This week, the National Rifle Association announced its opposition to congressional reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. In particular, it excoriated the bill's so-called "red-flag" amendments, which would prevent persons convicted of stalking or abusing their partners from procuring firearms.

"The NRA opposes domestic violence and all violent crime, and spends millions of dollars teaching countless Americans how not to be a victim and how to safely use firearms for self-defense," NRA spokesperson Jennifer Baker told the National Journal. "It is a shame that some in the gun-control community treat the severity of domestic violence so trivially that they are willing to use it as a tool to advance a political agenda." To Jezebel, another spokesperson characterized the bill as "a smokescreen for its real goal—banning firearms ownership."

That the NRA objects to the VAWA on these grounds is not particularly surprising, given that it has dedicated itself to protecting gun manufacturers from anything that might infringe on their freedom to sell more guns. The notable aspect of this story, instead, is that in hushed conversations on Capitol Hill, House Republicans have been discussing with one another how to recruit the NRA's help to justify their objections, too.

Staff from the House Judiciary Committee and a handful of rank-and-file GOP member offices concerned about the VAWA bill held a conference call Monday. Staff for the individual member offices said having a key vote from the NRA would alleviate political pressure on their bosses.

Key-vote alerts, as the name implies, are NRA bulletins in which the organization warns its members about the dangers pending legislation poses to gun rights, and urges them to contact their elected officials to demand that they cast the appropriate gun-maximizing vote. If the NRA were to state its opposition to the VAWA, that stance would provide GOP representatives with badly needed political cover for voting against it.

A key-vote alert may dissuade Republicans from voting for the measure because of the possibility of losing percentage points on their NRA rating, a metric that the group’s supporters use to evaluate whether they should support a political candidate.

It isn't immediately clear whether these Republicans harbor sincere Second Amendment–related concerns over the proposed red-flag provisions, or are merely concealing some other philosophical objection to a federal law that protects women from the ever-present threats of domestic abuse and sexual violence. In 2013, when Congress most recently reauthorized the VAWA, it did so over the strenuous objections of conservative lawmakers who opposed extending certain protections to same-sex couples, undocumented immigrants, and Native Americans—a choice of battles that speaks for itself.

But whatever their precise rationale, these Republicans are confident that working hand-in-glove with the NRA is a sure path to being able to cast a comfortable "nay" vote. "It’s important that the NRA is communicating with their members and their members are reaching out to us," an anonymous GOP congressman told the Journal. "That's the real power of the NRA."