In the aftermath of mass shootings, NRA contributions come under heightened media scrutiny. Following the Parkland, Florida, high school tragedy, both left and right-leaning media outlets reported on the gun rights organization. As NRA donations tripled, the polarized media spin seems to reflect the tremendous divide between how gun owners and anti-gun forces see the organization.
Dubbed “Fake News” by President Donald Trump, CNN put out a series of disparaging reports and remarks about the NRA. The liberal network stated that in the aftermath of the school shooting tragedy, “reports from the Federal Election Commission show donations to the NRA’s Political Victory Fund tripled from January to February. In January, the NRA collected almost $248,000 in individual contributions. In February, they collected more than $779,000.”
CNN goes on to link its page to a video of anti-gun Parkland survivor and poster boy David Hogg decrying the Second Amendment and connecting the NRA with political campaigns.
“The NRA’s Political Victory Fund contributes money to political campaigns for gun rights-friendly candidates and is only one of the ways the organization receives and spends money. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the NRA spent $50.2 million on seven key races during the 2016 cycle. The group backed six Republican Senate candidates and, of course, the winning presidential campaign of Donald Trump.”
Although the organization that roundly supported Hillary Clinton includes a few true facts, even those are manipulated in such as way as to lead everyday Americans to believe the NRA is somehow a bad actor. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In fact, the rise in NRA contributions after incidents has become a natural reflex for law-abiding gun owner and defenders of Second Amendment rights. One might easily argue that giving money to support the NRA is one of the few options that self-reliant believers in home defense and hunting have at their disposal. There are thousands of civil rights organizations that help defend people from government abuses, numerous groups protecting the environment, our valued elders and other good causes. Gun owners feel like they have only one place to turn when legal gun ownership comes under fire: the NRA.
Balanced news reporting paints a clearer picture about who is donating to protect gun rights. A timely New York Post points to grassroots support.
“According to the Center for Responsive Politics, two weeks before the fatal school shooting, the NRA’s PAC received $27,100 from itemized contributions — donations that exceed $200 — from 51 donors,” the paper reported. “Over the next two weeks after the shooting, the itemized contributions skyrocketed to nearly $71,000 from 226 donors. Most donations to the group — totaling $685,099 — came in small donations that did not exceed $200.”
The NY Post article also includes the fact that “The Political Victory Fund’s donations to individual lawmakers are limited due to election laws that limit contributions to $10,000 per election cycle.”
The left-leaning propaganda would make it seem that the NRA has politicians in their pockets, when in reality a $10,000 donation is a drop in the bucket for campaigns that cost more than one hundred million dollars in many cases.
Donations triple to the NRA because law abiding citizens know when their rights are coming under fire.
~ Firearm Daily
