Page 178 - Information and American Democracy Technology in the Evolution of Political Power

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unfoldingevents.Theuseofinformationtechnologydrewclosertogether
an existing coalition, EdLiNC, but not in traditional bureaucratic terms.
As is true of the Save Our Environment Coalition and Green Group,
the actual organizational structure of the Save the E-Rate Coalition was
obscure in traditional terms, even to its members. When participants de-
scribe the Save the E-Rate Coalition as an organization, they talk about
how information flowed rather than about how responsibilities were as-
signed or how relationships were structured by rules or procedures.

GUN CONTROL
The terrain of national gun control policy in the United States is among
the most tightly defined policy areas organizationally. 126 The absolute
dominance of pro-gun advocacy by the National Rifle Association (NRA)
makesthatsideofthepolicyarenanearlyamonopoly.Othergroups,such
as Gun Owners of America and the Citizen’s Committee for the Right
to Keep and Bear Arms, are much smaller and less influential in policy
making. 127 To a large extent, opposition to gun control policy is defined
by the strategies and resources of this one organization. The success of
the NRA rests on several factors: a membership in excess of 3 million,
very savvy lobbying campaigns of both the inside and outside variety,
and an insistent and laser-like focus on framing gun control as a civil
liberties issue resting in the Second Amendment.
The absence of opponents with comparable resources is another
reason for the NRA’s clout. Gun control advocacy is characterized by
a number of vastly smaller groups. A few national gun control organi-
zations exist, along with over a dozen state-level groups of note. Some
organizations with primary missions in other areas also take stands in fa-
vor of gun control, such as the American Bar Association’s Coordinating
Committee on Gun Violence and the American Jewish Congress. At the
nationallevel,themostpowerfulgroupistheBradyCampaigntoPrevent
Gun Violence, formerly Handgun Control, Inc. 128 It was founded in 1974
and rose to prominence in the 1980s, when Sarah Brady became chair

126
This case is based chiefly on news accounts and two interviews with participants in
the Million Mom March. Most of the research for this case study and an initial written
summary were prepared by Diane Johnson, doctoral student in the Political Science
department at UCSB.
127
For an analysis of groups’ influence, see Laura I. Langbein and Mark A. Lotwis, “The
Political Efficacy of Lobbying and Money: Gun Control in the U.S. House, 1986,”
Legislative Studies Quarterly 15, no. 3 (1986): 413–440.
128
Handgun Control, Inc., renamed itself in June 2001.
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