Money
By Will Collette
To restore some sanity to America’s gun policy will require dealing,
somehow, with the political power amassed by the National Rifle Association.
Now that the NRA has declared itself squarely against any new gun laws, in
spite of public reaction to the Newtown slaughter, we must deal with the amount
of allegiance and obedience the NRA has bought from elected officials at almost
every level of government.
The NRA has amassed this political power even though it is
registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization which
is technically supposed to be non-political. In its last reporting year, the
NRA reported income (almost all of it not only tax-exempt but tax deductible to
the donors) of over a quarter of a billion
dollars.
But that’s not all. The NRA controls at least three other
national non-profits that each had its own revenue stream[1].
Together, they raised $18 million in the most recent tax year.
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| NRA salaries |
Then there’s the NRA Political Victory Fund, the spearpoint
of the NRA. They raised and spent $15 million during the 2012 elections.
The NRA pays ten of its top executives salaries of over a
quarter million a year. Their top spokesperson, Wayne LaPierre, the guy who
gave one of the year’s most bizarre news conferences, had a compensation
package worth $961,084.
With an annual income of around $260,000,000, the NRA has
enough money to enforce its firearms philosophy. They spread their money far
and wide, even in a true blue state like Rhode Island.
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| An actual ad for the gun used in the Newtown slaughter |
Campaign contributions only tell part of the story. They also
invest in mass mailings and robocalls to support candidates who toe the NRA
line or to attack those that don’t. One local candidate was on the receiving
end of the NRA’s attack for committing the inadvertent error of failing to send
back the NRA’s candidate questionnaire.
Click here to see the list of NRA campaign contributions in Rhode Island.
[1] In
the most recent filing year which ended December 31, 2010, the NRA Foundation
raised $16,074,571. The NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund raised $706,570. The NRA
Special Contributions Fund raised $1,559,104. According to the Federal
Elections Commission, the NRA Political Victory Fund raised $14,391,314 for the
2012 election cycle.