Stanley Holditch
We know what is used to be: a sporting organization for hunters and outdoor enthusiasts.
What it is now is something entirely different:
What the NRA Is
- An organization that makes hundreds of millions of dollars a year, yet enjoys tax-exempt status as a non-profit
- A membership organization, yet one where its members fear for the physical safety of their families for expressing views counter to its own
- A lobbying organization that can essentially tell the President of the United States what to do
- Most recently, a money-laundering operation for Russia, allowing it to essentially fund American candidates
So how does an organization of only 3-5 million members, which spends roughly $3m per year in (recorded) lobbying, hold so much sway over over U.S. politics. Mass shooting after mass shooting passes by without any meaningful gun reform legislation being passed in reaction.
What the NRA Does
Ostensibly, our system of government is supposed to react to public opinion. After all, the public votes all of our elected officials into office, so their livelihood depends on staying in favor with a majority of voters in their district. Why then, with overwhelming support for expanded background checks (84-94% depending on the poll), do politicians including the President feel more beholden to the views of NRA leadership than to the will of the people that elect them?
For most of the Trump Presidency, the Republicans have been circling the wagons, shouting down any investigations into Russian money, claiming that any investigation involving Russia and their finances and influence a witch hunt, and suppressing bills related to strengthening our election systems against future interference, specifically from Russia.
Similar to the overwhelming support for increased background checks is the concern about foreign governments meddling with the 2020 election. 78% of Americans are concerned about this. Yet Mitch McConnell feels perfectly comfortable burying legislation passed to do exactly that. Why?
Well money for one. The fact that Mitch McConell is a bought-and-paid-for Russian asset is old news: he receives millions in campaign dollars from a Russian billionaire. As with all politicians, he is beholden to who writes the biggest checks, and will advance or bury legislation according to their whims. #MoscowMitch is no joke.
In 2015-16, everything changed. Blavatnik’s political contributions soared and made a hard right turn as he pumped $6.35 million into GOP political action committees, with millions of dollars going to top Republican leaders including Sens. Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham.
Dallas News expose 2018
In 2017, donations continued, with $41,000 going to both Republican and Democrat candidates, along with $1 million to McConnell’s Senate Leadership Fund.
So you have Russian billionaires funding the Republican senator who is solely responsible for blocking legislation aimed at combatting foreign interference into our elections. You have Russian money flowing through the NRA to finance Donald Trump’s election and two Republicans in the Federal Elections Commission blocking the investigation into that money. And you have two issues with overwhelming support from a majority of Americans — increasing background checks and election security — denied the light of day because they don’t serve the purposes of the Russian money.
Who the NRA Serves
If the NRA is actually illegally funneling Russian money to U.S. candidates, then the NRA like Mitch McConnell is a Russian asset. We know the NRA has fought every single gun control measure with all the power it can muster, no matter how thin the connection to its newfound cause of self-defense. In reaction to every single mass shooting, the organizations reaction has been one of absolute defiance of public opinion, and threatening both members and politicians alike with reprisal if they dare express other views.
That doesn’t sound like a membership organization or even a lobbying arm. It sounds like a criminal enterprise who essentially runs a political protection racket, coercing conservative politicians to adapt their worldview. But why? Given that they could very well be a Russian asset, and given that we know Putin’s long-game is the complete destabilization of Western democracies, ensuring that mass shootings continue to happen with increasing frequency may very well be the unstated purpose of the organization. Which makes them financiers of domestic terrorism.
Russian money, through the NRA, and through campaign contributions, currently owns the two most powerful men in the Republican party: Trump, who immediately backed off calls for increased background checks, and McConnell, who is currently blocking any attempt to limit Russian interference in the 2020 election.
