Friday, December 01, 2017

NRA, Republican Politicians, White Blood Guilt and Letters to the Editor of the SLC Tribune

Letter: Even with sensible gun laws, it would take centuries to undo the crazy - The Salt Lake Tribune:
For over a decade now the NRA and Republicans who are financially obligated to them have waged a campaign of aggressive pro-gun activism. They have convinced the public that gun ownership is essential to survival. These Republican policies have come to fruition. The chest-thumping, white Americans proclaiming the most important thing to them is their gun have set the new norm of our Republican-run America, a mass shooting every month. The NRA, Republican politicians and all those white voters will have to own this bloodshed.
Actually, the Republicans are not all that "financially obligated" to the NRA.

Washington Examiner: (December 05, 2015) *
... an examination of the NRA's actual lobbying and political contributions reveals it is a relatively light spender compared to other corporations, interest groups and industries.
Which seems as if the NRA is not the big-spender that you seem to think it is.  Look up the stats on the NRA vs  .... oh, say ... the dairy industry.  You know ... cows?  Milk?  *sic
For example, the NRA spent roughly half of what the dairy industry spent last year on lobbying, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Don't take my word for it; go look it up!

And by the way, where does all that money come from, which " ... financially (obligates) ... the evil REPUBLICANS to the whims of the even-more-evil NRA?

Some of it comes from the $50 a year membership fees for the (reportedly) five million members of the association.

But some of it comes from corporate sponsors:

Cheaper Than Dirt: (March 28, 2013)
Companies often donate money to the NRA to protect our RTKBA. But is the NRA just taking orders from all gun companies? No, the NRA takes orders from the members of the association; the guys and gals who love guns and want to keep their rights. If any group is a “shill” for the firearm and ammunition companies, it would the NSSF, but even that is a stretch. The National Shooting Sports Foundation is the trade organization that represents all of the companies that make up the shooting sports. Their job is to protect and defend shooting industry companies and rights. However, in this industry, the views of the NRA and the NSSF almost always are directly tied if not the same. “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander,” the old saying goes, and what is good for the gun owner is good for the gun industry.
Of course, none of this information will ever filter back to the writer of the letter to the editor of the Salt Lake Tribune. (), but that doesn't matter.  Even if she got the information, she wouldn't believe it. Her mind is made up, and she cares not for the facts.

Because Theresa is a bigot.    She knows what she knows, and she doesn't like what she doesn't like. 
Facts are something of a stumbling block for her, so she not only ignores them, she doesn't even bother to do the five minutes of online research it took me to find these references (although I'm not sure she wouldn't take a glance at the Washington Examiner article).
Oh, and here's another factoid which you can take for a lie:

www.washingtonexaminer.com/how-powerful-is-the-gun-lobby/article/2577699
Dec 5, 2015 - "Just what will it take for Congress to overcome the intimidation of the gun lobby and do something as sensible as making sure people on the terrorist watch ... Blue Cross Blue Shield, a major health insurance company, poured more than six times as much money into lobbying as did the NRA last year by ... (see below the fold)



You can reference the article in the Journal of Political Sciences and Public Affairs.
The NRA goes to a great length and spends a large amount of money on lobbying to defend the Constitution – the right to bear arms. In 2013, the NRA spent on lobbying $3,410,000, while in 2014, it spent $3,360,000 [3]. The top issues that the NRA lobbied during 2014 included, but not limited to, firearms, guns and ammunition, federal budget and appropriations, civil rights and civil liberties, natural resources, and taxes. 
In the world of "lobbying,  three million dollars is chicken feed.

Blue Cross Blue Shield, a major health insurance company, poured more than six timesas much money into lobbying as did the NRA last year by pushing in part for tweaks to Obamacare that benefited its bottom line. The American Hospital Association, lobbying on behalf of hospitals across the country, dedicated $20.7 million to its effort that same year.
Morgan Stanley, a major investment bank, spent $4.8 million on lobbying in 2014 to the NRA's $3.3 million. Morgan Stanley is one of Clinton's top campaign donors.
Teachers' unions spent slightly more than the NRA on lobbying last year at $3.8 million.
Various individual companies, from General Electric to Boeing, poured many millions more into their lobbying efforts than did the NRA.



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The news media in full rant.