Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News

Nancy Pelosi: Pro-Gun Voters Made an Impact

Monday, November 18, 2024

Nancy Pelosi: Pro-Gun Voters Made an Impact

Congratulations NRA members and other pro-gun voters! Once again, our votes helped make the difference.

Don’t just take our word for it. Following President Donald Trump’s resounding victory, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) whined about gun rights voters to the New York Times.

In an interview with Times reporter Lulu Garcia-Navarro, Pelosi stated that cultural issues played an important role in the 2024 election. Garcia-Navarro asked the former House Speaker, “why did voters who earned less than $100,000 go for Trump in such large numbers?” Pelosi responded in part, “Well, there are cultural issues involved in elections as well… Guns, that’s an issue.”

Pelosi’s forthright acknowledgement of the gun vote is welcome public recognition of the powerful role gun owners play in American politics. However, astute observers of the 2024 presidential campaign will have seen earlier signs of this reality.

Try as they might, the Kamala Harris campaign couldn’t run far enough fast enough from the candidate’s decades-long anti-gun and anti-Second Amendment record. The Harris campaign claimed Harris no longer supported the type of firearm confiscation she repeatedly advocated in 2019. The handgun ban supporter touted how she supposedly owns a Glock pistol and how she would use it against a home invader.

The Harris campaign attempted to cast her anti-gun running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.), as some sort of gun-toting Midwestern everyman. The vice presidential candidate took to a Minnesota field in an ill-fated hunting photo-op. And of course there were the dopey Harris-Walz camouflage hats.

Gun owners can add Pelosi’s comments to the long list of prominent acknowledgements of pro-gun political power in presidential elections.

In 2017, twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton released her book, “What Happened,” about the 2016 presidential election.

Clinton repeatedly acknowledged NRA’s influence on the 2016 election and the broad political landscape.

Pointing out the grassroots power of gun rights supporters, Clinton explained, “The politics of guns has been toxic for a long time… The vocal minority of voters against gun safety laws have historically been more organized, better funded, and more willing to be single-issue voters.”

Recounting her first policy speech of the 2016 campaign, where she attacked NRA, Clinton admitted, “Going after the NRA is dangerous for candidates…”

Discussing NRA’s contribution to her defeat, Clinton noted,

As for the NRA, it kept its promise to do everything it could to stop me. All told, the gun lobby spent more than $30 million supporting Trump, more money than any other outside group and more than double what it spent to support Mitt Romney in 2012. About two-thirds of that money paid for more than ten thousand negative ads attacking me in battleground states.

Following the 2000 presidential election, President Bill Clinton spoke with CBS News’ Dan Rather about Vice President Al Gore’s loss. Rather asked Clinton, “Do you agree or disagree that some of your failures -- policy as well as personal failures in the White House -- had an impact on Al Gore's losing?” The president replied in part, “I don't think there is -- I don't know if you'd call this a policy failure, but I don't think there's any doubt that, in at least five states I can think of, the NRA had a decisive influence…”

Later in the interview, Clinton described NRA as “an effective adversary” and said, “you've got to give it to them, they've done a good job. They've probably had more to do than anyone else in the fact we didn't win the House this time. And they hurt Al Gore.”

Through the decades, gun owners have made clear that they are a force to be reckoned with. By continuing to organize, and demonstrating the power of the pro-gun vote at the ballot box, NRA members and other gun owners can preserve our Second Amendment rights for years to come.

TRENDING NOW
Third Circuit Strikes Some New Jersey Carry Restrictions in NRA Case

Thursday, September 11, 2025

Third Circuit Strikes Some New Jersey Carry Restrictions in NRA Case

Yesterday, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in Siegel v. Platkin, striking some of the carry restrictions New Jersey enacted in response to the NRA’s landmark Supreme Court victory, New York State Rifle & ...

Gun Control “Journalist” Says the Quiet Part Out Loud

News  

Monday, September 8, 2025

Gun Control “Journalist” Says the Quiet Part Out Loud

Pure gun control. As in disarmament and banning of firearms. It’s rare that anti-gunners get straight to the exact point that we have been warning of for decades. 

The Desperate Deflection to the “Red State Murder Problem”

News  

Monday, September 8, 2025

The Desperate Deflection to the “Red State Murder Problem”

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) may have thought he had scored against President Donald Trump in a recent war of words over rampant crime and the deployment of federal law enforcement agents to Democratic-led cities

Due Process: The Backbone of Legal Legitimacy

News  

Monday, September 8, 2025

Due Process: The Backbone of Legal Legitimacy

Close observers of the gun debate often see references to due process.

Illinois: Governor Signs Mandatory Firearm Storage Law

Wednesday, September 3, 2025

Illinois: Governor Signs Mandatory Firearm Storage Law

Earlier this month, Governor JB Pritzker signed Senate Bill 8 into law. This legislation imposes new mandatory firearm storage requirements on law-abiding gun owners.  

Update: North Carolina House Reschedules Veto Override Vote

Tuesday, August 26, 2025

Update: North Carolina House Reschedules Veto Override Vote

Today, the House rescheduled the veto override vote on Senate Bill 50, Freedom to Carry NC, to Monday, September 22. 

NRA Files Amicus Brief Urging SCOTUS to Hear Challenge to Washington’s Magazine Ban

Monday, September 8, 2025

NRA Files Amicus Brief Urging SCOTUS to Hear Challenge to Washington’s Magazine Ban

Today, the National Rifle Association filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to grant certiorari in a case challenging Washington State’s ban on firearm magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.

Just One More Step: Australia’s New Weapon Laws

News  

Monday, March 24, 2025

Just One More Step: Australia’s New Weapon Laws

Australia implemented a firearm ban and mandatory confiscation in 1996 pursuant to the National Firearms Agreement, in which nearly 700,000 privately-owned firearms were turned in to the government and destroyed. 

Florida: Second Amendment Sales Tax Holiday Signed by Governor

Monday, July 7, 2025

Florida: Second Amendment Sales Tax Holiday Signed by Governor

Governor Ron DeSantis recently signed the Florida Budget for Fiscal Year 2025–2026, which includes a Second Amendment sales tax holiday from September 8 through December 31, 2025. The NRA is thankful for Governor DeSantis’ strong ...

Supreme Court Review Sought in NRA-Backed Challenge to California’s Magazine Ban

Friday, August 15, 2025

Supreme Court Review Sought in NRA-Backed Challenge to California’s Magazine Ban

Today, a Petition for Certiorari was filed asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Duncan v. Bonta, a case—backed by the National Rifle Association and California Rifle & Pistol Association—challenging California’s prohibition on magazines capable of holding ...

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.