Thread by @NRA

1/ Founded in 1871, NRA began by dedicating itself to the safety of American soldiers.

Because of the efforts of the NRA over the ensuing century and a half, many more soldiers have been able to accomplish their missions and to return home alive. THREAD⬇️americas1stfreedom.org/articles/2020/…

2/ When leading generals of the Union Army met in New York in 1871 to found the NRA, they decided to address a problem the Civil War had made manifest.

The Confederate Army had been full of soldiers who had grown up on farms, learned to hunt and were proficient marksmen.

3/ In contrast, the Union Army had a much higher percentage of soldiers who came from cities and who had no skill with arms.

Many of these soldiers were immigrants from places where governments had suppressed the right to bear arms.

4/ When these soldiers joined the federal army, their firearms training often consisted of firing only a single shot from a gun.

5/ As the Union generals recognized, the citizen-soldiers who entered the military already skilled at arms had a better chance of becoming proficient soldiers and a better chance of surviving.

6/ As the NRA charter stated, among the NRA’s purposes was educating the “youth of the nation in marksmanship…both as a sport and for the purpose of qualifying as finished marksmen those individuals who may be called up to serve in time of war.” #MemorialDay2020