Author

Robert Spitzer

Robert Spitzer

Robert Spitzer is Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of the Political Science Department, State University of New York College at Cortland. Dr. Spitzer is the author of sixteen books, including four on the presidency, and six on gun policy, and over 700 scholarly articles, book chapters, reviews, papers, and essays, and is Series Editor for the Book Series on American Constitutionalism published by SUNY Press, and for the book series on presidential briefing books for transaction publishers. He has testified before Congress, participated in meetings at the White House, and has had his work cited by federal courts. In the 1980s, he served as a member of the New York State Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution. Spitzer was elevated to the rank of Distinguished Service Professor in 1997, received the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship in 2003, Cortland's Outstanding Achievement in Research Award in 2005 and 2010, and is a former President of the Presidency Research Group of the American Political Science Association.

Wayne LaPierre, NRA vice president and CEO, attends the NRA annual meeting of members at the 148th NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits on April 27, 2019 in Indianapolis, Indiana. A statement was read at the meeting announcing that NRA president Oliver North, whose seat at the head table remained empty at the event, would not serve another term. There have been recent reports of tension between LaPierre and North, with North citing financial impropriety within the organization. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

How the NRA evolved from backing a 1934 machine gun ban to blocking nearly all firearm restrictions

By: - May 31, 2022

The mass shootings at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket and an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, just 10 days apart, are stirring the now-familiar national debate over guns seen after the tragic 2012 and 2018 school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, and Parkland, Florida. Inevitably, if also understandably, many Americans are blaming the National Rifle Association […]