Assignment:
Interest Group
1. Find a piece of legislation that has been sponsored or advocated by the Gun Owners of America. This can be from any session of the Texas Legislature. If they are a major Interest Group, odds are that they have sponsored some legislation-this will take some research as well.
2. Watch a video about Gun Owners of America. This can be from the Interest Group (IG) itself or can be from a news show about IG. This could include if someone from the organization was interviewed on a news show. These videos are often on the organization's website. The video should be at least three minutes long. Include a website link to the video so that I may watch it as well. In at least one paragraph, summarize the arguments and claims made in the video.
3. Do a one-paragraph summary of an article or OP-ED that discusses the activities of your IG. It can be written by someone who works for the Interest Group (Gun Owners of America) or by someone outside the Interest Group. Summaries shouldn't have any quotations; they should be entirely in your own words.Include a link to the op-ed so I can read it.
4. Think about all you have learned about the Interest Group(Gun Owners of America) and answer the following questions in a four-paragraph essay (12 pt font, single-spaced).
a. What is your assessment of the goals of this interest group? Are their goals in the best interests of Texas? Why? Are there other goals they should have or goals that they do have they should abandon?
b. Specifically, how does this interest group try to achieve its goals? Do they tend to hold conferences, run ads, lobby legislators, publish articles or books, raise and spend money for and specific things? Different interest groups employ different methods...show me you understand how this interest group tries to achieve its goals.
c. Finally, has this interest group been effective in achieving its goals. This will require some research. Don't just say yes or no. Provide data that show specific failures or successes of this interest group. Think about how one would go about evaluating the effectiveness of an interest group.