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The sound and the fury of the gun lobby can also be seen whenever a bill is proposed in state legislatures. In Missouri, for example, a proposal was made to ban private handgun sales. At the hearings on April 1, only two people showed up to testify in favor of the ban. But the N.R.A. corralled 6,000 fervent opponents to converge on the capital, Jefferson City (pop. 57,000), jamming traffic into town. Willis Corbett, the N.R.A. regional representative, said such a bill was "dangerous." At a public hearing on a New Jersey bill that would ban handguns, held the day after Reagan was shot, 600 gun enthusiasts packed the hearing room. Explains one N.R.A. field representative, Lewis Elliott of Colorado: "Ours is a grassroots effort. Instead of paying a lobbyist, we just use the people."
In fact, at the federal level, the N.R.A. has five full-time lobbyists, a group headed by Neal Knox, a sharp-penned columnist for various gun magazines. They are well-informed, savvy professionals, but occasionally their zeal exasperates, rather than impresses, even congressional allies. Last fall, the N.R.A. repeatedly tried to attach a bill loosening gun regulations onto a proposed, long-overdue revision of the federal criminal code. Several senatorial supporters of the N.R.A., including Republicans Paul Laxalt of Nevada and Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, were upset at the tactic, fearing that years of work on the code would be sunk by this extra weight. Neither the new code nor the N.R.A. bill ever made it to a Senate vote. Two other N.R.A. supporters, Republican Robert Dole of Kansas and Democrat Sam Nunn of Georgia, were annoyed by the lobby's relentless but ultimately unsuccessful effort to block the confirmation last fall of former Illinois Congressman Abner Mikva, a strong gun-control advocate, as a federal judge.
Mikva, who survived six years of N.R.A. targeting, is cited as proof that the awesome aura projected by the gun lobby may be illusory when it comes to wielding votes rather than merely Mail-grams. Mikva feels that the best way to defeat what he calls a "paper tiger" is to stand up to it. Congressman Russo agrees: "The N.R.A. is indeed a paper tiger. I was their No. 1 target. Yet I've won by bigger margins every election."
But the defeated McGovern ruefully dissents: "Keep in mind that Ab Mikva comes from Chicago. No way is anyone from Montana or South Dakota going to agree that the N.R.A. is a paper tiger."
The N.R.A.'s muscle will be tested again this year. The Kennedy-Rodino measure—which N.R.A. Executive John Acquilino calls "probably the most bullshit bill ever proposed"—faces the prospect of early defeat, but the N.R.A. is nevertheless gearing up for a big battle.
One reason for the heavy mobilization is to rally support for a bill sponsored by Senator James McClure of Idaho and Congressman Harold Volkmer of Missouri. Supporters of the measure—which would ease restrictions on the interstate sales of guns—considered introducing it two weeks ago, but held off when Reagan was shot. No one seriously doubts that once the public outcry over the assassination attempt dies down, the bill will show up on the docket. Obedient to the tide of Mailgrams, hundreds of Congressmen will do their best to see that it becomes law. —By Walter Isaacson.