Health education & behavior : the official publication of the Society for Public Health Education
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The goal of this study was to determine how well four organizational characteristics (structure, resources, motivation, or political capacity) explained local organizations' use of a variety of advocacy tactics aimed at promoting state gun control laws. In 1998, 679 local organizations were identified as potentially active on state gun control issues; a questionnaire was mailed to each group's leader. ⋯ Organizations with stronger motivation to address the gun control issue and greater political capacity engaged in more diverse gun control advocacy tactics; the authors found organizational structure and resources unlikely to be related. Leaders of advocacy organizations should consider ways to encourage members' motivations on the issue while fostering greater capacity for political action.