its a 501c so it doesnt have to disclose its donors,,

a kudos to anyone who can actually find the 'facts' about those donors,,,

I certainly understand and appreciate your sensitivity to the issue, but what is more important and necessary to understand and acknowledge is this...

Any person capable of committing an act this heinous, this diabolical, would have to be mentally ill....This in no way suggests that every person with a mental disorder or illness or handicap is capable of same...

That is not the unwellness mentally I was referring to but of course mental unwellness plays a role in killing other humans period.

Just as with all stygmas, that doesn't mean even the majority of mentally unwell people kill.

That said the teaching of guns as a power tool in this country is a mental disease that is passed from generation to generation and is accepted. And it is a bane to this country. Not a shining tradition for sure.

I hate to keep throwing wrenches into the machinery of disinformation here but the NRA has 4 million members that pay 40 bucks. That's 160 million of their 220 million budget. Each member is asked to donate addition money and many do. Millions are also made from the sale of baseball caps, logos, and such. That is the lions share of the money. Lies like "gun manufacturers fund NRA" is just trash.

not really

its the same way they do elections

they collectively count the 'individual' contributions from any one industry or company and record it as such

they also count the other nearly 30 percent which isnt coming from individuals but from 'corporate partners'

there is no 'wall street' donation to an election, but there are plenty of wall street 'individuals' who donate,,,

Can you prove your statement?

I always hate to have to do others homework.....

Lee Fang
Lee Fang

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Does the NRA Represent Gun Manufacturers or Gun Owners?
Lee Fang on December 14, 2012 - 7:40 PM ET

Over the last four years, Congress and the Obama administration have only enacted laws that have deregulated gun use in America. It’s no secret why. As pundits love to note, the gun lobby is incredibly influential. But as we consider the potential for reform in the wake of the tragedy today, one of the first questions we should ask this time is: who does the gun lobby really represent?

The National Rifle Association portrays itself as an organization that represents “4 million members” who simply love the Second Amendment. The truth is much more murky.

In reality, the NRA is composed of half a dozen legal entities; some designed to run undisclosed attack ads in political campaigns, others to lobby and collect tens of millions in undisclosed, tax-deductible sums. This power has only been enhanced in the era of Citizens United, with large GOP donors in the last election reportedly funneling money to the NRA simply to use the group as a brand to pummel Democrats with nasty ads. (As The Huffington Post’s Peter Stone reported, even the Koch network now provides an undisclosed amount to the NRA.)

Despite the grassroots façade, there is much evidence to suggest that corporations that profit from unregulated gun use are propping up the NRA’s activities, much like how the tobacco lobby secretly funded “Smokers Rights’” fronts and libertarian anti-tax groups, or how polluters currently finance much of the climate change skepticism movement.

In a “special thanks” to their donors, the National Rifle Association Foundation lists Bushmaster Firearms Inc., the company that makes the assault rifle reportedly found with the shooter responsible for the mass murder today in Newtown, Connecticut. How much Bushmaster Firearms Inc. (a firm now known as Windham) contributes is left unsaid.

The Violence Policy Center has estimated that since 2005, gun manufacturers have contributed up to $38.9 million to the NRA. Those numbers, however, are based on publicly listed “sponsorship” levels on NRA fundraising pamphlets. The real figures could be much bigger. Like Crossroads GPS or Americans for Prosperity, or the Sierra Club for that matter, the NRA does not disclose any donor information even though it spends millions on federal elections.

And like other industry fronts, the NRA is quick to conceal its pro–gun industry policy positions as ideological commitments.

Take, for example, “The NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund.” It’s a pro–gun rights legal fund “involved in court cases establishing legal precedents in favor of gun owners.”

And who helps pick which impact-litigation cases the NRA will become involved with? Folks like James W. Porter II, a board member of the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund, who doubles as an attorney whose private firm specializes in “areas of products liability defense of firearms manufacturers.” His last client, according to a search of the federal court docket, was Smith & Wesson Corporation.

Is the NRA working for casual gun-owners, many of whom, according to polling, support tougher restrictions on gun ownership— or is the NRA serving the gunmaker lobby— which is purely interested in policies that will promote greater gun sales and more profits? Any gun control policy debate should begin with this question.

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=NRA+funded+by+gun+manufactureres&ei=UTF-8&fr=chr-greentree_ff&type=685749

I can find lots more...

as to the presidential election?

here is the explanatory excerpt from open secrets.org

"This table lists the top donors to this candidate in the 2012 election cycle. The organizations themselves did not donate, rather the money came from the organizations' PACs, their individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates."



as to the NRA?


neither of us can, since they arent required to disclose their donors...lol

but even your statement leaves a nearly 30 percent gap between the 'individuals' and whats left

and it doesnt account for the other 'funds' the NRA holds that have a different name ,,,

Who Does the NRA Advocate For?

—By Siddhartha Mahanta
| Wed Jan. 19, 2011 7:23 AM PST

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Zuma/Rep. Carolyn McCarthy/Mariela Lombard

If you stand up for the second amendment, the NRA will stand up for you—that's what the gun rights juggernaut claims, at least. But, increasingly, the lobby's incestuous relationship with the gun manufacturers begs the question: Is the the NRA advocating for people who own guns? Or the lucrative companies that make them?

Highlighting this dynamic, the Center for Public Integrity's Peter Stone writes about MidwayUSA, a gun manufacturer that sells high-capacity magazines similar to the one used in the Arizona shooting spree, and its close ties to the NRA's lobbying wing. In 1992, Midway developed a lucrative fundraising tactic to curry favor with NRA, known as "round up": Midway asks customers to round up the total of each order they place to the nearest dollar or higher, then donates the difference to the NRA's lobbying shop, known as the Institute for Legislative Action. But the relationship between Midway and the NRA doesn't end there. Brenda Potterfield, the wife of Midway's CEO, is the vice president of the NRA Foundation's board of trustees.

A number of other gun manufacturers have adopted the technique, reports Stone. Together with Midway, they've funneled $7.5 million to the NRA, $5.7 million of that coming just from MidwayUSA. As Stone reports:

Further, some of these vendors of high-capacity magazines also boast executives who are board members of the NRA. Ronnie Barrett, the CEO of Tennessee-based Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, which makes a military-style rifle sold with high-capacity magazines, was elected to the NRA board in 2009. And Pete Brownell, who runs Iowa-based Brownells Inc., which also makes high-capacity magazines, joined the NRA board in 2010. The strong financial and corporate ties to the NRA underscore how the gun rights goliath has become increasingly intertwined with some of the nation’s leading accessory vendors that sell high-capacity magazines. All have big stakes in fighting a pending gun control measure in Washington.

With sellers like Midway and Barrett under fire by lawmakers like Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), who is floating a bill that seeks to ban the transfer, importation, and possession of high-capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, the NRA's lobbying wing has rushed to their defense. "While those of us who defend the Second Amendment were respecting the heartache of the people of Tucson and waiting to learn the full facts of the case, anti-gun activists were renewing their push for more gun control laws," the NRA-ILA wrote in a recent statement specifically calling out McCarthy's bill.

The White House has yet to throw its support behind McCarthy's bill, and Hill watchers don't seem to like its chances. If it fails, that's another win for the NRA and the industry players they represent.

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2011/01/nra-advocates-midway-gun-lobby-second-amendment

All pro gun data is false.

It can be proven so.

I believe he is correct…Prove his statement false.



He was in error, however DC has the highest firearms death rate in the nation at 31.2 per 100,000 population.



While a prediction can't absolutely be said to be true or untrue, there is a lot of factual evidence to back his prediction. If you don't believe his assertion to be true, how do you explain Kennesaw, GA?

http://www.wnd.com/2007/04/41196/




Are you suggesting that millions of property owners should not have the right to their property? Are you suggesting that millions of gun owners are not mentally competent? Are you suggesting that the US is democracy subject to the tyranny of the majority and not a free republic that guarantees all citizens their rights?

I hope you don't live in a democracy, because a true democracy really amounts to two cannibals and a vegetarian voting on what to have for dinner.



…especially with legislation that denies the privilege and duty of responsible gun-owning citizens the opportunity to protect home, hearth, and neighbours from the gun wielding outlaw crazies.



So you favour being ruled by a king or some other tyrant? Without the means to overthrow one, you will be… sooner or later.



Don't you think that's just a wee bit of an incredible stretch? Data is simply a collection of facts. If the facts support a pro-gun argument, how can you say they are false?

I await proof of your ridiculous assertion.

I note that we are all getting caught up in argument (I'm as guilty as anyone) and would like to suggest the creation of a new thread to debate gun legislation so we can stop the insensitive bickering on here and (hopefully) leave this thread to it's intended purpose of mourning a very great tragedy.

Gun control in the US is a lost cause. Periodic mass murders is just the price the citizens have to pay for that right.

Thank you!

Yes, my apologies in that regard. This tragedy will be politicised endlessly elsewhere.

But that doesn't mean the injustice the innocent suffer in this country because of this gun crazy mental illness in this country is not a valid complaint and needs to be brought up until some brains evolve.

Funny Dukky.

After all the false info to try to discredit you then try to shut it down as if in sympathy..lol

Still didn't prove the false pro gun info as fact used to enable the gun crazies in this country to perpetuate the crimes committed by legal guns against innocents that they never answer for.

Blood, innocent children blood in this instance, is on the hands of pro gun enthusiasts each time this happens.

They have to bear it, no matter how many excuses they use to try to deny it, justify it or otherwise.

The only way a gun or a million guns protect you from the government is if you blow your head off before they get you....if you believe otherwise you are not using the brain you have between your ears.

I Agree.

And even if it is illegal to carry a gun; there will still be people carrying a gun.

its the culture, not the guns,, but because of the culture, the guns need better regulation,,,

and people will always carry guns, IN THIS Culture

And, most of those people carrying will be folks like the NBP and other radical criminals who mean to kill and/or rob folks.

Where concealed carry or open carry is legal there is less gun related violence.