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National
Rifle Association president Wayne LaPierre. The NRA recently pledged
that they are fighting an 'extensive war' against gun control.
NRA Pledges an 'Extensive War' on Gun Control
By Charlie Connell | May 03, 2013 10:37 AM EDT
National Rifle Association president
Wayne LaPierre. The NRA recently pledged that they are fighting an
'extensive war' against gun control. (Photo : Reuters)
After the Newtown tragedy, there was a groundswell of support for stricter gun control laws, vigorously supported by President Barack Obama. After months of debate and tinkering in Congress the Senate ended up voting down any potential new laws, marking an enormous victory for pro-gun groups.
"Our theme here is to stand and fight," NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told CBSnews.com. "From our perspective, this is not over. This is a fight that will take years. And what happened a couple of weeks ago (in the Senate) was the first battle in what will be many battles. But we're prepared for a very long and extensive war."
"Our membership has grown by almost a third - it was at 300,000, and so we're almost at 400,000," Erich Pratt, the communications director for Gun Owners of America, said. "We've definitely seen people's concern and people wanting to be active and I think that's probably the most exciting thing: activism is up."
Gun control supporters are perplexed about why the NRA and Gun Owners of America are fighting so hard against expanded background checks, a issue that 85 percent of gun owners polled by the Pew Research Center support. The author of "NRA: Money, Firepower and Fear," Josh Sugarman, believes that groups like the NRA don't exist to support their members as much as they do firearm manufacturers.
"The NRA is a gun industry trade association masquerading as a shootings sports foundation," Sugarman said.
This belief is shared by Mark Kelly, husband of former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Giffords survived an assassination attempt in January 2011, she was shot but survived. Kelly wrote an op-ed for the Houston Chronicle discussing the relationship between gun manufacturers and the NRA.
"Guns fly off the shelves after tragedies because LaPierre (Head of the NRA) and the gun manufacturers he represents exploit people's fears," Kelly wrote. "In return gun manufacturers gave LaPierre and the NRA tens of millions of dollars last year alone - and he spent almost $1 millions of it on his own salary. Everyone in the gun lobby gets rich when the gun manufacturers sell the most guns. And that's why LaPierre and the rest of the leadership of the NRA and other gun organizations are spending so much of their time wild-eyed, preaching possible government confiscations."
Senators who voted against the gun laws are finding themselves under a microscope of scrutiny. Sen. Ayotte, R-NH, was confronted by the daughter of one of the Newtown victims at a town hall meeting and struggled to defend her vote. Amid sinking poll numbers for defeating the popular bill Democrats are hoping that Senators like Ayotte can be convinced to change their votes the next time the bill comes up. One of the co-sponsors of the bill, Pat Toomey, R-PA, was far from enthusiastic about the prospects of the Senate changing its mind.
"In the end it didn't pass because we are so politicized," Toomey told The Mercury. "There were some on my side who did not want to be seen helping the president do something he wanted to get done, just because the president wanted to do it. It's a pretty heavy lift to get five senators to change their mind on a big issue like this. It's not likely to happen any time soon. I hope people will reconsider over time."
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