The National Rifle Association: a large US group that argues people should be free to buy and keep guns, and that fights new laws meant to control guns more tightly. In US news it is a political force, not only a shooting club — though actually it also trains people in gun safety and runs shooting sports; the fight over the law is what most headlines talk about. It is a private organization, not a government department. English speakers outside the US still use NRA when they mean this American group. Feelings about it run very high on both sides; the letters themselves are the usual name. You say N-R-A.