The NRA and money in US politics
In America this week, there occurred the eighth school shooting of 2018. The National Rifle Association, a group dedicated to the advancement of gun owners and the use of firearms in the USA were again quick to jump to the defence of publicly owned firearms. According to their website, one of their aims is “a dramatic move to ensure that the financial support for firearms-related activities would be available now and for future generations”.
The details that have been confirmed in Florida so far say that a 19 year old Nikolas Cruz, has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder, after a shooting inside his former high school in Broward County. He was armed with an AR-15 assault rifle, several clips of ammunition, a gas mask and smoke grenades.
The automatic AR-15 assault rifle he used has come under scrutiny before, with critics arguing that it enables members of the public access to military grade weaponry that can kill hundreds in a matter of seconds.
According to Politifact.com, Two researchers -- Jaclyn Schildkraut of the State University of New York in Oswego and H. Jaymi Elsass of Texas State University -- analysed mass shootings in 11 countries, covering the period from 2000-14. Aside from the United States, they looked at Australia, Canada, China, England, Finland, France, Germany, Mexico, Norway and Switzerland. The United States has more mass shootings -- and more people cumulatively killed or injured -- than the other 10 nations combined.
Politifact also confirmed the NRA’s contributions to candidates, parties and leadership political action committees between 1998 and 2016, comes to more than $13 million, according to calculations from the Centre for Responsive Politics’ database.
That $13 million, they say, is just the tip of the iceberg as it only covers direct political spending on candidates and their campaigns. The vast majority of the political influence that the NRA buys is through so called “outside spending” which is “expressly advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate." This often takes the form of adverts, campaign materials, and other influencing forms, but are done without the direct co-operation of the candidate themselves.
If you add it all up -- candidate and party contributions, independent expenditures, and lobbying -- the NRA has spent $203.2 million on political activities since 1998.
According to LBC, Throughout the 2016 election campaign, Republican candidates received $17,385,437 from the NRA, not including The President. Here we offer a list of Republican senators who have offered their prayers to the victims of shootings, but refuse to enact gun legislation, and their total contributions from the NRA:
· President Trump - $20,600,000
· Senator Thom Tillis - $4,418,012
· Senator Cory Gardner - $3,879,064
· Senator Marco Rubio - $3,303,355
· Senator Joni Ernst - $3,124,273
· Senator Rob Portman - $3,061,941
· Senator Bill Cassidy - $2,861,047
· Senator Ken Buck - $800,544
With such a vast amount of funding entering the American political stage, and republican senators voicing support of US citizens second amendment rights within hours of the dust settling in Florida, politicians will continue to face the monumental task of trying to instil basic gun control legislation.
