The NRA Gave These 9 Senators Over $22 Million To Vote Down Gun Laws

[Electric Monk]

(cross-posted from Good Reads)

The NRA and their bought-and-paid-for Senators have blood on their hands.

How can not one, but three gun bills fail to pass after two horrific mass shootings in just one week? How can our GOP-run congress remain so cruelly indifferent to our grief and outrage? Since Adam Lanza gunned down 20 first graders, six teachers, and his own mother back in 2012, we’ve clamored for tougher gun laws. Alas, as my Reverb Press colleague Tina Praino aptly puts it, the GOP’s more afraid of the NRA than they are of angry voters or terrorists buying guns.

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Scott Bixby from Mic.Com took a long, hard look at the 50 U.S. Senators — one Democrat and 49 Republicans — who voted against a bill late Thursday evening that would have expanded background checks for guns bought at gun shows and through online vendors. He then pored over the data from the Center for Responsive Politics and came up with some interesting findings: Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) haven’t received a dime in campaign funds from the NRA directly or indirectly through PACs and other groups. But the other 48 Senators have raked in a staggering $27,205,245 — over $27 million dollars — from the NRA over the course of their careers.

To add insult to injury, the NRA spent $14,240,194 — over $14 million — on taking down candidates who oppose background checks. That’s right. Despite the fact that 90 percent of the American people and 74 percent of the NRA’s own members support universal background checks, the NRA spends millions on making sure we wind up with lawmakers who won’t vote for them. And this is just the tip of the iceberg…Imagine how much the NRA spends on all the other pro-gun politicians.

Nine senators alone received over $22 million from the NRA.

The lion’s share of these direct and indirect contributions from the NRA — a total of <strong>$22,596,399</strong> — went to just nine senators (for the breakdowns and list of NRA spending on all 48 senators, scroll down to the bottom).

Mitch McConnell (R-KY): $1,262,189
Roy Blunt (R-MO): $1,433,952
Pat Roberts (R-KS): $1,584,153
Tom Cotton (R-AR): $1,968,714
David Perdue (R-GA): $1,997,512
Bill Cassidy (R-LA): $2,867,074
Joni Ernst (R-IA): $3,124,773
Cory Gardner (R-CO): $3,939,199
Thom Tillis (R-NC): $4,418,833

(more)
http://reverbpress.com/politics/nra-pays-senators-millions/