Graphic: You Will Not Believe What It Cost The NRA To Make Sure Background Checks Got Killed

[WhoIsNumberNone]

[Blue Owl]

1. Basically everything from soup to gun nuts

If only these resources could have been allotted to some worthwhile, less destructive cause.

Sigh...

[russspeakeasy]

2. Nice post, thanks.

[lastlib]

3. What I really can't believe is...

...what it cost THE REST OF US for the NRA to block background checks.......

[Carolina]

4. K&R

[phantom power]

5. Buying votes in Congress is the highest-return investment corporations make

[MAD Dave]

15. Sad but true

Corporations would not buy votes unless it was cheaper than doing it any other way.

[fasttense]

6. And how did the gun lobby get so rich????

They took the guns that workers put together and sold them, while paying the workers a whole lot less than the value of their labor. This they called profits. With this money they paid off Senators WITH THE MONEY WORKERS LET THEM HAVE BY WORKING FOR A WHOLE LOT LESS than what they are worth.

It's called capitalism and it is totally broken and must be replaced for democracy to ever work again.

[billh58]

7. The NRA has increased its blood money

Last edited Thu Apr 25, 2013, 06:25 PM - Edit history (1)

payoffs, and is delivering that money to our politicians through its bag men for the gun manufacturers:

"The National Rifle Association stepped up its lobbying activity during the first three months of the year, spending $700,000 as it sought to fend off new efforts to pass gun-safety legislation, new lobbying reports show."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/04/22/nra-lobbying-increase/2104075/

On the bright side, there are signs that our side is not only raising public awareness of the obscene gun culture plaguing our nation, we are also attracting more donations to fight the NRA.

[freshwest]

8. Screw the landed gentry (Senate). Put in laws by city, county and states.

We can't beat geographical representational bodies and cannot get a majority without massive turnout to change the House, which is set up to represent people, not property.

The federal government is losing the power to govern, due to its being trashed by the right and the left. Many are demanding decentralizing or else expect someone in D.C. to snap their fingers like magic and make things change.

You can't have it both ways and demoralizing those who want change is ratfucking the party. Change for people comes from the ground up. The GOP and NRA know this.

When enough states change hands to make gun control the norm instead of an oddity, the issue will be over. Such as with women's rights, Roe v. Wade isn't protecting a damn thing.

We can make the NRA shut up by doing what the GOP had done in the states. Not well stated and I'm not in a good mood today, nothing against the OP, just ranting.

[Augiedog]

9. Big Daddy Warbucks

The U.S. Congress is a wholly owned subsidiary of the wealthy criminal class known as the 1%. Do you know who else claims the title of 1%ers? Outlaw bikers, another wonderful group of dirtbags!

[WhoIsNumberNone]

12. Hey! Hey! Some of my friends are outlaw bikers!

I'll trust their word over the Koch brothers' any day.

[SunSeeker]

10. K&R

[myrna minx]

11. K&R.

[progressoid]

13. Actually, the deciding vote wasn't cast by 5 senators.

It was cast by 45 Senators.

[billh58]

17. Nope, the needed count for

passage was 60, and we were 5 short. The other 40 were assumed assholes to begin with.

[progressoid]

20. My point is that the blame shouldn't be restricted to just those five assholes.

One of those assholes from my state shares responsibility too.

[billh58]

22. I agree

and sorry for misunderstanding your point...

[progressoid]

36. No problem

These guys make my blood pressure rise.

[Alva Goldbook]

14. Does anyone really think that Dems can win on this issue at the federal level?

How well do you think gun control will go over in freaking Montana? The most ridiculous thing about this, is we keep talking about all the lives that are lost with guns. Never pausing to ask, "did those victims have criminal records themselves"? This isn't about guns. It's about gang members shooting other gang members in a never ending drug war.

What's even more ridiculous is that progressives completely ignore all the lives that are saved by guns. By November, 2014, there will be 2.25 MILLION uses of guns by civilians for the purpose of self-defense. This happens every single day in America. Yes, guns really do save lives. That's why cops carry them.

If we want to save lives from gun violence, then maybe we should look at how other places have reduced those numbers. Washington, D.C. has far too many gun homicides, but it is leaps and bounds better than it was in the 1980's. In the 1980's, D.C. was the murder capital of the world. And at the time, it was illegal for anyone to have a gun in D.C. other than police officers. What turned this around? It's wasn't gun control, and it wasn't guns. It was urban renewal. Whole parts of the city were renovated. Ghettos were replaced by thriving business districts. And surprise, surprise, the murder rate went down.

Ultimately, focusing on gun control is cruel and cold-hearted to those who face gun violence every day. It attempts to solve the problem of gun violence in an ineffective manner, while taking away from those very same people the means by which they can defend themselves from it. We do this because really solving this issue means taking on the war on the poor and the middle class directly. It means ending poverty and income inequality. It means turning around decades of social decay. And Democrats don't want to do that because it means standing up to the same wealthy elite that bribes them as well as Republicans.

[billh58]

16. And yet another NRA

apologist argues that more guns equals less violence. Please take your bullshit talking points back to the Gungeon where "everybody knows your name."

That 2.5 million defensive use bullshit has been debunked elsewhere on DU, yet you gunners keep spouting it. Lies and half-truths is all you people have, and average Americans are beginning to see through your NRA mouth garbage.

[Alva Goldbook]

18. Maybe you ought to re-read my post Bill....

I never said more guns is the solution. I simply said that gun control doesn't work. And no, I wasn't referencing the Kleck study, I was reference a study done by the Justice Dept. Take it up with them, if you have a problem with it. Lastly, I'm not a member of the NRA. Why is it that you're so opposed to actually solving this problem? Do you think that urban renewal wouldn't work? Do you think we don't have any problems with poverty or income inequality? Do you not realize that the USA has a number of social problems due to this?

[billh58]

19. Nice try, but

you're still an NRA shill.

See ya...

[Skittles]

21. LOL

[cui bono]

24. Yeah! Those little 5 year old Sandy Hook gangstas....

Fuck 'em! Gun control would just be being "cruel and cold-hearted" to the likes of them.

[Hoyt]

27. Australia pulled it off, and people seem OK with it.

The callous, bigots that comprise vast majority of gun cultists, will never be happy with restrictions on the lethal weapons they need to intimidate and spread their hatred.

[Alva Goldbook]

29. Australia did pull it off....

...the gov't confiscated 600,000 guns. We have 300 MILLION guns. Oh, and besides that, unlike Australia, we have a 2nd amendment, which guarantees a right to own guns and we have a 4th amendment which guarantees that you have a right to be secure in your property.

Oh, and speaking of which, did you realize that since this has happened, home invasions in Australia has skyrocketed? Women are now 3 times more likely to be raped than in the USA. People are also 4 times more likely to be assaulted.

For better or for worse, we're stuck with guns. That's not going to change. Find another solution.

[Hoyt]

30. You wouldn't have a link to that crud, that is allowed on DU.?

[Alva Goldbook]

31. By "crud" I think you mean the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

I first came across this "crud" here: http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/faq-on-violence

[Hoyt]

32. Don't see a thing indicating gun restrictions in Australia caused rape to skyrocket.

You guys crack me up . But sans your gun BS, I love you guys.

[Alva Goldbook]

33. I never suggested a direct causal link...

...however, it seems curious that there are 3 times more rape in an unarmed country compared to the United States, and there are 4 times more assaults. In Scotland, there are 7 times more assaults in that unarmed country. The UK has one of the highest rates of assault out of any OECD nation, and all of these nations are unarmed. It seems that when criminals think that you might have a gun on you, it deters them from committing crimes. If you doubt this, then take a poll and see how many people are willing to punch a cop.

[Hoyt]

34. Yes you did. Further, you need to stay off those right wing gun sites.

When you post something that says "Now, women are 3 times. . . .." you or the right wing nut where you got this crap, is suggesting just that.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

35. Too logical for some. Of course, if they wanted to persuade, they would be respond in a persuasive

manner instead of using meaningless insults.

Just be prepared to be called a "NRA shill," or "gun-nut," or whatever.

Those who use such insults aren't trying to persuade anyone.

[cui bono]

23. And Baucus isn't even running again so is he getting a yacht for it?

Then he leaves Tester high and dry in Montana by voting no when Tester voted yes.

What an ass. Glad he's leaving.

[WhoIsNumberNone]

25. Don't worry about Baucus

The NRA has a 7 figure lobbying job waiting for him.

[morningfog]

26. Every NRA member shares the blame and blood.

Even those here on DU.

[Life Long Dem]

28. Poll: Kelly Ayotte approval drops after gun vote

Sen. Kelly Ayotte is facing a backlash after voting agains the background checks proposal last week.

The New Hampshire Republican has a 44 percent approval rating and a 46 percent disapproval, according to a Public Policy Polling poll released Wednesday. That’s a net 15 percentage point drop since October, the last time PPP polled on her when she had a 48 percent approval and a 35 percent disapproval.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/kelly-ayotte-gun-vote-approval-rating-90620.html#ixzz2RWfhq3IL

Let me add, this was the best news I heard all day today.

[jjewell]

37. All it REALLY cost was...

...making sure Harry Reid didn't fix the the filibuster rules on the first day of the current Senate session like he promised to do.