Let us think about the logic here - four million is a lot of potential voters, if they all voted together that might be important. In reality, those members are spread across fifty states and numerous foreign countries. That, to my mind, makes their importance in the electoral process much smaller than many would suggest. What happens is that NRA members and the gun manufacturers who support the NRA lobby congress and propagandize the rest of us. If truth be told, quite a few of the actual NRA Membership falls into that demographic that thinks congress is a bunch of do nothing slackers and don't vote regularly anyway.
In reality, the NRA is primarily the propaganda and marketing arm of the gun industry. A membership comes with magazines and web videos that aim to keep the member focused on "your right to own and use firearms. This group, that started as a laudable movement to keep the citizen militias that were the National Guard of the time trained, has become a tool of commerce. Since 1998 they have convinced 177 Million Americans to buy one or more guns. That's half the population of the United States. I would guess that that means the total number of guns out there pretty much equals or exceeds the population. If we got all those guns together that would be some firefight, wouldn't it?
Why then does congress listen to the NRA? Since it isn't about votes, it must be about something else. What does the National Rifle Association have that convinces congress to go along - it isn't the righteousness of 300 Million guns, I hope. If so we can expect further iterations of the UC Santa Barbara mass shootings. Even right wing congressmen don't want that. No, many of us believe that it's about money. The NRA Lobby does what all lobbies do - it throws money at congress in exchange for favors. They talk congress into seeing the world their way one dollar at a time.
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Here is what one of the UC Santa Barbara parents think |
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