ABSTRACT
Interest group dynamics are key to understanding the political fury and policy outcomes that accompany the gun issue. This chapter thus begins with the largest, oldest, and most powerful interest group in this realm, the National Rifle Association. Central to its successes has been its long history of gun rights advocacy, its single issue focus, the zealotry of its grassroots base, its close ties to the gun industry, and its reliance on ever-more apocalyptic rhetoric that has both stoked and ever-more radicalized its base. In recent years, however, the NRA has faced its own existential crisis, which threatens to undermine its effectiveness. Gun safety groups have been unable historically to match the NRA's size, effectiveness, and long-term intensity, but a new generation of gun safety groups has logged an increasing list of successes in the last few years. The chapter also examines the arc of public opinion on the gun issue, which has witnessed an upswing in support for stronger gun laws, and the positions of the national political parties, which have increasingly embraced opposing sides on the issue.
