Whenever the gun control issue comes up (as it will again and again as long as evil exists in this world), the NRA is the first target of crowd that is actively working to repeal civil rights.

Although few people who oppose the right to own weapons know much – if anything – about the NRA, they’re quick to label them child-killers, evil and violence mongers.

Despite the fact that the NRA is a civil rights organization, over the years it has lost the PR battle to an aggressively ignorant and misleading campaign by left-wing activists. The NRA’s strategy has been to ignore bad press, but that’s obviously been to their detriment. Watching frightened teenagers directly accuse the NRA of murdering teens as they sit in school, it is very clear that the general American public has absolutely no idea what the NRA is or does. They have “rifle” in the name and that’s all they know.

In the interest of public education, here is a quick rundown of all the things the National Rifle Association does not do.

1.The NRA does not murder children. In over 150 years of defending the second amendment, there is not one documented case of the NRA sending out an edict, an order or even a memo to murder children. No one at the NRA has ever been ordered to murder children. Murdering children isn’t allowed at the NRA and that is very well documented in a 150 year history of never murdering children as a matter of policy.

2.The NRA does not arm murderers. The NRA is a civil rights organization. As such it is mandated to protect the law, not break the law. Murder is against the law. Therefore, it would be against the law to aid in a murder.

3.The NRA does not hand out guns. Once again for the people in the cheap seats: the NRA is a CIVIL RIGHTS organization. They are activists. They do not arm Americans with anything but knowledge. You can join the NRA if you want, but you still have to buy your own gun. There’s no NRA Santa Claus that squeezes down your chimney when you pay your dues. Every gun in the nation must be individually obtained. There’s no other way to get one.

4.The NRA does not monitor potential mass murderers. Can we say this enough? The NRA is a civil rights organization. They are not law enforcement or national security. They do not oversee the monitoring of terrorists or potential threats. It is interesting that in the wake of Parkland the NRA is getting a lot of the heat while the agency responsible for monitoring a previously identified threat is largely ignored by the mainstream press. The NRA has absolutely no power or authority to intervene in national security issues.

5.The NRA does not buy politicians. Like Planned Parenthood, GLAAD and the ASPCA, the NRA lobbies politicians on Capitol Hill to support or reject legislation they feel pertinent to their mandate. Lobbying is not illegal, nor is it rare. Every single national organization in the country has a lobbyist on Capitol Hill. That is how we get a majority of our laws these days. You may not think that’s fair and may even seem slimy, but if you support any national organization then you support lobbying.

What exactly does the NRA do? Well, you can navigate to their website to find out the history. The horribly sad insults that have been hurled at the faceless NRA and anyone who has an NRA membership have been based 100% in ignorance. Anyone who actually took a moment to read what the NRA does would at the very least be less inclined to throw such uninformed vitriol their way and refocus their rage on the actual murderer.

For those who are too lazy to click over to the website, here’s a portion of their “About” page, where you can find out a lot of little-known info about an unfairly maligned organization.

Dismayed by the lack of marksmanship shown by their troops, Union veterans Col. William C. Church and Gen. George Wingate formed the National Rifle Association in 1871. The primary goal of the association would be to “promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis,” according to a magazine editorial written by Church.

After being granted a charter by the state of New York on November 17, 1871, the NRA was founded. Civil War Gen. Ambrose Burnside, who was also the former governor of Rhode Island and a U.S. senator, became the fledgling NRA’s first president.

An important facet of the NRA’s creation was the development of a practice ground. In 1872, with financial help from New York State, a site on Long Island, the Creed Farm, was purchased for the purpose of building a rifle range. Named Creedmoor, the range opened a year later, and it was there that the first annual matches were held.

Political opposition to the promotion of marksmanship in New York forced the NRA to find a new home for its range. In 1892, Creedmoor was deeded back to the state and NRA’s matches moved to Sea Girt, New Jersey.

The NRA’s interest in promoting the shooting sports among America’s youth began in 1903 when NRA Secretary Albert S. Jones urged the establishment of rifle clubs at all major colleges, universities and military academies. By 1906, NRA’s youth program was in full swing with more than 200 boys competing in matches at Sea Girt that summer. Today, youth programs are still a cornerstone of the NRA, with more than one million youth participating in NRA shooting sports events and affiliated programs with groups such as 4-H, the Boy Scouts of America, the American Legion, Royal Rangers, National High School Rodeo Association and others.

Due to the overwhelming growth of NRA’s shooting programs, a new range was needed. Gen. Ammon B. Crichfield, adjutant general of Ohio, had begun construction of a new shooting facility on the shores of Lake Erie, 45 miles east of Toledo, Ohio. Camp Perry became the home of the annual National Matches, which have been the benchmark for excellence in marksmanship ever since. With nearly 6,000 people competing annually in pistol, smallbore and high-power events, the National Matches are one of the biggest sporting events held in the country today.

Through the association’s magazine, The American Rifleman, members were kept abreast of new firearms bills, although the lag time in publishing often prevented the necessary information from going out quickly. In response to repeated attacks on the Second Amendment rights, NRA formed the Legislative Affairs Division in 1934. While NRA did not lobby directly at this time, it did mail out legislative facts and analyses to members, whereby they could take action on their own. In 1975, recognizing the critical need for political defense of the Second Amendment, NRA formed the Institute for Legislative Action, or ILA.

Meanwhile, the NRA continued its commitment to training, education and marksmanship. During World War II, the association offered its ranges to the government, developed training materials, encouraged members to serve as plant and home guard members, and developed training materials for industrial security. NRA members even reloaded ammunition for those guarding war plants. Incidentally, the NRA’s call to help arm Britain in 1940 resulted in the collection of more than 7,000 firearms for Britain’s defense against potential invasion by Germany (Britain had virtually disarmed itself with a series of gun-control laws enacted between World War I and World War II).

After the war, the NRA concentrated its efforts on another much-needed arena for education and training: the hunting community. In 1949, the NRA, in conjunction with the state of New York, established the first hunter education program. Hunter Education courses are now taught by state fish and game departments across the country and Canada and have helped make hunting one of the safest sports in existence. Due to increasing interest in hunting, NRA launched a new magazine in 1973, The American Hunter, dedicated solely to hunting issues year-round. NRA continues its leadership role in hunting today with the Youth Hunter Education Challenge (YHEC), a program that allows youngsters to build on the skills they learned in basic hunter education courses. YHECs are now held in 43 states and three Canadian provinces, involving an estimated 40,000 young hunters.

The American Hunter and The American Rifleman were the mainstays of NRA publications until the debut of The American Guardian in 1997. The Guardian was created to cater to a more mainstream audience, with less emphasis on the technicalities of firearms and a more general focus on self-defense and recreational use of firearms. The Guardian was renamed America’s 1st Freedom in June of 2000.

Law enforcement training was next on the priority list for program development. Although a special police school had been reinstated at Camp Perry in 1956, NRA became the only national trainer of law enforcement officers with the introduction of its NRA Police Firearms Instructor certification program in 1960. Today, there are more than 13,000 NRA-certified police and security firearms instructors. Additionally, top law enforcement shooters compete each year in eight different pistol and shotgun matches at the National Police Shooting Championships held in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

In civilian training, the NRA continues to be the leader in firearms education. Over 125,000 certified instructors now train about 1,000,000 gun owners a year. Courses are available in basic rifle, pistol, shotgun, muzzleloading firearms, personal protection, even ammunition reloading. Additionally, nearly 7,000 certified coaches are specially trained to work with young competitive shooters. Since the establishment of the lifesaving Eddie Eagle GunSafe® Program in 1988, more than 28 million pre-kindergarten to fourth grade children have learned that if they see a firearm in an unsupervised situation, they should “STOP. DON’T TOUCH. RUN AWAY. TELL A GROWNUP.” Over the past seven years, Refuse To Be A Victim® seminars have helped more than 100,000 men and women develop their own personal safety plan using common sense strategies.