Life is a cabaret my friends. Be that as it may, money makes the world go around. Back in the day, the gulf between the money fueling the gun control movement and the funding protecting firearms freedom was as wide as the margins on the old TTAG template. With the exception of the deep-pocketed Joyce Foundation, the civilian disarmament movement lacked the financial firepower to recruit, solidify and stir their base. With its three million dues-paying, memorabilia-buying members and enough brand extensions to drive a Coca-Cola executive crazy, the National Rifle Association had nothing but money with which to rally the faithful at the merest whisper of gun control and pay its political PAC. The recent gun control push has increased NRA membership and swollen their coffers. Unfortunately, Bloomberg. Giffords. publicintegrity.org tallies their take . . .
“Together, newly formed super PACs launched by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg brought in about $8.6 million during the first half of the year, a Center for Public Integrity review of federal records shows.” . . .
Meanwhile, the NRA’s political action committee amassed nearly $7.1 million in contributions so far this year — an upsurge from $4.8 million this time last year and $2.4 in 2011 — according to the group’s most recent FEC filing.
Yes, but—the NRA is a more “populist” group, right? Lots of smaller contributions rather than big buck billionaires supporting gun control. Yes and no. But mostly yes.
[Americans for Responsible Solutions], which also has a 501(c)(4) nonprofit arm, still has $4.8 million left in the bank through June 30. About half of the money the super PAC has received so far came from individual donations of less than $200.
But Americans for Responsible Solutions was also buoyed by a handful of six-figure contributions. The group’s largest donor this period was CEO Salesforce.com Marc Benioff, a bundler for President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign, who gave $500,000.
The law firm of Steve Mostyn, a major Democratic donor and American for Responsible Solutions’ treasurer, contributed $250,000 to the group, as did Napster co-founder Sean Parker.
Giffords’ super PAC also received $250,000 from Bloomberg, who has been a leading figure in the gun control debate.
Gun rights advocates are far more motivated—financially and politically—to get off their collective rear end and donate, lobby and rally. But it is the latter two that make the most difference. Money makes the world go around, but jumping into the fray with both feet keeps gun control advocates spinning their wheels. Or something like that.
Simply put, people that are for gun control don’t exercise their 2A right, so to them, nothing is being taken away from them.
Those of us that value our rights, and view them as something being taken from us are definitely more motivated. We tend to do whatever it takes to not see ourselves stripped or our natural rights.
Well stated, Good Sir.
Yes, the idea that money is a prime mover in the Citizen Disarmament fight has always been false. Any actual money spent by Joyce or the NRA is dwarfed to not quite inconsequenciality by the free advocacy given by the old Media. Add up the time devoted to citizen disarmament by the New York Times, the Washington Post, the networks and AP, and the cash money comes in way down the list.
Gun control is a mercenary cause, the pro liberty one is grassroots. That’s why the good guys have been winning some battles lately even though the gun control crowd is well funded and has the main stream media to help them.
How does the song go
Send lawyers, guns and money NRA get me out of this
Gun owners are the innocent bystander
Somehow they got stuck between the rock and a hard place
Bloomberg, Gifford and Joyce Foundations are jacka–
Send lawyers, guns and money NRA get me out of this
Or something like that 🙂
Close enough! or maybe better than Warren’s lyrics. Don’t forget “the shit has hit the fan”.
They make mad love, shadow love, random love and abandoned love. Accidentally. Like a martyr.
You sound like an excitable boy. Wanna join me for a pina colada at Trader Vic’s?
I hear mariachi static on the radio . . .
Perhaps the NRA should stop subsidizing/advertising/whatever is is they do with all of those non-firearms related endeavors (Wine Clubs, etc…) and quit spending 80 gazillion dollars on postage for the groveling (sorry, fundraising) letters that we all get every 3 days.
Seriously NRA – even if I donated an additional $20, that probably just breaks even from the cost of all the junk mail you send me.
Actually as an industry insider, Direct Mailing is one of the most cheapest and effective ways to garnish funding for nonprofits. It’s incredibly cost efficient and can land you the most return, money wise.
Yes, bloomers and those types WILL BUY gun control AND the next election .. so what of it?? I am spending my next 2000 on ammo, where the last 2000 went to the NRA …. who is dumber, them or me????
“A fool and his money are soon parted”, let them spend their money since I know that they will never be able to remove all the guns. Some weak sisters will give up theirs but the majority will fight back and even if they go underground the powers that be will be handed their hats because of the guerrilla war that will ensue. We’re looking at another Afghanistan on our own soil. We haven’t won over there yet either…
In Weimar Germany, people said the same GD thing, and you turned your back on the good sense to take a lesson from it.
Hell, the ESA spends more lobbying congress about video games than the NRA lobbies about guns:
http://images.eurogamer.net/2013/articles/1/5/9/8/6/1/0/137391978711.png
It’s the NRA’s public outreach communications and the resultant pressure from citizens that keeps the attention of our elected officials focused. Well, most of them.
Here is the Complete list of 10 Notable Offenders
Thad Allen, former Coast Guard admiral and now of Booz Allen, gave $5,000
George Zimmer, the former CEO of Men’s Wearhouse, gave $5,000 (He’s actually a pretty reliable Democratic donor, previously giving to both President Obama and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.)
Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!, gave $250,000
Sean Parker, social-media entrepreneur, gave $250,000
Gloria Giffords, mother of the former congresswoman, gave $4,500
Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York, gave $250,000
Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com, gave $500,000
Mostyn Law Firm, which deals with hurricane victims, gave $250,000
Richard Plepler, the CEO of HBO, gave $1,000
And a Texas rancher gave $10,000
The group also has plenty of cash on hand, only spending $1.8 million thus far, more than $500,000 of which went into media campaigns.
Source http://news.yahoo.com/gabby-giffords-gun-control-group-brings-6-6-172318962.html
good to know who not to do business with… as they say, money talks….
Singing AC/DC in my head….
Come on, come on love me for the money
Come on, come on listen to the money talk…
I think Bloomer actually gave the Gabby PAC $1 Million. It is possible that got counted twice by both PACs. Plus, Gabby & Mark “work” for their PAC and jet set around.
Big money donors is how the Left prefers to do things. George Soros, Stephen Bing, Jeffery Katzenberg, Herb and Marion Sandler, the Tides Foundation and other similar deep pocket liberals and groups who share a liberal-socialist bent.
These powerful capitalists will be even more powerful under a socialist regime.
Also, if they want to remain in the good graces of liberals in D.C., or Hollyweird,
they have to donate to the proper liberal causes or face social ostricization.
The Right has no need of such artifice. Anything we lack in funding we make up for with our presence at protests and elections. And the way it’s supposed to be.
Mostly, that comes from having ethics and unwavering love for the Constitution.
“contributed $250,000 to the group, as did Napster co-founder Sean Parker.”
The government is trying to screw us with copyrights, everyone should have access to music.
Trust the government, only they should have weapons.
Something doesn’t seem right here…
While I believe in America’s Constitutional Republic (not Democracy/majority rule) I must point out the actual numbers of supporters in the pro v anti groups. As an example, Facebook. I think we can agree that with the number of FB users, you can get a fairly representative sample of American support for and against gun control.
“National Rifle Association” official FB page has 2,559,580 “likes.”
“Violence Policy Center” official FB page has 2,960 “likes.”
“Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence” official FB page has 57,883 “likes.”
“Mayors Against Illegal Guns” official FB page has 18,766 “likes.”
So, let’s be generous and compare the NRA number against the TOTAL of the three major anti-gun groups. Simple math yields a roughly 32:1 ratio of support for guns. It’s hard to argue with that raw number. What this means is that a SLIVER MINORITY is driving gun control with private $$$. This should concern every American.
Oh, this is lovely fodder for using their tactics against them.
“Evil NRA, lobbying, spending, election influence, blah, blah, blah, whaaaaaaa, money in politics.”
“Oh, I agree. I think it’s shameful that Gifford’s & Bloomberg’s PACs have raised more than 8 million this year, more than the NRA this yar, and 4x what the NRA raised and spent two years ago. Really, they seem to be trying to buy influence over opposition by regular folks.”
Imagine if this money had been used for something constructive like teaching people how to take care of their kids so they dont become lil gangbangers.
Then again you probably cant teach that.
for a guy who is worth billions and apparently this is his “issue”, he certainly is a cheap phucker. $250k is what he spends on platform shoes. . . .
Keep burning those greenbacks you liberal pieces of shiaat…every dollar counts! If you can save just one child…:) Win one for the Gabby…
Nothing make me happier than the thought of these rtards wasting their money.
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