The NRA's win-win strategy
by digby
The gun control movement is making some strides. There might even be some minor changes coming down the pike as a result. But don't think that means the NRA is on the ropes. Gun control talk is their most powerful fundraising tool:
As the student-led March for Our Lives movement captured the nation's attention in the weeks after the Parkland shooting, the other side of the gun control debate enjoyed a banner month of its own.
The National Rifle Association's Political Victory Fund raised $2.4 million from March 1 to March 31, the group's first full month of political fundraising since the nation's deadliest high school shooting on Valentine's Day, according to filings submitted to the Federal Elections Commission. The total is $1.5 million more than the organization raised during the same time period in 2017, when it took in $884,000 in donations, and $1.6 million more than it raised in February 2018.
The $2.4 million haul is the most money raised by the NRA's political arm in one month since June 2003, the last month when electronic federal records were readily available. It surpasses the $1.1 million and $1.5 million raised in January and February 2013, the two months after the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
This doesn't mean the movement shouldn't do what it's doing. But it is a stark reminder that there remains a devoted faction out there that will continue to be influential on politicians until pro-gun control people vote on the issue and dilute the power of the NRA.
Every high school kid 16 years old an up today will be eligible to vote in 2020.
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