Thursday, January 17, 2013

who pays the piper calls the tune

The National Rifle Association [NRA] is probably the most powerful lobby group in Washington, and perhaps in our states and local communities as well. It achieved that status in perfectly legal ways: recruiting members, advancing a simple and clear agenda, and making political campaign contributions.

With the President's new proposals to reducer gun violence, it's payback time. The Washington Post has a series of charts that documents how the NRA has targeted members of Congress and, implicitly, why it will probably call the tune on any new legislation. The basic facts are that last year the NRA gave money to 261 congressional candidates, mostly Republicans. Over 80% of those candidates won. So the new 113th Congress has 213 members [of 535 total] who got NRA money in the past year.

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