By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
As the National Rifle Association gathers this weekend in Indianapolis for its 152nd annual meetings and exhibits—highlighted Friday by appearances at the group’s annual Leadership Conference including former President Donald Trump and other luminaries—the BBC is taking a hard look at the organization.
For some reason, the British—or at least the BBC—has a fascination with America’s so-called “gun culture.” BBC talk shows frequently interview U.S. gun rights leaders or firearms authorities following mass shootings, for example. This weekend may give the Brits something more to talk about.
According to CNN, in addition to Trump, NRA members attending the Leadership Conference will also see former Vice President Mike Pence, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Appearing in video presentations will be Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and former U.N. Ambassador and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, CNN said.
NRA members recall Trump as the only president in recent memory who nearly always mentioned protection of the Second Amendment in his stump speeches and rally appearances, and even during a State of the Union address. Joe Biden, by contrast, talks about the need for additional gun control.
There may be other fireworks during Saturday’s annual members’ meeting regarding NRA’s financial and legal troubles.
But the BBC is focusing on defining and describing the NRA, and frames its story as an organization of gun owners meeting “amid increasing calls for tighter US gun laws in the wake of a record number of mass shootings in 2023.”
The NRA, the story notes, “lobbies heavily against all forms of gun control and argues aggressively that more guns make the country safer.
“It relies on, and staunchly defends, a disputed interpretation of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, which it argues gives US citizens the rights to bear arms,” the report added.
In this, the BBC attempts to perpetuate a notion that the U.S Supreme Court has been wrong three times in a row over the past 15 years about the individual right to keep and bear arms.
During the course of its profile, the BBC notes NRA’s membership dues revenue is down by “more than 40% from its peak year, 2018,” having apparently brought in $97 million from membership dues.
“Estimates of the NRA’s membership vary widely. The association claimed that membership rose to nearly to five million in response to the mass shooting at Sandy Hook school in 2012,” says the BBC story. “However, some analysts put the figure at closer to three million.”
In a separate story, BBC notes the controversy over so-called “ghost guns,” which the news agency describes as “the fastest-growing gun safety problem in America.” It is not clear how the BBC defines “safety,” but what is clear is that the news organization thinks U.S. citizens should be alarmed.
By some estimates, about 70,000 people will attend the NRA convention this weekend. It runs through Sunday and includes an exhibit hall loaded with firearms, hunting and camping accessories, which is invariably the biggest draw.
