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Today’s Topic: In the wake of another school shooting, I see a lot of “Why can’t we do something about this?” and “How can they put guns above children’s lives?”
Why? Because it is impossible to get a person to admit understanding of something when they are getting paid to not understand it (h/t Upton Sinclair).
Or as they say in the BIble:
1 Timothy 6 (King James Version):
8 Having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred... and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Note that of course you are expected to have enough for food, clothing, etc. But too often, if all you care about is getting rich, evil results.
What does this have to do with school shootings? Welp, they are a case in point. You know that the NRA lobbies Congress and supports “conservatives” to protect “gun rights”. But you may be unfamiliar with just how much money is involved in this issue and its effects on those taking the money.
In 2022 the National Rifle Association and its affiliated PACs and lobbyists donated over $700,000 to US Congressional candidates, all of them GOP, www.opensecrets.org/… They also spent over $2.6 million on lobbying Congress. And they spent almost $16 million on “outside spending,” which are things like “issue ads” (theoretically not coordinated with campaigns) that help elect their candidates. That makes the NRA and its affiliated groups in the top 3% of spenders in all three categories (donations, lobbying, outside spending).
For more background, see US gun control: What is the NRA and why is it so powerful? Amongst other points, they mention that “considerable sums are spent elsewhere via PACs and independent contributions - funds which are difficult to track,” suggesting that the above is likely to be the tip of the iceberg.
Furthermore:
The NRA also has considerable indirect influence via its membership, many of whom will vote one way or another based on this single issue.
Single-issue voters can be manipulated to vote based on the intensity of feeling on one issue, whilst voting against their own interests on more relevant issues. This, of course, is one of the NRA’s and GOP’s goals. (We do agree, though, with the linked author that there are times that single-issue voting is called for; a vote against gun control is not one of those times!)
Interestingly, I could not find NRA ads on either YouTube nor on the NRA website (do they scrub after elections to avoid further criticism?). But apparently there were videos that went something like this write-up on a 2022 OK race, available on the NRA website at www.nrapvf.org/… (each point below is explained in detail at the NRA site, but in case you don’t want to click to give them traffic, I’m including main points here):
Markwayne Mullin:
Opposes Gun Confiscation…. Supports Pro-Gun Judges…. Supports Right-to-Carry…. Opposes Criminalizing Private Transfers…. Supports Veterans’ Second Amendment Rights…. Opposes Backdoor Gun Ban…. Opposes Gun and Magazine Bans… Opposes Government Blacklists…. Supports America’s Hunting Heritage…. Supports Lawful Transport of Firearms and Ammunition….
[OTOH, his opponent was Kendra Horn:]
Kendra Horn is “F” rated by NRA-PVF
Opposes Constitutional Carry…. Magazine Bans…. Restricting Ownership…. Supports Criminalizing Private Transfers
DId it work? Yep. He is now Senator Markwayne Mullins.
And how did he react to a mass shooting in OK?
You’ve got to think about the 2nd Amendment and its purity
The 2nd Amendment’s purity. That’s right. Not children’s purity. After all, they don’t pay him!
Since Sandy Hook, gun control advocates have increased organisation and funding. But still Gun Control Advocates Have More Money Now But.… their spending and lobbying is still much less than spending and lobbying by the NRA. So far big donors, such as Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, have mostly wanted to “avoid controversy” that they might attract if they were to fund such advocates.
Want to know who else is beholden to NRA money?
The U.S. Lawmakers Who Have Received the Most Funding from the NRA: U.S. lawmakers have in recent years continued to rack up donations from gun rights groups – some to the tune of tens of millions of dollars:They list Mitt Romney, R-UT; Richard Burr, R-NC; Thom Tillis, R-NC; Roy Blunt, R-MO; Joni Ernst, R-IA; Marco Rubio, R-FL; Rob Portman, R-OH; Todd Young, R-IN; Bill Cassidy, R-LA; and Tom Cotton, R-AR.
Notably in 2022, just after mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, PBS asked every senator what action should be taken on guns. Here’s what they said: All 100 of them were asked. Interestingly, many more Republicans than Democrats refused to even answer. Hmm….
Of those listed above receiving the most NRA money:
Mitt Romney: Supports background checks and red flag laws. [Note that he has no serious concern about being challenged for reelection.]
Roy Blunt: Also mentions background checks and possibly red flag laws. And mostly:
I have worked with my colleagues to provide significant funding increases to enhance school safety and expand access to mental health support and research into gun violence.
[Note that most shooters have not been identified as mentally ill; so although I support more mental health treatment access, that will not solve the majority of school shootings.]
Marco Rubio: Supports “school safety”. He supported a bill to have the DHS collect data. Way to promptly take action, Marco!
Todd Young:
“I am deeply saddened by the horrific shooting today at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Our nation mourns the innocent lives taken in this senseless tragedy.”
[Note that the question was, “what action should be taken on guns?”]
Bill Cassidy: “We owe it to these families to find answers to prevent these events. Real answers that will work.”
The other GOP senators on the highest-paid-NRA list did not provide any response. Cowards.
This year, The Hill interviewed the Senate GOP on March 27 after the Nashville school shooting. Notably fewer were quoted, but of those who did speak up:
Thom TIllis (R-NC):
“You’re not going to see us move anything remotely at the federal level for red-flag legislation,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told The Hill.
[Red flag or extreme risk laws allow a judge to temporarily restrict access to guns by a person in crisis. TN does not have such a law. It probably would have made the difference in this case, as the shooter’s parents state that they were concerned and trying to keep guns away from her.]
John Cornyn (R-TX): Although he had worked with Dems last year on mild gun control measures after the school shooting in Uvalde, TX, he has his A+ NRA rating back, and this week he is the biggest mouth in The Hill article:
“I would say we’ve gone about as far as we can go unless somebody identifies some area that we didn’t address,” he added about background checks specifically.
-snip-
“The president just keeps coming back to the same-old tired talking points, so he’s not offering any new solutions or ideas. If he does, I think we should consider them, but so far I haven’t heard anything,” Cornyn said.
That “tired talking point” is banning semiautomatic weapons, actually. Which is only tired, of course, because the GOP refuses to take this proven lifesaving step:
- University of Massachusetts researcher Louis Klarevas, author of the book “Rampage Nation,” found that the number of gun massacres dropped by 37 percent and the number of gun massacre deaths feel by 43 percent while the ban was in effect compared to the previous decade. After the ban lapsed in 2004, those numbers dramatically rose – a 183 percent increase in massacres and a 239 percent increase in massacre deaths.
-snip-
- A 2004 University of Pennsylvania study conducted for the Justice Department explained that the use of assault weapons in crime declined by 70 percent nine years after the Assault Weapons Ban took effect.
We need to get big money out of politics. Several activist groups have worked on this, but transparency and dark money limits seem to be the parts that currently have a better chance of advancing. You may want to join the League of Women Voters in this effort.
Please add your own thoughts to how to get this done in the Comments.
Usually , to elevate our Community Cred I repost The Needs List from Aashirs nani’s wonderful Helping Humpday posts. However, this is already verging on tl;dr, so I’ll just link you today. Please go read if you have not already! We have urgent and time-sensitive needs. Please read to the end.
I’m in for a mickle each week toward a variety of DKos members on the Needs List. I hope you’ll join me. Always glad to see the needed amounts gradually decreasing!
And finally, please note: I am sole caregiver for my Mom, so sometimes get interrupted to take care of her. Otherwise, I will be here to engage in Comments. Meanwhilst, please chat amongst yourselves, take a coffee break, post aminal photos, food/drink and tunes, spread the word and invite your friends, etc.! Thanks to all!