My party is beholden to the NRA (Bob Orr)

Posted Feb 24, 2018 at 4:00 PM

... one issue defines the Republican Party, its office holders, candidates and party officials — guns. Yes, the Grand Old Party, nationally, statewide and locally, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Rifle Association. Love it or hate it, no matter the rhetoric or the circumstances, the GOP’s defining identity is to wrap itself in the Second Amendment right to bear arms and dance in perfect harmony to the NRA’s tune ...

... the NRA is an enormously powerful political entity, raking in millions of dollars by promoting itself as the defender of gun rights. On the back end, it plows millions in contributions and political organizing into candidates willing to swear allegiance to the NRA political agenda ... The amount given to North Carolina’s leading office holders is staggering and .. troubling ...

... the NRA has become a political force that Republican candidates and office holders are simply unwilling to renounce. You’d have a better chance of Republicans condemning the FBI, passing trillion-dollar budget deficits and siding with Putin and the Russians long before they’d ever condemn any agenda advocated for by the NRA. Oh, seems that’s already happened.

Last year at the state GOP Convention, I sat there watching as announcement after announcement was made of auctions and raffles by local parties for some type of weapon — usually a semi-automatic rifle. I don’t think I’ve ever seen hunting rifles, shotguns or black powder rifles auctioned — only semi-automatic weapons or pistols. I half-jokingly asked the party official next to me, "Do we ever auction off beach trips or rounds of golf or Aunt Minnie’s famous pound cake?" "No," he said, "he NRA gives us these weapons so that’s what we always auction off" ...

http://www.fayobserver.com/opinion/20180224/bob-orr-my-party-tragically-is-beholden-to-nra