Looks like the American Red Cross is the most recognized organization, but look at this:
Consumer Reports was the next most-familiar organization, followed by the AARP and then the National Rifle Association.
Take that Brady Campaign!
The most-powerful group was the labor union AFL-CIO, netting 84 percent, narrowly topping the National Rifle Association, which garnered 83 percent of respondents who said they believed the group had at least a fair amount power.
That’s sure to make Peter Hamm choke on his Christmas ham.
Ya know, it’s interesting how anti-gunners can shoot themselves in the foot. The old axiom that ‘perception becomes reality’ (or something like that) can be used here. The NRA membership is vastly smaller than the AARP or AFL/CIO yet the anti-gun organizations talk about politicians that are ‘owned’ by the NRA & how much influence they have. Their constant harping on this point (& of course the MSM repeating it) puts it into people minds bringing it closer to reality.
The NRA probably DOES have far more clout than an organization with its size & financial means might usually have. Of course, that may also be due to their more factually based arguments & common sense approach. I might be biased in my opinion though.
A good deal of NRA’s power comes from the fear the politicos have of increasing the likelihood that membership numbers will explode exponentially if too many or too severe restrictions are applied to the rights of the people guaranteed by the second amendment.
Right now, the politicians have a cooperative lobby group in the NRA, were the membership numbers to increase dramatically due to anti-liberty legislation visible enough to be noticed even by the apathetic, the entire philosophy and thrust of the NRA could change, making them much less cooperative.
The politicians fear that possibility with a fear deeply rooted. Their current tactic of getting a little here and a little there, with little or no opposition, or even the cooperation of the NRA will eventually get them everything they want. This works well for them, especially when they publicly overreach and allow the NRA to appear more powerful than is their wont, through the apparatus of a much publicized victory for the NRA on the more egregious bills , which often had no chance of passage anyway.
In that the NRA is potentially much more dangerous to their electability if second amendment rights were to be flagrantly and publically violated to such a degree as to be a membership magnet for the most recognizable lobby for second amendment rights they are a valuable asset in the fight to slow the usurpations of those rights. However, they are not effective at stopping the slide, only slowing it.
Many people of like mind, though non-members align with the NRA on those few galvanizing issues. Ergo, we see few of them, just a sop here and there to give the appearance of stasis or even victory for individual rights, while a small bite here and there is taken when attention is focused on the main arena.