NRA History

The NRA was founded shortly after the American Civil War by Union Army officers who were appalled by the lack of shooting skills among the Union soldiers during the war and determined to correct this problem by encouraging the shooting sports and marksmanship among the general population, including former slaves in the former slave states. This made the NRA very unpopular in the former slaves states and the NRA was considered an enemy by the Ku Klux Klan.

Union Army Col. William C. Church and Gen. George Wingate are the officially listed founders of the NRA. They were granted a charter from the state of New York on November 17, 1871. The first NRA president was Ambrose E. Burnside, a commander of the Army of the Potomac. Former US President Ulysses S. Grant, who had enacted the 1871 law declaring the Ku Klux Klan to be an illegal terrorist organisation, was elected president of the National Rifle Association in 1883. Nine of the NRA's first ten presidents had fought against slavery during the Civil War. Including: Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, Gen. Phillip Sheridan. During Reconstruction, Gen. Sheridan removed hundreds of local officials from office in Louisiana and Texas for violating the rights of former slaves and for failing to enforce laws for their protection.