The NRA and Nevada

A bit of controversy has been made about the possibility of the NRA endorsing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.  Although conservatives and libertarians have considerable beef with Senator Reid, the NRA has endorsed him in past elections.

Yesterday, though, Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) and chairman of the NRA's Political Victory Fund (PVF), issued a press release stating it would not endorse Senator Reid in this year's elections, and which included the following:

The U.S. Senate recently considered a number of issues important to NRA members, including the confirmation of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. Out of respect for the confirmation process, the NRA did not announce its position on Ms. Kagan's confirmation until the conclusion of her testimony before the Senate Judiciary committee. Her evasive testimony exacerbated grave concerns we had about her long-standing hostility towards the Second Amendment. As a result, the NRA strongly opposed her confirmation and made it clear at the time that we would be scoring this important vote.

The vote on Elena Kagan's confirmation to the Court, along with the previous year's confirmation vote on Sonia Sotomayor, are critical for the future of the Second Amendment. After careful consideration, the NRA-PVF announced today that it will not be endorsing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for re-election in the 2010 U.S. Senate race in Nevada. (emphasis added)

As had been the case with the controversy over the DISCLOSE Act, the explanation is simple: the NRA is a single-issue organization, and that single issue is the 2nd Amendment; it isn't health care, illegal immigration, or even the 1st Amendment, but the 2nd Amendment alone.