Why does nra have power

For them, it's not necessarily as much about outspending and outflanking other industry powers as it is how they compare with the other side -- those advocating the opposite position. By that measure, the NRA and its allies aren't just winning, they've been dominating for years.

In the election cycle so far, gun rights groups, including the NRA, have outspent the competition more than 40 to 1. Gun control groups? The sheer breadth of campaign support provided by the NRA alone over the years helps explain just how deeply the organization is engrained in the election universe. Among the current members of Congress in both the House and the Senate, have received either direct campaign contributions from the NRA and its affiliates or benefited from independent NRA spending like advertising supporting their campaigns.

In fact, the data show that only six current Republican members of Congress have not received NRA contributions. The law shields corporations which manufacture and sell weapons from liability when their products harm people. Other gun measures have all failed.

Other NRA priorities have gained momentum. It awaits action in the Senate. The NRA has pushed this proposal as one of its priority bills. It has also been a stalwart opponent of the DISCLOSE Act , legislation that would shine a light on secret money in politics, including the money that is flowing through its Institute for Legislative Action, as discussed above.

ALEC staff offers state legislators talking points, boilerplate press releases, and other support to help push the bills over the finish line. Americans continue to organize to advance policies that will safeguard our communities from the crisis of gun violence. With every surge in the shocking violence affecting our towns, neighborhoods, and schools, people renew their pushes for changes to the laws that regulate how guns are bought, sold, and handled.

Despite the public support they enjoy, most of these proposals stall. Too many politicians are beholden to the NRA and fear its influence in their election. Our democracy should be of, by, and for the people. We need to restore balance to our elections, and ensure everyone has an equal voice and equal say in the decisions that affect our lives — including laws that protect our schools, our homes, and our communities from gun violence.

Working together, we can strengthen our democracy to make our leaders more responsive to their real bosses — we the people. Here are five concrete solutions to shift power away from special interests like the NRA and empower the rest of us. There is more we must do — but here are places we can start to make our democracy more accountable and reflective.

Register and vote! Voting is the most important tool we have as citizens to hold our elected officials accountable. Our votes make us all equal and more powerful than we realize — but only if we show up and cast them. In many jurisdictions, you can register to vote online. Other places may require you to mail in a voter registration form or bring it to your local elections office.

If you have problems registering or any questions about voting, including what sort of identification you may need to bring to the polls, the rules for early voting, and the location of your polling place, you can call a nonpartisan Election Protection hotline run by the Election Protection Coalition. Urge your state to implement policies to modernize how Americans can participate in the voting process.

Policies include pre-registration for and year olds, automatic voter registration, and early voting. Every eligible American has a right to vote and the process should reflect the way we live and work in the 21st century. Highly organized and well-funded by its five million members, the NRA is one of Washington's most powerful lobbies.

You do that a couple of times, and your member of Congress gets the message. The organization is also known to grade American politicians on their stance on gun rights. These grades have a powerful influence on how the candidate is perceived at election time by the large NRA voting block. After the Columbine High School shooting in , the NRA worked to block legislation proposed by President Bill Clinton which would require background checks for all firearm purchases at gun shows.

Vice-President Al Gore cast a tie-breaking vote to pass the law in the Senate, but the proposal died in the House, falling short of the majority needed, due to NRA lobbying. This year, vote freedom first because if Al Gore wins, you lose.

The victims' families pushed for change, and President Barack Obama's administration was ready to take up the fight. Over 91 per cent of the American people supported expanding background checks; 80 per cent of the households that had an NRA member supported it. Joe Manchin, a Democratic senator with an "A" rating from the NRA tried to convince the organization to support the proposed law. But, in the end, the NRA wouldn't back down. Gun control simply kills people.

Estimates of the NRA's membership have varied widely for decades. The association claimed that membership surged to close to five million in response to the mass shooting at Sandy Hook school in , but some analysts put the figure at closer to three million.

The organisation has been accused of inflating the figure. He resigned from the group in after Mr La Pierre referred to federal agents in the wake of a bombing attack on a government building in Oklahoma City as "jack-booted thugs".

Heston famously held a rifle over his head at an NRA convention following the Columbine High School massacre in and told gun control advocates they would have to take it "from my cold, dead hands".

The NRA has lobbied heavily against all forms of gun control and argued aggressively that more guns make the country safer. It relies on, and staunchly defends, a disputed interpretation of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, which it argues gives US citizens the rights to bear arms without any government oversight. The association faced criticism from both sides of the political spectrum in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, when Mr La Pierre said that the lack of an armed guard at the school was to blame for the tragedy.