The NRA is a national
membership organization that supports the right to keep and bear
arms. As a result, it has long resisted most efforts to expand
gun control measures. In 1998 and 1999, the intensity of its differences
with the Clinton Administration mounted. One factor contributing
to the growing fervor of the differences was a series of highly
publicized shootings that led President Clinton to call for new
gun laws. The NRA's basic response to the president was that his
administration should enforce existing federal laws rather than
calling for new ones. In August of 1999, TRAC mounted a new public
web site documenting that referrals from the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms had declined by 44% from 1992 to 1998. Seizing
on this finding, the NRA widely distributed a television spot
mocking the administration's enforcement record.
