There is more to joining GOA than just a list of members' benefits.

The united voice of GOA members has been successful in defeating restrictive legislation designed to disarm our population. Indeed, GOA has won much praise on Capitol Hill for its legislative accomplishments.

GOA stood virtually alone in opposing all anti-gun provisions of the so-called juvenile crime bill of 1999-2000. This bill would ban private sales of firearms at gun shows unless the buyer submits to a government registration background check.

One House leadership source close to the juvenile crime issue told a Washington reporter that "[GOA] moved quickly and we heard from their people."

In an earlier version of the bill, pressure from GOA members prompted seven senators, who previously cosponsored the bill, to withdraw their support.

GOA is active on many other fronts. For example, GOA is the only national gun group pushing for the complete repeal of the Lautenberg gun ban, a law that disarms people for life for certain misdemeanor offenses.

In addition, when the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently proposed draconian gun restrictions on land under its authority, GOA alerted its members. Responding to the intense pressure generated after the alert, then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbit ordered the BLM restrictions pulled.

GOA remains the only national organization that is actively pushing the Citizen's Self-Defense Act designed to protect innocent civilians, who use a gun in self-defense from anti-gun prosecutors. GOA is also the only national organization fighting to repeal the Brady instant "registration" check, and is alone in pushing truly constitutional CCW legislation that allows law-abiding citizens to carry a firearm without a permit.