The real power of the NRA

There is still no appetite in Congress for further restrictions on weapons, now two weeks after the Las Vegas attack.

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And, of course, Democrats tend to blame the National Rifle Association. But should they?

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut – who has been on a crusade against gun violence ever since the Sandy Hook school shooting in his home state – says the party is still traumatized by the ‘94 election, when many senior Democrats, including the speaker of the house, lost their seats after being targeted by the NRA for voting to ban assault weapons.

But Murphy says that’s just an excuse.

“The assault weapons ban ended up being a very convenient scapegoat for a problem within the party that I think was much deeper,” he said.

That includes the botched attempt to pass the Clinton Healthcare bill.

Senator Murphy told CBS’s Major Garrett, on his podcast The Takeout, the NRA’s influence is not just about campaign contributions, or mobilizing voters:

“I think that the NRA has done a really interesting job of making their stamp of approval stand for something beyond just a member’s position on gun … cultural values,” he said. He also says it’s a way to show anti-government values. “If you want to show how much you hate government, what better way than to be for the unconditional arming of the population against the government?”

So it’s not that they want weapons because they actually plan to take on the United States military at some point, but rather as a way of saying that the government can’t tell us what to do.

In essence, it’s the conservative version of taking a knee.

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