NRA was gun safety and very mainstream (a young chuck schumer, dem senator from NY was a member) until 40 or so years ago when "the paranoid strain in American politics" basically threw a coup and took over the board. Then it became much more politically active. They unfortunately took an anti-slippery slope model thus opposed ANY restrictions on any arms, thus fought against banning automatic weapons and against putting identification material in explosives (to allow LE to better track down terrorists who use explosives). Also against background checks and for the mentally ill to own weapons. We also know the Russians sent some money through them through that Russian spy Marina Butina (who allegedly was part of a Russian gun rights group, which does not exist lol, and who slept her way to the top of the NRA). The indictment is pretty damning...LaPierre et al really took them for a ride lol.