NRA

nra

This node is getting bigger, so see Gun Control; this node also includes the more radical Gun owners of america; see also hunt clubs and militiasee also tag and NRA2

=12/15 aha: post sta _ mass shooting, NRA mirror of regulatory capture, a gin safety group taken over by trade front/lobby =

WASHINGTON -- The Alabama Wildlife Federation bestowed its highest honor, the "Conservationist of the Year" award, on National Rifle Association president James Porter <a href="http://andalusia.wsfa.com/news/news/330391-alabama-wildlife-federation-recognize-conservation-achievement-award-recipients" target="hplink">just hours</a> after the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/05/nra-enemies-list_n_3708593.html" target="hplink">NRA launched a national smear campaign</a> against wildlife scientists and conservation groups.

The Alabama Wildlife Federation's awards ceremony and banquet Friday in Alabama recognized Porter, a lifelong hunter, among other things for spearheading efforts in the state to allow hunting on public land.

The <a href="http://www.nraila.org/legislation/state-legislation/2013/8/huntfortruthorg-launches-new-media-rich-website-designed-to-combat-the-misleading-campaign-to-ban-lead-ammunition-throughout-the-us.aspx" target="hplink">gun lobby's campaign</a> against scientists, wildlife groups, even zoos, which the NRA announced earlier on Friday, is part of its fight against regulations proposed in some states to limit the use of lead-based ammunition. Studies have shown toxic lead from ammunition poisons as many as <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/get_the_lead_out/" target="hplink">20 million</a> wild birds every year in the U.S.

The NRA's enemies list includes some of the nation's most venerable conservation groups, including the Audubon Society, the San Diego Zoo and the Peregrine Fund. The <a href="http://www.alabamawildlife.org/governors-conservation-achievement-awards/" target="_hplink">Alabama Wildlife Federation</a> is not included on the NRA list. A spokeswoman for the group was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

The Alabama Wildlife Federation claims to be the "oldest and largest non-profit conservation organization in Alabama." What that means depends on how you define "conservation." The group is geared toward hunters, who typically view the conservation of land and the shooting of its wildlife as compatible.

Federal law has banned lead ammunition for waterfowl hunting since 1991. <a href="http://joomla.wildlife.org/documents/positionstatements/lead.and.wildlife.pdf" target="_hplink">Alabama state law contains</a> no further restriction on lead ammunition.

In its <a href="http://www.alabamawildlife.org/governors-conservation-achievement-awards/" target="_hplink">website description of why</a> Porter deserved to be "Conservationist of the Year," the Alabama Wildlife Federation focused mainly on his decades-long support of Forever Wild, a statewide public-use land trust, and Porter's volunteer work, helping the state to buy additional land for the Forever Wild program.

Aside from the land-use program, the conservation group's description of Porter for the award, which it announced in mid-July, doesn't exactly scream conservationist. Porter and his family, the federation says on its website, have "actively managed" family properties in the state for more than a century, and used their "lands to provide quality timber, productive wildlife habitats, and hunting opportunities for family and friends." These "roots," the group says, are the foundation on which "Jim Porter’s conservation ethic is anchored."

Porter took the reins at the NRA in May, succeeding David Keene. Porter is an outspoken critic of the Obama administration, and drew criticism from Democrats for <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opjdxnag3TE&feature=youtu.be" target="_hplink">referring to President Barack Obama</a> in June 2012 as a "fake president" whose "entire administration is anti-gun, anti-freedom, anti-Second Amendment.”

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huffpo:

WASHINGTON -- In a move bizarrely reminiscent of its <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/01/nra-anti-gun-policies-list_n_2600096.html" target="_hplink">"anti-gun" enemies list</a>, the National Rifle Association announced a new plan Friday to target scientists, environmental groups, government regulators and individuals who favor banning the use of lead in gun ammunition.

The targeted attacks are part of <a href="http://www.huntfortruth.org/" target="_hplink">Hunt for Truth.org</a>, a newly revamped effort by the nation's largest gun lobby to block attempts to regulate the use of lead in bullets. Regulations have been proposed in some states after studies have shown that millions of birds -- most notably the highly endangered California condor -- are dying of lead poisoning after ingesting lead bullet fragments.

The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/get_the_lead_out/" target="_hplink">estimates</a> that hunters in the United States shoot more than 3,000 tons of lead into the outdoors every year, and that as many as 20 million birds die annually from lead poisoning.

To the NRA, however, the proposed bans on lead in bullets represent an "assault" on "traditional" hunting and on hunters' rights.

"Anti-lead ammunition groups will not rest until all lead ammunition, and ultimately hunting, is banned," the gun lobby claimed in a Friday press release.

The NRA singled out a law under consideration in California which would require hunters in the Golden State to use lead-free ammunition. Lead free bullets are <a href="http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/hunting/condor/certifiedammo.html" target="_hplink">widely available</a> from top manufacturers, and have not been shown to function any differently than bullets containing the highly toxic element.

In order to rally its members to oppose the lead regulation, the NRA described a conspiracy theory involving crooked scientists, phony research, and a shadowy network of nonprofits, zoos and government agencies all conspiring to ban hunting.

According to the NRA, an "activist portion of the scientific community" has formed "a highly organized network of like minded researchers with an agenda to ban lead ammunition." In order to thwart this looming threat, "Hunt for Truth will expose the researchers associated with 'faulty science' critical of lead ammunition," the gun lobby <a href="http://www.huntfortruth.org/players/researchers/" target="_hplink">says</a>.

Scientists aren't the NRA's only new targets. Nonprofits like the San Diego Zoo and the California Condor Recovery Team are also on the enemies list. The NRA claims these groups "have considerable influence over many legislators and regulators," which they use to "capture" the regulatory agencies and bureaucrats responsible for lead ammunition restrictions.

"Under this capture theory, NGO’s, legislators, regulatory agencies and researchers work in concert to implement policies and regulations to ban traditional ammunition," the NRA alleges.

As of Monday, the NRA had yet to list any scientists it planned to target, but there were seven environmental and wildlife conservation groups on the site, including the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Center for Biological Diversity. Four government agencies were also singled out: the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the California Department of Fish and Game, the Los Angeles Zoo and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

A spokesman for the NRA declined to comment on the listings.

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wreck crew: Then, in the Seventies, right-wing insurgencies spread across the country: conservative cliques took control of the Southern Baptists and the National Rifle Association, and in 1978 the first of a wave of tax revolts shook California. In 1981 came the turn of the College Republicans, where the right-wing takeover was led by none other than the future supercorruptionist Jack Abramoff. This uprising holds special significance for the historian, since it not only introduces us to the cast of characters who went on to dominate Washington during the Gingrich and Bush eras but also provides a window into the conservative soul

rt nation :NRA has columbine and waco setbacks, but reruited and rebuilt lobbying. pol donor went from 60 to 90% gop (70% gun owners voted gop) 110  has 1 mil prece4int workers, gets members turnout 95% 177 pierre cochair rnc gala raised 21 m$  NRA beat gore in tenn, ark and W va at least 177. main goal is to shield gunmakers and seller from lawsuits. asjhcroft #1 recip of nra $, ja has tried to get fed gun recs purged 24 hrs and won't let fbi use in teror invresigtions post 911 178, reneged on assult rigle confirm testimony 179. teams with Libery Park (CTT) w/ talk radio network w/ 100 stations, publ books and lobby; on bd of ACU that runs CPAC; even more agressive than nra on guns, big in direct mail

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Gun Owners of America (GOA) has declared immigration reform a gun issue, warning that under the "scamnesty bill" currently in the U.S. Senate, "you can say buh bye to your guns and buh bye to the rest of your freedom." The executive director of GOA, Larry Pratt, recently told conservative talk show host Steve Deace that immigration reform would "bring in a gazillion Democrat voters" who will be mostly illiterate and "dependents."

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http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/20-targets-you-can-buy-at-the-nra-convention

http://www.alternet.org/print/nra-convention-sells-ex-girlfriend-target-bleeds-when-you-shoot-it

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http://www.motherjones.com/transition/inter.php?dest=http://www.motherjones.com/print/213586

To understand how the ATF became the weakest of law enforcement agencies, you have to go back to President Ronald Reagan's first term.

The 1968 Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act, the first major piece of gun control legislation since the Capone days, led the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division of the Department of the Treasury to sprout a third responsibility: handguns. With the market for moonshine collapsed—due to a global spike in sugar prices—the division's primary investigative responsibility for most of its history withered. The new mandate to regulate arms sales filled the void. It also made the bureau a natural foil for the nascent gun lobby, and the NRA, whose leadership was fast transitioning from a moderate coalition of sportsmen to a band of true believers, went to work to make the agency a pariah.

Republicans and Democrats alike hammered the agency for years. Appearing in a 1981 NRA-produced film, Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) charged, "If I were to select a jackbooted group of fascists who are perhaps as large a danger to American society as I could pick today, I would pick BATF." A 1982 Senate report blasted the agency's supposed "practically reprehensible" enforcement tactics.

Leading the charge was Reagan. On the campaign trail, he'd bashed the ATF and vowed to dissolve it. Once in Washington, Reagan, with the NRA's backing, proposed folding the ATF into the Secret Service—the two branches of the Treasury most unlike all the others. ATF agents would help the Secret Service handle its beefed-up responsibilities of campaign years and expand its investigative powers. It would have been a death sentence for the bureau.

But then the NRA had had a change of heart. The organization's strategists came to worry that if gun law enforcement was handed to the Secret Service, one of the few federal agencies with a reputation for competence, gun owners might actually have something to fear. And, they feared, that if the agency did become part of the Secret Service, they'd lose an easy target.

"If it weren't for the NRA and the liquor industry, there would be no ATF today."

The NRA realized, "'Oh my God, we're gonna lose the ATF!'" recalls William Vizzard, a professor of criminology at California State University-Sacramento, who worked for bureau at the time. "It would have been like removing the Soviets during the Cold War, for the Defense Department—there's nobody to point to."

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IS NRA a front for more than gun mfg?

hodai:

Three strikes called for mandatory life imprisonment for a third felony conviction. In some states this was interpreted as life imprisonment for a third violent offense conviction, while in others, such as California, the law was enacted in such a way as to include those convicted of petty offenses such as shoplifting. [PLN was the first media to report the instrumental role the NRA played in bankrolling Washington’s Three Strikes law in 1993 (the first in the nation) and Washington State’s “Hard Time for Armed Crime” initiative in 1995.]

The NRA campaign, dubbed “CrimeStrike,” headed by victim’s rights advocate and former Arizona Chief Assistant Attorney General Steve Twist, was seen by many as a reactionary strike at the Clinton administration’s gun control efforts when it moved into high gear in 1993. CrimeStrike was the campaign which set forth the precept that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” As such, CrimeStrike promoted state and federal tough-on-crime legislation and derided any lawmaker backing gun control as being “soft on crime.”

With memories of the Willie Horton disaster of the failed 1988 Michael Dukakis presidential campaign still fresh in the minds of most American legislators, this accusation invariably hit a raw nerve among Democrats and elicited kneejerk support of the laws.

While the NRA was busy pushing these laws through CrimeStrike, ALEC was pushing its agenda in Pennsylvania with the help of former Herbert-Walker Bush U.S. Attorney General William Barr and ALEC member, then-Pennsylvania governor, and future director of the Department of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge.

In 1995, the Pennsylvania legislature passed several tough-on-crime bills based on ALEC proposals and model legislation. In 2005, while serving as Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, state Rep. John Perzel, an ALEC member and Pennsylvania House Majority Leader from 1995 to 2003, joined GEO Group’s board of directors.

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Seemingly no connection to global warming? but poster child for capture by industry of of a front /lobby group: so effective a second /mirror/ 2nd rail of politics.

it wd be interesting to compare and contrast backes of guns and enemies of AGW: bopp, bachman, marcellus shale?

Landrieu

Despite regularly uniting with fringe conspiracy theorists -- and often joining them in espousing outlandish conspiracies -- Gun Owners of America executive director Larry Pratt, longtime National Rifle Association board member Ted Nugent, and former NRA president David Keene represent organizations that still wield considerable influence in the debate over gun legislation.

The NRA says that it has millions of members and annual revenues in excess of $200 million, and their annual meetings regularly draw leading Republican presidential candidates. Pratt's group Gun Owners of America has also become an important player in the gun debate; an April article by The New York Times <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/04/04/ny-times-hides-extremism-of-fringe-gun-lobby-gr/193468">highlighted</a> how GOA was "emerging as an influential force" over then-pending Senate gun legislation, while ignoring Pratt's own record of extremism.

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NAGR: <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/05/no-compromise-gun-group-drives-lobb.html">http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/05/no-compromise-gun-group-drives-lobb.html</a>

lobby money down, but guns and pharma up: http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/05/quarterly-lobbying-reports-show-yet.html

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Three in 10 registered American voters believe an armed rebellion might be necessary in the next few years, according to the results of a staggering <a href="http://publicmind.fdu.edu/2013/guncontrol/">poll</a> released Wednesday by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind.

The survey, aimed at measuring public attitudes toward gun issues, found that 29 percent of Americans agree with the statement, “In the next few years, an armed revolution might be necessary in order to protect our liberties.” An additional five percent were unsure.

Eighteen percent of Democrats said an armed revolt “might be necessary,” as compared to 27 percent of independents and 44 percent of Republicans. Support levels were similar among males and females but higher among less educated voters.

The poll also found that 25 percent of voters believe the American public is being lied to about the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting by people seeking to promote a political agenda. An additional 11 percent said they weren’t sure.

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Republican lawmakers are pushing legislation aimed at combating a threat to gun rights that even the National Rifle Association has described as pure fiction.

A <a href="http://www.inhofe.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/inhofe-lucas-introduce-bill-limiting-federal-agencies-from-stockpiling-ammunition">bill</a> introduced late last week by Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) and Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK) would ban federal agencies, excluding the Pentagon, from buying more ammunition during a six-month period if it currently possesses more than its monthly averages during the Bush administration.

The conspiracy theory that incubated the bill is that the Obama administration is trying to buy up bullets so ordinary Americans have less access to them in the marketplace.

“President Obama has been adamant about curbing law-abiding Americans’ access and opportunities to exercise their Second Amendment rights,” Inhofe said in a statement. “One way the Obama Administration is able to do this is by limiting what’s available in the market with federal agencies purchasing unnecessary stockpiles of ammunition.”

Only it’s false — as no less a pro-gun organization than the NRA declared last year.

Last fall, the NRA <a href="http://www.nraila.org/news-issues/articles/2012/federal-law-enforcement-agencies-buy-ammunition.aspx">issued a statement</a> saying the claim was being pushed in an “Internet rumor mill” and was designed to “stir up fear.” The “more incendiary authors,” the group said, “suggest that these government agencies are preparing for a war with the American people.”

“As most gun owners will agree, skepticism of government is healthy. But today, there are more than enough actual threats to the Second Amendment to keep gun owners busy,” the NRA said. “[T]here is no need to invent additional threats to our rights.”

The GOP-led House oversight committee flirted with the conspiracy theory in March when it asked the Department of Homeland Security <a href="https://chaffetz.house.gov/sites/chaffetz.house.gov/files/Procurement%20Procedures.pdf">to explain its decisions</a> regarding the procurement of ammunition. Republicans described it as an effort to “ensure that U.S. taxpayer funds are being spent effectively.”

The Department provided the committee a <a href="http://www.dhs.gov/news/2013/04/25/written-testimony-dhs-mgmt-and-ice-house-oversight-government-reform-subcommittees">lengthy response</a>, concluding: “While DHS spending on ammunition represents less than one tenth of one percent of the DHS budget, we continue to pursue measures that leverage all of the Department’s resources in order to best make use of taxpayer dollars.”

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Media Matters / By Matt Gertz [1]

comments_image

5 Things You Need to Know About the NRA's New President

May 3, 2013  | 

In the midst of the most promising time for the gun violence prevention debate in decades, the National Rifle Association will name a new president [2] at their annual meeting May 3-5.

Alabama lawyer Jim Porter will replace [3] current NRA President David Keene, whose two-year term is expiring.

Here's what the media should know about Porter [4], a conspiracy theorist who calls the Civil War the "War of Northern Aggression" and represents more of the same for the organization:

1.  Meet The New Boss, Same As The Old Boss. Don't expect Porter to be a breath of fresh air bringing with him a new way of doing things. As is traditional [5], Porter will come to the presidency following two years as first vice president and two years as second vice president of the organization. He has also been [5] the head of the NRA's legal affairs committee and a trustee of the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund. Porter's father was the NRA'spresident [6] from 1959 to 1961 and chaired [7] the 1977 annual meeting [8]  at which hardliners took over the organization and began transforming it into the no-compromise lobbying powerhouse the group remains today.

2.  Porter Believes "Un-American" Eric Holder And Hillary Clinton Tried To "Kill The Second Amendment At The United Nations." Porter said during a June 2012 speech [7] at the New York Rifle & Pistol Association's Annual Meeting that Attorney General Eric Holder, who he termed "rabidly un-American," was "trying to kill the Second Amendment at the United Nations" with the help of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He attributed this to the proposed United Nations Arms Trade Treaty, which he claimed would "make it illegal for individuals all over the world to own firearms." This is a blatant misrepresentation [9] of the treaty, which deals with the international arms trade, not private ownership.

3.  Porter Calls The Civil War The "War Of Northern Aggression." Explaining the NRA's roots during the same June 2012 speech, Porter said, "NRA was started 1871 right here in New York state. It was started by some Yankee generals who didn't like the way my Southern boys had the ability to shoot in what we call the 'War of Northern Aggression.' Now y'all might call it the Civil War, but we call it the 'War of Northern Aggression' down south."

4.  Porter Thinks President Obama Wants European-Style Socialism. In a February 2011 interview [10] with NRA News, Porter said: "I think everybody had a wake-up call after the Democrats took over Congress in 2006, and I think they had a huge shock when President Obama was elected in 2008. Most folks never would believe that there would be a run on our rights, our individual rights like there's been in this country. And people are so concerned that where this government wants to take us is to a European socialistic, bureaucratic type of government. And it's been a wake-up call."

5.  With Porter As President, We'll See More Of Wayne LaPierre. In recent months, current NRA President Keene has split major media appearances with Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre. But unlike Keene, Porter doesn't have a great deal of experience [5] as a media personality, and reportedly plans to "serve a behind-the-scenes role" and let LaPierre, known for his fiery speeches and apocalyptic conspiracies [11], be the "face of the organization."

For more on Porter, check out this profile [4] from the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence's Meet The NRA project.

See more stories tagged with:

nra [12],

president [13],

jim porter [14],

david keene [15],

National Rifle Association [16]

Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/5-things-you-need-know-about-nras-new-president

Links:

[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/matt-gertz

[2] http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/05/01/nra-to-get-new-president/

[3] http://www.nra.org/Article.aspx?id=1517

[4] http://www.meetthenra.org/nra-member/Jim%20Porter

[5] http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/1/miller-meet-new-nra-president-jim-porter/#ixzz2S4d69Ut1

[6] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/02/jim-porter-nra-president_n_3200744.html

[7] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opjdxnag3TE&feature=youtu.be

[8] http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/09/the-secret-history-of-guns/308608/3/

[9] http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/03/26/fox-gives-credence-to-un-arms-trade-treaty-cons/193270

[10] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wW0wLoI4k4&feature=relmfu

[11] http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/02/13/1592501/the-nine-most-insane-quotes-from-wayne-lapierres-apocalyptic-new-op-ed/

[12] http://www.alternet.org/tags/nra

[13] http://www.alternet.org/tags/president-0

[14] http://www.alternet.org/tags/jim-porter

[15] http://www.alternet.org/tags/david-keene

[16] http://www.alternet.org/tags/national-rifle-association

[17] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B

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also Gun Owners of America

<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/larry-pratt">http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/larry-pratt</a>

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senate fail: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/opinion/a-senate-in-the-gun-lobbys-grip.html?r=0">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/opinion/a-senate-in-the-gun-lobbys-grip.html?r=0</a>

Using the 60-vote hurdle so early in the process allowed Democrats to prevent the passage of an amendment mandating that any state with a concealed-weapons law, no matter how rigorous, would have to recognize the concealed-weapons permit of residents from any other state. The amendment received 57 votes in favor, including those of 12 Democrats, and 43 votes against....The bipartisan measure, which had appeared to have a strong chance of passage, received 55 votes before Mr. Reid changed his vote to “no” to preserve the parliamentary right to bring the measure up again. Four Republicans voted “yes”: Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania, a co-author of the legislation; John McCain of Arizona; Mark Steven Kirk of Illinois; and Susan Collins of Maine. An equal number of Democrats voted “no”: Mark Begich of Alaska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Max Baucus of Montana and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. All are from states that Mr. Obama lost by wide margins last fall, and all but Ms. Heitkamp face difficult re-election campaigns in 2014.

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A group that fashions itself the conservative alternative to the <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000082">National Rifle Association</a> and uses Republican Sen. <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00030836&cycle=2012">Rand Paul</a>'s name and image in its fundraising appeals has longstanding ties to the Paul family, according to various corporate and campaign filings.

The <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00481200&cycle=2012">National Association for Gun Rights</a> has been ruffling GOP feathers by targeting two conservatives, House Majority Whip <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00013131&cycle=2012">Eric Cantor</a> and Rep. <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00030962&cycle=2012">Scott Rigell</a>, both Virginia Republicans, with ads accusing them of being soft on the issue. The ads feature images of them morphing into Barack Obama as the narrator accuses both of trying to assist the president in implementing strict gun control policies.

<div>Politifact Virginia found enough distortions in the Rigell ad to warrant a "pants on fire" rating. And Cantor and Rigell both received high marks from the National Rifle Association in 2012 -- Cantor earned an A+ and Rigell an A-.

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<div>Rigell has called out Paul for allowing himself to be used in the group's marketing efforts, but so far his complaints have fallen on deaf ears.

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<div>Paul's office didn't return calls seeking comment, but his chief-of-staff, Doug Stafford, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/rand-paul-backed-group-attacks-republicans-89561.html">told Politico</a> that the senator is "not affiliated with the group in any way, he doesn’t control how they decide their activism should take place in terms of who the people are that need to be shored up on an issue.”

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<div>But the Kentucky senator and his family are connected to at least some prominent officials at the organization.</div>

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<div>OpenSecrets Blog found that, according to annual <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/GunRights2013.pdf">corporate reports</a> filed in Virginia, where the National Association for Gun Rights is set up as a politically active 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization, one of the five members of the group's board of directors is a man named Michael I. Rothfield. Rothfield (pictured at left) is the <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/Saber%20Communications%202013.pdf">sole director</a> of a political consulting firm called <a target="_blank" href="http://saberinc.net/about_us.html">Saber Communications</a>. OpenSecrets.org data shows that Rand Paul's 2010 Senate campaign <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/expend.php?cycle=2010&cid=N00030836&type=I">paid Saber Communications roughly $847,000</a>. Saber was also the single largest vendor being paid by Paul's leadership PAC in the 2012 cycle, <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/expenditures.php?cycle=2012&cmte=C00493924">receiving $143,000 in payments</a>.

In the same election cycle, the gun rights group <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/expenditures.php?cycle=2012&cmte=C00481200">donated $5,000</a> to Paul's leadership PAC. Paul's office did not return multiple calls seeking comment.

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<div>But Rand Paul wasn't Saber's biggest client in recent years. That would be his father. In the 2012 cycle, now retired Rep. Ron Paul's presidential campaign paid Saber <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/expend.php?cycle=2012&id=N00005906">almost $7.7 million</a> -- making Saber the campaign's second highest-paid vendor. Rothfield was <a target="_blank" href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0911/How_Ron_Paul_won_the_debate.html">singled out</a> by Paul's own campaign staff as a top adviser who helped make his presidential bid as successful as it was. Ron Paul's leadership PAC, <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?cycle=2012&strID=C00234641">Liberty PAC</a>, also hired Saber, <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/expenditures.php?cycle=2012&cmte=C00234641">paying the firm $67,000</a>.

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<div>OpenSecrets.org data shows that at least one other prominent Republican hired Rothfield's company: Minnesota Rep. <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cycle=2012&cid=N00027493,&type=I">Michele Bachmann</a>'s congressional campaign <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/expend.php?cid=N00027493,&cycle=2012">paid Saber $362,500</a> in 2012. </div>

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<div>Rothfield did not respond to a phone message asking him to comment.

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<div>And there's another Paul connection to a prominent member of the National Association for Gun Rights board. Attorney David A. Warrington, who is listed as the organization's president, <a target="blank" href="http://www.leclairryan.com/david-a-warrington/">works</a> for Virginia law firm LeClairRyan -- which was paid by the Ron Paul presidential campaign. Warrington was hired by the Paul campaign to <a target="blank" href="http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/08/ron_paul_backers_wont_back_dow.html">challenge</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/alaska-gop-warned-stop-meddling-ron-paul-delegates">various</a> Republican state party moves to block convention delegates backing Paul.

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<div>Iowa Gun Owners

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<div>The National Association for Gun Rights also took steps during the presidential primary to boost support for the elder Paul's bid in the weeks running up to the Iowa caucuses -- while two of the group's directors were on the payroll of the Paul campaign. </div>

<div>

<div>On Dec. 2, 2011, Iowa residents <a target="_blank" href="http://caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/2011/12/02/robo-calls-in-iowa-accuse-newt-gingrich-of-anti-gun-record/">received robocalls</a> which, according to the message, were paid for by the National Association for Gun Rights and a group called the Iowa Gun Owners. The calls targeted then-presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, unfavorably comparing him to Paul and Bachmann, who were both his rivals in the state caucuses.

</div>

<div>

<div>"With the Iowa caucuses just weeks away, Gingrich still refuses to answer the Iowa Gun Owners presidential gun rights survey," the recording claimed. "What is he hiding? Congressman Paul and Congresswoman Bachmann have completed their survey 100 percent correct" [sic].</div>

</div>

<div>According to filings made by the Paul presidential campaign, between Nov. 15 and Dec. 20, 2011, Saber Communications was paid $1.5 million by the campaign for mailings and consulting. During that period Warrington's firm was also paid $16,000 for legal consulting. Bachmann's campaign filings show that Saber Communications was paid earlier in 2011 and in February of 2012. </div>

<h4 class="entry-categories-header">Caegories:</h4>

<li class="entry-category"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/outside-money/501c-groups/">501(c) groups</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-category"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/politicians-elections/congressional-committees/">Congressional Committees</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-category"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/politicians-elections/presidential-election-1/">Presidential Election</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=David%20A.%20Warrington&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">David A. Warrington</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=Eric%20Cantor&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">Eric Cantor</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=Iowa%20Gun%20Owners&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">Iowa Gun Owners</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=LeClairRyan&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">LeClairRyan</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=Liberty%20PAC&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">Liberty PAC</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=Michael%20Rothfeld&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">Michael Rothfeld</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=Michele%20Bachmann&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">Michele Bachmann</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=Mike%20Rothfeld&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">Mike Rothfeld</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=national%20assn%20for%20gun%20rights&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">national assn for gun rights</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=national%20association%20for%20gun%20rights&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">national association for gun rights</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=national%20rifle%20assn&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">national rifle assn</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=national%20rifle%20association&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">national rifle association</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=Newt%20Gingrich&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">Newt Gingrich</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=reinventing%20a%20new%20direction&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">reinventing a new direction</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=Russ%20Choma&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">Russ Choma</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=Saber%20Communications&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">Saber Communications</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=Scott%20Rigell&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">Scott Rigell</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

===

names of ppl and orgs who want gun control: http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2013/01/nra-publishes-list-of-gun-control-advocates/

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<a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/03/26/fox-gives-credence-to-un-arms-trade-treaty-cons/193270">http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/03/26/fox-gives-credence-to-un-arms-trade-treaty-cons/193270</a> fox agenda 21

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National Rifle Association board member Ted Nugent <a href="http://www.infowars.com/ted-nugent-the-sheeping-of-america/">appeared</a> on Alex Jones' radio show where the two swapped conspiracy theories about Benghazi and other topics, called for President Obama's impeachment, and praised the National Rifle Association's new "hardcore" direction. Nugent claimed that Jones, a prominent pusher of 9/11 and New World Order conspiracies, is doing "God's work" and that the information on his radio show is "indisputable" and "irrefutable."

Nugent legitimizing Jones is the second recent instance where a high-profile member of NRA leadership has conducted an interview on conspiracy-geared programming. On February 16, NRA president David Keene <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/02/19/nra-president-appears-on-9-11-truthers-televisi/192716">appeared</a> on the television show of Gary Franchi, <a href="http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/02/09/10358155-super-pac-supporting-ron-paul-is-operated-by-a-911-truther?lite">a well-known 9/11��truther</a>.

Jones, <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/01/08/why-is-cnn-hosting-conspiracy-theorist-alex-jon/192089">one of the country's leading conspiracy theorists</a>, describes himself as "one of the very first founding fathers of the 9-11 Truth Movement" and has also promoted the existence of <a href="http://infowars-shop.stores.yahoo.net/obdedvd.html">FEMA concentration camps</a> as part of his claim that President Obama is transforming the United States into "something that resembles Nazi Germany." He has also theorized that <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2011/02/25/caution-alex-jones-is-using-sheen-related-media/176928">the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing</a> was "carried out by intelligence agencies" with "Bill Clinton's involvement."

Furthermore, Jones believes that Obama's <a href="http://www.infowars.com/new-obama-birth-certificate-is-a-forgery/">birth certificate is a forgery</a> and has pushed conspiracy theories involving <a href="http://www.infowars.com/articles/science/weather_mod_gov_control_wont_stop_wilma.htm">weather control</a>, <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2010/07/07/conspiracists-accuse-bill-gates-of-seeking-mass-sterilization/">mass sterilization</a> by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2011/02/25/caution-alex-jones-is-using-sheen-related-media/176928">an effort by the government</a> to use "estrogen-mimicking" juice boxes to "encourage homosexuality with chemicals so that people don't have children."

Nugent's appearance was billed by Jones' InfoWars.com website as "a surprise call in to thank Alex Jones for waking him up to the NWO."

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/28/al-gore-marco-rubio_n_2776988.html?ir=Green">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/28/al-gore-marco-rubio_n_2776988.html?ir=Green</a>

===

<h1 style=" margin-top: 0; padding-top: 0;">NRA President Appears On 9-11 Truther's Television Show</h1>

<h5><a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog"> Blog </a>��›› <time datetime="2013-02-19T13:26:39-05:00" itemprop="datePublished"> February 19, 2013 1:26 PM EST </time> ��›› BEN DIMIERO & TIMOTHY JOHNSON</h5>

</div>

National Rifle Association president David Keene made <a href="http://noworldorder.com/2013/02/18/david-keene-united-nations-small-arms-treaty-assault-weapons-ban/">a February 16 appearance</a> on conspiracy theorist Gary Franchi's television show as part of his��media tour to oppose strengthening gun laws. Franchi is <a href="http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/02/09/10358155-super-pac-supporting-ron-paul-is-operated-by-a-911-truther?lite">involved in the 9/11 Truth movement</a> and believes the government is secretly building <a href="http://campfema.com/">FEMA concentration camps</a> that will be used to round up American citizens.

Franchi interviewed Keene about his belief that President Obama may use the Newtown school massacre to aid in the passage of the <a href="http://mediamatters.org/tags/united-nations-arms-trade-treaty">United Nations Arms Trade Treaty</a>.

Franchi is a well-known and avid conspiracy theorist. During the 2012 election cycle, Franchi was the head of Revolution PAC, a pro-Ron Paul group. He made headlines when NBC News <a href="http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/02/09/10358155-super-pac-supporting-ron-paul-is-operated-by-a-911-truther?lite">reported</a> on his extensive history of promoting outlandish conspiracy theories.

As explained by NBC, Franchi was the founder of the Lone Lantern Society, a group that supports "'the birth of freedom and the death of the New World Order,' a secretive elite that is supposedly trying to set up a world government." The Lone Lantern held numerous demonstrations calling for a new investigation of 9-11.

In a 2008 <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/09/pro-paul-super-pac-operated-by-911-truther/">interview</a> with former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, Franchi asked if Ridge endorsed the idea of a "new investigation for 9-11" based on the idea that there may have been a "controlled demolition of the World Trade Center." (During the conversation, Franchi also asks Ridge about the "North American Union," the conspiracy that the governments of America, Canada, and Mexico are secretly planning to merge; a hypothetical North American currency union; and whether he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bilderberg Group, the Trilateral Commission, and the Bohemian Grove.)

Franchi has also repeatedly endorsed the paranoid conspiracy that the government has been building FEMA concentration camps to imprison political opponents. He produced two separate <a href="http://campfema.com/">documentaries</a> on the subject, titled Camp FEMA: American Lockdown and Enemy of the State: Camp FEMA Part 2.

According to a 2010��<a href="http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2010/summer/meet-the-patriots">report</a> by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Franchi was a "regular speaker at Patriot conferences, offering a familiar diet of fears of globalist plotters," warning against a cabal of bankers and elite organizations that secretly control governments.

During his interview with Franchi, Keene suggested that President Obama would exploit the December 14 massacre of 20 students and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in order to ensure passage of the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty.

According to Keene, Obama may try to take advantage of "the emotional uprising that took place after Sandy Hook":

KEENE: The U.N. is now planning to have a meeting in March, at which point they will transmit the treaty to the President. So, this was something that had been negotiated earlier, was in the cards, and that the President held off on calling any public attention to until after he got passed the election. But, long before the Connecticut tragedy, the President was planning to ask for, and planning to sign, this treaty. Now, I suspect that the President and his allies think that the emotional uprising that took place after Sandy Hook could make it more possible, that he could get this treaty ratified by the Senate. I don't think that's going to happen, but I think that would certainly crank into their thinking, not in terms of signing it but in terms of the campaign they're going to run to get it ratified.

</blockquote>

While the NRA alleges that the ATT is actually <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/07/05/nras-arms-treaty-hysteria-too-much-even-for-fo/186956">a secret plot</a> to disarm Americans, in reality the United Nations seeks to create standards on the international trade of arms to prevent the diversion of weapons to human rights abusers. The most <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/101161233/Draft-Final-Text-26-July">recent draft</a> of the treaty expressly prohibits the imposition of domestic firearms regulations upon parties to the treaty by "[r]eaffirming the sovereign right and responsibility of any State to regulate and control transfers of conventional arms that take place exclusively within its territory, pursuant to its own legal or constitutional systems."

Keene is not the only major gun advocate to appear on the radio program of a well-known conspiracy theorist in recent months. Erich and Larry Pratt from Gun Owners of America are frequent guests on the radio show of prominent 9-11 truther Alex Jones. (Franchi is also a regular Jones guest.)

Larry Pratt is <a href="http://campfema.com/">listed</a> alongside Jones as one of the stars of Camp FEMA.

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<dt>Posted in </dt>

<dd><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues/guns">Guns</a>, <a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues/justice-civil-liberties">Justice & Civil Liberties</a></dd>

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</dd>

<dt>Person</dt>

<dd><a href="http://mediamatters.org/tags/david-keene">David Keene</a></dd>

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</dd>

<dt>Stories/Interests</dt>

<dd><a href="http://mediamatters.org/tags/guns">Guns</a>, <a href="http://mediamatters.org/tags/national-rifle-association">National Rifle Association</a>, <a href="http://mediamatters.org/tags/united-nations-arms-trade-treaty">United Nations Arms Trade Treaty</a></dd>

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http://mediamatters.org/print/blog/2013/02/19/nra-president-appears-on-9-11-truthers-televisi/192716

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<div class="byline rights"><a href="http://www.alternet.org">AlterNet</a> [1] / By <a href="http://www.alternet.org/authors/steven-rosenfeld">Steven Rosenfeld</a> [2]</div>

<h1 property="dc:title" datatype="" class="node-title">7 Uncovered Quotes That Show How Far off the Rails the NRA Has Gone</h1>

</div>

<div class="story-date">January 22, 2013  |  </div>

The 143-year-old National Rifle Association has not always been like today's NRA, fighting every gun control law as if the essence of American freedom depends on every citizen owning a gun. What follows are a series of shocking quotes taken from various academic histories of the NRA by top officials within the organization supporting reasonable gun control laws.

1. “I have never believed in the general practice of carrying weapons,” said NRA President Karl T. Frederick, a 1920 Olympic gold-medal winner for marksmanship who became a lawyer, praising state gun control laws in Congress. He testified before the 1938 federal gun control law passed. “I do not believe in the general promiscuous toting of guns. I think it should be sharply restricted and only under licenses.”

��We do think that any sane American, who calls himself an American, can object to placing into this bill the instrument which killed the president of the United States,�� NRA Executive Vice-President Franklin Orth told Congress, shortly after Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed President John F. Kennedy with an Italian military surplus rifle Oswald bought from a mail-order ad in the NRA’s American Rifleman magazine.

“There’s no reason why on the street today a citizen should be carrying loaded weapons,” said California Gov. Ronald Reagan in May 1967, after two dozen Black Panther Party members walked into the California Statehouse carrying rifles to protest a gun-control bill. Reagan said guns were “a ridiculous way to solve problems that have to be solved among people of good will.”

“You do know that I am a member of the NRA and my position on the right to bear arms is well known,” Reagan said, speaking out in support of the 1994 Brady bill to create new background checks and a waiting period for gun buyers. “But I want you to know something else, and I am going to say it in clear, unmistakable language: I support the Brady Bill and I urge Congress to enact it without further delay.”

“To ‘keep and bear arms’ for hunting today is essentially a recreational activity and not an imperative of survival, as it was 200 years ago; ‘Saturday night specials’ [handguns] and machine guns are not recreational weapons and surely are as much in need of regulation as motor vehicles,” said retired U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger in Parade <a href="http://www.guncite.com/burger.html">magazine</a> [3], in January 1990.

The Second Amendment “has been the subject of one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word fraud, on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime,�� Burger <a href="http://www.guncite.com/gc2ndfra.html">told</a> [4] PBS’ News Hour in late 1991, referring to the NRA’s claim that the U.S. Constitution included a personal right to own guns.

“These people are crazy,” said Alan Gura, referring to NRA critics who said he’d ceded too much to gun control arguments when he successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in March 2008 to overturn the District of Columbia’s handgun ban and establish a Second Amendment right to a handgun at home for self-defense. “I could have, if I wanted to, stood before the Court and said, ��Yes, [the Amendment’s clause] shall not be infringed,’ means you would never have any gun laws, and of course need to all have machine guns in case we want to overthrow the government, and while we’re at it we should have rocket launchers and stinger missiles. And that would have probably made me very popular in some cabin somewhere out there in the woods… Of course, I would have lost 9-0.”

Editor’s note: These quotes were cited or referred to in UCLA law professor Adam Winkler’s 2011<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gunfight-Battle-over-Right-America/dp/0393077411">book</a> [5],Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America.

</div>

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<div class="byline story"><a href="http://www.alternet.org">AlterNet</a> [1] / By <a href="http://www.alternet.org/authors/steven-rosenfeld">Steven Rosenfeld</a> [2]</div>

<h1 class="node-title">The Suprising Unknown History of the NRA</h1>

</div>

<div class="story-date">January 13, 2013  |  </div>

For nearly a century after, its founding in 1871, the National Rifle Association was among America’s foremost pro-gun control organizations. It was not until 1977 when the NRA that Americans know today emerged, after libertarians who equated owning a gun with the epitome of freedom and fomented widespread distrust against government��if not armed insurrection—emerged after staging a hostile leadership coup.

In the years since, an NRA that once encouraged better markmanship and reasonable gun control laws gave way to an advocacy organization and political force that saw more guns as the answer to society’s worst violence, whether arming commercial airline pilots after 9/11 or teachers after the Newtown, while opposing new restrictions on gun usage.

It is hard to believe that the NRA was committed to gun-control laws for most of the 20th century—helping to write most of the federal laws restricting gun use until the 1980s.

“Historically, the leadership of the NRA was more open-minded about gun control than someone familiar with the modern NRA might imagine,” wrote Adam Winkler, a Second Amendment scholar at U.C.L.A. Law School, in his 2011 book, Gunfight: The Battle Over The Right To Bear Arms In America. “The Second Amendment was not nearly as central to the NRA’s identity for most of the organization’s history.”

Once Upon A Time��

The NRA was founded in 1871 by two Yankee Civil War veterans, including an ex-New York Times reporter, who felt that war dragged on because more urban northerners could not shoot as well as rural southerners. It’s motto and focus until 1977 was not fighting for constitutional rights to own and use guns, but “Firearms Safety Education, Marksmanship Training, Shooting for Recreation,” which was displayed in its national headquarters.

The NRA’s first president was a northern Army General, Ambrose Burnside. He was chosen to reflect this civilian-militia mission, as envisioned in the Second Amendment, which reads, “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” The understanding of the Amendment at the time concerned having a prepared citizenry to assist in domestic military matters, such as repelling raids on federal arsenals like 1786’s Shays Rebellion in Massachusetts or the British in the War of 1812. Its focus was not asserting individual gun rights as today, but a ready citizenry prepared by target shooting. The NRA accepted $25,000 from New York State to buy a firing range ($500,000 today). For decades, the U.S. military gave surplus guns to the NRA and sponsored shooting contests.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the NRA’s leaders helped write and lobby for the first federal gun control laws—the very kinds of laws that the modern NRA labels as the height of tryanny. The 18th Amendment outlawing alchohol became law in 1920 and was soon followed by the emergence of big city gangsters who outgunned the police by killing rivals with sawed-off shotguns and machine guns—today called automatic weapons.

In the early 1920s, the National Revolver Association—the NRA’s handgun training counterpart—proposed model legislation for states that included requiring a permit to carry a concealed weapon, adding five years to a prison sentence if a gun was used in a crime, and banning non-citizens from buying a handgun. They also proposed that gun dealers turn over sales records to police and created a one-day waiting period between buying a gun and getting it—two provisions that the NRA opposes today.

Nine states adopted these laws: West Virginia, New Jersey, Michigan, Indiana, Oregon, California, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Connecticut. Meanwhile, the American Bar Association had been working to create uniform state laws, and built upon the proposal but made the waiting period two days. Nine more states adopted it: Alabama, Arkansas, Maryland, Montana, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

State gun control laws were not controversial—they were the norm. Within a generation of the country’s founding, many states passed laws banning any citizen from carrying a concealed gun. The cowboy towns that Hollywood lionized as the ‘Wild West’ actually required all guns be turned in to sheriffs while people were within local city limits. In 1911, New York state required handgun owners to get a permit, following an attempted assassination on New York City’s mayor. (Between 1865 and 1901, three presidents had been killed by handguns: Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley.) But these laws were not seen as effective against the Depression’s most violent gangsters.

In 1929, Al Capone’s St. Valentine’s Day massacre saw men disguised as Chicago police kill 7 rivals with machine guns. Bonnie and Clyde’s crime-and-gun spree from 1932-34 was a national sensation. John Dellinger robbed 10 banks in 1933 and fired a machine gun as he sped away. A new president in 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt, made fighting crime and gun control part of his ‘New Deal.’ The NRA helped him draft the first federal gun controls: 1934’s National Firearms Act and 1938��s Gun Control Act.

The NRA President at the time, Karl T. Frederick, a 1920 Olympic gold-medal winner for marksmanship who became a lawyer, praised the new state gun controls in Congress. “I have never believed in the general practice of carrying weapons,” he testified before the 1938 law was passed. “I do not believe in the general promiscuous toting of guns. I think it should be sharply restricted and only under licenses.”       

These federal firearms laws imposed high taxes and registration requirements on certain classes of weapons—those used in gang violence like machine guns, sawed-off shotguns and silencers—making it all-but impossible for average people to own them. Gun makers and sellers had to register with the federal government, and certain classes of people—notably convicted felons—were barred from gun ownership. The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld these laws in 1939.

The legal doctrine of gun rights balanced by gun controls held for nearly a half-century.

In November 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed President John F. Kennedy with an Italian military surplus rifle that Owsald bought from a mail-order ad in the NRA’s American Rifleman magazine. In congressional hearings that soon followed, NRA Executive Vice-President Frankin Orth supported a ban in mail-order sales, saying, “We do think that any sane American, who calls himself an American, can object to placing into this bill the instrument which killed the president of the United States.”

But no new federal gun control laws came until 1968. The assassinations of civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy were the tipping point, coming after several summers of race-related riots in American cities. The nation’s white political elite feared that violence was too prevalent and there were too many people��especially urban Black nationalists—with access to guns. In May 1967, two dozen Black Panther Party members walked into the California Statehouse carrying rifles to protest a gun-control bill, prompting then-Gov. Ronald Reagan to comment, ��There’s no reason why on the street today a citizen should be carrying loaded weapons.”

The Gun Control Act of 1968 reauthorized and deepened the FDR-era gun control laws. It added a minimum age for gun buyers, required guns have serial numbers and expanded people barred from owning guns from felons to include the mentally ill and drug addicts. Only federally licensed dealers and collectors could ship guns over state lines. People buying certain kinds of bullets had to show I.D. But the most stringent proposals—a national registry of all guns (which some states had in colonial times) and mandatory licenses for all gun carriers—were not in it. The NRA blocked these measures. Orth told America Riflemen magazine that while part of the law “appears unduly restrictive, the measure as a whole appears to be one that the sportsmen of America can live with.”

The Paranoid Libertarians’ Hostile Takeover

Perhaps the sportsmen of America could abide by the new law, but within the NRA’s broad membership were key factions that resented the new federal law. Thoughout the 1960s, there were a few articles in American Rifleman saying the NRA was waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to declare the Second Amendment included the right to own a gun, Joan Burbick recounts in her 2006 book, Gun Show Nation: Gun Culture and American Democracy.

But in the mid-1960s, the Black Panthers were better-known than the NRA for expressing that view of the Second Amendment. By 1968, however, Burbick notes that the NRA’s magazine’s most assertive editorials began saying the problem was fighting crime and not guns—which we hear today. The 1968 law ordered the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to enforce the new gun laws. In 1971, ATF raided a lifetime NRA member’s house who was suspected of having a large illegal arms cache and shot and killed him. That prompted “the ardent reactionary William Leob,” then editor of New Hampshire’s  influential Manchester Union Leader newspaper, to call the federal agents “Treasury Gestapo,” Burbick noted, even though later evidence confirmed the weapons cache. Loeb and other white libertarians with podiums started to assert that the Second Amendment protected an individual right to guns—like the Black Panthers. But, of course, they were seeking to keep America’s white gun owners fully armed.

A split started to widen inside the NRA. Gun dealers thought they were being harassed. Rural states felt they were being unduly punished for urban America’s problems. In 1975, the NRA created a new lobbying arm, the Institute for Legislative Action, under Harlon B. Carter, a tough-minded former chief of the U.S. Border Patrol who shared the libertarian goal of expanding gun owners’ rights. Burdick writes that “by 1976, the political rhetoric had gained momentum and the bicentennial year brought out a new NRA campaign, ‘designed to enroll defenders of the right to keep and bear arms’ in numbers equal to ‘the ranks of the patriots who fought in the American Revolution.’”

Looking back, the seeds of a hostile internal takeover were everywhere.

Harlon Carter wasn’t just another hard-headed Texan who grew up in a small town that was once home to frontiersman Davy Crockett. He was an earlier era’s version of George Zimmerman, the Floridian young man who claims to have shot Trayvon Martin in self-defense in February 2012—even though police records and 911 recordings seem to show Zimmerman was looking for a fight. According to Carol Vinzant’s 2005 book, Lawyers, Guns, and Money: One Man’s Battle With The Gun Industry, a 17-year-old Carter found and confronted a Mexican teenager who he believed helped steal his family’s car. When the 15-year-old pulled a knife, Carter shot and killed him. His conviction was overturned when an appeals court said the jury should have considered a self-defense argument.

In November 1976, the NRA’s old guard Board of Directors fired Carter and 80 other employees associated with the more expansive view of the Second Amendment and implicit distrusting any government firearm regulation. For months, the Carter cadre secretly plotted their revenge and hijacked the NRA��s annual meeting in Cincinatti in May 1977. The meeting had been moved from Washington to protest its new gun control law. Winkler writes that Carter’s top deputy Neal Knox was even more extreme than him��wanting to roll back all existing gun laws, including bans on machine guns and saying the federal government had killed Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy as “part of a plot to advance gun control.”

Using the NRA��s parliamentary rules, the rebels interrupted the agenda from the floor and revised how the Board of Directors was chosen, recommited the NRA to fighting gun control and restored the lobbying ILA. Harlon Carter became the NRA’s new executive director. He cancelled a planned move of its national headquarters from Washington to Colorado Springs. And he changed the organization’s motto on its DC headquarters, selectively editing the Second Amendment to reflect a non-compromising militancy, “The Right Of The People To Keep And Bear Arms Shall Not Be Infringed.”

After Carter was re-elected to lead the NRA in 1981, The New York Times reported on Carter’s teenage vigilante killing—and how he changed his first name’s spelling to hide it. At first, he claimed the shooting was by someone else—and then recanted but refused to discuss it. Winkler writes, “the hard-liners in the NRA loved it. Who better to lead them than a man who really understood the value of a gun for self-protection?”

After the coup, the NRA ramped up donations to congressional campaigns. ��And in 1977, new articles on the Second Amendment appeared” in American Rifleman, Burbick noted, “rewriting American history to legitimize the armed citizen unregulated except by his own ability to buy a gun at whatever price he could afford.” That revisionist perspective was endorsed by a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee chaired by Utah Republican Orrin Hatch in 1982, when staffers wrote a report concluding it had discovered “long lost proof” of an individual’s constitutional right to bear arms.

The NRA��s fabricated but escalating view of the Second Amendment was ridiculed by former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger—a conservative appointed by President Richard Nixon—in a PBS Newshour interview in 1991, where he called it “one of the greatest pieces of fraud—I repeat the word ‘fraud’—on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.”

Burger would not have imagined that the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008—13 years after he died—led by libertarian activist Justice Antonin Scalia��would enshrine that “fraud�� into the highest echelon of American law by decreeing that the Second Amendment included the right to own a gun for self-protection in one’s home.

(Editor's note: This is the first in a series of AlterNet reports on 2013's emerging gun-control debate. The sources include several books, notably <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gunfight-Battle-over-Right-America/dp/0393077411">Gunfight: The Battle Over The Right To Bear Arms in America</a> [3], by Adam Winkler (2011), <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gun-Show-Nation-American-Democracy/dp/1595580875/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358129947&sr=1-1&keywords=gunshow+nation">Gun Show Nation; Gun Culture And American Democracy</a> [4], by Joan Burbick (2006) and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lawyers-Guns-Money-Battle-Industry/dp/1403966273/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358129982&sr=1-1&keywords=Lawyers%2C+Guns+and+Money%3A+One+Man%27s+Battle+With+The+Gun+Industry">Lawyers, Guns and Money: One Man's Battle With The Gun Industry</a> [5], by Carol Vinzant (2005). Other sources include reporting by The New Yorker's <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/bios/jill_lepore/search?contributorName=jill%20lepore">Jill LePore</a> [6] and <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2012/12/jeffrey-toobin-second-amendment.html">Jeffrey Toobin</a> [7], The New York Review of Books' Garry Wills, and U.S. Supreme Court decisions, including Justice Stephen Breyer's <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/07-290.ZD1.html">d</a> [8]<a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/07-290.ZD1.html">issent</a> [8] in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), and Retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger in <a href="http://www.guncite.com/burger.html">Parade</a> [9] magazine.)

</div>

<div class="tags">See more stories tagged with:

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/gun-rights-0">gun rights</a> [10],</div>

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<div class="print-source_url">Source URL: <a href="http://www.alternet.org/suprising-unknown-history-nra">http://www.alternet.org/suprising-unknown-history-nra</a></div>

Links:

[1] http://www.alternet.org

[2] http://www.alternet.org/authors/steven-rosenfeld

[3] http://www.amazon.com/Gunfight-Battle-over-Right-America/dp/0393077411

[4] http://www.amazon.com/Gun-Show-Nation-American-Democracy/dp/1595580875/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358129947&sr=1-1&keywords=gunshow+nation

[5] http://www.amazon.com/Lawyers-Guns-Money-Battle-Industry/dp/1403966273/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358129982&sr=1-1&keywords=Lawyers%2C+Guns+and+Money%3A+One+Man%27s+Battle+With+The+Gun+Industry

[6] http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/bios/jill_lepore/search?contributorName=jill%20lepore

[7] http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2012/12/jeffrey-toobin-second-amendment.html

[8] http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/07-290.ZD1.html

[9] http://www.guncite.com/burger.html

[10] http://www.alternet.org/tags/gun-rights-0

[11] http://www.alternet.org/tags/gun-laws

[12] http://www.alternet.org/tags/nra

[13] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B

<a href="http://www.alternet.org/suprising-unknown-history-nra?akid=9945.1076705.jXCukI&rd=1&src=newsletter779983&t=12">http://www.alternet.org/suprising-unknown-history-nra?akid=9945.1076705.jXCukI&rd=1&src=newsletter779983&t=12</a>

<h1 itemprop="name" style=" margin-top: 0; padding-top: 0;">Conservative Media Take Up Call To Arm Teachers</h1>

<h1 itemprop="name" style=" margin-top: 0; padding-top: 0;"><a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/12/20/conservative-media-take-up-call-to-arm-teachers/191932">http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/12/20/conservative-media-take-up-call-to-arm-teachers/191932</a></h1>

===

democ now 12/26/12  15 of 28 nra lobbyists are ex-gov't (sen and staffers?)

prince bandar saidi

===

<h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading">Chris W. Cox</h1>

bs http://meetthenra.org/nra-member/Chris%20Cox%20%28Executive%20Director%29

<div class="views-field-field-biography-value"><label class="views-label-field-biography-value">Biography: </label>

After receiving a B.A. from Rhodes College, Chris Cox worked as a legislative aide to U.S. Representative John Tanner (D-TN) and as a lobbyist. He began working for the National Rifle Association in 1995 as a federal liaison in the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA). Cox was promoted to Deputy Director of the Federal Affairs Division in 2000 before taking over as the Executive Director of NRA-ILA in 2002. He develops and executes political campaign and legislative initiatives, coordinates national advertising and direct-mail programs and has administrative responsibility over ILA’s $20 million budget. Cox also serves as chairman of the NRA’s political action committee, the “Political Victory Fund.��

</div>

<div class="views-field-field-salary-value"><label class="views-label-field-salary-value">Base Salary: </label>$588, 412</div>

<div class="views-field-field-compensation-value"><label class="views-label-field-compensation-value">Other Compensation: </label>$70,796</div>

Controversial Actions and Statements:

</div>

</div>

In an October 23, 2012 op-ed for the Daily Caller, Cox wrote, “<a href="http://dailycaller.com/2012/10/23/just-14-days-to-freedom/" target="blank">Few elections in American history have mattered more to the future of our gun rights than the one that will take place just two weeks from today … Just one vote on the [Supreme] Court is all that stands between the America our Founding Fathers established, and the America [President] Barack Obama and his gun-ban allies envision. If Obama wins a second term, he could nominate up to three additional anti-Second Amendment judges in the same mold as his previous two [Supreme Court] nominees, Sonya Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Obama’s new majority would then almost certainly erase the Second Amendment from the Bill of Rights … Barack Obama��s vision for America is a nation that most of us would hardly recognize, let alone want to live in. And if re-elected, Obama will have the chance to make his vision a reality … It��s time to take our country back. It’s time to defeat Barack Obama</a>.”

</div>

<a href="http://meetthenra.org/ties?tid=38">Conspiracy Theory</a> | <a href="http://meetthenra.org/ties?tid=14">Republican Party (GOP)</a> | </div>

On October 5, 2012, Cox announced the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund’s endorsement of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in Fishersville, Virginia. Cox stated,

</div>

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http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/12/21/the-media-myth-of-nra-electoral-dominance-shoul/191944

In yet another year plagued by horrific instances of gun violence, the media was quick to react to tragedies by labeling gun violence prevention efforts futile on the basis of the alleged ability of the National Rifle Association to ruin the political careers of anyone who dared to stand in the way of its anti-gun regulation agenda.

Earlier this year, Slate's Brian Palmer <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/07/03/the-nra-is-still-a-political-paper-tiger/186914">typified this narrative</a> with an article titled "Why Is The NRA So Powerful?" that suggested that the pro-gun organization "considered by many the most powerful lobbying group in the country" can "reliably deliver votes." In the wake of the Newtown school massacre, Slate <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2012/06/eric_holder_charged_with_contempt_how_did_the_nra_swing_the_votes_of_so_many_democrats_.html">republished </a>the article verbatim. Also following the Newtown massacre, NBC's David Gregory and Fox News' Chris Wallace <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/12/16/fox-news-sunday-and-meet-the-press-push-media-m/191871">both suggested</a> that politicians who favored gun violence prevention measures would face serious reprisals.

In making these claims, the media simply advanced a years old narrative suggesting��the NRA��wields unlimited political power without citing any actual evidence for that position. In fact, 2012 was a year full of indicators that the extent of NRA influence has been wildly exaggerated. The media should keep this in mind as they prepare to cover the NRA's press conference this morning responding to the Newtown massacre.

During the past year, the National Rifle Association was abandoned by political and business allies and spent nearly��<a href="http://reporting.sunlightfoundation.com/2012/return_on_investment/">$18 million</a> in a failed attempt to keep supporters of gun violence prevention out of Congress and the White House.

Even as the NRA's brand was deemed toxic by the shadowy American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative "model legislation" group, and faced withering criticism in the wake of the Newtown school massacre, the <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/12/17/media-exaggerate-nras-ability-to-punish-politic/191882">media myth</a> has <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/12/16/fox-news-sunday-and-meet-the-press-push-media-m/191871">persisted</a>��that the NRA has the capability to punish politicians who oppose its <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/12/15/1341181/the-5-sensible-gun-safety-regulations-that-even-nra-members-support/">extreme agenda</a>.

<h2>NRA's Support For "Kill At Will" Laws Too Extreme For ALEC</h2>

Although the NRA had worked with ALEC <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/12/11908/nraalec-reactionary-gun-agenda">for decades</a> to advance weak gun laws in state legislatures across the nation, backlash against the NRA-supported "Kill At Will" law connected to the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin led ALEC to eliminate its NRA-chaired committee that had helped enact variations of the law across the country.

After neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman fatally shot unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin on February 26, controversy quickly surrounded Florida's "Kill At Will" self-defense law, which is termed "Stand Your Ground" by its proponents. Law enforcement initially cited the law as the reason why Zimmerman was not arrested, and <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/03/20/five-prosecutors-who-warned-of-the-law-protecti/186038">legal experts</a> and <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/stand-your-ground-law/">reporters</a> demonstrated how "Kill At Will" could offer legal protection to individuals who used deadly force under seemingly criminal circumstances.

On March 21, Media Matters <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/03/21/alec-has-pushed-the-nras-stand-your-ground-law/186459">revealed</a> that the NRA -- whose <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/03/22/marion-hammer-the-nra-lobbyist-behind-floridas/184284">lobbyist</a> was <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/03/21/a-look-back-at-the-nras-effort-to-pass-floridas/186531">instrumental</a> in enacting Florida's 2005 "Kill At Will" law -- had used its position as co-chair of ALEC's Public Safety and Elections Task Force to push "Kill At Will" as model legislation nationwide. A media firestorm ensued, with progressive organizations led by Center for Media and Democracy, Color of Change, ProgressNow, Common Cause, and People for the American Way using the ALEC-NRA link to encourage businesses to cut ties with the model legislation organization.

While ALEC's top corporate sponsors <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/03/23/alecs-corporate-backers-silent-on-shoot-first-l/184656">initially stayed silent</a> as a growing number pundits, politicians and advocacy organizations weighed in on ALEC's role in advancing "Kill At Will," the movement reached a tipping point with the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_that_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC">departure</a> of Coca-Cola on April 4. Other large corporations <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/04/14/464580/9th-and-10th-companies-drop-alec/">followed suit</a> in cutting ties with ALEC including Mars, Inc., Kraft, Wendy's, and McDonald's.

On April 17, ALEC announced that it was <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/04/17/alec-eliminates-task-force-that-did-nras-biddin/184470">eliminating</a> the Public Safety and Elections Task Force that had pushed "Kill At Will" nationwide. Still, corporations <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporations_that_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC">continued</a> to drop out in light of the public relations disaster created by the NRA-backed task force. Among those that subsequently departed: Blue Cross Blue Shield, YUM! Brands, Procter & Gamble, Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, Johnson & Johnson, Dell Computers, MillerCoors, Hewlett-Packard, Best Buy, General Motors, Walgreens, General Electric, Sprint Nextel, Wells Fargo and Bank of America.

The NRA was <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/04/23/nra-reportedly-seething-over-elimination-of-ale/186164">reportedly furious</a> with ALEC's decision to eliminate the task force. On April 23, CNN contributor Erick Erickson reported that an NRA representative admonished ALEC during that week's conservative roundtable hosted by NRA board member and Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist. According to Erickson, the NRA accused ALEC of "run[ning] away from the fight." The ALEC representative reportedly responded by complaining that the NRA had refused to help push back against criticism of "Kill At Will."

For its part, the NRA has not backed down on "Kill At Will." On the��<a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/03/30/nra-spent-anniversary-of-trayvon-martins-death/184221">one-month anniversary</a> of Trayvon Martin's death, the NRA deployed a lobbyist to the Alaska legislature and urged its members to support the passage of "Kill At Will." During the NRA's annual meeting, held in St. Louis, Missouri in April, top NRA lobbyist Chris Cox <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/04/17/exclusive-audio-nra-chief-lobbyist-cox-says-we/184199">vowed</a> to defend "Kill At Will" laws while NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/04/14/nras-lapierre-responds-to-trayvon-martin-killin/183980">accused</a> the media of "manufactur[ing] controversy for ratings" in covering Trayvon Martin's killing.

Testifying before a Florida task force to examine its "Kill At Will" law on October 16, Marion Hammer, a past president and current lobbyist for the NRA, <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/10/16/national-rifle-association-proud-of-its-role-in/190669">reiterated</a> that the NRA was "proud to have been a part of the process" in enacting "Kill At Will."

<h2>The NRA's Toothless "All In" Campaign To Defeat Obama Fails</h2>

In February, after spending much of 2011 <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2011/12/27/2011-a-year-in-the-nras-insane-paranoid-conspir/185712">advancing a hysterical conspiracy theory</a> about a supposed plot by President Obama to "destroy the Second Amendment" during his second term, the NRA announced an "All In" campaign to defeat Obama. In the end, the NRA spent <a href="http://reporting.sunlightfoundation.com/2012/return_on_investment/">more than $18 million</a> -- including nearly <a href="http://reporting.sunlightfoundation.com/outside-spending/committee/national-rifle-association-institute-for-legislative-action/C90013301">$12 million</a> on the <a href="http://reporting.sunlightfoundation.com/outside-spending/committee/national-rifle-association-of-america-political-victory-fund/C00053553">presidential race</a> -- on the 2012 elections to little effect.

In a February column for the NRA publication America's 1st Freedom titled "All In!" LaPierre <a href="http://www.nrapublications.org/index.php/12385/all-in/">compared</a> in vivid detail deaths of 250,000 people who perished in a 2004 tsunami in South Asia to the prospect of a second Obama term.

In the months leading up to Election Day, the NRA spent tens of millions of dollars on independent expenditures supporting a cast of largely Republican NRA endorsees while also spending to oppose the candidates in favor of gun violence prevention.

Candidates backed by the NRA fared poorly on Election Day. The <a href="http://reporting.sunlightfoundation.com/outside-spending/committee/national-rifle-association-of-america-political-victory-fund/C00053553">NRA Political Victory Fund</a> and the <a href="http://reporting.sunlightfoundation.com/outside-spending/committee/national-rifle-association-institute-for-legislative-action/C90013301">NRA Institute for Legislative Action</a> spent over $12 million trying to defeat the president. Obama was comfortably re-elected. More than 95��percent of the more than $18��million the NRA spent on federal elections went to races where the NRA-backed candidate lost on Election Day. The PVF in particular was <a href="http://reporting.sunlightfoundation.com/2012/return_on_investment/">one of the most ineffective</a> outside spenders during the 2012 elections.

The NRA also failed to garner Congressional victories. In six of seven Senate races where the <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/11/07/what-the-nras-all-in-failure-means-for-the-medi/191205">NRA spent over $100,000</a> on the general election, the candidate supported by the NRA lost. Of 26 House incumbents who lost their seats, <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/11/13/house-losses-demonstrate-weakness-of-medias-nra/191342">18 were endorsed by the NRA</a>. Four of the eight defeated incumbents not endorsed by the NRA were Democrats who lost to other Democrats in California's top-two primary system.

The NRA <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/11/14/nra-lashes-out-at-dim-journalists-for-shatterin/191377">lashed out at journalists</a> who reported on the NRA's failure, citing the passage of hunters' rights amendments in three states as evidence of electoral success, even though the amendment was��<a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/10/27/nra_pushes_right_to_hunt_and_fish_amendments/">not even opposed</a> by NRA nemesis the Humane Society. In subsequent bad news for the NRA, the results of a survey conducted by bipartisan pollsters released on November 29 found that voters <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/11/29/contrary-to-medias-nra-powerhouse-myth-voters-p/191572">trusted Obama more than Romney</a> on the gun issue in three key swing states.

The NRA's campaign messaging was also found to be ineffective. Voters who recalled hearing from the NRA said that the material made them more favorable to Democrat Tim Kaine, who defeated NRA-backed George Allen in the Virginia Senate race. The NRA attacked the findings of the survey by <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/11/30/nra-news-falls-flat-in-discrediting-bipartisan/191616">lying</a> about the poll's methodology through its media mouthpiece, NRA News.

Even after its resounding defeat in 2012, LaPierre took to NRA News to <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/11/14/fresh-off-grueling-election-defeat-nra-leader-p/191373">predict electoral victory</a> in 2014, claiming that Democrats who support gun violence prevention laws will "go out on that plank" with President Obama and "the American public and the NRA will saw it right off."

<h2>NRA Goes Silent In Wake Of Newtown, Allies Flee</h2>

After a gunman used an assault rifle to kill 20 children and six adults at a school in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, the NRA shut down its social media pages and��immediately <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/17/tech/social-media/nra-social-media-silence/index.html">refused to comment</a> on the tragedy. In the following days, some of the NRA's top Senate allies and business interests broke with the NRA and the gun lobby.

In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, the NRA deleted its Facebook page and did not tweet for four days. It also remained silent on its NRA Institute for Legislative Action page during that time period, until it <a href="http://www.nraila.org/news-issues/news-from-nra-ila/2012/12/important-statement-from-the-national-rifle-association.aspx">announced</a> on December 18 that it will hold a news conference to address the Newtown shooting. As Slate columnist David Weigel noted, it is <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/12/nra_and_gun_control_the_national_rifle_association_scares_its_members_into.html">standard operating procedure</a> for the NRA to remain tightlipped in the wake of high-profile shootings, although the organization usually releases a short perfunctory statement.

On December 17, two NRA A-rated Senators, Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Mark Warner (D-VA) <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/12/manchin-warner-gun-control.php">called for restrictions</a> on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. The NRA vehemently opposes such restrictions. The senators were joined on December 18 by A+ rated Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) who said during an interview on MSNBC that "I think that's where we need to go with this discussion is, yes, put gun control -- more gun control -- on the table." In October, Rep. Kingston touted his NRA endorsement on his <a href="http://www.facebook.com/notes/rep-jack-kingston/national-rifle-association-backs-kingston/495738650450149">Facebook page</a>. The same day, Republican Michigan Governor Rick Snyder <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/12/18/1355081/rick-snyder-guns/">vetoed</a> legislation to allow concealed weapons to be carried in schools. The NRA had <a href="http://www.nraila.org/legislation/state-legislation/2012/11/michigan-legislation-to-expand-concealed-carry-and-eliminate-concealed-weapons-licensing-boards-approved-by-the-state-senate,-sent-to-house.aspx?s=Michigan+59&st=&ps=">described</a> the bill as "pro-Second Amendment reform legislation."

Business interests also moved to distance themselves from the gun industry, a <a href="http://www.vpc.org/studies/bloodmoney.pdf">major funder</a> of the NRA. On December 18, private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management <a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/cerberus-to-sell-gunmaker-freedom-group/">announced plans</a> to sell the gun conglomerate Freedom Group after some investors expressed concern over the firm's relationship with the gun maker. Freedom Group owns Bushmaster, the company responsible for manufacturing the assault rifle used in the Newtown mass shooting, as well as <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/business/how-freedom-group-became-the-gun-industrys-giant.html?pagewanted=all">assault weapons manufacturers</a> Remington Arms and DPMS Panther Arms.

Many of the companies that make up the Freedom Group are NRA corporate sponsors, including Remington Arms, DPMS Panther Arms, H&R Firearms, Marlin and Para USA. Since 2005, Para USA has <a href="http://www.vpc.org/studies/bloodmoney.pdf#page=21">given</a> between $100,000 and $249,999 to the NRA. DPMS Panther <a href="http://www.vpc.org/studies/bloodmoney.pdf#page=23">gave</a> the NRA between $50,000 and $99,999 during the same period. Remington Arms, H&R Firearms, and Marlin have also <a href="http://www.vpc.org/studies/bloodmoney.pdf#page=24">all made contributions</a> of $25,000 to $49,999. In 2011, Remington <a href="http://www.nra.org/Article.aspx?id=16762">became the sponsor</a> of the Friends of NRA television show that airs on the Outdoor Channel.

On December 18, firearms retailer Dick's Sporting Goods announced plans to <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/18/justice/connecticut-dicks-guns/index.html">suspend the sale of assault rifles</a>, for the time being, in its stores. The company also said that it was pulling all firearms from the shelves of its store closest to Newtown. The same day, the Discovery Channel announced that its America's Guns show, which had been <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaMlyxran9Y">celebrated</a> by NRA News, was cancelled with <a href="http://www.deadline.com/2012/12/discovery-series-american-guns-cancelled/">no plans to air reruns</a>. A spokesperson for Discovery also <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/12/18/discovery-channel-kicks-ted-nugent-to-the-curb/">confirmed</a> that NRA board member Ted Nugent's gun culture special <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/10/11/five-crazy-moments-from-ted-nugents-discovery-c/190553">Ted Nugent's Gun Country</a> "would definitely not be returning to the Discovery Channel." Nugent had <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/10/12/will-discovery-channel-air-more-episodes-of-ted/190591">previously claimed</a> that the Discovery Channel "want[s] to do [the special] as a regular feature."

Conservatives in media also distanced themselves from the NRA's opposition to firearms restrictions. On December 14, News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/12/17/murdoch-calls-for-gun-reform-while-fox-news-dem/191873">used his Twitter account</a> to ask, "When will politicians find the courage to ban automatic weapons?" Joe Scarborough, a former top NRA rated Republican congressman and current MSNBC host, delivered a <a href="http://mediamatters.org/video/2012/12/17/joe-scarborough-breaks-with-the-nra-and-calls-f/191872">10-minute monologue</a>��concerning the Newtown massacre on the December 17 edition of Morning Joe. Scarborough called for the end of the "proliferation of combat-styled weapons" and said, "Politicians can no longer be allowed to defend the status quo. They must be instead forced to defend our children."

The tone even changed on Fox News, where calls for increased gun regulation are <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/12/17/fox-news-extreme-pro-gun-rhetoric-vs-rupert-mur/191883">routinely attacked</a>. Fox News contributor Peter Johnson Jr., who is considered to be the��<a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/10/26/do-the-conspiracy-theories-pushed-by-foxs-peter/190949">on-air mouthpiece</a> of network��CEO Roger Ailes, <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/12/18/ailes-mouthpiece-hints-at-support-for-stronger/191890">expressed support</a> for an assault weapons ban and stated on the December 18 edition of Fox & Friends  that "the government has the right to register and regulate ... firearms."

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The National Rifle Association is the major advocate for gun rights in the American political arena. The N.R.A. has become a formidable player, with a $300 million budget, millions of members around the country and virtually unmatched ferocity in advancing its political and legislative interests.

After a string of victories in the courts and Congress, the N.R.A. has been increasingly flexing political muscle, with both Democrats and Republicans courting its favor and avoiding its wrath. The legal and political debate over gun laws has followed a familiar trajectory: toward fewer restrictions.

Tragic School Shootings: A Catalyst for Change?

But in December 2012, the tone of the debate over gun laws seemed to shift after a heavily armed gunman <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/nyregion/shooting-reported-at-connecticut-elementary-school.html?hp">forced his way into an elementary school</a> in Newtown, Conn., killing 27 people, including 20 young children.

As the country absorbed the news of yet another mass shooting, supporters of stricter laws gained some hope that the tragedy might be a catalyst for change.

The following week, President Obama said he <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/us/politics/obama-to-give-congress-plan-on-gun-control-within-weeks.html">would submit broad, new gun control proposals to Congress </a>no later than January and would commit the power of his office to overcoming political opposition in the wake of the school massacre.

The president’s pledge came as key House Republicans restated their firm opposition to enacting any new limits on firearms or ammunition, setting up the possibility of a philosophical clash over the Second Amendment early in Mr. Obama’s second term.

N.R.A. Calls For Armed Guards in Schools

Four days after the massacre, the N.R.A. broke its silence with what it called an ��important statement from the National Rifle Association,” saying that the organization, which has steadfastly fought almost any federal or state gun control legislation, was potentially reconsidering its position.

“The N.R.A. is prepared to offer meaningful contributions to make sure this never happens again,�� the <a href="http://www.nraila.org/news-issues/news-from-nra-ila/2012/12/important-statement-from-the-national-rifle-association.aspx">statement</a> said.

On Dec. 21, the N.R.A. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/22/us/nra-calls-for-armed-guards-at-schools.html">called for schools to be protected by armed guards</a> as the best way to protect children from gun violence. The group said that steps other than gun control, including cracking down on criminals and fighting violence in the media, would be most effective.

Wayne LaPierre, the N.R.A.’s executive vice president, read a statement at a news conference but did not take questions. He also criticized violent video games and spoke of the need to deal more effectively with the mentally ill.

<a id="more" title="More">Read More...http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_rifle_association/index.html</a>

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Background

The N.R.A. was founded in 1871 in New York by two Civil War veterans who were concerned about the lack of marksmanship in the armed forces. It sponsors shooting contests and other events, but is best known for its political activism surrounding gun laws. Its lobbying arm, the NRA-Institute for Legislative Action, was established in 1975.

In recent years, the N.R.A. has weighed in on such varied issues as health care, campaign finance, credit card regulations and Supreme Court nominees.

In the health care debate in 2010, for instance, the N.R.A.’s lobbyists worked with the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, to include a little-noticed provision banning insurance companies from charging higher premiums for people with guns in their homes.

The N.R.A. worked out a deal in June 2010 exempting itself from a proposal requiring groups active in political spending to disclose their financial donors. That spring, its push for greater gun rights in the District of Columbia served to effectively kill a measure — once seemingly assured of passage — to give the district a voting seat in Congress.

With an assist from the N.R.A., a popular bill in 2009 restricting credit card lenders came with an odd add-on: It also allowed people to carry loaded guns in national parks. And the gun lobby put potential supporters of the Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan on notice in 2010 that a vote for her would be remembered at the ballot boxes that November.

Gun Laws

For decades, more restrictive gun control laws were put in place in response to notorious crimes, beginning with the federal law that followed the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. But after a Democratic-controlled Congress in 1994 passed bills proposed by President Clinton to restrict certain kinds of assault weapons and to create a national system of background checks for gun purchases, the political pendulum began to swing the other way. President Bush’s defeat of Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election was attributed in part to the perception among gun owners that Mr. Gore was “anti-gun.’'

In 2008, the N.R.A. unsuccessfully campaigned against President Obama, saying that his election would lead to a gun ban. Several prominent candidates who the association campaigned for in Congress were also defeated that November. Even so, the increased Democratic ranks in Congress included senators and House members who represent Western states and more rural areas where gun ownership is popular and deemed sacrosanct.

The battle over gun laws has moved largely into the courts, where it revolves around fundamentally differing interpretations of the oddly punctuated, often-debated Second Amendment, which reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

In 2008, the Supreme Court ruled for the first time that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to own guns. The decision was seen as a significant victory for the N.R.A. and its allies.

The N.R.A.’s expanding portfolio is an outgrowth of its success in the courts, Congressional officials and political analysts said. The Supreme Court ruled in June 2010 for the second time that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual the right to have a gun. A key point of the new ruling was to extend the constitutional protection of the right to bear arms to the state and local level, threatening broad swaths of legislation.

With that ruling, the N.R.A. now finds that its defining battle is a matter of settled law, and it has the resources to expand into other areas. In 2010, the organization had a $307 million budget.

In July 2010, the N.R.A. began broadcasting advertisements urging senators to oppose or filibuster the Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan. But the group’s top priority is still finding ways to use the Supreme Court ruling in cities, states and courts nationwide to overturn more restrictive gun laws and establish gun rights measures.

Firearms Research

There is a paucity of research in the field of guns and violence. Scientists in the field and former officials with the government agency that used to finance the great bulk of this research say the influence of the N.R.A. has all but choked off money for such work.

The amount of money available today for studying the impact of firearms is a fraction of what it was in the mid-1990s, and the number of scientists toiling in the field has dwindled to just a handful as a result, researchers say.

Chris Cox, the N.R.A.’s chief lobbyist, said his group had not tried to squelch genuine scientific inquiries, just politically slanted ones.

The dearth of money can be traced in large measure to a clash between public health scientists and the N.R.A. in the mid-1990s. At the time, researchers at the C.D.C. were becoming increasingly assertive about the importance of studying gun-related injuries and deaths as a public health phenomenon, financing studies that found, for example, that having a gun in the house, rather than conferring protection, significantly increased the risk of homicide by a family member or intimate acquaintance.

Alarmed, the N.R.A. and its allies on Capitol Hill fought back. Initially, pro-gun lawmakers sought to completely eliminate the <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/injury/index.html">National Center for Injury Control and Prevention</a>, part of the federal <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/centers_for_disease_control_and_prevention/index.html?inline=nyt-org">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>, which was for about a decade the leading source of financing for firearms research. The N.R.A. argued that its work was “redundant” and reflected a political agenda. When that failed, they turned to the appropriations process. In 1996, Representative Jay Dickey, Republican of Arkansas, succeeded in pushing through an amendment that stripped $2.6 million from the disease control centers’ budget, the very amount it had spent on firearms-related research the year before.

Trayvon Martin Case

In the spring of 2012, the case of <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/trayvon_martin/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=trayvon%20martin%20&st=cse">Trayvon Martin</a>, a 17-year-old black youth shot to death by a neighborhood watch coordinator in Florida, led to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/13/us/nra-campaign-leads-to-expanded-self-defense-laws.html?hp">new scrutiny to a raft of laws expanding gun rights passed with the backing of the N.R.A.</a>

The man who shot Trayvon, George Zimmerman, was not initially charged by the police, in part because of the Stand Your Ground law Florida had adopted, which gives the benefit of the doubt to a person who claims self-defense, regardless of whether the killing takes place on a street, in a car or in a bar — not just in one’s home, the standard cited in more restrictive laws. And there is no requirement to retreat before using force.

More than two dozen states have adopted versions of Stand Your Ground in recent years, and similar legislation is pending in others.

<h3>ARTICLES ABOUT THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION</h3>

Newest First | <a rel="nofollow" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_rifle_association/index.html?s=oldest&">Oldest First</a>

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big in 94 newt takeover

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<div class="cnnStorySource">WASHINGTON (CNNMoney)</div>

<h2>When Wisconsin's Gov. Scott Walker fought off a tough recall effort earlier this year, he did so with the National Rifle Association's political backing and money, thanks to his work expanding gun rights in the state.</h2>

The NRA, the most well-known gun rights advocate and lobbying group, is in the spotlight following last week's shootings at the elementary school in Newton, Connecticut, that killed 20 children and six adults.

Since then, there's been a public outcry to curb gun ownership. President Obama has tapped Vice President Joe Biden to lead a task force to produce proposals on gun law reform within weeks.

The NRA has also scheduled a news conference on Friday saying in a statement it is "prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again."

The NRA's clout in Washington is well known. With its ability to mobilize 4 million members to the polls, the NRA has garnered big <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2012/12/18/news/economy/gun-lobby-nra-connecticut/index.html">victories on gun rights</a> at the federal level.

Much of gun regulation, however, happens at the state level, where the NRA wields even more power, especially in parts of the country with large populations of registered hunters and gun users.

The NRA and its campaign arm, the Political Victory Fund, have given nearly $3 million to state-level campaigns, political committees, and candidates over the past nine years, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics, a watchdog group. That doesn't include hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on lobbying various state legislatures in the same period.

The money has helped win owners expanded rights to carry guns outside of their home in 41 states, more than double the number from two decades ago.

Also, just in the last seven years, the NRA reports some 30 states have adopted a version of the "stand your ground" law where gun owners can use "deadly force" to defend themselves when they feel threatened.

The NRA, which has kept a low profile since the shootings, didn't return a request for comment.

"For a lawmaker in any legislature, the reward of supporting gun rights is you get money and support from the NRA -- and there are no penalties," said Lee Drutman, a senior fellow with the Sunlight Foundation, a watchdog group. "If you take on the gun lobby, there are only penalties."

In Tennessee, for instance, the NRA spent thousands of dollars on a campaign this year to defeat state House Republican Debra Maggart, who defied the gun lobby by siding with business groups to block a bill that would have allowed employees to carry guns in workplace parking lots.

The NRA gave $8,000 directly to Maggart's opponent, according the National Institute on Money in State Politics. Along with a state gun lobby group, the NRA ran full page newspaper ads and a highway billboard blasting Maggart, by comparing her to President Obama, who has few fans in the state.

"They flooded the district with photos of me shredding a constitution," said Maggart. "It was a serious assault, and it had serious impact. I lost."

In Wisconsin, the NRA spent nearly $100,000 lobbying the legislature in 2011 to expand gun rights, according to that state's Government Accountability Board.

Wisconsin campaign finance records show that the NRA gave $10,000 in January to fight the recall effort of Republican Gov. Walker. The group officially endorsed him "because of his unapologetic support of our rights."

Florida was the first state to adopt the "stand your ground" law, which gained a lot of attention after the<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/17/justice/florida-teen-shooting/index.html"> high profile shooting death of the unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. </a>The NRA has given tens of thousands of dollars to Republicans who control the state legislature as well as Republican Gov. Rick Scott.

In 2012, the NRA spent $133,000 on direct mail, phone banks and email alerts to sway voters, according to Florida campaign finance records. The NRA has given the Florida Republican Party $125,000 since 2004, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics. <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2012/12/20/news/economy/nra-states/index.html#TOP"> <img src="/349de732-4b64-551a-81b2-445074e524e3.gif"/> </a>

<div class="storytimestamp">First Published: December 20, 2012: 4:09 PM ET</div>

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alternet:

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Most gun-related deaths are committed by people who purchase their weapons legally. Others purchase or steal them illegally, but their ability to get access to guns is due to our lax laws on gun ownership. LaPierre's job is to make it easier for people to buy and use guns. And so far he's been very successful. Since the 1994 assault-weapon ban expired in 2004, Congress hasn't enacted any major gun regulations.

It is no accident that the United States ranks first in the world—by a wide margin—in gun-related civilian deaths and injuries. Compared with every other democracy, we have the most guns per capita and the weakest gun laws. But the danger isn't simply the number of guns; it is the type of guns we allow people to legally purchase. Other countries permit hunting rifles. But many Americans believe it is their right to own an assault weapon.

Even in countries with strong gun-control laws, some people will get their hands on a weapon and destroy others' lives. The tragic killing in Norway last year is testament to this reality. (Although let's recall that Anders Breivik bought $550 worth of 30-round ammunition clips from an American gun supplier for the rifle he used to kill 69 Norwegian kids at a summer camp. Thanks to American laws, it was a legal online purchase.) But the shooting in Norway was an infrequent occurrence; it is, in fact, one of the safest countries in the world. In contrast, the U.S. is off the charts in terms of murder rates.

In other well-off democratic countries, gun violence is rare and shocking. According to the recent comparative figures, the US had five murders for every 100,000 inhabitants. Finland was next with only 2.3 murders per 100,000 residents, followed by Canada (1.8), Belgium (1.7), France (1.3), England and Australia (both 1.2), Netherlands (1.1), Sweden (1.0), Germany (0.8), Norway (0.6) and Japan and Austria (both 0.5). In other words, America's murder rate is more than eight times greater than Norway's.

The news media will spend an inordinate amount of effort trying to figure out what was in Lanza's head before he put on his protective gear, carried two guns into the Connecticut school, and began his shooting rampage. Although the psychology and motives of the murderer may be fascinating, it should not be the major focus. There are plenty of deranged people in the world, but in most well-off countries they can't easily get their hands on a firearm.

Here's where the NRA comes in. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, since 1990, the gun rights lobby, led by the NRA, has contributed $29.2 million to candidates for Congress and the White House, 87% of it to Republicans. In the most recent election cycle, gun rights groups donated $3.1 million to political candidates and spent another $5.5 million in lobbying.

In contrast, since 1990 gun control groups have donated only $1.9 million to politicians, 94% to Democrats. In the most recent election cycle, these groups contributed only $4,000 to candidates and spent only $420,00 on lobbying.

Of course, Democrats are not immune from the NRA's influence. This summer, 17 House Democrats recently voted in favor of criminal contempt for Attorney General Eric Holder for his oversight of 'Operation Fast and Furious'. Not surprisingly, each of them received campaign contributions from the NRA in the previous two election cycles.

At the top of the gun rights food-chain is the NRA's Wayne LaPierre. It is hard to know if he's mentally unstable but he's certainly crazy like a fox (and Fox News). For example, LaPierre gave a speech earlier this year to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington in which he said that President Obama was part of a "conspiracy to ensure re-election by lulling gun owners to sleep."

LaPierre added: "All that first term, lip service to gun owners is just part of a massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and hide his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment during his second term." He also warned that everything that "gun owners across America have fought to achieve over the past three decades could be lost" if Obama won a second term.

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opensecrets

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<div class="asset-body">After the tragic shooting and subsequent deaths of 27 people, 20 of whom were children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., many are examining the debate between groups who are for stronger gun control and those that support the right to carry firearms.

Key players in the debate include several politically active groups that have spent years exerting influence in Washington.

The <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000082">National Rifle Association</a> accounts for about 60 percent of what <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?cycle=2012&ind=Q13">gun rights interest groups</a> spent on lobbying in 2011 and the first three quarters of 2012. The other gun rights advocates include the <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000026353&cycle=2011">Gun Owners of America</a>; the Citizens Committee for the <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?lname=Citizens+Cmte+for+Right+Keep+%26+Bear+Arms&cycle=2011">Right to Keep and Bear Arms</a>; The <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?lname=National+Shooting+Sports+Foundation&cycle=2011">National Shooting Sports Foundation</a>; <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?lname=Safari+Club+International&cycle=2011">Safari Club International</a>; <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?lname=Boone+%26+Crockett+Club&cycle=2011">Boone & Crockett Club</a>, a group that aims to preserve a "hunting heritage"; and <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000028103">The Ohio Gun Collectors Association</a>.

</div>

<div id="more" class="asset-more">The NRA alone has spent more than ten times as much as <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?cycle=2012&ind=Q12">gun control interest groups</a> on lobbying in 2011 and the first three quarters of 2012.

Since 2006, <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/lookup.php?type=i&q=gun+control">15 different organizations</a> have mentioned the words "gun control" in their lobbying reports. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000029080">Smith and Wesson</a>, one of the nation's largest firearms manufacturers, has done so most frequently, mentioning the term 115 times. The National Rifle Association has the second-most mentions at 68.

For gun rights groups, 2012 was the most <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/totals.php?cycle=2012&ind=Q13">active election cycle</a> since 2000. They contributed a total of $3 million to candidates, 96 percent of them Republicans, through mid-October. That also makes 2012 its most Republican election cycle, with 2000 and 2002 close behind with 93 percent of contributions going to Republicans.

By contrast, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/totals.php?cycle=2012&ind=Q12">gun control groups</a> contributed less in this election cycle than in any cycle as far back as OpenSecrets has data (1990) -- again, through mid-October. After campaign spending peaked in 2000 with $581,000, politicians only saw $4,000 from gun control groups this year. All of those <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?cycle=2012&ind=Q12">recipients</a> were Democrats: Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), losing candidate Lori Saldana (D-Calif.), and Sen.-elect Tim Kaine (D-Va.) The interest group is <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?cycle=2012&ind=Q12#contribtrends">made up of</a> Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, and the Violence Policy Center. None of those groups are active enough to warrant their own pages on <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/index.php">OpenSecrets.org</a>.

<a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?cycle=2012&ind=Q13">Top recipients</a> of money from gun rights interest groups included presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio), Sen.-elect Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Senate candidate Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.). Tea party Republicans like Michele Bachmann and Allen West were high on the list, as well.

The <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000082&cycle=2012">NRA</a> by itself had made more than $1 million worth of campaign contributions in the 2012 election cycle as of mid-October, almost all of which came from the group's political action committee. It gave about <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/recips.php?cycle=2012&id=D000000082">$720,000 to federal candidates</a> and $342,000 to PACs, political parties and outside spending groups.

According to data from the <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/index.php">Center for Responsive Politics</a>, donors associated with the NRA have heavily favored Republicans in contributions since the 1990 election cycle with an <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/totals.php?id=D000000082&cycle=2012">average of 83 percent</a> of their money leaning right in the last two decades. In the 2012 cycle, <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/totals.php?id=D000000082&cycle=2012">89 percent</a> of the NRA's contributions went to Republicans.

Top recipients from 2012 are Reps. <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00031141">Steve Fincher</a> (R-Tenn.) and <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00031127">Jim Renacci</a> (R-Ohio) who received $9,900 each. Ohio Senate candidate <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00033174">Josh Mandel</a> (R) got $9,450, and Reps. <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00024753">Mike Coffman</a> (R-Colo.) and <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00013131">Eric Cantor</a> (R-Va.) and North Dakota Senate candidate <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00031629">Rick Berg</a> (R) also received $7,450 each. Rep. <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00031377">Raul Labrador</a> (R-Id.) and Wisconsin Senate candidate <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00033728">Tommy Thompson</a> (R) each took in about $7,000 from the NRA.

The NRA also gave GOP presidential candidate <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/candidate.php?id=N00000286">Mitt Romney</a> just shy of $6,000. The <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/index.php">Center for Responsive Politics</a> has no record of President <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/candidate.php?id=N00009638">Barack Obama</a> receiving any NRA-associated donations greater than $200 this cycle.

Some of the Democrats who received contributions from the NRA include Utah Rep. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00009753&cycle=2012">Jim Matheson</a> ($6,950), Michigan Rep. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00001783&cycle=2012">John Dingell</a> ($5,000), Arkansas Rep. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00009571&cycle=2012">Mike Ross</a> ($5,000) and Georgia Rep. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00026080&cycle=2012">John Barrow</a> ($4,950).

Smith and Wesson gave about 96 percent of its $22,750 in contributions to federal candidates as opposed to PACs or other groups. Sen. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00031174&cycle=Career">Scott Brown</a> (R-Mass.) got $7,000, Sen. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00027441&cycle=Career">Bob Corker</a> (R-Tenn.) received $2,000 and California Rep. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00006882&cycle=Career">Buck Mckeon</a> got $1,000.

On top of the NRA's contributions, the group also made about <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=National%20Rifle%20Assn&cycle=2012">$17 million in independent expenditures</a> in the 2012 election cycle. About $11.4 million was spent opposing Democrats and $5.9 million was spent favoring Republicans. The group spent most of its millions on <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/recips.php?cmte=National+Rifle+Assn&cycle=2012">two candidates</a>: $8.9 million against Obama and $3 million supporting Romney.

In congressional races, the NRA dropped about $588,000 in favor of Indiana GOP Senate hopeful <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary.php?id=INS1&cycle=2012">Richard Mourdock</a> and $344,000 on Senator-elect <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00009573&cycle=2012&newMem=Y">Jeff Flake</a> (R-Ariz.) After Obama, the group spent the next most opposing Democratic Sen.-elect <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00003535&cycle=2012">Sherrod Brown</a> (D-Ohio) with about $753,000. It spent $511,000 against Virginia Sen.-elect <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00033177&cycle=2012&newMem=Y">Tim Kaine</a>, also a Democrat.

<div>

A Sig Sauer was one of the guns found near the body of the alleged Newtown shooter. Image via flickr user <a target="_blank" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mykalburns/2976613690/lightbox/">Burns!</a>.

</div>

</div>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=bob%20corker&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">bob corker</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=boone%20and%20crockett%20club&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">boone and crockett club</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=Buck%20McKeon&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">Buck McKeon</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=Gun%20Owners%20of%20America&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">Gun Owners of America</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=gun%20rights%20interest%20groups&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">gun rights interest groups</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=jim%20renacci&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">jim renacci</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=john%20barrow&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">john barrow</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=john%20dingell&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">john dingell</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=josh%20mandel&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">josh mandel</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=Michelle%20Martinelli&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">Michelle Martinelli</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=mike%20coffman&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">mike coffman</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=Mitt%20Romney&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">Mitt Romney</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=National%20Shooting%20and%20Sports%20Foundation&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">National Shooting and Sports Foundation</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=raul%20labrador&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">raul labrador</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=republicans&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">republicans</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=Right%20to%20keep%20and%20bear%20arms&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">Right to keep and bear arms</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=Safari%20Club%20International&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">Safari Club International</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=Sandy%20Hook%20Elementary&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">Sandy Hook Elementary</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=Scott%20Brown&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">Scott Brown</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=Smith%20and%20Wesson&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">Smith and Wesson</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=steve%20fincher&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">steve fincher</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=the%20ohio%20gun%20collectors%20association&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">the ohio gun collectors association</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=Tommy%20Thompson&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">Tommy Thompson</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

==

political contrib to pols 2012; <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/recips.php?cycle=2012&id=D000000082">http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/recips.php?cycle=2012&id=D000000082</a>

----

<h1 class="print-title">Backgrounder: the History of the NRA/ALEC Gun Agenda</h1>

<div class="meta">by <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/users/35268/lisa-graves" title="View user profile." style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Lisa Graves</a> [1] �� December 15, 2012 - 12:32pm</div>

<ul>

<li class="vocabulary-2">Topics: <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/politics/right-wing" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Right Wing</a> [2], <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/corporations" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Corporations</a> [3], <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/democracy" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Democracy</a> [4], <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/ethics" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Ethics</a> [5], <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/marketing" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Marketing</a> [6]</li>

</ul>

</div>

<ul>

<li class="vocabulary-9">Projects: <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/projects/alec-exposed" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">ALEC Exposed</a> [7]</li>

</ul>

</div>

<div class="content clearfix"><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/node/11908">http://www.prwatch.org/node/11908</a>

"We��ve endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years," President Obama said in response to horrifying shooting massacre of 20 little children and six of their educators in Connecticut.

"Whether it is an elementary school in Newtown, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner in Chicago, these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods and these children are our children. And we’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics," he noted.

"Meaningful action" has been thwarted, largely because of the power and wealth of the National Rifle Association (NRA). One of the key avenues it has used to exert its influence is the <a href="http://www.alecexposed.org/" target="_blank" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">American Legislative Exchange Council</a> [9]��(ALEC). For decades, the NRA has helped bankroll ALEC operations and even co-chaired ALEC's "Public Safety and Elections Task Force," where it secretly voted on bills alongside elected representatives. At ALEC's annual meeting this summer, the NRA had the biggest booth at the convention in Salt Lake City and also underwrote a shooting event along with one of the largest sellers of assault weapons in the world.

Numerous bills to bar or impede laws that would help protect Americans from gun violence were drafted by the NRA and adopted by ALEC corporations and legislators as "models" for the rest of the country. And, dozens of these special interest bills have become law in states across the country. As a result of the NRA's efforts, a city in Connecticut recently repealed the only ban in the state on carrying a concealed firearm. Allowing "concealed carry" has been a long-standing part of the NRA-ALEC agenda, passing in Wisconsin a year ago at the urging of Governor Scott Walker, who was <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/12/11908/nraalec-reactionary-gun-agenda?http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/04/11450/nra-gives-walker-award-signing-alec-inspired-stand-your-groundshoot-first-law" target="blank" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">given an award by the NRA</a> [10] for making this item law along with a version of the controversial ALEC-NRA "Stand Your Ground"/"Castle Doctrine" bill. A concealed carry law also was <a href="http://www.vltp.net/uncategorized/michigan-lawmakers-vote-for-guns-in-schools" target="blank" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">just passed last week in Michigan,</a>��[11] along with the so-called "Right to Work" union-busting bill on ALEC's corporate wish list.

Here is a review of the NRA-by-way-of-ALEC gun agenda:

<ul>

<li>The retail sale of machine guns has been barred by federal law since the gangster era but, as <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/05/11508/cmd-special-report-new-documents-confirm-koch-was-alec-crime-task-force-led-nra" target="_blank" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">uncovered</a> [12] by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), one year ago at ALEC's "policy summit" in Arizona, the NRA obtained unanimous support from the corporate and lawmaker members of ALEC's Task Force for "amending" ALEC's "Consistency in Firearms Regulation Act" to expressly bar cities from banning "machine guns." Other provisions of that bill prevent cities from banning armor-piercing bullets and from banning efforts to alter guns to make them more deadly if the state does not do so. It also bars cities from suing gun manufacturers for gun deaths based on the theory of liability used by governments to sue tobacco manufacturers for smoking deaths.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>In 2008, as <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/05/11512/cmd-special-report-alecs-gun-agenda-flourished-koch-industries-board-other-koch-f" target="_blank" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">noted </a>[13] by CMD, in the aftermath of the tragic massacre of students and professors by a heavily armed Virginia Tech student, ALEC adopted a model bill to remove state prohibitions of guns on college campuses and to allow students to bring guns to class.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>Also in 2008, as CMD has <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/03/11393/resources-investigating-alecnra-gun-bills" target="_blank" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">documented,</a> [14] ALEC also weighed in on litigation challenging a handgun ban in the city of Chicago. ALEC filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in that case, McDonald v. Chicago, on the same side as the NRA.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>In 2005,<a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/03/11393/resources-investigating-alecnra-gun-bills" target="_blank" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> at an ALEC task force meeting co-chaired by Wal-Mart,</a> [14] corporate lobbyists and politicians voted to approve the NRA's request that a law it spearheaded in Florida with ALEC members become a "model" for other states.  That ALEC bill was misleadingly named the "Castle Doctrine," but is also known as the "Stand Your Ground" or "Shoot First" or "Kill at Will" law. That Florida law, was initially invoked by law enforcement to prevent the arrest and prosecution earlier this year of high-school student Trayvon Martin's killer. The law creates legal immunity for shooters claiming self-defense, going well beyond the reach of the traditional rights of self defense to create what some call a "license to kill."</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/03/11393/resources-investigating-alecnra-gun-bills" target="blank" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">CMD </a>[14]<a href="http://www.prwatch.org/node/11366" target="blank" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> connected those dots </a>[15] and <a href="http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Castle_Doctrine" target="_blank" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">documented</a> [16] that the NRA's lobbyist Marion Hammer pushed this bill through the Florida legislature in early 2005. She then brought the law to the closed door ALEC task force meeting in Texas that summer to become a priority for ALEC legislators. According to the NRA at that time, her pitch was warmly received and "unanimously" adopted by the private and public sector members at that meeting. The list of special interest reps attending that meeting is not publicly available, but it is known that the nation's largest retailer of ammunition and long guns, Wal-Mart, was the corporate leader of that task force; earlier this year, Wal-Mart announced it was resigning from ALEC.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>Also around that time, ALEC pushed a variety of legislation to require reciprocity between states for "concealed carry" laws, laws that result in more people carrying concealed firearms in public places, as CMD has <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/04/11433/bloomberg-denounces-nraalec-shoot-first-laws" target="_blank" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">noted</a> [17].</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>In 2000, as CMD has <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/12/11908/%22http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/05/11512/cmd-special-report-alecs-gun-agenda-flourished-koch-industries-board-other-koch-f" target="_blank" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">reported,</a> [18] when Koch Industries was the chair of ALEC's corporate board, ALEC's crime task force adopted the "Defense of Free Market and Public Safety Resolution" as a national template for states across the country. That resolution was an effort to thwart law enforcement from using contracts -- to buy firearms for police officers -- to favor gun manufacturers that adhered to a code of conduct. As part of a lawsuit settlement, gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson (S&W) had agreed to penalize S&W retailers who sold guns that tended to end up used in crimes, barred S&W retailers from using the gun show loophole to avoid conducting criminal background checks on prospective buyers, and forbade dealers from releasing more than one handgun to a purchaser per day. It also required retailers to sell all of its handguns with mechanical trigger locks to help protect kids from accidentally killing themselves or others. ALEC's resolution sought to bar states from rewarding S&W with contracts for police weapons or creating an incentive for other gun manufacturers to adopt similar voluntary codes of conduct.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>In 1995, ALEC promoted as model legislation a bill that would create state-based criminal background checks for firearms purchases different from the federal Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, which established the National Instant Check criminal background check system at the FBI. As <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/05/11512/cmd-special-report-alecs-gun-agenda-flourished-koch-industries-board-other-koch-f" target="_blank" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">analyzed</a> [13] by CMD, ALEC's bill expressly exempts firearms sales at gun shows from its background checks (creating a "gun show loophole"). It also exempts holders of "concealed carry" permits from a background check, even though the Brady Law attempts to protect the public through background checks regardless of whether a person had previously obtained a permit to carry a gun, such as from people who subsequently become fugitives or persons adjudicated to be mentally unstable.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>As CMD has <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/05/11512/cmd-special-report-alecs-gun-agenda-flourished-koch-industries-board-other-koch-f" target="blank" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">shown,</a> [13] ALEC also strongly opposed the 1994 "Assault Weapons Ban," which sought to expand the long-standing federal bar on fully automatic machine guns by preventing the purchase of rapid-firing "semi-automatic" assault-style weapons. Certain military-style firearms -- such as the .223 Bushmaster rifle reportedly found at the scene of the Connecticut school massacre and similar to the one used in the sniper shootings that terrorized D.C. in 2003 -- include versions for sale in the U.S. that were modified by manufacturers for the civilian market along with versions that allow three-shot bursts of fire with each pull of the trigger for law enforcement rather than their faster-firing military-style kin like an M4 or AK-47, in light of the federal assault weapons ban. The ban was allowed to expire during the George W. Bush administration, which had very close ties to the NRA.</li>

</ul>

The NRA's gun agenda helps protect and expand the market for the firearms sold by the weapons companies that bankroll its multi-million dollar lobbying and influence operations. Although ALEC's crime task force no longer officially exists, ALEC is doing nothing to undo the damage done through its many years of advancing the wish list of the gun industry through laws like "Stand Your Ground"/"Shoot First," pushing for guns on college campuses, and even opposing government purchasers from rewarding codes of conduct by gun makers and sellers.

Three months after ALEC issued a PR statement that it was eliminating its Public Safety and Elections Task Force, the NRA announced that it would still be hosting its regular annual shooting event at ALEC's summer convention, held in July of this year. For the past several years, on the Saturday of ALEC's annual meeting, the NRA has regularly hosted an outing for ALEC legislators and lobbyists to go shooting together -- with complimentary guns and ammo. July's event was co-sponsored by Browning Arms Company, whose foreign parent company is one of the world's largest sellers of machine guns, as<a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/07/11650/trap-shoot-must-go-guess-wholl-be-shootin-alec-members-salt-lake-nra-and-machine-" target="_blank" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">noted</a>��[19]��by CMD.

"Calling for 'meaningful action' is not enough," <a href="http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/html/media-center/pr013-12.shtml" target="_blank" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">said</a> [20] New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, founder and co-chair of Mayors Against Illegal Guns. "We need immediate action. We have heard all the rhetoric before. What we have not seen is leadership -- not from the White House and not from Congress. That must end today. This is a national tragedy and it demands a national response."

Facts are still coming in about how the 20-year-old shooter -- who under Connecticut law is too young to possess the pistols he was found with -- came to use the assault weapon fired repeatedly and rapidly in the assault on the school children, or why his mother (who was apparently also shot to death by him) reportedly brought or allowed such an arsenal of weapons into the home she shared with her son, who has been called "<a href="http://www.chipberlet.net/articles/male-superhero-complex.html" target="blank" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">mentally ill.</a> [21]" But, some observers are pointing out the terrible coincidence of a <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57559179/china-school-knife-attack-leaves-23-injured/" target="blank" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">knife attack</a> [22] that injured 22 students in China within a day of these 20 American school children being murdered in a matter of minutes by a gunman in Connecticut, which shows yet again that the ready availability of guns in the U.S. can be the difference between life and death. And easing access to deadly firearms has been a major part of the NRA/ALEC agenda, underwritten by ALEC corporations and advanced by ALEC politicians, for years and years.

The library of NRA/ALEC gun bills can be accessed <a href="http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/Bills_related_to_Guns,Prisons,Crime,_and_Immigration" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">here. </a>[23]

CMD's Brendan Fischer contributed to this report.

Lisa Graves is Executive Director of the Center for Media and Democracy (PRWatch.org and ALECexposed.org). She formerly served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice where she handled national gun policy and was the Managing Editor of the National Integrated Firearms Violence Reduction Strategy. She also served as the Chief Counsel for Nominations for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, as a Deputy Chief at the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, and as an adjunct professor of law.

</div>

<div class="print-footer" style=" text-align: center;">Center for Media and Democracy • 520 University Avenue, Suite 260 • Madison, Wisconsin 53703

Phone: 608-260-9713 • Fax: 608-260-9714</div>

<div class="print-source_url">Source URL: <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/12/11908/nraalec-reactionary-gun-agenda" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/12/11908/nraalec-reactionary-gun-agenda</a></div>

Links:

[1] http://www.prwatch.org/users/35268/lisa-graves

[2] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/politics/right-wing

[3] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/corporations

[4] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/democracy

[5] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/ethics

[6] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/marketing

[7] http://www.prwatch.org/projects/alec-exposed

[8] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prwatch.org%2Fnews%2F2012%2F12%2F11908%2Fnraalec-reactionary-gun-agenda&linkname=Backgrounder%3A%20the%20History%20of%20the%20NRA%2FALEC%20Gun%20Agenda

[9] http://www.ALECexposed.org

[10] ?http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/04/11450/nra-gives-walker-award-signing-alec-inspired-stand-your-groundshoot-first-law

[11] http://www.vltp.net/uncategorized/michigan-lawmakers-vote-for-guns-in-schools

[12] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/05/11508/cmd-special-report-new-documents-confirm-koch-was-alec-crime-task-force-led-nra

[13] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/05/11512/cmd-special-report-alecs-gun-agenda-flourished-koch-industries-board-other-koch-f

[14] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/03/11393/resources-investigating-alecnra-gun-bills

[15] http://www.prwatch.org/node/11366

[16] http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Castle_Doctrine

[17] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/04/11433/bloomberg-denounces-nraalec-shoot-first-laws

[18] "http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/05/11512/cmd-special-report-alecs-gun-agenda-flourished-koch-industries-board-other-koch-f

[19] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/07/11650/trap-shoot-must-go-guess-wholl-be-shootin-alec-members-salt-lake-nra-and-machine-

[20] http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/html/media-center/pr013-12.shtml

[21] http://www.chipberlet.net/articles/male-superhero-complex.html

[22] http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57559179/china-school-knife-attack-leaves-23-injured/

[23] http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/Bills_related_to_Guns,_Prisons,_Crime,_and_Immigration

</div>

===

<table id="recips" class="tablesorter"><tbody><tr class="even"><td nowrap="nowrap">Fincher, Steve (R-TN)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$9,900</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td nowrap="nowrap">Renacci, Jim (R-OH)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$9,900</td></tr><tr class="even"><td nowrap="nowrap">Mandel, Josh (R-OH)</td><td>Senate</td><td class="number">$9,450</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td nowrap="nowrap">Berg, Rick (R-ND)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$7,450</td></tr><tr class="even"><td nowrap="nowrap">Cantor, Eric (R-VA)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$7,450</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td nowrap="nowrap">Coffman, Mike (R-CO)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$7,450</td></tr><tr class="even"><td nowrap="nowrap">Labrador, Raul (R-ID)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$7,100</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td nowrap="nowrap">Thompson, Tommy G (R-WI)</td><td>Senate</td><td class="number">$7,000</td></tr><tr class="even"><td nowrap="nowrap">Carter, John (R-TX)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$6,950</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td nowrap="nowrap">Heller, Dean (R-NV)</td><td>Senate</td><td class="number">$6,950</td></tr><tr class="even"><td nowrap="nowrap">Matheson, Jim (D-UT)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$6,950</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td nowrap="nowrap">Allen, George (R-VA)</td><td>Senate</td><td class="number">$6,450</td></tr><tr class="even"><td nowrap="nowrap">Gosar, Paul (R-AZ)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$5,950</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td nowrap="nowrap">King, Steven A (R-IA)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$5,950</td></tr><tr class="even"><td nowrap="nowrap">Romney, Mitt (R)</td><td>Pres</td><td class="number">$5,850</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td nowrap="nowrap">Barrasso, John A (R-WY)</td><td>Senate</td><td class="number">$5,308</td></tr><tr class="even"><td nowrap="nowrap">Dingell, John D (D-MI)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$5,000</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td nowrap="nowrap">Hatch, Orrin G (R-UT)</td><td>Senate</td><td class="number">$5,000</td></tr><tr class="even"><td nowrap="nowrap">Murphy, Tim (R-PA)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$5,000</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td nowrap="nowrap">Rogers, Hal (R-KY)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$5,000</td></tr><tr class="even"><td nowrap="nowrap">Ross, Mike (D-AR)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$5,000</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td nowrap="nowrap">Runyan, Jon (R-NJ)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$5,000</td></tr><tr class="even"><td nowrap="nowrap">Simpson, Mike (R-ID)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$5,000</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td nowrap="nowrap">Barrow, John (D-GA)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$4,950</td></tr><tr class="even"><td nowrap="nowrap">Benishek, Dan (R-MI)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$4,950</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td nowrap="nowrap">Canseco, Francisco (R-TX)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$4,950</td></tr><tr class="even"><td nowrap="nowrap">Corker, Bob (R-TN)</td><td>Senate</td><td class="number">$4,950</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td nowrap="nowrap">Holden, Tim (D-PA)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$4,950</td></tr><tr class="even"><td nowrap="nowrap">Mourdock, Richard E (R-IN)</td><td>Senate</td><td class="number">$4,950</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td nowrap="nowrap">Rigell, Scott (R-VA)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$4,950</td></tr><tr class="even"><td nowrap="nowrap">Sessions, Pete (R-TX)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$4,950</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td nowrap="nowrap">Shuler, Heath (D-NC)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$4,950</td></tr><tr class="even"><td nowrap="nowrap">Stearns, Cliff (R-FL)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$4,950</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td nowrap="nowrap">Wicker, Roger (R-MS)</td><td>Senate</td><td class="number">$4,950</td></tr><tr class="even"><td nowrap="nowrap">Blackburn, Marsha (R-TN)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$4,500</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td nowrap="nowrap">Flores, Bill (R-TX)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$4,500</td></tr><tr class="even"><td nowrap="nowrap">Manchin, Joe (D-WV)</td><td>Senate</td><td class="number">$4,500</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td nowrap="nowrap">Smith, Lamar (R-TX)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$4,500</td></tr><tr class="even"><td nowrap="nowrap">Terry, Lee (R-NE)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$4,500</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td nowrap="nowrap">Tipton, Scott (R-CO)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$4,500</td></tr><tr class="even"><td nowrap="nowrap">Griffith, Morgan (R-VA)</td><td>House</td><td class="number">$4,150</td></tr></tbody></table>

===

note militia (anti-gov) team up with nra to be able to resist gov takeover (world socialist?)

santorum made ill dtr lifetime member; wife has more guns CNN

===

NRA backs tough three strikes laws? why? bolster cred?

Meet the New War,  Same as the Old War

Questions of justice aside, the net effect of the Arizona law and the ALEC-modeled legislation passed in other states will be to greatly increase the numbers of undocumented aliens arrested and jailed, by effectively converting each state and county law enforcement officer into an enforcer of federal immigration law.

The immigration dragnet created by the Support Our Law Enforcement Act in Arizona and the Sanctuary Cities Act as disseminated by ALEC is a win-win situation for private prison companies, and this war on immigration is not the first time corporate-backed legislation has filled the prisons and bank accounts of entities such as CCA and GEO Group.

In the early 1990’s, while the ALEC Public Safety (then Criminal Justice) Task Force was co-chaired by CCA, another task force member and current private sector chair, the NRA, began an aggressive campaign to introduce variants of two pieces of ALEC-backed legislation at the state and federal level: the so-called ��truth-in-sentencing” and “three-strikes” laws.

Truth-in-sentencing called for all violent offenders to serve 85 percent of their sentences before being eligible for release.

Three strikes called for mandatory life imprisonment for a third felony conviction. In some states this was interpreted as life imprisonment for a third violent offense conviction, while in others, such as California, the law was enacted in such a way as to include those convicted of petty offenses such as shoplifting. [PLN was the first media to report the instrumental role the NRA played in bankrolling Washington’s Three Strikes law in 1993 (the first in the nation) and Washington State’s “Hard Time for Armed Crime” initiative in 1995.]

The NRA campaign, dubbed “CrimeStrike,” headed by victim’s rights advocate and former Arizona Chief Assistant Attorney General Steve Twist, was seen by many as a reactionary strike at the Clinton administration’s gun control efforts when it moved into high gear in 1993. CrimeStrike was the campaign which set forth the precept that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” As such, CrimeStrike promoted state and federal tough-on-crime legislation and derided any lawmaker backing gun control as being “soft on crime.��

With memories of the Willie Horton disaster of the failed 1988 Michael Dukakis presidential campaign still fresh in the minds of most American legislators, this accusation invariably hit a raw nerve among Democrats and elicited kneejerk support of the laws.

==

<h1 class="title">NRA Up to Old Tricks at ALEC, But "Docs and Glocks" Bill Halted</h1>

<div class="meta">by <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/users/35275/brendan-fischer" title="View user profile.">Brendan Fischer</a> — August 9, 2012 - 9:39am</div>

<ul>

<li class="vocabulary-2">Topics: <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/politics">Politics</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

<ul>

<li class="vocabulary-9">Projects: <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/projects/alec-exposed">ALEC Exposed</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

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Florida Governor Rick Scott is spending taxpayer money defending a law conceived by the National Rifle Association (NRA) and proposed for ratification by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) that would prohibit doctors from asking their patients about gun ownership. [so much fro freedom] Though the law has been blocked by a federal court, it appeared set to follow the path to becoming an ALEC "model bill" paved by the infamous "Stand Your Ground" law, which was initially cited by law enforcement to protect Trayvon Martin's killer in Florida.

Governor Scott signed the <a href="http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=44993" title="reference on " firearm="" privacy="" target="blank">"Firearm Owners' Privacy Act"</a> in June of 2011, and a month later, NRA lobbyist Tara Mica <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/atf/cf/%7BFB3C17E2-CDD1-4DF6-92BE-BD4429893665%7D/pse_35-day_mailing_2011_annual_meeting%20new%20orleans.pdf" title="reference on presented it as a " target="blank">presented it as a "model" bill</a> for adoption by the ALEC Public Safety and Elections Task Force.

In July 2012, a federal judge <a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2018585859_floridaguns03.html" title="reference on struck down the so-called " docs="" vs="" target="_blank">struck down the so-called "Docs vs. Glocks" law</a> as violative of the First Amendment rights of doctors. "What is curious about this law -- and what makes it different from so many other laws involving practitioners' speech -- is that it aims to restrict a practitioner's ability to provide truthful, non-misleading information to a patient," wrote U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke.

The family doctors and pediatricians that challenged the law assert that guns are a public health issue and doctors have a duty to inquire about ownership -- particularly because gunshots account for a third of all deaths from injury among teenagers, and more than one in five deaths from injury among young people aged 1 to 19. Many years of research <a href="http://www.bradycampaign.org/facts/gunviolence/gunsinthehome/" title="reference on demonstrate" target="_blank">demonstrate</a> that even responsible gun owners and their families suffer higher risks of shooting injury or death when they keep a firearm in the home.

"The purpose of preventive medicine is to discuss with a patient topics that, while perhaps not relevant to a patient's medical safety at the time, inform the patient about general concerns that may arise in the future," Judge Cooke wrote.

Providing this public health information, she wrote, "simply does not interfere with the right to keep and bear arms."

<h2>"Stand Your Ground" Parallels</h2>

As the Center for Media and Democracy has <a href="http://prwatch.org/news/2012/03/11366/alec-ratified-nra-conceived-law-may-protect-trayvon-martins-killer" title="reference on reported" target="_blank">reported</a>, the "Stand Your Ground" law initially cited to protect Trayvon Martin's killer from prosecution in Florida followed a similar path as the "Firearm Owners Privacy Act."

In 2005, the NRA and its lobbyist Marion Hammer <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/03/27/former-nra-president-we-helped-draft-floridas-s/185254" title="reference on helped draft" target="blank">helped draft</a> the "Stand Your Ground" law and first pushed it in Florida. Hammer <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/files/Retreat_from_NRA%27s_force_St.Petersburg_Time.DOC" title="reference on reportedly" target="blank">reportedly</a> "stared down legislators as they voted," and weeks after it passed the Florida legislature, she <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/files/NRA_2005.pn" title="reference on brought the bill to ALEC" target="blank">brought the bill to ALEC</a>, where the legislators and corporate lobbyists on the Criminal Justice Task Force (which became the Public Safety and Elections Task Force) voted unanimously to <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/files/ALEC_minutes_05.png" title="reference on adopt it" target="blank">adopt it</a> as a "model bill." Since becoming an ALEC model it has become law in dozens of other states, and the number of homicides classified as "justifiable" <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/stand-your-ground-laws-coincide-with-jump-in-justifiable-homicide-cases/2012/04/07/gIQAS2v51S_story.html" title="reference on has dramatically increased" target="blank">has dramatically increased</a>.

As she did with the Stand Your Ground law, the NRA's Hammer <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/files/NRA_Loads_Up_for_Doc_Trial.pdf" title="reference on reportedly" target="blank">reportedly</a> "played a major role in pushing the [Firearm Owners Privacy Act] through the Legislature." Representative Jason Brodeur (R-33), an ALEC member, and Senator Greg Evers (R-2), who <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/content/nra-self-defense-mode-over-stand-your-ground" title="reference on co-sponsored" target="blank">co-sponsored</a> the Stand Your Ground law in 2005, were the main sponsors of the bill. After it passed, the NRA applauded Governor Scott for signing what they called their <a href="http://www.nraila.org/legislation/state-legislation/2011/6/report-florida-governor-rick-scott-sig.aspx?s=&st=10473&ps=" title="reference on " target="_blank">"priority"</a> bill.

As happened with the Stand Your Ground law, one month later, the NRA's Tara Mica was scheduled to bring the "Firearm Owners Privacy Act" to ALEC's August 2011 conference under the name "Gun Owners' Privacy and Access to Health Care Act." The full text of the proposal was <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/atf/cf/%7BFB3C17E2-CDD1-4DF6-92BE-BD4429893665%7D/pse_35-day_mailing_2011_annual_meeting%20new%20orleans.pdf" title="reference on printed in the Public Safety and Elections Task Force agenda" target="_blank">printed in the Public Safety and Elections Task Force agenda</a> sent to its members in advance of the meeting.

However, before ALEC's corporate and legislative members convened, a group of physicians challenged Florida's "Firearm Owners Privacy Act" as a violation of their First Amendment rights. <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/atf/cf/%7BFB3C17E2-CDD1-4DF6-92BE-BD4429893665%7D/PSE%20AZ%2035-day_mailing.pdf" title="reference on Records indicate" target="_blank">Records indicate</a> that Mica withdrew the bill from consideration by the ALEC task force, either at the meeting or soon before. It is not clear whether she did so because the bill was likely unconstitutional.

<h2>Taxpayer Dollars to Defend NRA/ALEC Law</h2>

The NRA sought to intervene in the lawsuit and defend the Firearm Owners Privacy Act because it said <a href="http://www.nraila.org/news-issues/in-the-news/2011/7/nra-loads-up-for-privacy-trial.aspx?s=&st=10473&ps=" title="reference on it had been a " foremost="" target="blank">it had been a "foremost supporter"</a> of the law. When Judge Cooke struck down the law this July, the NRA issued a <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/files/NRA-ILA_ALERT_Judge_Calls_Law.pdf" title="reference on press release" target="blank">press release</a> in Hammer's name warning that "now, if you own guns or have guns in your home, a doctor can refuse to treat you or your children," with a <a href="http://www.wnd.com/2012/07/own-a-gun-the-doctor-cant-refuse-to-treat-you/" title="reference on citation" target="_blank">citation</a> to a story from the far-right website World Net Daily.

Hammer's release also warned that "[a]s we brace for a federal government takeover of the health care system, fears are escalating that government will have access to medical records that can become the lists of gun owners," and asked people to contact Florida's Governor Scott and ask him to appeal the decision.

Governor Scott <a href="http://www.flgov.com/2012/07/30/florida-to-appeal-federal-court-decision/" title="reference on is indeed appealing" target="blank">is indeed appealing</a> the decision, and using taxpayer dollars to do so. As Mother Jones <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/07/rick-scott-docs-vs-glocks" title="reference on notes" target="blank">notes</a>, "a report in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel shows that the same tea party governor who trumpets fiscal conservatism has spent north of $880,000 in taxpayer money so far to wage mostly unsuccessful court battles for the conservative agenda -- including Docs vs. Glocks, voter suppression measures, drug tests for welfare recipients, prison privatization plans, and the Supreme Court challenge to Obamacare." <a href="http://alecexposed.org/w/images/d/d9/7G16-VOTER_ID_ACT_Exposed.pdf" title="reference on Each" target="blank">Each</a> of <a href="http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/05/drug_testing.html" title="reference on those" target="blank">those</a> agenda <a href="http://heartland.org/sites/all/modules/custom/heartland_migration/files/pdfs/6263.pdf" title="reference on items" target="blank">items</a> also <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CH0QFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alec.org%2Finitiatives%2Fhealth-care-freedom-initiative%2F&ei=4BEgUKm5BM7fqAHW-4CgAQ&usg=AFQjCNH7eZ1AKKo7ePPcxAPJ8k7PITdtTw" title="reference on have ties" target="blank">have ties</a> to ALEC.

</div>

===

In the wake of last week's shooting in Aurora, Colo., we've taken a step back and laid out the best pieces we could find about guns. They're roughly organized by articles on rights, trafficking and regulation. And include your suggestions in comments.

Gun Rights

</div>

<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/04/23/120423fa_fact_lepore?currentPage=1">Battleground America</a>, New Yorker, April 2012

Jill Lepore's thorough look at the evolution of U.S. gun laws — from the Second Amendment, to the 1968 Gun Control Act, to the N.R.A.'s rise to political prominence — is an excellent primer for the modern day gun debate. And provides great context for the articles below.

Contributed by <a href="https://twitter.com/Corinneavital">@Corinneavital</a>

<a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article1233133.ece">Florida 'stand your ground' law yields some shocking outcomes depending on how law is applied</a>, Tampa Bay Times, June 2012

The Tampa Bay Times analyzed nearly 200 "stand your ground" cases in Florida. Among the findings: Nearly 70 percent of defendants who invoke "stand your ground" went free. Seventy-three percent of those who killed a black person faced no penalty; 59 percent of those who killed a white went free.

<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/stand-your-ground-laws-coincide-with-jump-in-justifiable-homicide-cases/2012/04/07/gIQAS2v51S_story.html?hpid=z3">Stand Your Ground Law Coincides With Jump in Justifiable-Homicides Cases</a>, Washington Post, April 2012

Since Florida passed a Stand Your Ground law in 2005, more than 30 states have adopted similarly broad laws. Justifiable-homicide cases have also been on the rise nationwide.

<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/us/felons-finding-it-easy-to-regain-gun-rights.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all">Felons Finding It Easy to Regain Gun Rights</a>, New York Times, November 2011

In many states the restoration of gun rights for convicted felons is now either automatic or left to the discretion of judges under vague standards. Standards are <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/us/03guns.html?_r=2&src=tptw&pagewanted=all">similarly lax</a> for those with a history of mental illness — judges are often ill-equipped to make decisions without information about an applicant's mental health.

Trafficking

<a href="http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2012/06/27/fast-and-furious-truth/">The Truth About the Fast and Furious Scandal</a>, Fortune, June 2012

An investigation into the fallout over Operation Fast and Furious suggests much of what's been widely reported about the scandal is simply wrong. It doesn't seem the ATF intentionally allowed guns to fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. Based on confidential ATF documents and interviews with law enforcement agents, the piece claims the public charges are "replete with distortions, errors, partial truths, and even some outright lies." Fortune's <a href="http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/07/03/fast-and-furious-follow-up-the-atf-and-gun-stores/">follow-up</a> answers some criticisms raised by Sen. Chuck Grassley, among others. Congress is conducting an investigation into Fast and Furious.

<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/23/AR2010102302994.html">Realco Guns Tied to 2,500 Crimes in D.C. and Maryland</a>, Washington Post, October 2010

As part of a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/nation/guns/">larger look</a> at firearms' paths from dealer to crime scene, the Post's analysis of gun-trace data for Virginia found that a handful of dealers sold the bulk of crime guns. Realco, the store featured in this piece, sold four times the number of crime guns as the next highest dealer. The kicker? It was all perfectly legal.

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Gun-ebook/dp/B003V1WT7C">The Gun: The AK-47 and the evolution of war</a>, CJ Chivers, October 2010

A nuanced, in-depth look at what is arguably the most lethal gun of all time.

<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/us/15guns.html?pagewanted=all">U.S. Stymied as Guns Flow to Mexican Cartels</a>, New York Times, April 2009

Before the ATF's efforts to monitor gun-trafficking across the U.S.-Mexico border became notorious, this article detailed how easy it was for straw purchasers to buy guns in the U.S. and get them across the border to Mexico, and how difficult it was for federal regulators to build a case against them. About 90 percent of the 12,000 guns recovered and traced in 2008 by Mexican officials came from U.S. dealers.

Regulation

<a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/special_report_concealed_gun_l.html">Concealed gun law turns 10 years old</a>, Booth Newspapers, June 2011

A decade after Michigan passed a law making it easier to get a permit to carry a concealed weapon, hundreds of thousands have been issued. This multi-part series shows how regulations meant to keep track of who has concealed-carry licenses — and whose should have been revoked — are a mess. The New York Times has also analyzed the lack of oversight into the concealed-carry permit process in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/27/us/more-concealed-guns-and-some-are-in-the-wrong-hands.html?pagewanted=all">North Carolina</a>, which loosened the requirements to obtain such permits in 1995.

<a href="http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/111976219.html">Ineffective rules let gun stores endure</a>, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, December 2010

The ATF is charged with inspecting the country's 62,000 licensed gun dealers. But it's rare for a permit to be revoked, and when it happens, stores often simply reopen with a new license in someone else's name, or sell guns on the side through their personal collections. (This Washington Post <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/nation/guns/revoked-denied-gun-dealer-licenses/">database</a> lets you see which dealers near you have had their licenses revoked.)

</div>

===

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said Friday that the shootings that took place in an Aurora, Colo. movie theater hours earlier were a result of "ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs" and questioned why nobody else in the theater had a gun to take down the shooter.

During a radio interview on The Heritage Foundation's "Istook Live!" show, Gohmert was asked why he believes such senseless acts of violence take place. Gohmert responded by talking about the weakening of Christian values in the country.

"You know what really gets me, as a Christian, is to see the ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs, and then some senseless crazy act of terror like this takes place," Gohmert said.

"Some of us happen to believe that when our founders talked about guarding our virtue and freedom, that that was important," he said. "Whether it's John Adams saying our Constitution was made only for moral and religious people ... Ben Franklin, only a virtuous people are capable of freedom, as nations become corrupt and vicious they have more need of masters ... We have been at war with the very pillars, the very foundation of this country."

Ernest Istook, the host of the show and a former Oklahoma congressman, jumped in to clarify that nobody knows the motivation of the alleged Aurora gunman. Gohmert said that may be true, but suggested the shootings were still "a terrorist act" that could have been avoided if the country placed a higher value on God.

===

<h1>The head count for the Sin Industries, according to researchers at lobbyists.info: More than 60 button-holers, on staff with gun groups and companies as well as lobby firms, for firearms; almost 200 for beer, wine, and liquor; and 170-plus for tobacco. (The Tobacco Institute, which served as the model for Thank You's fictional Academy of Tobacco Studies, was forced to close up shop in the 1998 settlement of smoking lawsuits brought by the states.)</h1>

<h1>bloomberg</h1>

bs bio:

<div class="expandable">Chris Cox was appointed chief lobbyist and principal political strategist for the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, the political and lobbying arm of the NRA, in April 2002. He oversees eight ILA divisions: Federal Affairs; State & Local Government Affairs; Public Affairs; Grassroots; Finance; Research; Conservation; Wildlife & Natural Resources; and Office of Legislative Counsel. Chris also serves as chairman of NRA’s Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF: the Association’s Political Action Committee). Prior to joining the NRA, he served as a senior legislative aide for a member of Congress, managing judiciary issues, including criminal justice reforms and firearms-related matters.

Chris is a familiar figure in political circles across the country. He is respected and well liked by elected officials from both sides of the aisle. An accomplished government-relations professional, he has held senior positions within ILA and has been the point-person on many key NRA legislative and political initiatives. A few months after being promoted to deputy director of ILA Federal Affairs Division, Chris was named the executive director of NRA-ILA.

Directing NRA’s nationwide legislative and political effort, Chris develops and executes independent political campaign and legislative initiatives, coordinates national advertising and direct-mail programs and has administrative responsibility over ILA’s $20 million budget. He also serves as the Association’s principal contact with key members of the administration and leaders in the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives. During the 2002 election cycle, Chris�� first as NRA’s chief lobbyist, he led efforts that resulted in one of the most successful election cycles on record for the NRA.

The successes of 2002, while significant, were overshadowed in 2004. Chris led the winning battle to retire the decade-old failed experiment, deceptively labeled as the ��Assault Weapons Ban.” The forced expiration of this law on September 13, 2004, was a major blow to the gun control lobby and to their allies in Washington, D.C. Under Chris’ leadership, NRA delivered yet another setback to the gun control lobby during the 2004 elections. 95% of the NRA-PVF endorsed federal candidates and 86% of the endorsed state candidates prevailed. These margins of victory were unprecedented in the history of the NRA-ILA. Chris also devised an aggressive plan to mobilize grassroots voters with a hard-hitting earned media campaign, resulting in a higher gun owner turnout for the reelection of President George W. Bush than in 2000.

Chris is a graduate of Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn., where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history and minored in business administration. He grew up hunting and fishing with his father and three brothers in west Tennessee.

<ul>

<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Bies" title="Susan Bies">Susan Bies</a>, Member of the Board of Governors of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve" title="Federal Reserve" class="mw-redirect">Federal Reserve</a></li>

<li>Art Carden, Assistant Professor of Economics, Forbes.com contributor, LearnLiberty.org personality</li>

<li>Marshall Gramm, Associate Professor of Economics, son of former US senator <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Gramm" title="Phil Gramm">Phil Gramm</a> and economist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Lee_Gramm" title="Wendy Lee Gramm">Wendy Lee Gramm</a></li>

</ul>

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<div class="colu-archive-list"><a href="http://townhall.com/columnists/chriswcox/2012/03/01/another_tragedy_results_from_the_obama_administrations_fast_and_furious_scandal" class="article-title"> Another Tragedy Results from the Obama Administration's Fast and Furious Scandal</a> By Chris W. Cox (Mar 01, 2012)

Three months ago, Attorney General Eric Holder told Congress that guns illegally supplied to drug cartels in Mexico �� as part of the Obama Administration’s “Fast and Furious”... <a href="http://townhall.com/columnists/chriswcox/2012/03/01/another_tragedy_results_from_the_obama_administrations_fast_and_furious_scandal">more</a>

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<div class="colu-archive-list"><a href="http://townhall.com/columnists/chriswcox/2012/02/13/justice_ginsburg_reminds_us_what_is_at_stake_in_november" class="article-title"> Justice Ginsburg Reminds Us What is at Stake in November</a> By Chris W. Cox (Feb 13, 2012)

This November’s election isn��t about the direction of our country over the next four years – it’s about the very survival of our Constitution, our values, and our... <a href="http://townhall.com/columnists/chriswcox/2012/02/13/justice_ginsburg_reminds_us_what_is_at_stake_in_november">more</a>

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<div class="colu-archive-list"><a href="http://townhall.com/columnists/chriswcox/2012/01/17/from_hope_and_change_to_hate_and_fear" class="article-title"> From Hope and Change to Hate and Fear</a> By Chris W. Cox (Jan 17, 2012)

President Barack Obama has certainly changed the tone in Washington. What used to be a town well-known for partisan bickering has been transformed into a 24/7 hate fest.... <a href="http://townhall.com/columnists/chriswcox/2012/01/17/from_hope_and_change_to_hate_and_fear">more</a>

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<div class="datepan">Today is Friday, July 13, 2012<a href="http://www.ammoland.com/feed/"><img src="/c1f6f02f-bb15-5254-be22-c612e8140a63.png"/> RSS feed</a>

<h1 class="entry-title"><a href="http://www.ammoland.com/2012/07/06/congressmen-urge-the-un-to-trample-the-us-constitution/#">Congressmen Urge The UN To Trample The US Constitution</a></h1>

Posted on <a href="http://www.ammoland.com/2012/07/06/congressmen-urge-the-un-to-trample-the-us-constitution/" title="8:27 AM" rel="bookmark">July 6, 2012</a> by <a class="url fn n" href="http://www.ammoland.com/author/fg3hht991x/" title="View all posts by Ammoland">Ammoland</a>

Tags:<a href="http://www.ammoland.com/tag/arms-trade-treaty/" rel="tag">Arms Trade Treaty</a>|<a href="http://www.ammoland.com/tag/att/" rel="tag">ATT</a>|<a href="http://www.ammoland.com/tag/chris-cox/" rel="tag">Chris Cox</a>|<a href="http://www.ammoland.com/tag/gun-control/" rel="tag">Gun Control</a>|<a href="http://www.ammoland.com/tag/obama-hates-guns/" rel="tag">Obama Hates Guns</a>|<a href="http://www.ammoland.com/tag/united-nations/" rel="tag">United Nations</a></div>

<div class="entry-content">By Chris W. Cox

Congressmen Urge The UN To Trample The US Constitution

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NRA-ILA’s Chris W. Cox

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FAIRFAX, Va. --(<a title="AmmoLand Reports" href="http://www.ammoland.com/" target="_self">Ammoland.com</a>)- This week begins the most important 26-day period for our Second Amendment freedoms in recent history.

That’s because today, representatives from many of the world’s socialist, tyrannical and dictatorial regimes will gather at United Nations headquarters in New York for a month-long meeting, in which they’ll put the finishing touches on an international Arms Trade Treaty that could seriously restrict your freedom to own, purchase and carry a firearm.

Specifically, the U.N. wants to implement international gun registration requirements, bans on commonly owned firearms, tracking and registration of ammunition purchases, and create a new U.N. gun control bureaucracy. ([same ploy as tobacco CA ads]

You might think that something so obviously menacing to one of our enumerated fundamental rights would receive a strong rebuke from our top government leaders.

<blockquote>But you��d be wrong. This is President Barack Obama’s vision for America, and we’re expected to just go along with it.</blockquote>

Rep. Raul Grijalva and Barack Obama

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In fact, a group of anti-gun members of the U.S. House of Representatives, led by U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), went so far as to circulate a letter last week to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, in which they “strongly urge the United States to take a leadership role in pushing for a strong, verifiable Arms Trade Treaty.”

These House members insist that the treaty include “controls on a comprehensive list of weaponry, including small arms and light weapons,” as well as controls on ammunition. For good measure, they wrap their unconstitutional demands in the mantle of advancing “<a title="AmmoLand Reports" href="http://www.ammoland.com/?s=Human+Rights">human rights</a>” and preventing international violence.

<blockquote>Since when did it become fashionable for sitting members of Congress to lobby international thugs, tyrants and dictators against our own U.S. Constitution?</blockquote>

Rep. Grijalva should consider the plight of good people in countries like the Sudan, where it’s virtually impossible for an average citizen to legally own a firearm for self-defense.

He, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton should open their eyes to the unspeakable human rights atrocities that exist in their gun-ban utopia. They ought to see how far their gun-confiscation agenda resonates with hundreds of thousands of defenseless Sudanese men, women and children who live in constant fear of being beaten, raped, sold into slavery or murdered.

��

It’s easy for Congressmen Raul Grijalva, James McGovern, Bobby Rush, Dennis Kucinich and every other signer of this woefully ignorant letter to sit on high — surrounded by the secure walls of freedom built by our strong Second Amendment rights — and dictate to oppressed citizens in other parts of the world that their lives would be better if they only had less freedom than we do in the United States.

Thankfully, these clueless representatives don’t speak for the majority of us. The NRA has been warning Americans about this ticking time bomb at the U.N. for over 15 years. Now it’s zero hour. Wayne LaPierre and I will be at U.N. headquarters in New York this week, fighting tooth and nail to protect the same constitution that Raul Grijalva and his pals swore an oath to uphold and defend.

And I can promise you, we won’t stop fighting until our Second Amendment freedoms are safe from this international disgrace.

<blockquote>Chris W. Cox is the Executive Director of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) and serves as the organization’s chief lobbyist.</blockquote>

About:

Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America’s oldest civil rights and sportsmen’s group. Four million members strong, NRA continues its mission to uphold Second Amendment rights and to advocate enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime. The Association remains the nation’s leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the military. Visit: www.nra.org

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<h1><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/07/13/516229/exclusive-nra-threatens-senators-who-support-campaign-finance-disclosure/">EXCLUSIVE: NRA Threatens Senators Who Support Campaign Finance Disclosure</a></h1>

By <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/author/jisrael/">Josh Israel</a> on Jul 13, 2012 at 11:19 am

NRA Lobbyist Chris W. Cox

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In a letter opposing the DISCLOSE Act of 2012 — a bill to allow citizens to know what corporations and wealthy donors are paying for the “independent expenditure” attack ads enabled by the 5-4 <a href="http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2008/2008_08_205">Citizens United</a> ruling — the National Rifle Association (NRA) is warning Senators it will score the issue in its legislative scorecard for this Congress.

The NRA opposes the measure �� arguing that its ��provisions require organizations to turn membership and donor lists over to the government” and would unconstitutionally abridge the right of citizens “to speak and associate privately and anonymously.” The legislation would merely require groups that opt to run outside political ads to tell <a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112s2219is/pdf/BILLS-112s2219is.pdf">voters which donors funded those efforts</a>. By setting up a separate bank account for independent political spending, a group like the NRA would be able to keep its membership list private and would need only disclose the large money donors paying for the group’s campaign ads. Far from being unconstitutional, this sort of disclosure was explicitly endorsed in Justice Anthony Kennedy’s Citizens United <a href="http://www.fec.gov/law/litigation/cu_sc08_opinion.pdf">majority opinion</a> as “the less-restrictive alternative to more comprehensive speech regulations.”

In 2010, after supporters of the DISCLOSE Act agreed to <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2010/06/disclose-act-exemptions-for-the-nra.html">exempt just the NRA</a> from the bill, the group dropped its opposition. Now, without those special protections in the 2012 version, the group is taking no chances and is issuing a strong message to any Senator who might support political transparency. The NRA letter warns:

<blockquote>Due to the importance of the fundamental speech and associational rights of the National Rifle Association’s four million members, and considering the blatant attack on those rights that S. 3369 represents, we strongly oppose the DISCLOSE Act and will consider votes on this legislation in future candidate evaluations.</blockquote>

In other words, vulnerable Senators facing re-election may face <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=National+Rifle+Assn&cycle=2012">secret-money attack ads</a> should they back transparency for secret money attack ads.

Here is the text of the letter, sent yesterday by NRA lobbyist Chris W. Cox to Senators and obtained by ThinkProgress:

July 12, 2012

Dear Senator,

I am writing to express the National Rifle Association’s strong opposition to S. 3369, the DISCLOSE Act.

In its landmark Citizens United decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on certain political speech by nonprofit membership associations, including the National Rifle Association. In an effort to mischaracterize that ruling as something other than a vindication of the free speech and associational rights of millions of American citizens, some have repeatedly attempted to effectively reverse or significantly limit the scope of Citizens United. The latest attempt in this regard is S. 3369.

The NRA has been around since 1871. Our members contribute for the purpose of speaking during elections and participating in the political process. We will not risk our Association or our members being silenced at election time, as S. 3369 would do, while the national news media, politicians and others are allowed to attack us at will. The NRA is a bipartisan, single-issue organization made up of millions of individual members dedicated to the protection of the Second Amendment. The NRA stands absolutely obligated to our members to ensure maximum access to the First Amendment, in order to protect and preserve the freedom of the Second Amendment.

Among the many problems with the DISCLOSE Act are its unconstitutional disclosure provisions. These provisions require organizations to turn membership and donor lists over to the government. Under the First Amendment however, as recognized in a long line of Supreme Court cases, citizens have the right to speak and associate privately and anonymously.

Further, the DISCLOSE Act creates byzantine administrative burdens that will suffocate individual citizen associations. The Court in Citizens United was clear: “As additional rules are created for regulating political speech, any speech arguably within their reach is chilled.” This bill attacks nearly all of an association’s political speech by creating an arbitrary patchwork of unprecedented tracking and disclosure requirements. Nonprofit associations would have to track the political priorities of each of its individual members. The cost of complying with these requirements will be immense; for many associations they may prohibit speaking altogether. That violates both the spirit and the letter of the First Amendment.

In addition, S. 3369 would give the FEC the power to require the NRA to reveal private, internal discussions with its millions of members about political communications. This unnecessary and burdensome requirement would leave it to government officials to make a determination about the type and volume of speech that would trigger potential criminal penalties, which is unacceptable.

Recent media accounts of retaliation against certain political donors reveal the true intent behind this legislation. It is not simply a “disclosure bill”, as its authors claim. Rather, it is a not-so-transparent attempt to rend Citizens United into a legal nullity, by chilling the very speech rights that were restored in that landmark decision.

Due to the importance of the fundamental speech and associational rights of the National Rifle Association’s four million members, and considering the blatant attack on those rights that S. 3369 represents, we strongly oppose the DISCLOSE Act and will consider votes on this legislation in future candidate evaluations.

Sincerely,

Chris W. Cox

<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/07/13/516229/exclusive-nra-threatens-senators-who-support-campaign-finance-disclosure/">http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/07/13/516229/exclusive-nra-threatens-senators-who-support-campaign-finance-disclosure/</a>

</blockquote>

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60 bill$ yr int'l gun trafficking UN conf 1 /min death killed; no regs; US largest maker, exporter and importer (russia #2, seels guns to Assad)

bananas and bottled water have more regs  UN cof to get treaty

5 perm member of sec cncl are biggest (UK favors treaty) B2 ~ BO for (no ammo) 12b bullets made/yr

Moran ~ treaty

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/7/3/will_us_the_worlds_largest_arms

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38-9 states have targetted laws "crop protection" ; pennsly ;ALEC skeet shoot by NRA, b'way shows, not passed in full anywhere, but new version wd include anyone who speaks in // w/ activists. AE protest ----�� front pharma big $), biotech, UC,

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Wisconsin Gov. <a href="http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Economy/Report-Walker-Costing-Wisconsin-More-than-18-000-Jobs-a-Year" target="_hplink">Scott Walker</a> received the National Rifle Association's "Defender of Freedom" award recently. I guess they meant Gov. Walker is defending teachers' freedom from joining with coworkers to bargain fairly about things like class size.

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A watchdog group called the Center for Media and Democracy first documented the NRA's role in these bills with ALEC.

An NRA lobbyist, Tara Mica, helped shepherd a model bill that requires voters to show a photo ID at the polls. Many conservatives have pushed voter ID laws to prevent election fraud. Many liberals say these laws inhibit voting by minorities.

Mica also helped preside over ALEC's passage of the model bill that became the basis of Arizona's immigration law. That's the law that requires police to arrest anyone who cannot prove when asked that they entered the United States legally.

The NRA and Mica wouldn't talk with CNN, so it's not known whether Mica consulted with other NRA officials about the bills on voter ID and immigration.

ALEC also declined to answer questions.

Lisa Graves with the Center for Media and Democracy said the way ALEC works, "We know a bill cannot be approved as a model bill if the private sector members, like the NRA or Walmart, don't want it to become a model bill."

Josh Horwitz heads an advocacy group called the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. He said the NRA's role with ALEC cements his view that the NRA is really a base for the conservative movement.

"People think the NRA is just a gun group. It's really not." Horwitz said.

Horwitz's group has created a cheeky website, "Meet the NRA.org." It lists the NRA's board of directors, and it has a rolling information bar that features some of their more colorful statements.

The NRA's board includes Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, and David Keene, former chairman of the American Conservative Union. The board also includes Robert Brown, creator of Soldier of Fortune magazine, and rock guitarist Ted Nugent.

Spitzer said the NRA has gotten involved in some other non-gun issues.

For instance, he said, the NRA fought hard against campaign finance reform in the days of McCain-Feingold. "They were taking a very much free-enterprise, government-hands-off-the-campaign-process (approach)," he said.

But Spitzer said the NRA will always be primarily about guns and what they stand for in the individualist American mythology.

He said the NRA's work is cut out for it, because gun ownership is on the decline in America.

===

New documents show that Koch Industries had a seat on the controversial “Public Safety and Elections Task Force” of the American Legislative Exchange Council as of at least 2011.

ALEC announced it was dropping that task force in the wake of the controversy over the tragic shooting of Trayvon Martin and so-called “Stand Your Ground” (SYG) laws. However, the co-leader of that task force, Rep. Jerry Madden (R-TX), revealed ALEC's announcement to be a PR maneuver when he reassured The Christian Post that his task force's work would continue through other ALEC task forces.

Koch Industries has vigorously defended ALEC, and has assailed reporting that noted that the company, led by billionaire brothers Charles and David, is a long-time funder and leader of ALEC and that ALEC has long advanced the NRA agenda through "model" gun bills, including Florida's controversial SYG law that was ratified by ALEC in 2005.

It turns out that Koch was a member of that ALEC task force in recent years, and that it was on the task force when the NRA was the private sector co-chair.�� Moreover, Koch Industries had not one but two employees who were listed as “members” present for ALEC's "Public Safety and Elections" Task Force at the last annual task force summit.

Koch has said it had no involvement in the SYG law passed in Florida and then ratified by the ALEC criminal justice task force in 2005. The company, however, was a leader of ALEC in 2005, just as today, and its funding helps underwrite ALEC's operations and agenda. The various task forces Koch has served on over the past nearly two decades is not known, but now it has come to light that in at least 2010 and 2011 Koch was a member of ALEC's crime task force.

Two Koch Staffers at the Last ALEC Crime Task Force Summit Meeting

Site of ALEC's 2011 SummitSite of ALEC's 2011 SummitOn April 29, 2011, at Cincinnati’s Hilton Netherland Plaza Hotel, an historic building gilded just before the Great Depression, Jenny Kim and Jessie Rager--employees of Koch's lobbying arm--sat as two of the 16 “Private Sector Members” in attendance at the ALEC crime task force’s day-long meeting. As such, Koch constituted 1/8th of the private sector members considering model legislation and business that day.

Kim is the Associate General Counsel for “Political Law” at Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC, (KCPS) which employs over three dozen attorneys in Wichita, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. She’s worked for Koch for almost four years, following stints at two law firms and in the White House Counsel’s Office in President George W. Bush's first term.

She’s been the point of contact for Koch’s lobby disclosure filings regarding the $2 to $3 million it has spent on other Koch employees directly lobbying Congress each year recently. Koch has lobbied on issues such whether companies should have to disclose their true owners, a permanent tax deferral for certain income from investment in foreign controlled companies, exemptions from the regulations of credit swaps in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms, legislation to bar the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases, and numerous bills affecting the pollution of Americans’ water. Rager is a paralegal for KCPS, but it’s not clear if Rager works for Kim or another lawyer....http://www.prwatch.org/node/11508

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<h1 class="title">NRA Awards Scott Walker for Pushing Concealed Guns and the ALEC-related "Castle Doctrine" (Shoot First) Laws</h1>

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<li class="vocabulary-2">Topics: <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/corporations">Corporations</a></li>

</ul>

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<ul>

<li class="vocabulary-9">Projects: <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/projects/alec-exposed">ALEC Exposed</a></li>

</ul>

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Wisconsin Governor <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Scott_Walker" title="reference on Scott Walker" target="_self">Scott Walker</a> asked members of the National Rifle Association (NRA) for "help" and "support" in his upcoming recall election in a speech at the organization's annual meeting on April 13, where he received an award for signing into law two controversial bills: Concealed Carry legislation, which allows people to be armed with concealed guns almost anywhere in the state, and what the NRA calls the Castle Doctrine, but what is more widely known as Stand Your Ground or Shoot First or Kill at Will bills. The NRA has been under fire in recent weeks for conceiving the Florida Shoot First law, which had been cited to prevent the arrest of the man who shot and killed Trayvon Martin. Legislators and corporate lobbyists at a task force meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) adopted that law as a "model" bill for other states at the urging of the NRA's lobbyist. Walker is an ALEC alumni.

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nugent wacko rant:

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/17/ted-nugent-obama-remarks_n_1432988.html?ref=mostpopular">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/17/ted-nugent-obama-remarks_n_1432988.html?ref=mostpopular</a>

No one is allowed at our barbecues unless they are an NRA member." He also demanded, "Remember the Alamo! Shoot 'em! To show you how radical I am, I want to carjackers dead. I want rapists dead. I want the bad guys dead. No court case. No parole. No early release. I want 'em dead. Get a gun and when they attack you, shoot 'em." The convention audience erupted in cheers.

In a Romney stump speech at the 2012 NRA Convention in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis" title="St. Louis" class="mw-redirect">St. Louis</a>, Nugent went as far to state that "If Barack Obama becomes the president in November, again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year", to compare the Obama administration to coyotes who needed to be shot, and to encourage voters to "chop [Democrats'] heads off in November", interpreted by some as a threat on the sitting President.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Nugent#cite_note-54">[55]</a>

considred run for office in illinois

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rwhist: NRA has columbine and waco setbacks, but reruited and rebuilt lobbying. pol donor went from 60 to 90% gop (70% gun owners voted gop) 110  has 1 mil preceint workers, gets members turnout 95% 177 pierre cochair rnc gala raised 21 m$  NRA beat gore in tenn, ark and W va at least 177. main goal is to shield gunmakers and seller from lawsuits. asjhcroft #1 recip of nra $, ja has tried to get fed gun recs purged 24 hrs and won't let fbi use in teror invresigtions post 911 178, reneged on assult rigle confirm testimony 179. teams with Libery Park (CTT) w/ talk radio network w/ 100 stations, publ books and lobby; on bd of ACU that runs CPAC; even more agressive than nra on guns, big in direct mail

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<h2><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=957P4fn1i02p80Eju2HsjkXTrge4gN9M">Lobbyists, Guns and Money</a></h2>

Paul Krugman, New York Times

March 26, 2012

Florida’s now-infamous Stand Your Ground law, which lets you shoot someone you consider threatening without facing arrest, let alone prosecution, sounds crazy — and it is. And it’s tempting to dismiss this law as the work of ignorant yahoos. But similar laws have been pushed across the nation, not by ignorant yahoos but by big corporations.

Specifically, language virtually identical to Florida’s law is featured in a template supplied to legislators in other states by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a corporate-backed organization that has managed to keep a low profile even as it exerts vast influence (only recently, thanks to yeoman work by the Center for Media and Democracy, has a clear picture of ALEC’s activities emerged). And if there is any silver lining to Trayvon Martin��s killing, it is that it might finally place a spotlight on what ALEC is doing to our society — and our democracy.

What is ALEC? Despite claims that it’s nonpartisan, it’s very much a movement-conservative organization, funded by the usual suspects: the Kochs, Exxon Mobil, and so on. Unlike other such groups, however, it doesn’t just influence laws, it literally writes them, supplying fully drafted bills to state legislators. In Virginia, for example, more than 50 ALEC-written bills have been introduced, many almost word for word. And these bills often become law.

Many ALEC-drafted bills pursue standard conservative goals: union-busting, undermining environmental protection, tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy. ALEC seems, however, to have a special interest in privatization — that is, on turning the provision of public services, from schools to prisons, over to for-profit corporations. And some of the most prominent beneficiaries of privatization, such as the online education company K12 Inc. and the prison operator Corrections Corporation of America, are, not surprisingly, very much involved with the organization.

What this tells us, in turn, is that ALEC’s claim to stand for limited government and free markets is deeply misleading. To a large extent the organization seeks not limited government but privatized government, in which corporations get their profits from taxpayer dollars, dollars steered their way by friendly politicians. In short, ALEC isn’t so much about promoting free markets as it is about expanding crony capitalism.

And in case you were wondering, no, the kind of privatization ALEC promotes isn’t in the public interest; instead of success stories, what we’re getting is a series of scandals. Private charter schools, for example, appear to deliver a lot of profits but little in the way of educational achievement.

But where does the encouragement of vigilante (in)justice fit into this picture? In part it’s the same old story — the long-standing exploitation of public fears, especially those associated with racial tension, to promote a pro-corporate, pro-wealthy agenda. It’s neither an accident nor a surprise that the National Rifle Association and ALEC have been close allies all along.

And ALEC, even more than other movement-conservative organizations, is clearly playing a long game. Its legislative templates aren’t just about generating immediate benefits to the organization��s corporate sponsors; they’re about creating a political climate that will favor even more corporation-friendly legislation in the future.

Did I mention that ALEC has played a key role in promoting bills that make it hard for the poor and ethnic minorities to vote?

Yet that’s not all; you have to think about the interests of the penal-industrial complex — prison operators, bail-bond companies and more. (The American Bail Coalition has publicly described ALEC as its ��life preserver.”) This complex has a financial stake in anything that sends more people into the courts and the prisons, whether it’s exaggerated fear of racial minorities or Arizona’s draconian immigration law, a law that followed an ALEC template almost verbatim.

Think about that: we seem to be turning into a country where crony capitalism doesn’t just waste taxpayer money but warps criminal justice, in which growing incarceration reflects not the need to protect law-abiding citizens but the profits corporations can reap from a larger prison population.

Now, ALEC isn’t single-handedly responsible for the corporatization of our political life; its influence is as much a symptom as a cause. But shining a light on ALEC and its supporters — a roster that includes many companies, from AT&T and Coca-Cola to UPS, that have so far managed to avoid being publicly associated with the hard-right agenda — is one good way to highlight what’s going on. And that kind of knowledge is what we need to start taking our country back.

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not nra, but agenda 21 conf:

It turns out that environmentalists also are out to get your guns. Larry Pratt, of Gun Owners of America, a radical gun-rights group that doesn't believe in any restrictions on guns whatsoever, told the audience that "the major goal of the sustainable development movement is to disarm Americans."

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Since 1996, The NRA Foundation has managed the Y.E.S. program every summer in order to encourage America’s youth to become informed and dynamic citizens. The seven-day, expense-paid, educational experience in the nation’s capital provides an exciting opportunity for select high school sophomores and juniors across the United States. While in Washington, D.C., students meet members of Congress, learn the significance of the Constitution, visit with scholars and experts, and tour national landmarks. This experience gives them an understanding of the federal government while learning the importance of an individual’s active participation in government affairs.

http://njiat.com/JunePDFs/NRAFoundationAwards.pdf

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Kansas recently revamped their concealed carry laws, allowing <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/2011/06/08/2935480/kansas-law-allowing-blind-to-carry.html" target="_hplink">blind people to get gun permits</a> and eliminating accuracy tests for people wanting to renew their licenses. According to Rep. Richard Carlson, "We tend to look for all the reasons why someone should not be qualified to carry concealed, but actually I think we should look for the reasons why they should be qualified." Apparently Kansas is the Oprah of states: Everyone gets a gun!

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j paul getty

ted nugent

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newsmaxx

<h1>New Campaign Finance Bill Preserves NRA Loophole</h1>

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<div class="article_datestamp" id="article_date">Monday, 26 Jul 2010 01:32 PM</div>

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<div id="plc_lt_zoneContent_pageplaceholder_pageplaceholder_lt_zoneCenter_NewsmaxArticleLandingPage_pnl">An updated version of a campaign finance bill written by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., preserves a controversial loophole that would exempt the National Rifle Association from tough new disclosure and speech restrictions during election cycles.

The provision, originally negotiated between the NRA and House Democrats when a similar House-passed version of the bill was being considered, is maintained in Schumer’s most recent version of his bill – a bill that attempts to undercut the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v FEC, which removed restrictions on corporate and union spending during elections.

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Nov. 3, 2000

Ashcroft s Ammo

NRA Spends Almost $300,000 to Support Missouri Senator

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Sen. John Ashcroft (R-Mo.) received the National Rifle Association s (NRA) single largest contribution to benefit any federal candidate in this election cycle -- $25,000 -- and his campaign has been bolstered by nearly $300,000 the NRA spent to back his re-election, Public Citizen has found.

"Senator Ashcroft may be the NRA's best friend in Washington, D.C.," said Frank Clemente, director of <a href="http://www.citizen.org/congress/index.cfm">Public Citizen's Congress Watch</a>. "How else can you explain the NRA s largesse? They arm Ashcroft, and he hits his target."

In all, the NRA has spent nearly $300,000 in this Senate election cycle to back Ashcroft, including $48,000 in hard and soft money contributions and almost $240,000 for TV and radio ads, bumper stickers and billboards.

Ashcroft has opposed gun-control measures on 13 consecutive Senate votes since 1996, including votes against funding for the Brady Bill, mandatory background checks for guns sold at gun shows, and requiring safety locks on handguns.

Ashcroft also vigorously supported the NRA's concealed handgun referendum, Proposition B, in Missouri in 1999. The senator even appeared in radio ads, urging voters to approve the hidden handgun proposal. Missouri voters rejected Proposition B in April 1999. But the NRA still rewarded Ashcroft with an unprecedented $25,000 "soft money" contribution in March 2000 to the Ashcroft Victory Committee, a joint fund-raising committee set up by Ashcroft and the National Republican Senatorial Committee to collect unlimited contributions from special interests. The NRA has also given Ashcroft another $21,900 in hard money contributions since he started collecting money in 1995 for his re-election bid (see Table 1).

No other candidate for the House, Senate or presidency received such a huge contribution from the NRA in this election cycle, Public Citizen research shows. And many candidates wouldn t want to collect such soft money, because it circumvents campaign finance law limits on contributions to candidates and amounts to evidence that a candidate is violating the spirit, if not the letter of the law.

Current campaign finance law allows Ashcroft to receive up to $1,000 from an individual per election and up to $5,000 from a political action committee (PAC). Current law prohibits candidates from receiving direct contributions from corporations, unions and organizations such as the NRA. Unfortunately, it does not prohibit those groups from making unlimited soft money contributions to political parties, which can set up committees that directly benefit a candidate, such as the Ashcroft Victory Committee.

Federal candidates, like Ashcroft, help raise these large contributions, and the money is put into accounts that are clearly meant to help them. This skirting of the law blurs the lines between candidate and party fund raising and makes it more difficult to enforce the law.

Such unlimited soft money contributions from corporations, unions, individuals and groups would be banned by campaign finance reform legislation (S. 1593) sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). But Ashcroft has voted repeatedly against McCain s bill.

Table 1: Gun Lobby Contributions to Ashcroft Election Committees,

Jan. 1, 1995 June 30, 2000

<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" width="444"><tbody><tr><td height="16" bgcolor="#c0c0c0" valign="top" width="51%">Gun Lobby Special Interest</td><td height="16" bgcolor="#c0c0c0" valign="top" width="23%">Amount</td><td height="16" bgcolor="#c0c0c0" valign="top" width="26%">Date</td></tr><tr><td height="16" valign="top" width="51%">National Rifle Association</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="23%">$25,000</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="26%">30-Mar-00</td></tr><tr><td height="16" valign="top" width="51%">Sturm Ruger & Co</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="23%">$1,000</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="26%">8-Oct-99</td></tr><tr><td height="16" valign="top" width="51%">National Rifle Association</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="23%">$1,000</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="26%">12-Jul-99</td></tr><tr><td height="16" valign="top" width="51%">National Rifle Association</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="23%">$3,950</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="26%">29-Jun-99</td></tr><tr><td height="16" valign="top" width="51%">Arena PAC (Charlton Heston s PAC)</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="23%">$1,000</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="26%">23-Jun-99</td></tr><tr><td height="16" valign="top" width="51%">National Rifle Association</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="23%">$4,950</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="26%">23-Dec-98</td></tr><tr><td height="16" valign="top" width="51%">National Rifle Association</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="23%">$2,000</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="26%">20-Oct-98</td></tr><tr><td height="16" valign="top" width="51%">National Rifle Association</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="23%">$5,000</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="26%">31-Dec-97</td></tr><tr><td height="16" valign="top" width="51%">National Rifle Association</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="23%">$5,000</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="26%">11-Oct-96</td></tr><tr><td height="16" valign="top" width="51%">Total</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="23%">$48,900</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="26%"> </td></tr></tbody></table>

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Source: Public Citizen analysis of Center for Responsive Politics (<a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/">www.opensecrets.org</a>) data.

The $25,000 contribution makes Ashcroft the Senate s leading recipient of gun lobby special interest cash in the 1999-2000 election cycle, when the lion s share of contributions flow to senators up for re-election this year.

Table 2: Top Senate Recipients of Gun Lobby Contributions,

Jan. 1, 1999 June 30, 2000

<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" width="408"><tbody><tr><td height="16" bgcolor="#c0c0c0" valign="top" width="18%">Rank</td><td height="16" bgcolor="#c0c0c0" valign="top" width="56%">Senate Recipient</td><td height="16" bgcolor="#c0c0c0" valign="top" width="26%">Amount</td></tr><tr><td height="16" valign="top" width="18%">1</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="56%">John Ashcroft (R-Mo.)</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="26%">$30,950</td></tr><tr><td height="16" valign="top" width="18%">2</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="56%">Rod Grams (R-Minn.)</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="26%">$15,100</td></tr><tr><td height="16" valign="top" width="18%">3</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="56%">Conrad Burns (R-Mont.)</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="26%">$14,900</td></tr><tr><td height="16" valign="top" width="18%">4</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="56%">Trent Lott (R-Miss.)</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="26%">$14,500</td></tr><tr><td height="16" valign="top" width="18%">5</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="56%">Slade Gorton (R-Wash.)</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="26%">$14,250</td></tr><tr><td height="16" valign="top" width="18%">6</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="56%">Orrin Hatch (R-Utah)</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="26%">$11,950</td></tr><tr><td height="16" valign="top" width="18%">7</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="56%">Larry Craig (R-Idaho)</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="26%">$10,950</td></tr><tr><td height="16" valign="top" width="18%">8</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="56%">Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.)</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="26%">$10,700</td></tr><tr><td height="16" valign="top" width="18%">9</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="56%">Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.)</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="26%">$10,400</td></tr><tr><td height="16" valign="top" width="18%">10</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="56%">Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.)</td><td height="16" valign="top" width="26%">$6,450</td></tr></tbody></table>

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Source: Public Citizen analysis of Center for Responsive Politics (<a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/">www.opensecrets.org</a>) data.

Not only has the gun lobby contributed $48,900 to Ashcroft s re-election campaign, but the NRA has also undertaken a major independent expenditure campaign to ensure his return to the Senate. According to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission on Oct. 16 and Oct. 26, the NRA has spent $239,762 for ads, billboards and bumper stickers to support Ashcroft. NRA spending includes:

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<li>$8,413 for billboards on Sept. 13</li>

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<li>$19,526 for radio ads on Sept. 13</li>

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<li>$46,359 on bumper stickers Oct. 6</li>

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"The NRA s $25,000 soft money contribution to the Ashcroft Victory Committee is effectively a smoking gun that shows how candidates shoot holes in campaign finance laws to bag large contributions from special interests," Clemente said. "Then these same candidates blow away campaign finance reforms, like those championed by Senator John McCain. It s important for voters to consider where these candidates get their campaign ammunition from."

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<div id="viewheader">All NRA Leaders</div>

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<div class="views-field-title"><a href="http://www.meetthenra.org/nra-member/Joe%20Allbaugh">Joe Allbaugh (Board Member)</a></div>