by Will Van Gelder ’16

Recently this country has seen an upswing in the power of partisan lobbies, most specifically with the National Rifle Association (NRA).  The NRA has been in the news a lot because of its vehement opposition to any type of gun control law the Senate and House propose.  Pictures of Wayne LaPierre, the Executive Vice President of the NRA, shouting behind a podium have been on the cover of newspapers across the country.

The influence of the NRA has frustrated and infuriated many people because of the numerous massacres recently, specifically the December 14, 2012 Newtown, Connecticut school killings. On that day, a 20-year-old young man named Adam Lanza entered an elementary school in Connecticut wielding a few semi-automatic weapons with high capacity magazines and gunned down the principal, the school counselor, several teachers and 20 first graders. This caused national outrage and horror, and even the NRA went silent for a few days which shocked many considering how it voice its opinion on all issues. However, the lobbying group came roaring back to life saying that actually more guns were needed and school administrators and teachers should be armed.

The NRA is a non-profit organization which was founded in 1871.  It promotes the ownership of firearms, police training, gun safety, marksmanship, hunting and self-defense.  At least this was the group’s original intent; however, since the 1970s the NRA’s main focus is to influence lawmaker’s decisions about guns. The NRA is one of the most powerful lobbying organizations in the country.  Politicians seek its approval and money for campaigns and are intimidated by its immense power.  The NRA claims to be protecting citizens’ second amendment rights, but it also seems to have a paranoid sense that Obama and other democrats want to take away law- abiding people’s guns.  LaPierre and others in the NRA fervently contend that big government is after their weapons.

Congress has been unable to pass even the most minor gun control laws.  In April of this year, the Senate tried to pass a bill that would enforce background checks on all gun sales.  Despite the fact that 90 percent of Americans are in favor of background checks on gun sales and were in favor of this law, it failed to pass.   While family members of the victims of the Newtown, Connecticut school massacre watched from the seats of Congress, this practical law was shot down. The shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, and the massacres in 1999 in Columbine, Colorado and 2012 Aurora, Colorado, and the 2007 shooting in Virginia Tech. had little effect on gun laws as well.  It seems that the more shootings there are, the more the NRA pushes for more guns and less gun control.

LaPierre and James Porter, the President of the NRA, have twisted the thinking behind the second amendment, an amendment written in 1787 meant for muskets and militias to stop a tyrannical new government if one was to be formed.  They have also successfully intimidated many politicians. Some politicians, especially the four “red state democrats,” Senators Max Baucus of Montana, Mark Begich of Alaska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, along with Republican Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, are now receiving angry mail from constituents who will not vote for them in the future because of their vote against this moderate gun control legislation. These members of congress voted against this legislation thinking it would gain them more votes, but they ended up losing votes because of their opposition. How did the NRA ever get so powerful, and will we ever get stronger gun control laws enacted?

We need to get to a point where lobbyists do not have more power than the officials we elect to the U.S. government. The NRA has gotten much too powerful, if we haven’t voted them into office why are they making decisions for the U.S. people? It is time to rein in the NRA’s political influence.