<P> Observers and lawmakers see the NRA as one of the top three most influential lobbying groups in Washington, DC The NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA - ILA) is its lobbying arm, which manages its political action committee (PAC), the Political Victory Fund (PVF). Over its history the organization has influenced legislation, participated in or initiated lawsuits, and endorsed or opposed various candidates at local, state and federal levels . </P> <P> In recent years, the organization has been the subject of fierce condemnation and criticism for its ideology, legal challenges to laws regulating firearms, and relations with the media . Gun control advocates have accused the NRA of complicity in mass shootings by actively opposing laws in favor of restricting firearms, gun rights advocates have criticized the organization for perceived leniency regarding firearms, and political commentators and politicians, including New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, have excoriated the NRA for airing advertisements which have been interpreted as defamatory . </P> <P> A few months after the Civil War started in 1861, a national rifle association was proposed by Americans in England . In a letter that was sent to President Lincoln and appeared in the New York Times, R.G. Moulton and R.B. Perry recommended forming an organization similar to the British National Rifle Association, which had formed a year and a half earlier . They suggested making a shooting range, perhaps on the base on Staten Island, and were offering Whitworth rifles for prizes for the first shooting competition with those rifles . They suggested a provisional committee to start the Association which would include: President Lincoln, Secretary of War, officers, and other prominent New Yorkers . </P> <P> The National Rifle Association was first chartered in the State of New York on November 16, 1871 by Army and Navy Journal editor William Conant Church and Captain George Wood Wingate . On November 25, 1871, the group voted to elect its first corporate officers . Union Army Civil War General Ambrose Burnside, who had worked as a Rhode Island gunsmith, was elected president . When Burnside resigned on August 1, 1872, Church succeeded him as president . </P>

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