Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Gun Rights vs. Gun Control - Where's the Money?

I haven't posted on this subject for a year so I thought that it was time to update my posting on how both gun rights and gun control interests fund America's political theatre.  Fortunately, Open Secrets has done a great deal of the work for me.  In this posting, we will see which presidential candidates in the 2016 cycle have received support from either the pro- or anti-gun interests and which Members of Congress have been the biggest beneficiaries of both pro- and anti-gun interests over the past quarter century.

Let's start by looking at the totals spent by gun rights groups during the current cycle:


Republicans have received the lion's share of gun rights contributions with the National Rifle Association, the largest single contributor, contributing $599,500 to the Republicans and a lousy $500 to the Democrats.

Here is a graphic showing gun rights groups contributions since 1990:


Gun rights groups have spent a total of $37,358,535 since 1990 with $32,276,136 or 88 percent of the total going to Republicans and $4,422,869 or 12 percent of the total going to Democrats as you can see on this graphic:


Of the total, the National Rifle Association has contributed $22.272 million since 1989, the vast majority of the funds spent by gun rights groups as you can see on this table and graphs:



Now, let's look at the political contribution data for the gun control groups.  Here is a graphic showing the total spent during the current cycle:


Not surprisingly, liberal groups have been the biggest beneficiaries of gun control contributions, however, it is a far cry from what has been spent by the gun rights side of the firearm equation.

Here is a graphic showing gun control groups contributions since 1990:


Gun rights groups have spent a total of $2,453,844 since 1990, just over 7 percent of what gun rights groups have contributed to their choice of candidates/political party over the same timeframe.  Of the $2.45 million, $1,874,943 or 94 percent of the total has been donated to the Democrats and only $116,401 or 6 percent of the total has been donated to the Republicans.

Now, let's look at how the presidential candidates have benefitted from their pro- and anti-gun backers during the current election cycle:


The biggest Republican beneficiary has been Ted Cruz who gleaned $272,707 from the gun rights side of the debate followed by Rand Paul at $156,202 and Marco Rubio at $126,964.  The last Republican candidate standing, Donald Trump, has only received $10,036 from gun rights groups, among the smallest in the entire group of presidential candidates.  The biggest Democratic beneficiary has been Hillary Clinton who has received $34,913 from the gun control side of the debate; interestingly, her competitor, Bernie Sanders, has actually received $1,600 from the pro-gun side and not a penny from the anti-gun side.

Here is a table showing the top Congressional recipients of funds from gun rights groups between 1989 and 2016:


Here is a table showing the top Congressional recipients of funs from gun control groups between 1989 and 2016:


In all cases, the donations made by the gun control interests are a small fraction of what is and has been spent by the gun rights interests.  

This data goes a long, long way to explaining why, despite the emotional response that occurs after a mass shooting, there is little motivation in Washington to change anything when it comes to gun ownership in the United States.

2 comments:

  1. Bernie Sanders, has actually received $1,600 from the pro-gun side and not a penny from the anti-gun side.
    Bernie isn't antigun that is why. He has voted against some anti gun legislation.

    Part of the reasoning behind these numbers is the people(liberals)who want to take away everyone's guns don't really care enough about it to donate or join groups that work towards that goal. While the pro gun side is very nervous and afraid that their guns will get taken away and in large numbers join pro gun groups and donate to pro gun candidates or groups that support gun rights. This why the numbers put are the way they are.

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  2. If the leftists really cared about this issue they would cough up some of that cash to get their agenda passed. They are too busy protesting and spending their money busing professional protesters to Trump rallies and staged BLM events and riots. Gun owners know that the gun grabbers will do whatever they can to obfuscate the truth and ban guns so they put their money where their mouth is and donate abundantly.

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