From the NYT article:
Quote:
Ms. McCarthy said the group drew its power from its money — it has donated more than $17.5 million to federal candidates, mostly Republicans, since 1989, and spent millions more in lobbying — and the fear of political retribution.
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That's only about $1.75M per year. In today's politics, while that's not something to sneeze at, I'm guessing there's bigger donors to politicians than the NRA on all sorts of issues. It's the votes that the politicians really worry about. Thus, the fear of political retribution is probably a bigger factor than the money. Keep in mind, if we have 4 million NRA members, how many of their wives, voting age children, friends, etc. who are not NRA members, vote in a similar fashion as the NRA members do? That is a significant voting block for pro gun rights issues.
The democrats finally realized this and it was spelled out by Howard Dean when he said the democrats can't just walk away from the guys who follow Nascar and sport NRA bumper stickers on their trucks. Those weren't his exact words, but close enough to make the point. They ran more pro gun rights candidates in red districts and won, giving them control of congress. That meant a defeat on many gun rights issues for the gun control and anti gun politicians in Washington, however. They don't like this situation very well, but it's easier to blame an agressive NRA and its money than their own party. Even President Obama understands the set up. He basically said that a new assault weapons ban was not politically in the cards at this time and told AG Eric Holder to back off on that issue.
I too liked how they used the GOA as a brickbat against the NRA. I guess the enemy of your enemy is your friend at times.
