[ONLINE] - The Unauthorized History of the NRA

The National Rifle Association is unique in American life. Few other civic organizations are as old or as large. None is as controversial. It is largely due to the NRA that the U.S. gun policy differs so extremely — some would say so tragically — from that of every other developed nation. In his book, The NRA: The Unauthorized History, Frank Smyth examines how the NRA evolved from an organization concerned above all with marksmanship — and which supported most government efforts around gun control for a hundred years — to one that resists all attempts to restrict guns.

To discuss this topic, New America welcomes Frank Smyth and Dr. Carolyn Gallaher. Frank Smyth is the author of The NRA: The Unauthorized History and an independent investigative journalist specializing in armed conflicts, organized crime and human rights overseas, and on the gun movement and its influence at home. He was formerly an arms trafficking investigator for Human Rights Watch. Dr. Carolyn Gallaher is Senior Associate Dean of the School of International Service at American University and author of On the Fault Line: Race, Class, and the American Patriot Movement, which tracks the identity politics of the Kentucky State Militia, and After the Peace: Loyalist Paramilitaries in Post-accord Northern Ireland.

Join the conversation online using #UnauthorizedNRA and following @NewAmericaISP.

Participants:

Frank Smyth, @SmythFrank
Author, The NRA: The Unauthorized History

Dr. Carolyn Gallaher, @C_OGallachoir
Senior Associate Dean, School of International Service, American University
Author, On the Fault Line: Race, Class, and the American Patriot Movement

Moderator:

David Sterman, @DSterms
Senior Policy Analyst, New America International Security program