Membership Isn't Zero Sum Game
The NRA may be the face of gun rights but that doesn't mean the organization is hogging all the gun rights members. The Gun Owners of America, led by Larry Pratt, has seen membership double in the last four weeks to 600,000, forcing the organization to hire more people just to process applications. NRA was reporting over 250,000 new members at mid January, many of them receiving discounted fees for joining. GOA legislative counsel Michael Hammond says there's little competition between the gun rights groups for members since many join multiple organizations.
While they share a similar mission and members, NRA and GOA have differed on strategy. GOA, founded by California legislator, Bill Richardson, is known as "more extreme" and less compromising than NRA, Michael says. For example, the groups disagreed on gun control proposals after Columbine, with GOA fighting against some of the compromises the NRA was considering. The two groups have been more aligned recently. But Michael says GOA has been more vocal in the press, while NRA officials make fewer appearances.
