> NRA is at protecting the 2nd NRA refused to argue cases on second amendment grounds until very recently. They strongly opposed taking Heller to court. Second

> NRA is at protecting the 2nd NRA refused to argue cases on second amendment grounds until very recently. They strongly opposed taking Heller to court. Second amendment has been tremendously eroded. Heller was fought by a group of non-NRA affiliated lawyers. NRA works through campaigning and lobbying. They aren't as good at second amendment litigation (although they've been successful in litigating against bad gun laws using other constitutional amendments as well as the state constitutions -- which usually have stronger provisions for the right to bear arms than the US constitution). EFF and ACLU, on the other hand, work through litigation. They are not nearly as well funded. NRA is not just a political organization, they are also effectively a AAA for firearm owners: they provide safety training (they're famous for having coined the "3 rules of gun safety"), sell targets, provide discounts on everything from wine to hotels, etc... As much as it hurts for me to say, most people don't care about civil liberties. They want civil liberties for them: they want to carry a gun, they want to be able choose when to have or not to have a child, etc... Yet when it comes to more core liberties -- and despite being a strong 2A supporter and a gun owner, I think 1A and 4A are far more crucial than 2A today -- there's very little personal motive. People are very willing to give away their privacy to receive a discount at Safeway: http://reason.com/blog/2010/02/23/judge-alex-kozinski-the-fourth http://reason.com/blog/2010/02/23/judge-alex-kozinski-the-fo... Is there a silver lining? Actually, yes! I think the rise of Internet will make privacy a more paramount concern that everyone will take to heart. Consider, for example this email subject from ACLU (about CISSPA) that I received and that literally (and likely deliberately and by design) made me quickly jump out of my seat: 68359 + Mar 06 Anthony D. Rome ( 270) Your last Amazon.com order In short, people who are _not_ civil libertarians (unlike myself, who is an ACLU and EFF member -- along with a donor to NRA-ILA and SAF) need a personal stake in core civil liberties in order to care about them. Fortunately, the Internet will give them just that stake.