Why are you saying ‘my group’ I don’t who you are talking about. Perhaps you think I am some one else?
You are dead wrong about the NRA not being a lobby group until the 1970’s. Get your facts straight.
The NRA was lobbying Congress and testifying before Congress as far back as 1934 when it supported the creation of the National Firearms Act, the Federal Firearms Act of 1938, the 1963 Dodd Bill, the 1968 Gun Control Act, the 1986 FOPA, and the very 1st president of the NRA help create the DC gun laws in the first place that Heller was trying to overturn. In fact, it was the NRA who supported “GUN FREE ZONES” to begin with under NRA Presiden Wayne La Pierre.
You don’t have to take my word for it, this is straight from the NRA leadership.
1) NRA President Karl T. Frederick before Congress on April 16, 1934: “I have never believed in the general practice of carrying weapons. I seldom carry one. ... I do not believe in the general promiscuous toting of guns. I think it should be sharply restricted and only under licenses”
2) “The NRA supported The National Firearms Act of 1934 which taxes and requires registration of such firearms as machine guns, sawed-off rifles and sawed-off shotguns. ... NRA support of Federal gun legislation did not stop with the earlier Dodd bills. It currently backs several Senate and House bills which, through amendment, would put new teeth into the National and Federal Firearms Acts.” —American Rifleman, March 1968, P. 22
3) “The NRA supported The Federal Firearms Act of 1938, which regulates interstate and foreign commerce in firearms and pistol or revolver ammunition...” (P. 22)
4) “The NRA supported the original ‘Dodd Bill’ to amend the Federal Firearms Act in regard to handguns when it was introduced as S.1975 in August, 1963. Among its provisions was the requirement that a purchaser submit a notarized statement to the shipper that he was over 18 and not legally disqualified from possessing a handgun.” (P. 22)
5) “In January, 1965, with the continued support of the NRA, Senator Dodd introduced an amended version of his first bill, now designated 5.14 and expanded to cover rifles and shotguns as well as handguns.” (P. 22)
6) “We think it’s reasonable to support the federal Gun-Free School Zones Act. ... We think it’s reasonable to expect full enforcement of federal firearms laws by the federal government. ... That’s why we support Project Exile — the fierce prosecution of federal gun laws...we think it’s reasonable because it works. ... We only support what works and our list is proud.” —NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre Congressional Testimony, May 27, 1999 Hearing Before 106th Congress
7) “The National Rifle Association has been in support of workable, enforceable gun control legislation since its very inception in 1871.” —NRA Executive Vice President Franklin L. Orth NRA’s American Rifleman Magazine, March 1968, P. 22
The NRA created the Office of Legislative Affairs[OLA] which was the NRA’s first lobby and full-fledged liason on March 24,1974. It released the news to it’s members in the September magazine of that year.
Had they lobbied before that, they would have lost their tax status.
The NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action was created on April 21, 1975 during their annual meeting.