So I’ll use this day to excoriate that hypocrisy, with Smyth’s topic as paragon to this fractured, and possibly irreparable, nation. Our illustrious and demented President gave federal employees the day off, illustrating once again how “the separation of church and state” is a complete lie in the United States of Hypocrisy. Trump is notoriously hard on his allies but the NRA is a powerful lobby group and have already changed Trump's tune before. It will be interesting to see the long term consequences of this alliance. By tying themselves so close to Trump, they have taken on Trump's opposition as their own. But they have always wanted a straw man to point to, someone to fight against. My final insight, not acknowledged by Smyth is that the NRA has won political victories because they were better organized than their opponents. that and the Russian ties.) As a historian, like Smyth, I wonder what is locked away in the NRA archives that they are restricting from even NRA members accessing. That it can be changed with each new pronouncement, what they are saying now is what they have always said. Both the NRA and Trump live in the moment, convinced that the past is something that they will never have to confront again. (And it makes more sense why they have embraced Trump. Fascinating to realize that organization claiming to represent the beginning intentions of our nation's historical experiment with freedom is so quick to wipe out its own history. And it's unauthorized because it hasn't been politicized and air brushed for public consumption.

This isn't a 'the NRA is amoral' book, but a factual outline of the actual history of the NRA. Why I finished it: Smyth was far more balanced and fair than I wanted him to be.

I was interested in reading an unauthorized history to learn more. Why I started this book: I'm not a fan of the NRA, it's political decisions and connections or what it stands for. This is the history of the organization that likes to reinvent itself and ignore all that it was before. Founded after the Civil War by Union veterans to ensure that American soldiers had the marksmanship skills necessary for the next battle, this non-profit in no ways resembles the behemoth political power it is today.

The NRA is either the savior of the US Constitution or the reason American children are dying in their schools.

The NRA by Frank Smyth