[Continued from Part 1 of 2] The next decade became the NRA's golden age. Membership leaped from 900,000 to near 3 million and the budget doubled as the NRA acquired high-priced consultants and PR firms. A key NRA ideologue named Tanya Metaksa ("Spell that M-e-t-a-k-like in AK-47-s-a, like in semiautomatic," she instructed reporters) even ghost — wrote an article for President Reagan that advocated gutting the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. NRA... (GunPolicy.org)