proposed laws

PA Bill Number: HB777

Title: In firearms and other dangerous articles, further providing for definitions and providing for the offense of sale of firearm or firearm parts without ...

Description: In firearms and other dangerous articles, further providing for definitions and providing for the offense of sale of firearm or firearm parts without ...

Last Action: Third consideration and final passage (104-97)

Last Action Date: Mar 27, 2024

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The Left's Hypocrisy of Buying Elections :: 12/12/2018

The left constantly accused politicians of being in the pocket of the NRA. Anyone who can add laughs at that notion, but basic math has never deterred leftists from their idiotic agendas. The narrative continues. The only reason we still have a 2nd Amendment is because the NRA has spent so much money on lobbying and propaganda. No reasonable person would ever want to own a gun. This notion isn’t just stupid. It’s pure, unfiltered hypocrisy. The left doesn’t just spend more on lobbying and propaganda in general, they spend more on gun policy.

Pride of the Left

The left is proud of their stance on guns. They wave their moral supremacy around like a banner. That is most clear in the works of a group you know: Everytown for Gun Safety. It is probably the most well-known and best-funded anti-gun group in the world. Michael Bloomberg personally pours tens of millions of dollars into the organization every year. Since this was an election year, that money had a clearer purpose.

It’s not enough to point out that the left spent a bunch of money on lobbying for gun control. What’s more important here is the mentality with which they did it. They are proud of how much they “raised” (a $50 million donation from Bloomberg doesn’t exactly require a lot of work) and spent on influencing the election. Just go to the Everytown website. It’s half of their blog. They outspent the NRA, and they wear that badge with honor.

How Much Was Spent?

You’re already seeing the shape of this hypocrisy, but a few more facts will really put things in perspective. The left didn’t just outspend the NRA on gun control. They blew the NRA out of the water. According to their records, the NRA spent roughly $5 million on advertising and campaigning efforts in these midterms. That money was spread across many dozens of campaigns at national, state and local levels. In short, the dollars were pretty thin for any one campaign.

Everytown proudly proclaims that they spent $55 million on federal elections this year. That’s more than 10 times the money of the NRA. It’s also only the beginning. They’re just one group. Other coalitions of gun control supporters also raised and spent money. Their efforts went to the tune of $11 million. Pound for pound, the NRA was outspend to a ridiculous degree. It’s also worth noting that this gun control spending was only on federal elections. State and local numbers don’t have a clear tally.

Despite that spending, gun control candidates had a poor showing. Gun control was a losing issue in Senate races, and it only positively contributed to a handful of House victories. If you were to assume elections were direct results of gun-control spending (which they obviously aren’t), then NRA dollars were worth about 10 times as much gun control dollars.

The Flagrant Hypocrisy

Spending money on campaigns is not inherently wrong or unethical. Every Republican in the country agrees with that notion. The left isn’t hypocritical because they lobby and advertise. They’re hypocrites because of the words from their mouths. They condemn every single politician who takes money from the NRA, and they attest that gun control isn’t more “progressive” in this country solely because politicians are purchased by the NRA. They then go and outspend the NRA by an order of magnitude. Either spending money on campaigns is unethical or it isn’t. You can’t have it both ways.

The biggest lie in all of this is that people only vote the way money tells them to vote. This election proved that untrue. In reality, money only impacts voters when it makes a politician’s policy visible. If the NRA spends enough for voters to know who supports their gun rights in each race, that’s enough. They don’t need a propaganda machine. They just need to be informative. That’s why their dollars were more impactful in this election. America doesn’t want rampant gun control. We all want to see less gun violence, but the majority of Americans don’t agree that sacrificing an inalienable right is the best way to achieve that end.

That’s why they steer so far into the morality argument. They already know that they’ve lost this battle on grounds of rationality. The statistics are clear: gun ownership improves safety in the U.S. Even the CDC agrees. Instead, they have to demonize the guns themselves. Their only hope is to convince Americans to blind themselves to logic and view guns as inherently evil things.

They do this with more than guns, by the way. You’ll find that the vast majority of leftist viewpoints are based on feelings instead of cold facts. It is easily the most dangerous part of their ideology.

https://americangunnews.com/the-lefts-hypocrisy-of-buying-elections/