NRA and Harry Reid

Say Uncle has a good post, and I'll pontificate in a second:

The ugly: Reid kept a lot of anti-gun bills from ever seeing the light of day. And Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

A lot of credit has been given to H Reid for keeping a lot of anti-gun legislation from ever getting to the floor of the senate; I wonder ... how much of that is him actually being pro-gun and how much of it is in protecting fellow senators from a resounding defeat at the hands of the NRA?

Not that I tend to give a lot of credit to the NRA (yes, I've got a chip on my shoulder), but is it possible that they really do have that much influence over the political process?

And if they do, shouldn't the NRA start grading politicians on what they do for firearms owners, rather than what they don't do against firearms owners?

pm