In the real world, what makes the NRA so powerful is that it is huge. I have been in politics for many years, and there is simply no other organization with the titanic grassroots membership, the paying and active membership, that the NRA has. This fact would be murder if any conservative, including Pat Buchanan, ever mentioned it. Back when I last looked, the NRA had three million paying members, and membership is expensive. And you only read that here.
Respectable conservatives are our real enemies.
Recently a black South Carolina legislator was organizing a campaign against the deadliest scourge presently threatening the black community, drug addiction. Bob Jones University offered to help. With its enthusiasm and funds, Bob Jones would have been a great help. But Bob Jones prohibits interracial dating. So the legislator decided its help would not be accepted, since interracial dating is more important to black leaders than drug addiction is.