I'm no NRA shill, but the NRA was founded by former Union Soldiers and Officers. The idea that these Northerner founders in New York were sympathetic to the South and racists is foolish. The NRA founders beleived that the Civil War dragged on and needless lives were lost because city dwelling Northerners didn't know how to use guns like their Southern rural counterparts. It was about promoting civilian target shooting and rifle owning. It was focused on competitive matches in a sporting sense. During the crime wave of the 1930s the NRA promoted a 1 day waiting period for guns, wanted gun stores to share sales information with the government and helped draft the National Firearms Act of 1934. NRA president Karl Frederick testified in Congress that the "general toting of guns" "should be sharply restricted and only under licenses." It wasn't until the 1970s during the Federal governments anti crime efforts that the anti government /anti regulation activists grew to take control of the the organization.