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Why are the NRA so powerful and influential?

cullennz

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cullennz
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It's probably been asked before, but it is beginning to annoy me.

I keep seeing these shootings and the never ending circular argument for/against weapons in the US and the influence of the NRA stifling changes

A bit of look shows the NRA have 5,000,000 members

Roughly 1.5% of the population of the US

Another look shows they only make about 60-65 odd million in profit

If you think Coca Cola makes 6.5 Billion, the NRA isn't a blimp on the radar

Yes they donate lots, but it isn't like most top US politicians aren't backed by there own cash and other sponsors

I might be missing something really obvious, but why are they so influential?
 
It's not the membership, it's the gun manufacturing lobbyists and all the money they pour into manipulating public beliefs. They use the NRA to accomplish this but they take other actions as well.
 
cullennz said:
It's probably been asked before, but it is beginning to annoy me.

I keep seeing these shootings and the never ending circular argument for/against weapons in the US and the influence of the NRA stifling changes

A bit of look shows the NRA have 5,000,000 members

Roughly 1.5% of the population of the US

Another look shows they only make about 60-65 odd million in profit

If you think Coca Cola makes 6.5 Billion, the NRA isn't a blimp on the radar

Yes they donate lots, but it isn't like most top US politicians aren't backed by there own cash and other sponsors

I might be missing something really obvious, but why are they so influential?
Click to expand...

Skeptic Ginger said:
It's not the membership, it's the gun manufacturing lobbyists and all the money they pour into manipulating public beliefs. They use the NRA to accomplish this but they take other actions as well.
Click to expand...

Both wrong. The NRA has 5M members but they speak for 100,000,000 gun owners. It's those 100M votes that keeps Congress in line.Even the Dems were afraid to pass Feinstein's post Sandy Hook bill.

Call it the "gun culture". But it's really "the violence culture". Blame Ned Buntline.
 
"The way you rise up in Republican politics is by supporting gun rights issues, and you do that because there a lot of Republican voters in the coalition who care very deeply about gun rights," Drutman says.
Click to expand...
It isn't just the GOP and their voters, it's also the Democrats. Anti-gun bills bring all sorts of people out of the woodwork to tell their legislators and Congresscritters to oppose the actions that would make them criminals.

John Oliver has a spot on the NRA on youtube that touches on this.

Ranb
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
It's not the membership, it's the gun manufacturing lobbyists and all the money they pour into manipulating public beliefs. They use the NRA to accomplish this but they take other actions as well.
Click to expand...
You talk as though the gun manufacturers are selling their wares into thin air. Actual people are buying the stuff they make and they want to continue to buy them.

I keep reading about how the Hearing Protection Act is all about the manufacturers and how it's only to provide them a better market for their stuff. The idiots spouting this crap seem to have conveniently forgotten that people (some of them actually vote) buy firearms.
 
cullennz said:
It's probably been asked before, but it is beginning to annoy me.

I keep seeing these shootings and the never ending circular argument for/against weapons in the US and the influence of the NRA stifling changes

A bit of look shows the NRA have 5,000,000 members

Roughly 1.5% of the population of the US

Another look shows they only make about 60-65 odd million in profit

If you think Coca Cola makes 6.5 Billion, the NRA isn't a blimp on the radar

Yes they donate lots, but it isn't like most top US politicians aren't backed by there own cash and other sponsors

I might be missing something really obvious, but why are they so influential?
Click to expand...
What makes you think they're so influential?
 
casebro said:
Both wrong. The NRA has 5M members but they speak for 100,000,000 gun owners. It's those 100M votes that keeps Congress in line.Even the Dems were afraid to pass Feinstein's post Sandy Hook bill.

Call it the "gun culture". But it's really "the violence culture". Blame Ned Buntline.
Click to expand...
Sorry Casebro, but you are the one who is wrong.

It's not the NRA member votes. It's the money spent on lobbying and the money spent to influence said members' votes.
 
Ranb said:
You talk as though the gun manufacturers are selling their wares into thin air. Actual people are buying the stuff they make and they want to continue to buy them.

I keep reading about how the Hearing Protection Act is all about the manufacturers and how it's only to provide them a better market for their stuff. The idiots spouting this crap seem to have conveniently forgotten that people (some of them actually vote) buy firearms.
Click to expand...
It's hard to admit your beliefs might be just a tad manipulated. Not saying you are completely manipulated, in your case it's probably only minimal manipulation. But you don't represent the manipulation of legislators.

Think about it. The majority of NRA members favor some form of gun regulation. If that was the main influence on legislators, why not go with the polls? Because campaign money lobbyists represent has more influence.
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
Sorry Casebro, but you are the one who is wrong.

It's not the NRA member votes. It's the money spent on lobbying and the money spent to influence said members' votes.
Click to expand...

No, your theory is WRONG! Read the Vox article posted above to see that the answer is votes. If you disagree with the Vox numbers then prove it's $$ with how miuch $$ is involved. I won't hold my breath waiting.

It affects BOTH parties. Why in the hell do you think no gun control measure (at least the stupid stuff that has been proposed) will pass in Congress? The reason has always been and will continue to be VOTES.
 
NRA leadership is firmly under the control of the gun lobby - most members support stricter gun laws and background checks.
 
Ranb said:
It isn't just the GOP and their voters, it's also the Democrats. Anti-gun bills bring all sorts of people out of the woodwork to tell their legislators and Congresscritters to oppose the actions that would make them criminals.
Click to expand...

Exactly no matter what they say when asked about universal background checks the reality is that gun owners want to be able to legally and anonymously sell their guns to anyone who seems like a good guy. That is crazy like not shooting black people who think the second amendment applies to them, it only applies to full people not these 60% people and everyone knows it.

That is why they go with both sides BS when a cop shoots a black man legally owning a gun. He really should have known better that to think that as a black he had any right to own guns. The NRA has been very clear about how they feel about blacks owning guns for many decades.
 
ponderingturtle said:
The NRA has been very clear about how they feel about blacks owning guns for many decades.
Click to expand...

This is the exact opposite of reality. Try googling:

Colion Noir (for the NRA's side)
Michael Bloomberg (for anti-gun side racism)
 
Giz said:
This is the exact opposite of reality. Try googling:
Click to expand...

Yet it was open carry by blacks that got them all behind bans on open carry in the 70's and when a law abiding gun owner who was black was gunned down by a panicking cop or any other time a cop shoots a black man for simply holding a gun like object where it is legal they never seem to think that this is an inappropriate action for the cop.
 
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