I think I was once a member of the NRA.

Technically, I might have been a "junior member," if there was such a thing.

It happened when I was in high school, sometime in 1961-65. My school had a target-shooting rifle team that competed against other schools. A change in rules was announced so that members of the team could earn an athletic "letter." I was a very non-athletic, nerdy kid who knew I had no chance to earn an athletic letter any other way, so I thought I'd try target shooting. (If they had offered a chance to win a letter by playing chess, I would have preferred that.)

It was harder than I thought. They used special target-shooting rifles that are heavier than ordinary rifles. They make them heavy on purpose because, theoretically, the extra inertia slows down the "wobble" that naturally happens when you're taking aim. That's assuming you have the muscles to support the weight. If you're rather weak, like I was, I think the extra weight made you wobble more, not less. The champion shooters also lifted weights.

After a year or so, I figured I'd never excel at target shooting, so I lost interest and quit. I did earn a couple of badges first. I can't remember what rank I achieved, but I remember the badges said "National Rifle Association" on them. That was the extent of my involvement.

If the NRA had a political agenda in those days, I wasn't aware of it.

Today, I don't own a firearm, and have no desire to.

If the NRA were to stick to promoting firearm safety, and promoting harmless sports like target shooting, I would have no objection to them. But since they don't, I think they're more evil than good.