NRA is 996th highest donor to politicians

DaleA

New member
Of all places the information of how the NRA (National Rifle Association) ranks in donating to politicians came from an article in 'The Atlantic' hopefully putting an end to the mantra that politicians that vote against gun control bills are just shills bought and paid for by the NRA and the gun lobby.

In the 2020 election cycle, the NRA contributed less than $1 million directly to candidates. That made it the 996th-largest donor for the cycle, according to OpenSecrets. The group spent about $5.4 million on lobbying in that same time frame, which put it a bit higher, at 169th. Since 2012, the NRA’s highest contribution ranking has been 294th, and its highest lobbying ranking has been 85th.

Know who's in the top 10 donor list consistently? The NAR (National Association of Realtors). Might be a fun fact to spring on the anti-gun folk railing against the NRA.

There was a quote somewhere, it's not original with me, "The National Rifle Association, the organization consistently blamed for things its members never do."

The Atlantic article,
'Why Can’t Democrats Pass Gun Control? The NRA is in turmoil, but gun-control proponents still can’t get what they want. By Stephen Gutowski'
can be found here:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/a...o-why-cant-democrats-pass-gun-control/620190/
 
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The NRA has been "in turmoil" for several years, and predominantly the challenges it faces were not generated by external critics but by internal self-inflicted wounds and excesses.

We can hope for a brighter tomorrow, but the conditions that led to its present state still exist and appear remarkably resilient. IMO it is doubtful that the NRA will be any more effective in 2022 and 2024 election cycles than it was in 2020.

Thanks for posting that.
 
The NRA isn’t powerful because of its lobbyists or its money or its PR. It’s powerful because 5 million Americans decided they wanted to be members. Pro–Second Amendment advocacy is bottom-up, not top-down.

And this is what gun-control advocates either don't understand or don't want the public to understand. Their agenda has always been a top-down, corporate supported spending spree run by a few elites. They might send a slick form letter to a politician advocating for new restrictions, but NRA members will send dozens of personal letters opposing them. Most politicians are going to respond to the latter (especially since those are their constituents) rather than the former (who are out-of-state special interest groups).

Seeing this admitted in The Atlantic, of all places, is odd.
 
The power of the NRA comes from the members. For awhile, and still to this day to some extent, the NRA could rally it's membership and pressure lawmakers unlike any other organization out there. The gun-control advocates think they can harm the NRA and take the wind out of the gun rights movement In reality a new org just as powerful or multiple orgs would replace them in a heartbeat.

There are much bigger fish in the ocean when it comes to lobbying money. The gun and ammo industry is very small compared to dozens of other industries out there.
 
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