For the longest time, the NRA stood in the crosshairs of some of Washington's nastiest legislative battles -- from assault weapons bans to handgun waiting periods. Sometimes the gun lobby won and sometimes it lost. But the fights were always agonizing.
"The closer we get back home, the stronger we are," says Executive Vice President Wayne R. LaPierre of the National Rifle Association's lobbying of state legislatures. Local lawmakers see voters more frequently, he adds.
Lately, the NRA has taken a lower profile in the nation's capital and has been turning its attention instead to places where it regularly wins without much hassle: state legislatures. Like a growing number of lobby groups that have tired of the expense and ugliness that congressional dustups often bring, the NRA has shifted its staffing and grass-roots pressure to passing laws at a more local place.
Read Original at: WashingtonPost.com
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