How NRA targeted politics to become America’s nightmare

From marksmanship classes following the Civil War, the NRA has grown into a beast that decries any talk of gun control, writes Bette Browne.

As gun massacres mount in horrifying numbers in the US, some Americans are dismayed at the power of the National Rifle Association to block gun control.

But this organisation has always had friends in high places and can count nine current or former US presidents among its members, including John F Kennedy, who himself was assassinated by a gunman.