Gun rights lobbyists gave more than twice the amount of money to congressional campaigns in 2014 than gun control advocates, a new report revealed.
In the midst of a national debate rekindled by a wave of gun violence in recent months, data maintained by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics suggests that organizations advocating on behalf of gun rights gave more than double to politicians ahead of the 2014 election compared to the the donations made by anti-gun groups during the same span.
Gun safety groups including the Independence USA PAC backed by billionaire politician Michael Bloomberg and Americans for Responsible Solutions founded by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Arizona Democrat, spent around $13.8 million on the 2014 campaign, CNHI reported on Wednesday. With the National Rifle Association having contributed $31 million during that same cycle, however, proponents of firearm safety saw their lobbying efforts greatly outmatched by Second Amendment advocacy groups opposed to new gun laws.
Campaign contributions aside, the Center for Responsive Politics determined that gun-rights groups also gave upwards of $27 million in 2014 towards outside ad campaigns that either supported their preferred candidates or took aim at its opponents, or roughly twice as much spent by gun control groups ahead of Election Day.
Preliminary data suggests gun-rights groups have so far given $806,409 to candidates running for office in 2016, CNHI reported, compared to $300 offered this cycle by gun-control groups.
Catherine Mortensen, a spokeswoman for the NRA, the nation’s largest pro-gun group, told CNHI that lobbyists don’t have a “stranglehold” over any politicians, but instead insisted that the majority of Americans simply oppose any new laws that would limit the types of firearms.
“The American people support gun-rights over gun-control. That’s why Congress hasn’t chosen to pass more gun-control laws,” she said.
“The NRA doesn’t try to force people to vote with them, instead they support candidates that are already committed to the Second-Amendment rights of all law-abiding citizens,” added Sen. James Lankford, Oklahoma Republican. Mr. Lankford, a NRA member and a top recipient money from gun-rights groups in 2014, received $28,175 from pro-gun groups that year.
Despite being financially outmatched, however, advocate in favor of gun safety have found new fangled support in recent weeks courtesy of executive actions announced earlier this month by President Obama. Notwithstanding several years of attempts aimed at having gun control legislation adopted by Congress, Mr. Obama this month unveiled a suite of proposals designed to ensure the nation can adequately enforce gun laws already on the books.
In October, a CNN/ORC poll found that 52 percent of Americans oppose stricter gun control, versus 46 percent who support the passage of new laws.
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