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NRA Making Its Presence Felt on Cable

Jan 22, 2013  •  Post A Comment

The National Rifle Association is increasingly becoming a presence on cable. The group sponsors or produces six television shows that air on the Outdoor and Sportsman channels, creating a potential profit center for the group as well as a way to reach out to its core supporters, Reuters reports.

"They’re consolidating their base. It’s a lot easier to get your message across with video than it was a printed pamphlet," said Larry Gerbrandt, a former cable TV executive who founded the media appraisal firm Valuation Partners.

Cam Edwards, the host of Sportsman Channel’s "Cam & Company," has been outspoken in siding with the NRA against President Obama’s proposals to expand gun controls. His show is produced by NRA News.

Nevertheless, he said he is "not a spokesman for the NRA" and that NRA News is distinct from the lobbying organization. The NRA didn’t respond to requests for comment, the story says.

"Other shows, which are mostly history or competition programs, help the NRA promote the gun-owning lifestyle and are an important advertising platform for advertisers such as gun makers Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. or Remington Arms Co. Ltd.," the piece points out.

“One of the Sportsman Channel’s highest-rated shows is ‘Guns and Gold,’ an NRA-produced program in which two officials from the National Firearms Museum tour the country to value heirlooms and ancient guns,” the story reports. “The NRA also sponsors the shooting competition show ‘3-Gun Nation’ on the Sportsman Channel and Outdoor Channel’s ‘American Rifleman,’ which reviews products and airs stories about gun owners from the NRA’s American Rifleman magazine.”

3 Comments

  1. Not a spokesman for the NRA?! Really!? Let Cam espouse sensible gun legislation and see how long his funding lasts. And the other shows being sponsored by S&W and Remington, I hate to break the news to Cam but if he doesn’t realize the NRA is the marketing department for them and all other gun manufacturers, then it is obvious he lives “in the bubble”.

  2. Long live the NRA and other supporters of our FREEDOMS.

  3. The NRA gets a bad rap when they are depicted as wanting something that the majority of Americans do not. The NRA is far down the list when it comes to lobbying clout. The oil companies and pharmaceuticals wield far more influence. The vast majority of politicians have never served in the military. They are not familiar with basic weapons and are easily influenced by the media and the media generated hysteria which follows horrific mass killings. Instead of trying to address the problem, the media and many of its non military service members point to guns as the problem. A lot of the NRA’s paranoia is warranted. The average citizen in America does not have the platform that a Piers Morgan is granted and which he uses to project his personal viewpoints which are not backed by reason. The facts are not difficult to establish. Gun control does not work. Even NY recently published in their latest upgrading of their tougher new policy that they vowed to enforce the laws already on the books. Isn’t that interesting. As much as the NRA frustrates most of us from time to time, they are the only organization willing and capable of fighting the Piers Morgans out there that have personal agendas not backed by facts.

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