Quote:
Originally Posted by Platapus
In the 2016 election cycle, the NRA' political lobbying organization donated about 3% of all the monies donated to all GOP races.
I would doubt that the NRA is is even in the top 50 lobby organizations. So the argument of the NRA "buying" politicians falls apart.
Politicians may support, or even fear the NRA for many reasons, but financial donations is not one of them.
The NRA is politically powerful only because people think it is politically powerful and allow it.
If we want to politically "defang" the NRA, contact, in writing, your representatives and tell them how you feel about the NRA and its lobbying activities. Of course, if you like the NRA' lobbying activities, tell your representative.
The NRA has about 5,000,000 members. A conservative figure is that the NRA represents less than 10% of the gun owners in the US.
I have been a gun owner for about 30 years and even shot, for a short time, in competitions. I have never been a member of the NRA. Never will. I do not think the NRA supports my views concerning firearms and I believe that the NRA is harming the reputation of gun owners like me.
Unless we contact our representatives and let them how how we feel about the NRA's lobbying activities, our representatives won't know how we feel and won't change.
If the voters tell their representatives that they don't care if the politician votes against the NRA, the NRA will lose a lot of political power.
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As with so many things, it is often not the quantity, but the quality. The total percentage may be 3%, but to whom did the funds go? Like all other lobbying entities, they don't just spread the funds about to just every candidate, they target those who will be or, in the case of reelection, already are in positions to give them the most bang for the buck. Corruption of the political process is a surgical effort; get to the key Congressional committee chairs and the most influential members and you don't really need the other members...
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