Buried in a Tuesday Politico story about the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) declining revenues, and possibly failing political influence, is a stunning acknowledgement that just might account for the organization’s ability to cheat the undertaker.
“Unlike the NRA’s grassroots operation,” Politico reported, “which can be mobilized to turn out voters and lobby lawmakers, Everytown relies heavily on big donors.”
The NRA’s strength has always been in its members, a truism that has oft been repeated during speeches at the organization’s annual conventions.
On the other hand, it cannot be denied nor underestimated that wealthy elitists including those who provided the lion’s share of financial support for gun control Initiative 1639 in Washington State—which the NRA is now challenging in federal court along with the Second Amendment Foundation—have weaponized their wealth to push their agenda. Less than a dozen people, including the late Paul Allen, donated most of the $5.3 million raised by the Safe Schools Safe Communities gun control group sponsoring the initiative.
According to Politico:
“Revenue at the National Rifle Association fell by $54 million in 2017, a 15 percent decline that coincided with a record number of mass shootings in the U.S. and a rise in spending by gun-control groups.
“The gun-rights group posted an even steeper drop in membership dues, which fell 22 percent, or $35 million, to a five-year low, according to documents the NRA filed with the Internal Revenue Service this month.
“The group directed $27 million to its political arm, the Institute for Legislative Action, down from 2016, a presidential election year in which the institute spent more than $76 million.”
There should be no mystery, with Donald Trump in the White House and Republicans controlling Capitol Hill, a lot of gun owners saw no threat to their rights, so they folded up their tents and closed their wallets. It’s a pattern that has been followed for decades.
But that could change in the aftermath of I-1639’s passage in Washington and an even more threatening anti-gun effort now underway in Florida. The Tampa Bay Times reported this week that the Miami-based “Ban Assault Weapons Now” is pushing hard to get a state constitutional amendment on the 2020 ballot to outright ban so-called “assault weapons.” And how does this measure define “assault weapons?”
Here’s the language:
“Assault Weapons – For purposes of this subsection, any semiautomatic rifle or shotgun capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition at once, either in a fixed or detachable magazine, or any other ammunition feeding device. This subsection does not apply to handguns.
“Semiautomatic – For purposes of this subsection, any weapon which fires a single projectile or a number of ball shots through a rifled or smooth bore for each single function of the trigger without further manual action required.”
Among some Evergreen State gun owners who worked against I-1639 earlier this month, there is a feeling that NRA and even the firearms industry let them down by not pouring more money into the resistance effort. That may be displaced with the SAF/NRA legal challenge, but a win at the polls could have set back gun control efforts in Washington by several years. On the other hand, the consensus is that the victory emboldens anti-gunners to reach for more all over the country.
Their analysis may be somewhat unfair, too. One Washington gun shop operator noted that some of his customers are still asserting that they didn’t even know about the measure, suggesting they may not have voted at all. That is also a pattern for which there is no easy solution.
The NRA, it was once written, fights best from behind circled wagons, and that principle extends essentially to all Second Amendment organizations. If the establishment media keeps reporting about the organization as being on the ropes, and Congressional Democrats launch their promised push for more gun restrictions, watch for the NRA and other gun groups to once again “miraculously” recover from the brink of mortality.
As Sam Clemens—aka Mark Twain—once wrote, “The report of my death was an exaggeration.”
Do you support the NRA and Second Amendment Foundation? What gun control measures are pending in your state.
Sign up for K-Var’s weekly newsletter and discounts here.
Fortunately in Florida it takes 60 percent to pass a constitutional amendment. As a Floridian I like ballet voted state constitutional amendments. Sometimes it is the only way to get issues past the politicians. But I do think that 60 percent is to low a threshold. 66 and 2/3rds would be better, if not 70 percent. And the signature process to add an amendment should be higher. Also amendments should have to be single issue and not 2 or more related issue on one amendment. Some people vote for an amendment because they like one part of the amendment and don’t have strong feelings for or against the other parts.
I sincerely agree to having 1 amendment to vote on . That is exactly why Congress and the Senate can not get nothing done. Too much on 1 ticket.
I’m a Benefactor Member, so I am not blaming the NRA, but after having the Presidency and boyh Houses of Congress, we should at least have seen CCW reciprocity or 2A protection, if not repeal of NFA and GCA infringements.
This all sounds good but did any one think maybe the down fall of NRA is not because of REP control of everything but because the NRA is not doing it’s job…I hate the NRA but like a lot of folks keep giving them money because they are just about the only game in town. Back when they were pushing the AR as a hunting weapon I did not like their stand. The AR is a freedom weapon for all Americans and that is how it should be pushed. Most of these politicians don’t care about America. They only care about getting more money for themselves. Americans had better wake up or American as some of us have bleed for will be gone.
looks like Nevada will be the next Calshitehole.why are we not doing any thing. the Democrats are a Trojan horse for the EU. gun control is a soft sell from the EU controlled UN. they started the sell with,” THE UNIVERSAL BACKGROUND CHECK”. the UN controls the data which means a foreign agency is setting up the data collection for registration, then on to confiscation. look at how they are doing this to the Dutch farmers in South Africa. when are we going to do something about the enemies of our country that claim to be a political party. the democrats are a Trojan horse for the EU Agenda. they need to be expunged.what I do not understand is why sane nations do not join with the Visegrad group and END the EU. TERMINATE THE HEADS OF THAT GROUP, TAKE THEIR MONEY. Why wait for them to form an Army. they are a threat. simply stop the threat. no one is talking about las vegas Nevada?? California communists totally took the state, so say goodbye to the shot show,this may be the last year, I WOULD BET, and a nice place to be a sport shooter or a gun store business. FROM LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, now that the Criminals, Sisolak and Jacky Rosen which are champagne socialist, communist PIGS. WORST OF ALL they are sell-outs to the EU agenda,which is anti second amendment, anti constitutional and anti-American, do you think 2019 shot show will be the last show? keep your eye on the Prize…they want the 2nd amendment! if you look at Clark county and Washoe County the NP People took just enough so the communist, EU sell outs could win. dead people, unions and morons killed Nevada, guess they will do away with the state border. We should have had a civil war when we had the chance. now we march to the EU agenda, make America a brown, border less shite hole with no Constitution. slow, slow death by stupidity (infectous californious).7 November 2018. all part of the EU agenda. stop the common man from self defense…. period. these types of anti gun people do not care about human life or crime. all they care about is taking the ability away from people to be able to stop their communist, EU Agenda, UTOPIA THAT THEY THINK WILL WORK. end the borders, let foreign brown criminals have free rain of major cities, burn down the forests. inject babies with mercury, kill babies and sell the body parts on the tax payers dime, allow a dark barbaric religion and it’s Sharia law the over ride the constitution. then disarm the population… who said that the democrats do not have a platform
AMEN to that speech , no one else has the balls to tell the truth
Thank you