What do the NRA and the NRA stand for?
By Dominic Alvieri
May 29th, 2022
The National Rifle Association
The National Rifle Association held their annual convention in Houston Texas this week days after the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Texas senator Ted Cruz made a speech last night blaming everything but the truth on the increase in the amount of mass shootings in our country. Cruz blamed violent video games which have been proven not to be the root cause and thoroughly written about.
I hate politics.
The NRA board of directors just re-elected longtime head Wayne LaPierre even amid scandals which says a lot about the group at the moment.
I am a firm believer in the right to keep and bear arms but a person does not need an AR-15 to hunt a duck or a deer.
***Nearly every single mass shooting in the United States from Columbine to Uvalde has been carried out with an AR-15***
It is time for command and control. WE have the right to keep and bear arms and to be protected. Guns don't kill without being in control of the wrong person.
Not only were the speakers unshaken but they were heartless.
What does the NRA lobby? How much do they spend? Who contributes?
Good questions. Many sites have data readily available and in this case used from /opensecrets.org
2021 data was not available
For arguments sake lets say this dataset is a correct representation. A majority of spending is in the classic general "outside spending' category. What does that entail? This outside spending funds an entity called the Victory Fund which is a special purpose vehicle tied closely to the National Rifle Association.
Who donates to the NRA? Readily available information with the usual suspects like the gun makers themselves that I will not go over here but was an informative journey and a deeper dive is required.
What does the group lobby? This is a small sample with viewpoints and political comments aside.
In 13 years the NRA has not budged on gun control.
S-3 was recently hired by the NRA
Americans will never give up their right to bear arms but we have past the point for gun control. In most states you can buy a gun at the age of 18 but have to wait until you are 21 to drink.
Let that thought marinate for a moment.
There are many groups that are intent on keeping loose gun regulation and control. How many more innocent people have to die before we recognize the need for some control.
The National Restaurant Association
This NRA represents the second largest private sector employer in the United States.
In 13 years the National Restaurant Association has lobbied against raising the minimum wage in every instance. Contributors include the usual large corporate chain restaurants from Darden and new economy firms like DoorDash who contribute and lobby to keep wages down.
But how low?
The servers who serve you food and beverages have not had a raise in 13 years. In the state of Pennsylvania a server makes $2.83 per hour. In 35 years the pay rate for a server in Pennsylvania has only gone from $2.01 to $2.83 an hour. That is not a typo.
How can this be?
The largest growth industry pre-pandemic was the food and beverage sector which needed and still needs low wages to not only get back to previous levels but to continue to grow. Growth at the expense of a young and uneducated revolving door work force except for those for whom it is their profession.
Server wages are based off of a percentage of the Federal minimum wage subsidized by the employer to that Federal minimum, currently $7.25 an hour if tips are not made above that minimum hourly level.
Coca-Cola, McDonald's, DoorDash all donating to lobby and lobbyists to keep the minimum wage down. It is in their best interest to keep wage costs down and margins up. Business 101.
What about the people. We the people?
I will spare you the complete list but it is fair to say there a a lot of people who have a keen interest in keeping the Federal minimum wage down.
Both the NRA and the other NRA, the National Restaurant Association receive substantial amounts of money from groups intent on keeping the status quo, but for how much longer?
In 13 years the National Rifle Association has done nothing to control AR-15s which have been used in every mass school shooting.
In 13 years the National Restaurant Association has lobbied against raising the minimum wage every time.
Who do these groups work for? That was a rhetorical question.
Stay safe.
