--- title: What Gun Control Advocates Should Learn from the NRA description: Igor Volsky, author of "Guns Down," argues that the NRA has crafted a patriotic identity around gun ownership—and its opponents should use the same strategy canonical: https://time.com/5572669/nra-teaches-gun-control-advocates/ author: Joey Lautrup article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-04-19T22:00:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:28:34.787Z article:section: Ideas og:title: What Gun Control Advocates Should Learn from the NRA og:description: Activist and author Igor Volsky argues for taking lessons from the gun lobby's success og:url: https://time.com/5572669/nra-teaches-gun-control-advocates/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3d18271e3e63aee9/698948a286f68e13536ebb67/nra-gun-control-freedom-second-amendment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: NRA and Gun Control og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What Gun Control Advocates Should Learn from the NRA twitter:description: Activist and author Igor Volsky argues for taking lessons from the gun lobby's success twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3d18271e3e63aee9/698948a286f68e13536ebb67/nra-gun-control-freedom-second-amendment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What Gun Control Advocates Should Learn from the NRA > Sponsored content. 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A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=f37e8e22-a17e-4d4d-b4c1-55079308189d&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: TIME Ideas: Gun Control Advocates Have a Lot to Learn From the NRA [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Ideas: Gun Control Advocates Have a Lot to Learn From the NRA](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/sg2qnrB6.m3u8) (2:42)  _Published 2019-04-19. Igor Volsky may not agree with anything the NRA stands for, but he does agree that gun control advocates can learn a lot from the organization's tactics._  by [Joey Lautrup](https://time.com/author/joey-lautrup/)  ## Joey Lautrup Apr 19, 2019 10:00 PM UTC  by [Joey Lautrup](https://time.com/author/joey-lautrup/)  ## Joey Lautrup Apr 19, 2019 10:00 PM UTC Igor Volsky may not agree with what [the NRA](http://time.com/5268261/oliver-north-nra-president-iran-contra-scandal/) stands for, but he does believe that gun control advocates can learn a lot from the organization’s tactics. Volsky, author of [_Guns Down: How to Defeat the NRA and Build a Safer Future with Fewer Guns_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1620973197/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time037-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1620973197&linkId=7ad239c2465d00235b883deca3b0aeb6)_,_ argues that the NRA, beyond its funding and lobbying efforts, largely owes its success to its ability to turn gun ownership into a form of patriotism. He suggests that those who disagree with the NRA should not just rebel against this strategy, but use it. “All too often, we use wonky language or stats to explain why we support this law or that,” he says. Watch Volsky’s full argument in the video above. ## Transcript My name is Igor Volsky. I'm the executive director of Guns Down America and the author of the new book Guns Down. Since the 1970s, by almost any measure, the gun lobby has been one of the most successful political organizations in America. How did the NRA become so successful? And what can the gun control movement learn from their success? The NRA has a clear, tight message. It distills everything to a single word freedom. Any effort to restrict access to guns is an infringement on that, right? The NHRA builds a patriotic identity and community around owning guns. Half of all gun owners tell pollsters that having a firearm is very or somewhat important to who they are as people. And that's no accident. According to new research from political scientist Matthew Larcombe. The NRA established this identity through its publications and its communications with members. Larcombe analyzed 79 years of the NRA's American Rifleman and separately editorials in four American newspapers. He discovered that 80% of The Rifleman editorials that portrayed gun rights as being under threat used identity language that portrayed gun owners in a positive light of the pro-gun letters to the editor in Tacoma analyzed 64% relied on identity language. The NRA's members were internalizing and echoing its message. This explains a lot, but it also holds some key lessons for gun control advocates. All too often, we use wonky language and stats to explain why we support this law or that. But maybe what we need to do is to reclaim and redefine what it means to be a patriotic American as it relates to gun ownership. Being a patriotic American means raising the standard for how firearms are produced and purchased. The firearms industry must be regulated, and people who choose to own a firearm should prove to their neighbors and to their communities that they could own one responsive alley. These are the building blocks for a new American future, one with fewer guns in circulation and as a result, safer churches, classrooms, households and American communities. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5572669/nra-teaches-gun-control-advocates/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5572669/nra-teaches-gun-control-advocates/"},"headline":"What Gun Control Advocates Should Learn from the NRA","datePublished":"2019-04-19T22:00:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-13T08:28:34.787Z","description":"Activist and author Igor Volsky argues for taking lessons from the gun lobby's success","url":"https://time.com/5572669/nra-teaches-gun-control-advocates/","keywords":["Guns","Gun Control","NRA","gun rights"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3d18271e3e63aee9/698948a286f68e13536ebb67/nra-gun-control-freedom-second-amendment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joey Lautrup","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joey-lautrup/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3d18271e3e63aee9/698948a286f68e13536ebb67/nra-gun-control-freedom-second-amendment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"NRA and Gun Control","caption":"NRA and Gun Control","creditText":"Spencer Platt—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/guns/","name":"Guns"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5572669/nra-teaches-gun-control-advocates/","name":"What Gun Control Advocates Should Learn from the NRA"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Ideas: Gun Control Advocates Have a Lot to Learn From the NRA","description":"Igor Volsky may not agree with anything the NRA stands for, but he does agree that gun control advocates can learn a lot from the organization's tactics.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/sg2qnrB6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2019-04-19T21:20:22.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/sg2qnrB6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5572669/nra-teaches-gun-control-advocates/","duration":"PT2M42S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5572669/nra-teaches-gun-control-advocates/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```