Chris Cox was appointed chief lobbyist and principal political strategist for the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, the political and lobbying arm of the NRA, in April 2002. He oversees eight ILA divisions: Federal Affairs; State & Local Government Affairs; Public Affairs; Grassroots; Finance; Research; Conservation; Wildlife & Natural Resources; and Office of Legislative Counsel. Chris also serves as chairman of NRA's Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF: the Association's Political Action Committee). Prior to joining the NRA, he served as a senior legislative aide for a member of Congress, managing judiciary issues, including criminal justice reforms and firearms-related matters. Chris is a familiar figure in political circles across the country. He is respected and well liked by elected officials from both sides of the aisle. An accomplished government-relations professional, he has held senior positions within ILA and has been the point-person on many key NRA legislative and political initiatives. A few months after being promoted to deputy director of ILA Federal Affairs Division, Chris was named the executive director of NRA-ILA. Directing NRA's nationwide legislative and political effort, Chris develops and executes independent political campaign and legislative initiatives, coordinates national advertising and direct-mail programs and has administrative responsibility over ILA's $20 million budget. He also serves as the Association's principal contact with key members of the administration and leaders in the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives. During the 2002 election cycle, Chris' first as NRA's chief lobbyist, he led efforts that resulted in one of the most successful election cycles on record for the NRA. The successes of 2002, while significant, were overshadowed in 2004. Chris led the winning battle to retire the decade-old failed experiment, deceptively labeled as the "Assault Weapons Ban." The forced expiration of this law on September 13, 2004, was a major blow to the gun control lobby and to their allies in Washington, D.C. Under Chris' leadership, NRA delivered yet another setback to the gun control lobby during the 2004 elections. 95% of the NRA-PVF endorsed federal candidates and 86% of the endorsed state candidates prevailed. These margins of victory were unprecedented in the history of the NRA-ILA. Chris also devised an aggressive plan to mobilize grassroots voters with a hard-hitting earned media campaign, resulting in a higher gun owner turnout for the reelection of President George W. Bush than in 2000. Chris is a graduate of Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn., where he earned a bachelor's degree in history and minored in business administration. He grew up hunting and fishing with his father and three brothers in west Tennessee. http://www.townhall.com/columnists/ChrisWCox http://media.townhall.com/TownHall/icons/TH-feed-icon-128x128.gif http://www.townhall.com/columnists/ChrisWCox TownHall.com, Where your opinion counts. 128 Copyright (c) 2013 Townhall.com, A Salem Communications Web. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED jim.dearras@townhall.com (Jim De Arras) Thu, 01 Mar 2012 05:01:00 GMT Thu, 01 Mar 2012 05:01:00 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ Three months ago, Attorney General Eric Holder told Congress that guns illegally supplied to drug cartels in Mexico - as part of the Obama Administration's "Fast and Furious" scandal - would continue to show up at crime... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/ChrisWCox/2012/03/01/another_tragedy_results_from_the_obama_administrations_fast_and_furious_scandal fa327c08-3d5d-437b-a38d-be1952b604f8 Thu, 01 Mar 2012 05:01:00 GMT This November's election isn't about the direction of our country over the next four years - it's about the very survival of our Constitution, our values, and our freedoms as we know them. If freedom-loving Americans... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/ChrisWCox/2012/02/13/justice_ginsburg_reminds_us_what_is_at_stake_in_november c4e521bc-ed3b-4722-979a-beedd8e5c71b Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:01:00 GMT President Barack Obama has certainly changed the tone in Washington. What used to be a town well-known for partisan bickering has been transformed into a 24/7 hate fest. Obama may bemoan the rancor in Congress every... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/ChrisWCox/2012/01/17/from_hope_and_change_to_hate_and_fear 336865d7-a4d2-4c2e-8795-45a8c15faaff Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:01:00 GMT In all of my years fighting on behalf of the National Rifle Association to defend the Second Amendment, I never thought I would see a White House so vehemently opposed to gun ownership that it would be willing to arm... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/ChrisWCox/2011/12/20/obama_administration_endangered_lives_to_justify_gun_control 7adf4c12-12f0-41f6-bd12-ae2c20c1cdaf Tue, 20 Dec 2011 05:01:00 GMT Thanks to the good work of millions of American gun owners and NRA members, Congress is moving closer to restoring one of our fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Second Amendment. Ten days ago, the House... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/ChrisWCox/2011/10/24/congress_moves_closer_to_restoring_a_key_second_amendment_freedom 35ef9c3a-7794-446f-9723-e2bad903c90e Mon, 24 Oct 2011 04:01:00 GMT I would like to believe that President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder – no matter how much they oppose our Second Amendment rights – would never break the law and endanger human lives in... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/ChrisWCox/2011/10/04/obama_and_holder_still_pleading_ignorance_on_fast_and_furious,__but_it's_getting_harder 0194ed6a-69f9-4569-b29f-db18c4911136 Tue, 04 Oct 2011 04:01:00 GMT Last week I went to New York to attend a meeting that should concern every gun owner and freedom-loving American in this great nation. NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre and I attended a committee meeting at... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/ChrisWCox/2011/07/18/nra_takes_on_the_united_nations 53adbfa3-6f2c-4396-8a15-0ce2f10826f3 Mon, 18 Jul 2011 04:01:00 GMT In yesterday's Washington Post, columnist E.J. Dionne takes President Obama to task for not standing up to "NRA bullies" and not doing enough to restrict the rights of gun owners nationwide. He also levels criticism at... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/ChrisWCox/2011/03/18/msm_misses_mark_in_second_amendment_debate 2efa3504-465c-4edf-b4bc-c2092284bda8 Fri, 18 Mar 2011 04:01:00 GMT