State Focus and Infusion of Funding Buoy Gun Control Advocates
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — With President Obama poised to act on his own authority to try to stem gun violence, his gun control allies are using big-money donors and shifting tactics to attempt to remake the political landscape in the national gun debate, challenging and sometimes even besting the powerful National Rifle Association in state-by-state battles.
The newfound momentum reflects a strategy to steer clear of a Republican-led Congress that has proved unwilling to touch existing federal gun laws after years of intense lobbying on both sides of the debate.
With tens of millions of dollars to spend thanks to backers like Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, gun control groups have secured a number of surprising recent successes in Connecticut, Delaware and elsewhere. And they are now looking to state and local officials to win approval for tougher background checks and other measures from Nevada to Maine.
The N.R.A. remains the dominant force in much of the country, spending more than $32.5 million last year on campaigns and lobbying. It has shown continued muscle in stopping new restrictions and loosening existing ones in many localities. But the political landscape has become more hotly contested as a result of the gun control groups’ shift in focus and infusion of cash, operatives on both sides say. The axiom that gun control is a losing political issue does not always hold true anymore.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/04/us/politics/state-focus-and-infusion-of-funding-buoy-gun-control-advocates.html
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