Rep. John Dingell wrote to a constituent explaining his dual role as a member of Congress and an N.R.A. director.
And he was not alone. Dingell was one of at least nine senators and representatives, both Republicans and Democrats, with the same dual role over the last half-century — lawmaker-directors who helped the NRA accumulate and exercise unrivaled power. The fact that some members of Congress served on the NRA board is not new. But much of what they did for the gun group, and how, was not publicly known.
“These actions by him are often carefully obscured,” Mustin wrote, so they may “not be recognized or understood by the uninitiated observer.” Barr, who has remained on the NRA board since leaving government in 2003, said in an interview that he did not recall the memos he wrote to LaPierre, which were among the congressman’s papers at the University of West Georgia. But during his nearly six years in office while also an NRA director, he said, the group “never approached me to do anything that I didn’t want to do or that I would not have done anyway.
“I deeply regret,” Dingell wrote, “that the conflict between my responsibilities as a Member of Congress and my duties as a board member of the National Rifle Association is irreconcilable.”Dingell was comfortable with firearms at an early age: When not blasting ducks with a shotgun, he was plinking rats with an air gun in the basement of the U.S. Capitol, where he served as a page.
During the 1960s, public outrage over political assassinations and street violence led to calls for stronger laws, culminating in the Gun Control Act, the most significant firearms bill since the 1930s. The law would restrict interstate sales, require serial numbers on firearms and make addiction or mental illness potential disqualifiers for ownership.
The group, he said, must “begin moving toward a legislative program” to codify an individual’s right to bear arms “for sporting and defense purposes.” It was a major departure from the Supreme Court’s sparse record on Second Amendment issues up to that point. The move would neutralize arguments for tighter gun restrictions in Congress and all 50 states, he said.
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