Blog Post 2- (Interest Groups)

An interest group is a collection of people with the same beliefs regarding a particular issue. These serve as linkage institutions because the issues end up going to the government. The two interest groups that I have chosen are the National Rifle Association and The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. The issue of gun control is related to these interests groups. Starting off, the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) goal is to encourage the use of rifles. Not only that but their mission is to maintain and protect the right of all individuals to purchase, possess and use firearms which is backed up by the second amendment of the constitution. The NRA has also been really successful in the past years by making gun laws less strict. An example of this is because in some states you can carry a weapon or firearm without a permit. A big part of their success has been the fact that they have a lot of money. “Combined with the strong grassroots efforts of NRA members and NRA-affiliated state associations and local gun clubs, the Institute has worked vigorously to pass pro-gun reform legislation at the state level” (Source). This artifact represents the group and their mission because it shows their specific goals regarding gun control.

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence is the second interest group I have chosen. This groups mission is to have all Americans live in communities free from gun violence. They plan to reach this goal through, “strategic engagement, policy development, and effective advocacy”(Source). This interest group has helped pass a law to remove firearms from families in a crisis. “In recent years, we have worked with scientific experts to develop the Gun Violence Restraining Order (GVRO), a law that allows law enforcement and family members to temporarily remove firearms from a loved one in crisis.” This is used where they are unstable families and have issues. It is important for any firearm to be removed in order for it to be safe. This fits in with their mission because they are stopping people from abusing their guns which means they are stopping gun violence. The logo of The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence clearly represents their mission of stopping gun violence.

Not only does their logo represent their mission but when you go into their website you can see a photo. It is a picture of the constitution that says “We the people” (Source). The CSGV shows that they care about the constitution and want to protect it along with the second amendment.

These two interest groups clash with each other due to one side wanting to remove firearms from individuals while the other side wants individuals to be able to keep using firearms. A similarity between the NRA and CSGV is that they both deeply care about guns. What I mean by this, is that both devote themselves to protect gun rights or to restrict them. The CSGV logo differs from the quote I used for NRA because the NRA managed to pass a gun law while the CSGV name stands for the stop on gun violence. When the NRA passed the gun law it was to make it less strict. The logo of the CSGV specifically states, “THE COALITION TO STOP GUN VIOLENCE.” Also, we can see that the CSGV deeply cares about the constitution and even has a picture of it while the NRA doesn’t necessarily care as much. I would choose the NRA because, in my opinion, we should be able to have whatever guns we want.