CEO DATELINE - Firearms association quietly raises its advocacy profile
CEO DATELINE - Firearms association quietly raises its advocacy profile
- November 30, 2015 |
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Walt Williams
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The National Rifle Association may be the most visible voice against stricter gun control measures, but the National Shooting Sports Foundation has quickly caught up, with the firearms industry trade group now spending more money on federal lobbying than NRA, according to the (Newtown, Conn.) News Times.
NSSF has so far spent $2.9 million in federal lobbying in 2015 compared to the $2.7 million NRA spent. Last year the association spent $3.5 million compared with NRA's $3.4 million. Spending in both years signal a significant shift since 2012, when NSSF spent just $810,00 on lobbying.
What changed? NSSF quietly began raising its political profile since 1990, when many municipalities began suing gun manufacturers for allegedly contributing to the gun violence in their neighborhoods. The association later formed its first PAC in 2010. But in 2012 advocacy efforts went into overdrive following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which took place in NSSF's hometown of Newtown. The shooting was followed by calls for more gun control laws and the firearms industry fought back.
"Most trade associations don't represent industries that are as politically charged as ours," NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel Larry Keane told the News Times. "There's no divorcing the politics from the product.''
While NSSF has outpaced NRA in lobbying, the trade group still doesn't come close to the latter in PAC spending. (NSSF's PAC has raised roughly $90,000 in contributions in 2015 compared to the $7.7 million raised by NRA's PAC.) Still, the group's new political prominence has angered some of its neighbors in Newtown.
"I find the lobbying efforts of NSSF to be a disgusting response to the shooting at Sandy Hook," said Cristina Hassinger, one of two daughters of Dawn Hochsprung, principal of Sandy Hook Elementary, who died trying to stop shooter Adam Lanza. "They epitomize the idea of a profit-driven organization with no conscience." http://bit.ly/1QPMtqL
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