The NRA is a Republican ancillary organization.

[iverglas]

42. I don't recall any candidates for anything backed by the NRA

running on any kind of a platform that I would call remotely progressive, myself. Oh, okay, there's that odd southwestern governor guy, Bill Richardson, that's it, and of course every rule has its exception. I'll go with candidates backed by the NRA being right-wing scum in ovehwhelming numbers.

http://www.issues2000.org/2008/Bill_Richardson_Gun_Control.htm

A: The issue here, I believe, is instant background checks. Nobody who has a criminal background or is mentally ill should be able to get a weapon. That is the key, and that includes gun sales. That includes gun sales at gun shows. The key is going to be also attacking poverty, dealing with those kids in the ghettos that are heavy users of gun violence and that are victims of gun violence, to make sure that this country attacks the core problems of poverty.

Uh oh ... gun shows ... did the NRA hear that? And maybe he just isn't aware that being "mentally ill" doesn't show up on NICS checks, I dunno. And of course we'd really have to ask the people living in those "ghettos" how they feel about the fact that they're still waiting for that socioeconomic utopia to arrive while their communities and kids keep being victims of the gun violence that those kids with guns commit ...


There's just this odd confluence I find virtually every time I look up one of those "pro-RKBA" politician folks. (By the way, do Democratic candidates ordinarily run on "anti-RKBA" platforms??)

They're right-wing in pretty much every other important way, too.

Now, conversely, do you recall what the presidential candidates the NRA has backed have actually done for that "RKBA" cause?

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines/050400-01.htm

The National Rifle Association's second-ranking officer boasted at a closed meeting of NRA members earlier this year <2004> that if Republican nominee George W. Bush wins in November, "we'll have . . . a president where we work out of their office."

... At the same time, the NRA is becoming more openly aligned with the GOP this election season than ever before. In 1999 and 2000, the NRA has given the Republican Party $537,500 in "soft money" donations, which can be given to political parties in unlimited amounts. In the 1996 cycle, the NRA gave $87,725 in soft money to the GOP, and in 1997-98 it gave the Republicans $350,000. It donated no soft money to the Democrats in all those years.

NRA officials say they will spend more this election season than ever before--$12 million to $15 million, and possibly more, on ads, political donations, direct mail and phone banks. The investment is leading to rapid growth in NRA membership, they said--up 1 million, to 3.5 million.

Wonder what they got for all that cash.