Monday, December 24, 2012

America's Powerful Gun Lobby


With the NRA making headline news over the past week, I wanted to take a brief look at the activities of gun lobbyists in Washington, particularly since President Obama has mandated that "changes are a'comin'".  My data for this posting is sourced from Open Secrets, a virtual treasure trove of political financing in America.

Here is a graph showing the annual spending by gun rights lobbyists since 1998:


So far in 2012, a total of $3,774,218 has been spent by 42 lobbyists representing 7 clients including the National Rifle Association.

Here is a list of the clients and how much they spent in 2012:


By far, the largest spender was the NRA with 58.4 percent of the total spent by gun rights lobbyists.

Here is a look at where the gun rights groups donated their campaign contributions in 2011 - 2012 by political party:


Here is the breakdown showing that roughly 90 percent of the total donated by the gun lobby went to Republican candidates and the Republican Party:


Here is a summary showing which Congressional Party received the most support from the gun rights lobby in the 2012 election cycle:


Here is a graph showing the split between Congressional Democrats and Republicans since 1990 showing how financial support from the gun rights lobby has increasingly been donated to the Republicans over the past 2 decades:

Here is a list of the top 20 Members that received financial support from the gun rights lobby in the latest election cycle and how much they received:


Overall, the Member that received the least support was Van Hilleary (R) of Tennessee who benefitted to the tune of a whopping $51.

Let's take a quick look at where the NRA is spending their lobbying dollars and how their spending has changed over the past few election cycles.

Here is a bar graph showing the NRA's annual spending on lobbying since 1998:

Here is a listing of the lobbying firms that the NRA has hired in 2012 and the names of the lobbyists involved:


Lastly, here is a screen capture showing page one of the Lobbying Report for the NRA for the third quarter of 2012:


Hopefully, all of this information will help you put into context the comments that you will be hearing from Washington over the coming weeks as those that America elects grapple with the polarizing issue of gun control in the United States.  With the NRA being such a powerful and wealthy lobby, the group will have a great deal of impact on the outcome.

12 comments:

  1. hopefully this issue will the republican/tea party's final downfall. most human beings are ever evolving, whereas republicans, whom don't believe in evolution are regressing.

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  2. Tea Party members cannot evolve because we are at optimal form already.

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    1. I agree sort of , your at YOUR optimal form in a Neanderthal sort of way.

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  3. How does their lobbying expenditure compare with other industries or groups? The numbers alone are pretty meaningless...

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  4. Thank you for this most enlightening information. I notice that all names (except one) are male and appear to be of Western European lineage. The pattern is pretty clear. These guys need a rude awakening and I hope the recent spate of gun-related disasters will provide the alarm bell.

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  5. American are really fond of shooting and hunting activities.

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  6. This encouraging. I'm glad to see my membership fees are making an impact.

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  7. Guns don't kill people, people kill people. Do any of you really believe that criminals and crazies won't be able to get guns?????

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  8. I was just thinking the same thing MWorrell. The money I give to the NRA is going exactly where it should.

    I guess I'm going to have to send them another check.

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  9. Good thing the Constitution protects the minority opinion because the majority of US Citizens are not NRA members. Something like 98.8% of us over age 14 do not belong to the NRA. Also the majority of US households do NOT have guns. That number hovers around 38%. So this means that most of the guns in the US are owned by a few people who think that their right to bear arms should trump the majority's rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So, the NRA is basically like an annoying fly. It vectors pestilence and could effectively extinguished with a good swat. If the 98.8% of us that don't belong to the NRA join the Anti-NRA and each donate a couple of shekels, buying a politician is easy peasy.

    Just a little perspective.

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    1. A FEW? with your own numbers, that means there are over 100,000,000 people that own guns! A FEW??? YES, that is a minority but that's still over one third of the United States population. That isn't a FEW! And just how does my right to own a gun TRUMP your right to LL&P of H??? What? You don't have time to be happy and make your fortune because you are too worried about my rifle, pistol and shot gun and over 100,000,000 others like me? Unless you are infringing on MY right to life in my home, you will never have to worry about my right to own that gun and if you are my neighbor...You still wont have to worry about YOUR right because I will respect your wishes as you scream for help if someone is in your home infringing on your right to life as I will respect your original wishes! NO! I would still do all I could to protect you, and so would over 1/3 of the whole US population!

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  10. larouchepac dot com ---- can save you time. The British Empire: where our time has gone all of our lives and where our ancestors' time went before that. The total amount of time stolen from ordinary decent people all over the world by the empire adds up to so many billions and billions and billions of years as to greatly exceed the age of the earth itself. Also see: larouchepac dot com/1932. No wonder that the British Queen uses her controlled media here in America to push for gun control. The British are truly the enemies of all the world!!

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