In Whitefish, NRA leader touts power of people

While the National Rifle Association may be perceived as the biggest protector of Second Amendment rights and the biggest nemesis of gun control, the president of the organization says those roles actually belong to the American people.

Speaking at the Montana Firearms Institute Conference at the Lodge on Whitefish Lake, David Keene said the NRA has a strong membership roster of 4 million, but there are at least 30 million who strongly support the association and what it does.

Its those 30 million people who make it possible for us to accomplish what we do on their behalf, said Keene, who also is chairman emeritus of the American Conservative Union and has served on the NRA board since 2000.

Keene recalled that in the early 1960s, gun control wasnt an issue and the Second Amendment was plainly understood and supported by both political parties. The NRA wasnt even involved in politics.

But then came the Gun Control Act of 1968. At that point things begin to change and change very quickly, he said.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers were on board with some gun control measures that came forward in the years after, and leaders in the well-established NRA recognized they had to engage in politics.

Even those who believed strongly in the Second Amendment thought were looking at a pretty bleak future at that time, Keene said.

But the firearms world was highly fragmented, with little unity among hunters, collectors, manufacturers, dealers and other gun groups.

We all started to work together, he said. Now everybody knows they are in the same boat.

Keene said the tide was reversed with most Americans grasping the importance of their Second Amendment rights.

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In Whitefish, NRA leader touts power of people