In the Name of the Gun Manufacturer, the NRA and Congress

Mass shootings throughout the United States have not compelled Congress into enacting gun control regulations restricting sales of assault rifle with high capacity magazines.  In a contest between the NRA and Congress the NRA always wins.  The National Rifle Association (NRA) suffocates Congress by threatening legislators with potential primary challengers consequently cowering representatives into submission resulting in gun control measures croaking in congressional committees. 

After the Paris terrorist attack, the media and public refocused their attention on Islamic terrorist organizations such as ISIL and Al Qaeda renewing concern about jihadists living in the United States legally obtaining assault rifles.     

Earlier this year, Congress proposed S. 551 and H.R. 1076 Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists (Are there any terrorists who are not dangerous?) Act of 2015.  The bill, sponsored by Senator Diane Feinstein (D-Ca) and Representative Peter King (R-NY-2), restricts the sale of firearms and explosives to individuals on the FBI’s terrorist watch list.[i]

Predictably, the NRA is opposed to restricting the sale of weapons and explosives to terrorists.  After the Oklahoma City terrorist attack, the Clinton Administration proposed adding taggants[ii] to explosive materials as a tracking mechanism, but the NRA opposed the measure because gun restrictions prevent law abiding citizens from obtaining firearms, doesn’t stop terrorists from obtaining weapons and explosives, and the FBI’s terrorist watch list is “an imperfect tool for assessing an individual's terror threat.”[iii] 

The NRA’s concern about the trustworthiness of the FBI’s terrorist watch list is legitimate.  Consider the United States No Fly list of suspected terrorists who are not allowed to board airplanes.  The most common names on the list are “Gary Smith, John Williams [and] Robert Johnson.”[iv]  To travel, hundreds of men named Gary Smith, John Williams and Robert Johnson must prove they are not terrorists.  Hypothetically, hundreds of Gary Smiths, John Williams and Robert Johnson could be denied their Second Amendment right to bear arms.

That’s not the only reason the NRA opposes the congressional bill.  The NRA is a shill for weapons manufacturers.  The NRA’s promotes fear of government tyranny, “there are only two reasons for the government to create that federal registry of gun owners – to tax them and take them.”[v]

The NRA argues the federal government cannot protect its citizens.  “Terrorists and home invaders and drug cartels and car-jackers and knock-out gamers and rapers, haters, campus killers, airport killers, shopping mall killers, road-rage killers, and killers who scheme to destroy our country with massive storms of violence against our power grids, or vicious waves of chemicals or disease that could collapse the society that sustains us all.”[vi] 

Marketing fear leads to gun hoarding which leads to record profits for weapons manufacturers.  In 2014, Americans spent $42.9 billion on guns and ammunition.  Guns sales more than doubled from 4,498,944 in 2008 to 10,884,792 in 2013.  The stock price of Smith and Wesson increased 93% and is valued at $500 million.[vii]      

Promoting itself as the defender of the Second Amendment, the NRA encourages their dues paying members to “keep your own membership active, or reactivate it if it has lapsed. It means reminding yourself, “I have a son and daughter who aren’t members and should be.” It means reaching out to your hunting and shooting friends and personally telling them why it’s so important that they join the NRA now, during this time of peril.”[viii]

However, the NRA will never admit their opposition to S. 551 and H.R. 1076 protects white supremacists, extreme right wing organizations, Neo Nazis, and hate groups from being placed on terrorist watch lists.  Hate groups are the weapon manufacturer’s biggest consumers.  Imagine the reduction in weapons sales if members of the Klu Klux Klan, the Aryan Nation or any of the 784 hate groups currently operating in the United States are not allowed to stockpile weapons.

Bullying an apathetic Congress, the NRA empowers American terrorist organizations to stockpile weapons, ammunition and explosives.

Congressional inaction already put Americans at risk.  “The GAO found…  [Between] 2004 and 2014, suspected terrorists attempted to purchase guns from American dealers at least 2,233 times. And in 2,043 of those cases — 91 percent of the time — they succeeded.”[ix]  

In his prophetic farewell address to the nation, President Eisenhower warned Americans “against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex.”[x]  We ignored the warning giving rise to the unbreakable iron triangle relationship between Congress, weapons manufacturers and the Defense Department.  Opposition to the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2015 exposes the cozy relationship between weapons and explosives manufacturers, the NRA and American terrorist organizations, the new holy trinity in American politics.

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[i] S. 551 and H.R. 1076 Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2015.

[ii] “Terror in Oklahoma: The Bomb; Ideas Abound, But Blocking Oklahoma-Type Bombs Is Seen As Unlikely,” by Fox Butterfield, New York Times, 5/3/1995.

[iii] “From 2004 to 2014, Over 2,000 Terror Suspects Legally Purchased Guns in the United States,” by Christopher Ingraham, Washington Post, 11/16/2015.

[iv] “Unlikely Terrorists on No Fly List,” Steve Kroft, 60 Minutes, 10/5/2006.

[v] Wayne Lapierre’s speech, CPAC Convention, 3/15/2013.

[vi] Wayne Lapierre’s speech, CPAC Convention, 3/6/2014.

[vii] Melissa Harris Perry, 12/5/2015.

[viii] Stand and Fight, Wayne Lapierre, Executive Vice President, NRA, 2/13/13.

[ix] “From 2004 to 2014, Over 2,000 Terror Suspects Legally Purchased Guns in the United States,” by Christopher Ingraham, Washington Post, 11/16/2015.

[x] Military Industrial Complex Speech, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1/17/1961.