National Rifle Association - History

History

Union Army records for the American Civil War indicate that its troops fired about 1,000 rifle shots for each Confederate soldier hit. General Ambrose Burnside (a former Rhode Island gunsmith) lamented of his Civil War recruits: "Out of ten soldiers who are perfect in drill and the manual of arms, only one knows the purpose of the sights on his gun or can hit the broad side of a barn." United States infantry armed with potentially accurate rifles often fought using volley tactics, devised for earlier inaccurate smoothbore muskets, because the United States Army had failed to keep pace with European military training for tactical advantage from rifle technology. In 1871, Civil War veterans led by Army and Navy Journal editor William Conant Church organized the NRA in New York, with General Burnside as President and George Wood Wingate as secretary. Wingate traveled to Europe and observed European armies' marksmanship training programs. With plans provided by Wingate, the New York legislature funded the construction of a modern range at Creedmore, Long Island, for long-range shooting competitions. Wingate then wrote a marksmanship manual.

After winning the British Empire championship at Wimbledon, London, in 1874, the Irish Rifle Team issued a challenge through the New York Herald to riflemen of the United States to raise a team for a long-range match to determine a British-American championship. NRA organized a team through a subsidiary Amateur Rifle Club. Remington Arms and Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company produced breech-loading weapons for the team. Although muzzle-loading rifles had long been considered more accurate, eight American riflemen won the match firing breech-loading rifles at Creedmore ranges of 800 to 1000 yards. New York Herald publicity established the obsolescence of muzzle-loading firearms, demonstrated the quality of breech-loading firearms, provided public support for military marksmanship training, and promoted the NRA to national prominence.

NRA organized rifle clubs in other states; and many state National Guard organizations sought NRA advice to improve their marksmanship through the following years. Wingate's markmanship manual evolved into the United States Army marksmanship instruction program. President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant served as the NRA's eighth President and General Philip H. Sheridan as its ninth. United States Congress created the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice in 1901 to include representatives from the NRA, National Guard, and United States military services. A program of annual rifle and pistol competitions was authorized including a national match open to military and civilian shooters. NRA headquarters moved to Washington, D.C. to facilitate the organization's government role encouraging rifle shooting.

The Civilian Marksmanship Program was authorized by Congress in 1903 and run by the United States Army from 1916 to 1996 to transfer obsolete military firearms to United States civilians to learn and practice marksmanship skills with NRA so they would be skilled marksmen if later called on to serve in the U.S. military. Springfield Armory and Rock Island Arsenal began manufacturing new M1903 Springfield rifles for civilian members of the NRA in 1910. These were identical to standard issue military rifles at the time; although some were stamped with NRA and a flaming bomb symbol on the forward tang of the trigger guard so they would not appear to be stolen government property. Production for military service interrupted sales to NRA members during World War I, but production for civilian NRA members resumed between the world wars.

NRA formed a legislative affairs division in response to debate concerning passage of the National Firearms Act in 1934. NRA supported that act, the first major federal legislation about gun control, and also supported the Federal Firearms Act of 1938. The two acts created a system to license gun dealers and imposed very high taxes on the private ownership of automatic weapons ("machine guns").