-automatic firearms were introduced more than a century ago. The first semi-automatic rifle, a Mannlicher, appeared in 1885; the first pistol, a Schonberger, in 1892; and the first shotgun, the legendary Browning Auto-5, in 1900.
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May 4, 2011
H.R. 420/S. 798, the "Veterans' Heritage Firearms Act of 2011," introduced by U.S. Representative Dennis Rehberg (R-Mont.) in the House and Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) in the Senate, would provide a 90-day amnesty period during which veterans and their family members could register firearms acquired overseas between June 26, 1934 and Oct. 31, 1968, without fear of prosecution. Congress granted a limited amnesty in 1968, but most veterans did not receive enough notice to participate.
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April 19, 2011
Some believe that S. 34 (Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.) and H.R.1506 (Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.) are intended to prevent "terrorists" from buying guns.
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March 23, 2011
In February 2011, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) introduced the Collectible Firearms Protection Act, S. 381 and H.R. 615, respectively. The bills propose to amend the Arms Export Control Act to guarantee that U.S.-made military firearms that were previously exported to a foreign government, and which under that law are eligible for re-importation into the U.S. as “curios and relics,”1 will not be blocked from importation.
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March 16, 2011
Reps. Steve King (R-Iowa) and Jason Altmire (D-Ohio) have introduced H.R. 1093, the "Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Reform Act of 2011." The bill would roll back unnecessary restrictions, correct errors, and codify longstanding congressional policies in the firearms arena. These bipartisan bills are a vital step to modernize and improve BATFE operations.
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March 7, 2011
H.R. 645, the "Second Amendment Enforcement Act," introduced in the House by Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), would end D.C.`s prohibition on using guns for self-defense in one`s home and conform other D.C. gun laws to federal laws, while retaining stiff penalties for illegal gun possession, gun crimes. It would do none of the things claimed by anti-gun groups. Rep. Ross introduced similar legislation in the 110th Congress.
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February 10, 2011
In February, Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) introduced H.R. 645 the "Second Amendment Enforcement Act," to eliminate harsh gun control laws imposed by the District of Columbia after the Supreme Court`s decision in D.C. v. Heller (2008).
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January 21, 2011
On January 18, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) introduced H.R. 308, the “Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act.” On January 25, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) introduced the companion bill in the Senate, S. 32. The bills would ban the manufacture and importation of new magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition, and make it illegal for the tens of millions of Americans who already own these magazines to sell or otherwise transfer them, even through inheritance. Gun owners use the magazines for self-defense and target shooting, and as key parts of collectible firearms, as well as for other lawful purposes.
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January 20, 2011
Forty four states have "Right to Keep and Bear Arms" provisions included in their constitutions. Those provisions are listed here.
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January 20, 2011
Firearm Quick Facts briefly addresses topics of interest to gun owners, students and other members of the public.
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January 11, 2011
If there is one thing that threatens the future of hunting more than any other, it is the challenge of finding a place to hunt. More and more hunting land is being lost, either through development or because of restrictive regulations that preclude its use. Concerned hunters working together with NRA-ILA have found a solution: protect our public hunting lands with No-Net-Loss laws.
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September 21, 2010
On July 1, 2010, U.S. Representative Dan Boren (D-Okla.) introduced H.R. 5667, the Firearms Microstamping Evaluation and Study Act. The bill would require a study (1) to determine whether a firearm could be manufactured with “microstamping” technology that would work reliably and be cost-effective for law enforcement purposes, (2) to determine the cost of “microstamping” to manufacturers, firearm owners and state governments, and (3) to determine whether “microstamping” technology could work with non-metallic cartridge cases.
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September 15, 2010
Coinciding with a surge in gun purchases that began shortly before the 2008 elections, violent crime decreased six percent between 2008 and 2009, including an eight percent decrease in murder and a nine percent decrease in robbery.
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August 1, 2010
These organizations have lent monetary, grassroots or other support to anti-gun organizations. Often, they have supported anti-gun activities such as HCI`s March 1995 "Campaign to Protect Sane Gun Laws."
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July 13, 2010
On June 28, 2010, the Supreme Court, in McDonald et al. v. City of Chicago, Illinois, et al.—a case challenging handgun bans in Chicago and Oak Park, Illinois—ruled that the Second...
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July 13, 2010
In the mid-1970s, the Brady Campaign, a handgun ban activist group then known as the National Council to Control Handguns, said “There are now 40 million handguns . . . . [T]he number...
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May 4, 2010
Despite their patriotic-sounding name—the “Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2009”—H.R. 2159 by Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) and S. 1317 by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) aren’t intended to contribute to the war on terrorism.
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April 26, 2010
During April 2010, television ads paid for by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s gun control advocacy group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG), hit the airwaves in selected areas. The ads say, “The Columbine school massacre. The killers got their guns because of a gap in the law, called the ‘gun show loophole’. . . . Close the ‘gun show loophole.’”
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April 24, 2010
The expansion of America’s urban and suburban areas has crowded out many shooting areas and made it increasingly difficult to find a place to shoot. On September 24, 2009, Senators Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and James Risch (R-Idaho) introduced S. 1702, a bill that would help remedy this problem by promoting the construction and maintenance of target ranges on public lands. In the U.S. House of Representatives, Reps. Betsy Markey (D-Colo.) and Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) have introduced a companion bill, H. R. 3781.
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April 22, 2010
There are 40 Right-to-Carry states: 37 have “shall issue” laws, requiring that carry permits be issued to applicants who meet uniform standards established by the state legislature. Two have fairly-administered discretionary-issue carry permit systems. Vermont respects the right to carry without a permit. Alaska and Arizona have “shall issue” permit systems for permit reciprocity1 with other states, and have allowed concealed carrying without a permit since 2003 and July 2010,* respectively. Of the 10 non-RTC states, eight have restrictively-administered discretionary-issue systems; Illinois and Wisconsin have no permit system and prohibit carrying. Iowa became the most recent “shall issue” state on April 29, 2010, when Governor Chet Culver (D) signed legislation adopted by votes of 81-16 in the state’s House of Representatives and 44-4 in the Senate.
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