this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2026
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They got pretty big as a sanctioning body for shooting sports and local shooting organizations, which came with a lot of affiliations with gun manufacturers. Once it became apparent to those manufacturers that the greatest threat to their business was not a decline in enthusiasm among consumers, but a growing risk of regulation the org pivoted into a primarily political lobbying organization. THEN it became apparent that gun rights were a useful wedge issue and right wingers and foreign governments identified it as a great inroad to connect their agendas to a common issue, and here we are.