Cape Cod Grandmothers Against Gun Violence
P.O. Box 877, Barnstable, MA 02630

Grandmothers Zoom Meeting
Wednesday, March 9, 2022 – 10:30 AM
William Sisk, Ph.D. Candidate
Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at SUNY Albany

NRA logo

The Takeover of the NRA and Its Consequences

William Sisk will speak to us on the development of the NRA beginning in the 60’s and 70’s when radical subgroups within the NRA started to mobilize and strategize to change the message and core values of the NRA. In five year periods, he will discuss how the hierarchical and undemocratic framework of the organization allowed this to happen and what it means today. Their infiltration of mainstream media and sporting magazines, mixed messaging with law enforcement against the FBI and ATF as well as the drift from an organization that supported conservation, wildlife, and safety training to what the NRA represents today was a deliberate path by the more radical elements within the organization. We will hear how the organization aligned its changing core values with rugged masculinity, single identity, single issues, and single party to become the organization it is today.
William Sisk
William Sisk 		William “Bill” Sisk is a PhD candidate at Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy at SUNY Albany. His dissertation explores the evolution of gun rights discourses in the alternative gun press in America, and its role in the growing dominance of radical gun rights activists on the agenda and tactics of the National Rifle Association. His work examines the role of identity in policy discourses, especially how identity is deployed in discourses to mediate coalitional boundaries and shape strategic preferences in advocacy organizations. By tracing the relationships between context, structures, and political language, the work explains the circumstances by which radical sub-groups can develop and dominate, even with smaller numbers and more limited resources. When he is not teaching or researching, Bill serves as the social media editor for Critical Policy Studies, tweeting out the latest releases, network events, conferences, and new exciting work in the field.