led the nra. >> wayne lapierre is the nra. he built the nra into what it is today. >> narrator: in the 1970s, he started as a lobbyist. >> if you're a political junkie like wayne or like myself, it was a wonderful job. you're working with all these people and having these fights. and you're cutting your teeth. >> narrator: but lapierre was no one's idea of a glad-handing lobbyist. >> he was a very quiet man. i was amazed he was a lobbyist because he did not have the hail-fellow-well-met attitude or personality that i associated with politicians or with lobbyists. >> narrator: and surprisingly for the nra, he was not a gun enthusiast, more comfortable on k street than in a duck blind. >> the safest place you could be with wayne and a gun back then was in a different state because he really did not know anything about guns. politics, yes; guns, no. >> narrator: and inside the fractious politics of the nra, lapierre was skillful navigating between the sportsmen and the gun rights activists. >> wayne could put a finger to the wind