Giffords Anti-Gun Group Gets $1 Million Texas Donation
Steve and Amber Mostyn, wealthy Texas trial attorneys, said today that they are giving $1 million to help start the gun-control advocacy group formed by former Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly.
Steve Mostyn, one of the top contributors to a super political action committee that assisted in President Barack Obama’s re-election effort, is listed as treasurer of Giffords’s new super-PAC, Americans for Responsible Solutions. Mostyn said the group will have a nonprofit wing, which will be used to conduct a public education campaign.
Mostyn said the super-PAC will counter the political contributions of the National Rifle Association, which is how he’s pitching it to other big Democratic donors.
If there is any real hope of effectively standing up to the NRA and the corporate gun lobby, it is certainly going to take a similarly well funded and organized effort. It is also probably going to take the charismatic image of a person like Giffords. Jim Brady and his supporters attempted to use his tragic experience to establish an effective gun control lobby. They had some successes, but I don't think that they ever became a political force that could counter balance the NRA.
The culture of guns and violence is deeply rooted in our society and history. There are many cultural divides in America. It is possible for some of them to coexist on the basis of live and let live. The issue of guns has become one where this isn't really a workable approach. The ready accessibility of high powered military style weapons poses a threat to the ability of other people to simply live. The political difficulty arises when attempts to find a workable approach to balancing concerns about public safety with the legal rights of gun owners are unable to move forward. The NRA and its allies are determined to block any and all attempts at better control and regulation. That is a force that must be vigorously opposed.
I think that I will take the news of this vote of confidence as reason to send my little mite to Ms. Giffords in support of her efforts. I hope that others here will consider doing likewise.
3:28 PM PT: Here is the organization's website where you can make donations.
http://americansforresponsiblesolutions.org/