The NRA is smaller than you'd think so why does it wield such influence?

[Judi Lynn]

Compared with others, the 145-year-old lobby group isn’t a vast spender – but it has the power to mobilize a grassroots support and make Washington listen
The hospital staff called to action after the mass shooting in Las Vegas

Dominic Rushe in New York
@dominicru
Friday 17 November 2017 02.00 EST

Why is the National Rifle Association so powerful? Here’s a clue: it’s not (just) about the money.

The vast majority of Americans support gun control, and yet Congress has failed to toughen laws even in the wake of a series of mass shootings. With the NRA pouring money into political races at record levels it is an easy argument to make that the gun lobby has bought Washington – but that fails to paint a full picture.

So far this year, the NRA has spent $4.1m on lobbying – more than the $3.1m it spent in all of 2016. That’s real money, but for comparison, the dairy industry has spent $4.4m in the same period, according to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP). The National Association of Realtors, one of the biggest spenders, has paid out $32.2m lobbying on housing issues. The US Chamber of Commerce, the largest spender of all, has spent $104m.

The NRA’s influence does not stem solely from lobbying. Thanks to the supreme court’s Citizens United decision, the spigot is now off on “independent expenditures” allowing groups and individuals to back – or attack – candidates, as long as those campaigns are not made in cooperation with, or at the request of, a candidate.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/17/nra-gun-lobby-gun-control-congress

[Girard442]

1. Think a humongous amount of dark money driving America toward violent chaos.

Why? Scared and angry people tend not to vote for small-d-democratically-minded candidates.

[Hoyt]

2. Money, lobbying, power, and there are a lot of gun-humping free-riders too cheap

to pay dues who support the NRA's right wing agenda.

[Botany]

3. Gun humpers vote!

We have % of Americans that love their guns more then anything else and they
are brain washed w/non stop pro gun lies. I stumbled across a concealed carry
radio show the other night and it was scary.

Zillions of dollars doesn't hurt either.

[drray23]

4. huge money stream

Every local shooting range I know requires that you be a NRA member before you can join.

Years ago, the NRA started this program whereas they would offer range insurance at reduced rates. The catch is that your club had to be 100 % NRA members. So, pretty much most ranges today are infested with extreme RW nuts.

[BigmanPigman]

5. This post and all of the replies above

plus a culture that is uniquely American in that the male gender is taught to feel you are not a man unless you have a rifle or a gun to prove it. This goes back to a time even before GI Joe and Barbie Dolls...Cowboys and Indians, Cops and Robbers, etc.

[Hortensis]

6. All the above, plus, above all, intense political polarization AND

support by religious right extremists. The kind of right wing voters who are competent in other aspects of their lives disagree with most NRA objectives, but they have become implacably opposed to allowing any Democratic wins at all.

It's also become heavily tangled up with both religious fervor and conspiracy theories. Morality, cultural and religious duties and even physical survival (those FEMA boxcars) require them to oppose the evil agendas of Democrats.

The day what today's GOP has become endorses any gun control legislation, a majority will support. But enter the divisive plotters funding the GOP. Even minor legislation would have to have at least their tacit approval. These days that includes, incredibly, the Kremlin, which has infiltrated the NRA, mainstream religion, and of course the GOP.

[Paladin]

7. Long-term, fanatical obsession with a single political issue.

Shit-loads of money to keep that obsession in play, and a total lack of redeeming personal principles.

I think that about covers it.