"Rifleman" responds.

Thank you very much for your kind words about the NRA, American Rifleman and me in particular in your February column. We here at NRA HQ deeply appreciate your bold stand on behalf of the National Rifle Association of America. Freedom and American gun owners are facing some of the toughest challenges I've seen in my 18 years with NRA The coming months will pose a hard political fight to protect our rights, and the bottom line is we need all those who cherish freedom to stand together as NRA members. NRA is the foremost guardian of the traditional American right to "Keep and Bear Arms," and we need the help and support of every reputable gun (owner--especially the well-informed readers of Guns & Ammo.

There are a lot of benefits to NRA membership beyond those listed in your column, including support of programs ranging from the Eddie Eagle GunSafe program, to the NRA Youth Hunter Education Challenge, to Refuse to be a Victim seminars, to top-notch training for our nation's police officers through the NRA Law Enforcement Activities Division, just to name a few. NRA has literally hundreds of programs that you'll never see the mainstream media cover in a positive light. I urge your readers to go to www.nra.org and see for themselves everything NRA does for the shooting community.

By the way, there really were not that many manufacturers of Lewis light machine guns worldwide, so being able to identify the various extractors isn't nearly as difficult as you make it sound. Best regards.

Mark Keefe,

Editor-In-Chief

American Rifleman

Fairfax, Virginia