NRA Global Edition

Rebecca Kuiters | United States Fellow

Image sourced from Occupy Global via Openverse.

At its conception in 1871, the National Rifle Association (NRA) championed gun safety and regulation throughout the United States (US). Throughout the early 20th century, the organisation supported restrictions on weapons, opposed open carry, endorsed background checks and even worked closely with congress to curb gun violence. 

However, since the late 20th century the NRA has become synonymous with gun rights, right-wing ideology and corporate interest. Critically, the NRA is no longer just an American phenomenon. Their influence has metastasized beyond US borders and influenced international arms agreements designed to keep everyday citizens around the world safe. The NRA we know today is not just endangering the safety of Americans at home but undermining international security by actively advocating to create a world rife with firearms. It is time to stop treating the NRA as a purely American project and start seriously scrutinising its international entanglements. 

The NRA at Home

Since 1960, over 1.5 million Americans have died from gun violence. Gun violence has affected all facets of American life, from those who oppose guns to those in staunch support of NRA adjacent values. Recently, prominent right-wing figure and gun rights advocate Charlie Kirk, who claimed it was “worth [the cost of] some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment”, was shot dead at his event in Utah. 

This perspective, that deaths are worth the Second Amendment, can be attributed to the NRA’s messaging and influence over American politics for the past half century, as this was not a prominent opinion in the US prior to their ideological shift. This shift has had devastating domestic consequences. While political assassinations are not new to the US, mass shootings have undoubtedly worsened as newer, more advanced gun technology has collided with the NRA’s staunch pro-gun ideology. What is less understood is how the NRA’s agenda has seeped into international policy, undermining global efforts to regulate the arms trade and protect vulnerable populations.

The NRA Abroad

The United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) exemplifies the NRA’s security impact abroad. Adopted in 2013, the ATT was designed to prevent weapons from being obtained by criminals, terrorists, and human rights abusers. It set common standards for arms exports and encouraged transparent cooperation among states yet explicitly exempted domestic gun ownership. Nevertheless, the NRA lobbied fiercely against it, spreading misinformation and stoking fears that it would infringe on US gun rights. Their campaign helped stall ratification, fuel US withdrawal from the treaty, and weaken global momentum for arms control. 

This was not an isolated incident. For decades, the NRA has influenced foreign nations to loosen their gun control and implement its ideology. For instance, the NRA has sent tactical and strategic support to strengthen gun lobby groups in Canada and have themselves directly lobbied to ‘kill the Canadian gun registry’. In response, Ontario’s former Attorney General Michael Bryant highlighted the need for greater public awareness of the NRA’s influence. 

Meanwhile in Brazil, the NRA directly worked with activists to stifle legislation that would have blocked the sale of firearms and ammunition to everyday civilians. Before the NRA intervened, Brazil’s pro-gun movement was virtually nonexistent. However, the NRA’s campaigning tools, such as stating that events like Tiananmen Square could be prevented with citizen gun ownership, were so powerful that they overpowered the Catholic Church’s stance on gun control in this devoutly Catholic country. As the NRA’s power to influence foreign disarmament laws continues to grow, foreign governments need to seriously analyse and publicly expose the influence of the lobby group. 

The NRA do not hide their agenda to influence foreign nations' gun legislation and policy. Indeed, they regularly comment on foreign nations' gun reform, publicly advising what foreign citizens should do to achieve gun rights in line with the NRA’s image. Accordingly, foreign governments must intensely and publicly investigate the NRA’s involvement in their own nation's legislative processes and swiftly devise strategies to combat their campaigns. 

Time for International Scrutiny

The reason behind the NRA’s destabilization of gun control abroad is that it eases the international buying and selling of guns. As the NRA has direct financial ties to domestic and foreign arms manufacturers, the organisation and their members benefit from international deregulation. The NRA undermines the safety of communities abroad in the interest of financial gain disguised as domestic ideological advancement. 

While the NRA’s official policy discourages direct financial investment into foreign countries, the NRA has a multi-million-dollar investment account in Central America which is critically under-investigated. Therefore, the US must further scrutinise these financial holdings and their suspected ties with criminal activity abroad. Likewise, Congress should launch a formal investigation into the NRA’s international partnerships, financial holdings, and lobbying activities. The American public should be aware that a domestic lobby group is fueling the global arms trade in ways that contradict its stated mission and undermine American diplomacy. 

Finally, countries where the NRA has exerted influence, such as Canada and Brazil, must also examine the organisation’s role in shaping domestic policy. Governments should hold official investigations into the NRA’s contributions within their political systems in the interest of public transparency. Furthermore, international organisations like the United Nations should scrutinise and report on the NRA’s global influence to aid foreign governments in combatting their transnational efforts. When foreign interests distort national conversations regarding gun control, the public deserves to know.

Rebecca Kuiters is the United States Fellow for Young Australians in International Affairs. Bec is currently completing her Honours in Psychology at the University of Queensland, with a research focus in social psychology and ethics. Raised across several countries, including Qatar and China, Bec spent most of her formative years in Houston, Texas.

This global upbringing sparked a strong interest in American politics and shaped a nuanced perspective on the United States' role in global affairs. Having grown up during a time of deep division and political polarisation, she brings a thoughtful, layered lens to conversations around American domestic and foreign policy.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Young Australians in International Affairs. All content is original, and no plagiarism has been used in the preparation of this article.