Gun Owners of America

Gun Owners of America

Gun Owners of America logo
Headquarters	Springfield, Virginia, U.S.
Membership	1,500,000+
Founder	H. L. Richardson
Executive Director	Larry Pratt
Website	www.gunowners.org

Gun Owners of America (GOA) is a gun rights organization in the United States with over 1.5 million members. It makes efforts to differentiate itself from the larger National Rifle Association (NRA), and has publicly criticized the NRA on multiple occasions for allegedly compromising on gun rights issues and thereby selling out the gun rights movement.

The GOA has often been in opposition to the NRA in its endorsements and ratings of politicians and candidates. For instance, the GOA was outspoken in its opposition to John McCain's 2008 presidential bid, describing his gun-rights voting record as "abysmal, wretched, and pathetic" and giving him an F- grade on Second Amendment issues since 2004, while the NRA (through its PAC, the NRA-PVF) gave him a C+. The GOA took issue with the NRA over the 2007 NICS Improvement Act.

The GOA has been described by Congressman Ron Paul as "The only no-compromise gun lobby in Washington." This quote from Paul has long been displayed prominently on the home page of the Gun Owners of America website, and Paul was the only 2008 presidential candidate to receive an A+ grade from Gun Owners of America.

Gun Owners of America was founded in 1975 by the NRA board member and California state senator H.L. Richardson when legislation to ban all handguns was introduced in California. Richardson continues to serve as the chairman of Gun Owners of America. Richardson also founded Gun Owners of California, which deals specifically with gun ownership rights in California. GOA's executive director is Larry Pratt, who also hosts GOA's audio webcast, Live Fire.

Gun Owners of America is a non-profit organization whose main goal is to preserve and defend the Second Amendment. GOA sees the right to bear arms as a fundamental freedom issue. GOA's stance is to "never compromise" and not to accept the status quo. According to GOA's official website, its board contends that Americans have lost some of their gun rights, and GOA strives to get them back. For the past 30 years GOA has been building a nationwide network of lawyers to aid in challenging gun control legislation in the courts. GOA has been involved in legal proceedings in almost every state in the hopes of maintaining and advancing pro-gun legislation and rights.