Bartholomew Roberts
Moderator
In the United States, there are between 44 million and 80 million gun owners, depending on whose statistics you believe. For the purposes of this post, I'm going to assume the lowest number so I don't get even more depressed.
Of those 44 million gun owners, how many belong to a pro-RKBA group? Well, the highest number of members the NRA has ever had was 4.2 million around the 2000 elections. GOA claims about 300,000 members and SAF claims about 100,000 in the brief for the recent Katrina litigation. Assuming that no gun owner belongs to multiple pro-RKBA groups and adding 200,000 for all the smaller groups and activists who are unafiiliated. We get around 4.8 million out of 44 million who are politically active.
These 4.8 million politically active gun owners have donated $18 million in lobbying, PACs, and soft money since 1989. NRA members donated over $15 million of that number. So over a 17 year period, the roughly 10% of gun owners who are politically active have eached chipped in a little less than a dollar a year to maintain their gun rights.
How does that compare to some of the biggest lobbies and donors on the Hill? The National Education Association has 2.8 million members. Over the same time period, they donated $25.5 million. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has 1.4 million members. Over the same time, they donated $37 million to protect their rights.
These are just two examples; but there are lots more. Note that neither of these two groups counts as a gun control group for donation purposes; but read what AFSCME and NEA have to say about guns. Sound familiar?
I often see grousing about why gun rights advocates don't get what they want when they work hard to put pro-RKBA candidates in place. Here is part of that answer that I think people often forget - there are a lot of strong, organized groups that are not classified as "gun control" that are working against us.
Two things are going to be very important in countering this pull in society - one is that we need new people who appreciate RKBA. There is no other way around it. If we aren't part of the culture of society, we will be excluded from it eventually.
The second thing we need is for those who do appreciate RKBA to step up to the challenge. I know I am speaking to the choir here; but the numbers show that very few gun owners take their rights seriously, even among the politically active lot. When a lobby of government employees that is one-quarter of the size of the NRA can raise twice the money of all the pro-RKBA groups combined to push their agenda, we have a serious motivation problem, even among the hardcore.
I am not sure what to do to address this problem; but one thing I plan to do is to make it my goal to every year find one politically inactive gun owner or fence-sitter and make them an active contributor to RKBA. In the end, votes matter more than money; but a healthy population of pro-RKBA voters can provide both.
Of those 44 million gun owners, how many belong to a pro-RKBA group? Well, the highest number of members the NRA has ever had was 4.2 million around the 2000 elections. GOA claims about 300,000 members and SAF claims about 100,000 in the brief for the recent Katrina litigation. Assuming that no gun owner belongs to multiple pro-RKBA groups and adding 200,000 for all the smaller groups and activists who are unafiiliated. We get around 4.8 million out of 44 million who are politically active.
These 4.8 million politically active gun owners have donated $18 million in lobbying, PACs, and soft money since 1989. NRA members donated over $15 million of that number. So over a 17 year period, the roughly 10% of gun owners who are politically active have eached chipped in a little less than a dollar a year to maintain their gun rights.
How does that compare to some of the biggest lobbies and donors on the Hill? The National Education Association has 2.8 million members. Over the same time period, they donated $25.5 million. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has 1.4 million members. Over the same time, they donated $37 million to protect their rights.
These are just two examples; but there are lots more. Note that neither of these two groups counts as a gun control group for donation purposes; but read what AFSCME and NEA have to say about guns. Sound familiar?
I often see grousing about why gun rights advocates don't get what they want when they work hard to put pro-RKBA candidates in place. Here is part of that answer that I think people often forget - there are a lot of strong, organized groups that are not classified as "gun control" that are working against us.
Two things are going to be very important in countering this pull in society - one is that we need new people who appreciate RKBA. There is no other way around it. If we aren't part of the culture of society, we will be excluded from it eventually.
The second thing we need is for those who do appreciate RKBA to step up to the challenge. I know I am speaking to the choir here; but the numbers show that very few gun owners take their rights seriously, even among the politically active lot. When a lobby of government employees that is one-quarter of the size of the NRA can raise twice the money of all the pro-RKBA groups combined to push their agenda, we have a serious motivation problem, even among the hardcore.
I am not sure what to do to address this problem; but one thing I plan to do is to make it my goal to every year find one politically inactive gun owner or fence-sitter and make them an active contributor to RKBA. In the end, votes matter more than money; but a healthy population of pro-RKBA voters can provide both.