The National Rifle Association: One of the most

feared and well-funded lobbies in America.

The NRA: America's ‘Deadliest’ Lobby (Die Tageszeitung, Germany)

“As rapidly as each new massacre prompts calls for stricter controls, the NRA and other weapon fetishists reflexively accuse weapon opponents of trying to capitalize on the blood of unfortunate victims. That is bigoted and cynical, but politically - it works.”

By Bernd Pickert

Translated By Ulf Behncke

July 22, 2012

Germany - Die Tageszeitung - Original Article (German)

You can safely bet a month's salary that the Colorado killings won’t lead to changes in America’s gun control laws - at least not for the foreseeable future.

This is due to the strength of the gun lobby, aka/the National Rifle Association (NRA), and the weak leadership of politicians who dare not mess with the NRA.

Just how powerful the NRA has become was evident again just recently, when it managed to get the House of Representatives to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress because he allegedly instigated the failed "Fast & Furious" operation, designed to trace guns smuggled from the U.S. to Mexico - supposedly with the purpose of pushing through new gun laws. It was utterly outrageous nonsense, but still won a majority.

Posted by Worldmeets.US

As rapidly as each new massacre prompts calls for stricter controls, the NRA and other weapon fetishists reflexively accuse gun control advocates of trying to capitalize on the blood of unfortunate victims. That is bigoted and cynical, but politically - it works.

The central argument of the gun lobby remains the same: If private gun ownership were restricted, it would be more difficult for law-abiding citizens to obtain guns; but criminals would have no problem doing so.

In light of the millions of guns already in American circulation, the latter is likely true. Yet that is at best a half truth.

Because it seems rather self-evident that it is the unrestricted access to these lethal instruments that produces criminals in the first place. If one is capable of simply walking into the nearest shop to secure everything needed for a mass-murder-in-waiting, the path from depression to blood-soaked headline is rendered easy.

Shooting sprees in the United States are more common than we think – but most never makes into European headlines - and even in the U.S., they only warrant a brief mention.

What walking around armed for self-defense purposes means in terms of social behavior was recently exposed in Florida, when a Black teenager was killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer.

Carrying a weapon is empowering. Weapons don't kill, people do. But the availability of guns turns people into killers they otherwise would not have become.

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