NRA targets wine drinkers to raise money

The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is targeting wine drinkers to help support the Second Amendment.

The NRA is recruiting new members through its Wine Club, with a donation from every bottle of wine purchased going to the organisation to support its battle to preserve the Second Amendment.

“Begin supporting the NRA with your wine purchases today!” reads the strapline on the club’s website.

The NRA Wine Club offers “limited collector’s edition NRA wines.” When members sign up, the website promises a “custom NRA engraved wine box.”

The club sells a range of Old World and New World wines at different price points, from Paso Robles-grown 2010 Purple Cowboy Night Rider Merlot for $12.99 to 2003 Dom Pérignon Champagne for $139.99.

You don’t have to be an NRA member to join the wine club, but customers who buy $500 worth of wine get a rebate that pays for their NRA membership.

CNBC reports that membership numbers in the NRA have “skyrocketed” in the face of threatened gun restrictions after the shootings at Sandy Hook school in Newtown, Connecticut.

Since the massacre in December, the organisation has come under political fire.

The NRA Wine Club is the brainchild of Mike Marcellin, a longtime NRA employee and wine lover.

To supply the wines, the club, which launched in 2007, partnered with Vinesse, a company that runs several online wine clubs.