Dan Gardner at Past Present Future:
The NRA was founded in 1871. For most of its long history, it was an apolitical organization of sportsmen that promoted marksmanship and safety training so duck hunters wouldn’t shoot themselves in the toes. In the Eisenhower era, the NRA’s motto, emblazoned over its front door was “Firearms Safety Education, Marksmanship Training, Shooting for Recreation.”
But in 1977, a group of far-right activists led a coup, took over the organization, and changed the motto to: “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” Notice the stuff about Militias was omitted. The activists weren’t simply looking for something a little snappier. That omission was central to their audacious goal.
What followed that takeover was a deliberate, calculated, and wildly successful campaign to falsify popular perceptions of American history and change American constitutional law. It culminated in 2008, when the Supreme Court — for the first time in US history, please note — declared that the Second Amendment protected an individual’s right to own guns. It’s hard to overstate how radical that decision was. Until 2008 — a mere 17 years ago! — the Second Amendment did not protect an individual’s right to own guns.
More here.
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