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Time’s Up for the NRA: Tell congresspeople you won’t vote for NRA candidates

Introduction
In March 2018 the NRA issued a threatening video called ‘Time’s Up’, mocking the Time’s Up movement.  In the video they threatened anyone who stood against their aims, calling them ‘unpatriotic’ and ‘unAmerican’.  But the shocking truth is now out:  when the NRA made that video, they had already been a Russian asset for years. 

It’s hard to summarize all the recent bad news the NRA has happily experienced lately.  There is infighting, resignations at top level, lawsuits, the end of NRA-TV.  But a game-changing newly-released Senate Finance committee minority report concludes the NRA enabled Russian agents in undermining our democracy.  The report also said NRA members tried to enrich their private interests contrary to its tax-exempt status.  It is time to pull out all the stops and do everything we can to bring it down while it is in a very weakened condition.

Maybe you think your congresspeople already know how you feel about the NRA.  If you take this action on social media, thousands will see you take a stand and see what is at stake.  If you do it by phone call or email, then it will be on record.  It is about making our opposition visible right now while the NRA is on the ropes.

We will take several actions in the next week against the NRA.  This is Action 2 – we will tell our elected Congress representatives that if they are getting money from the NRA, they will not be getting a vote from us.  (Tomorrow we will focus on Mitch McConnell).

Action 2:  No NRA candidate gets our votes
The NRA spends tens of millions on politicians every year.

The amount of donations shown in this and other tables may look small, but the NRA spends on lobbying and ‘outside spending’ activities that together amount to millions.

In the 2016 election cycle, the NRA spent a massive £50 million according to The Trace.  While their spend has fallen, their influence remains huge.  One Pulse for America is not a partisan group, but it must be said that in 2018 5 Democrats were given NRA donations as compared to 195 Republicans.

It’s time to make it absolutely clear to your congresspeople and those running for congress in 2020 that you will never vote for a pro-NRA candidate.

To repeat, this is only one of a number of anti-NRA actions we will take this week; the more who take these actions and share them on social media, the more effective they will be.  This could definitely be the end for the NRA – if everyone keeps the pressure on.  All the actions may be taken more than once.

ACTION:

Please contact your elected representative – find them and their contact details using the link below, and give them the following message, personalized to your liking:

 

I hold the NRA responsible for the country’s gun death epidemic; they are now also proven to be a Russian asset.  To align with the NRA is to be a traitor as far as I am concerned.   Their interpretation of the 2nd Amendment is costing lives.  If you are for the NRA, I am against you.  Time’s Up for the NRA, and I promise I will never vote for a pro-NRA candidate.

I will fully support candidates in future elections who are anti-NRA, and I expect you to write back to me spelling out where you stand on the NRA and gun law reform.  So we are clear, I am definitely voting in all future elections.

No other country in peacetime has a death toll from gun violence like America, and if you are not working to solve it, I will do my best to see you never hold office again.  I will be waiting for your reply and watching what you do.  I expect to see pressure put on Mitch McConnell who is sitting on bills which could help end senseless loss of lives.  

Suggested Tweet:   Proven beyond a doubt: the @NRA is a Russian Asset.  I will never vote for a NRA-funded candidate.  I want to hear back from you on what you’re doing to stop the US gun violence epidemic. Time’s Up for the NRA’s treason https://apps.npr.org/documents/document.html?id=6432520-The-NRA-Russia-How-a-Tax-Exempt-Organization

Find your congressperson here:  https://www.conginst.org/contact-congress/

If you copy the GOP, even better – it’s their party taking NRA money and blocking gun law reform legislation:

Phone:  202-863-8500

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/GOP/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/GOP

 

Once you have made contact, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!

 

 

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Tell the NRA you support groups, companies that are standing up to them

12 September 2019

Gun law campaign groups and some of America’s biggest businesses are taking action against the NRA.

A coalition of several gun-law reform groups has sent a letter to US businesses demanding they halt all support for the National Rifle Association.

The coalition, which helped pressurize Walmart into stopping the sales of ammunition in its stores, said Walmart’s actions should accelerate corporate America’s march toward gun safety in the absence of congressional action.

NBC reported the group’s spokesperson as saying:  “Walmart’s actions established a higher standard for corporate responsibility in the gun reform arena and we’re glad Kroger, Walgreens, Wegmans and CVS have also moved in the right direction. But we believe that every major American employer has a moral and patriotic duty to go even further.”

In other developments, hundreds of Chief Executive Officers of some of America’s biggest companies sent a joint letter to Congress today, demanding they act on reforming gun laws.

The senate majority leader, Republican Mitch McConnell has been sitting on bills geared to save lives since February:  during the months from February (when the bills came up) to now, America has seen gun massacres in several states.  He refused calls to reconvene the senate from recess early to deal with the tragedies at El Paso and Odessa.  McConnell is said to be taking a very undemocratic stance and is quoted as saying he will not put forward any bill the president will not sign.  Trump in the mean time changes his stance on gun law reform frequently.

Signatories of this letter include Levi Strauss, Airbnb, Pinterest, and Lyft; Apple, Facebook, and Google are among the notable absences from the list according to the Daily Beast.

Companies that have already taken a stance according to NBC include:

Citigroup – has set restrictions on the sale of firearms by its business customers;

Allied and North American van lines – stopped discounts for NRA members;

First National Bank of Omaha – will  not renew a contract with the NRA to issue a branded Visa card.

Enterprise Holdings Inc. – ending discounts for NRA members

ACTION:

Please contact the National Rifle Association through one of the channels below and give them the following message, personalized to your liking:

 

It is with absolute pleasure that I watch as one leading company after another distances itself from you and is demanding Congress reform America’s broken gun laws.

I would like to know why you think your interpretation of the 2nd Amendment should include automatic and semi-automatic weapons – and why you think a single life is less important than your self-serving, financially-profitable dogma.

It would be great if you replied, but whether or not you do, I want you to know that I will never vote for an NRA-funded candidate, and I will be doing as much business as possible with the businesses and services that are standing up to you.

-OR-

For Twitter:

@NRA It is a pleasure to watch as 1 leading company after another distances itself from the @NRA and is demanding Congress reform America’s broken gun laws. I will never vote for an NRA-funded candidate, and I will do business with the companies standing up to you

 NRA

Phone:  (800) 672-3888

Email:  (form) https://contact.nra.org/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/NRA/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/NRA

 

Once you have made contact, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!

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Recall Congress to vote on Gun Control Bills ASAP

The number of gun murders and massacres so far this year is staggering, devastating and wholly unacceptable.

Mitch McConnell must – immediately – recall Congress to address this and to hold votes on gun control bills he has been sitting on.

USA Today explains the two bills in an article on 5 August:

H.R. 8: Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019

In February this year, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 8: Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019.

NBC News image of Mitch McConnell

This bill passed 240-190, with eight Republicans joining almost all Democrats to vote for the bill.  This bill would prohibit most person-to-person firearm transfers unless a background check can be conducted, aiming to close a potential loophole allowing the transfer of firearms without a background check at gun shows or between individuals.


The Senate has not taken any action on the bill since the House passed it.

 

H.R. 1112 Bipartisan Background Checks Act

This bill would extend to at least 10 days the amount of time firearms dealers must wait for a response from the background check system before the sale can proceed. Currently, they can make the sale if they haven’t received a response in three days.

H.R. 1112 passed in February 2019 by a vote of 240-190. Like H.R. 8, the Senate has taken no action on the bill since it passed.

Senate Minority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer is among those calling for Congress’ recess to be cut short, as is Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.  She tweeted to Senator Mitch McConnell, who is responsible for the bills’ lack of progress, writing:  “The House passed HR8, a Bipartisan Background Checks Act, *5 months ago* and the Senate has yet to vote on it. It was one of our 1st major priorities after ending the gov shutdown. You’ve been sitting on it since February giving bogus excuses. Care to explain the people why?”

ACTION

Please contact your elected representatives through one of the channels below and give them the following message, personalized to your liking:

 In light of the country’s recent spate of gun murders including Gilroy, Dayton and Chicago, and especially in light of the El Paso massacre in which an AK-47 style assault rifle was used, I want to see Congress recalled immediately to address the nation’s gun death epidemic.

Two bills are with Senator Mitch McConnell – HR 8 and HR 1112:  these need to be put to a vote immediately, and Senator McConnell should be made to explain why he has sat on them since February. 

I will be watching to see what happens and how my representatives vote:  anyone who is still taking money from the NRA and who is not actively working to improve America’s gun laws will not be getting my vote.     It is a shame that Senator McConnell has suffered a broken bone:  but this must not stand in the way of calling Congress back from recess.

I am not remotely interested in your thoughts and prayers for those who have been killed:  I am only interested in your concrete actions to stop more avoidable gun murders. 

Find your congressperson here:  https://www.conginst.org/contact-congress/

And/or copy Mitch McConnell on your message:

Mitch McConnell
Phone:  (270) 781-1673
Email:  (form) https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactform
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/mitchmcconnell/
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/McConnellPress

Once you have made contact, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!

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Thureon smuggling case means time to examine NRA

1 July 2019 – A Wisconsin gun manufacturer and retailer pleaded guilty to illegally smuggling automatic weapons to Australia for years, putting paid to the NRA myth that gun manufacturers are ‘responsible’ people.

Andy Lloyd Huebschmann of New Holstein pleaded guilty  to sending an Australian dealer pistols, rifles and rifle parts to convert semi-automatic guns into fully automatic weapons.

Semi-automatic and automatic weapons are banned in Australia.  Thureon showed no respect for federal or international law. The NRA may perpetually say: ‘If guns were outlawed, only outlaws would have guns,’  but in this case outlaws were smuggling guns to outlaws.   The question is – how connected to the NRA is Thureon?  In the absence of any NRA statement condemning the smuggling, it is time for Congress to ask questions.  

Sophie Carson of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote:  “Huebschmann … met Paul Munro of Australia at a Las Vegas gun trade show about seven years ago and Munro persuaded him to ship him Thureon guns under the radar… Munro has been sentenced to 10 years in Australian prison for his role in the scheme… Officials at his sentencing hearing said dozens of Thureon-imported guns, including some fully automatic weapons, remained on Australian streets.

“In one shipment Munro paid $1,000 for each rifle kit and $2,000 for a pack of pistol slides and frames. Australian news outlets report he, in turn, sold the rifles for $15,000 each and the pistols for $5,000 a piece.”

In a Youtube video, a Thureon representative brags one of their weapons will ‘give you a minimum of five rounds if you so much as touch the trigger’.  Hardly the behaviour of a responsible manufacturer/retailer.  Such a claim seems more like a call to mass shooters than to someone who wants to defend their home or to hunt.

Thureon attended at least one NRA convention in 2014, while the smuggling operation was likely to have been running.  Despite its multi-million dollar resources, the NRA failed to spot it was giving exhibition space to a long-term smuggler.  Was it an an NRA event the two parties guilty of smuggling met?  Perhaps the NRA doesn’t want to know?  According to several articles including a piece in Finances Online, support from gun manufacturers earns the NRA tens of millions per year.

ANdy Huebschmann facebook post mindset of a smuggler

The NRA demonstrated it had no proper due diligence and scrutiny when it happily associated with Russian spies and took Russian funds.   It is not known – yet – whether Thureon donated to the NRA, but it  attended NRA conventions and gave away costly guns as prizes.  Could the NRA, doing some basic checks, have determined there were issues?  Do they scrutinize members and donors at all?  Since it seems they are not going to upset their funding sources, however dubious those sources may be, it is time for Congress to step in and fully investigate – and at the same time finally end the pretense the NRA is in any way a charity deserving tax breaks.

 

ACTION

Please contact your senator and/or representative through the U.S. Capitol Hotline at (202) 224-3121 or find their email addresses by visiting www.senate.gov, and give them the following message, personalized to your liking:

I am absolutely outraged to find a gun manufacturer, Thureon, was able to smuggle guns, automatic weapons, and kits for automatics for years to Australia, a country seeking to avoid gun massacres.  How did this go undetected for so long?

The smugglers attended at least one NRA convention, and I believe the public needs to know whether Thureon were NRA donors.  If the NRA is about responsible gun ownership and sales, and if they rely on law to justify their existence and have tax-free status, then surely they have a duty to try to check that all their affiliates and donors are compliant with laws both national and international.

Since they have failed consistently in this basic duty, not least over the Russian donation and spy scandal, I am calling on you to act. 

This serious case highlights the need for external scrutiny of the NRA’s funding, and a re-examination of its tax-exempt status.  I want questions asked in Congress and a committee organised to investigate all the ramifications this story carries:  Was Thureon an NRA donor, and what links exist between the two organisations?  Does the NRA carry out any due diligence on its donors, and if so, should it not be more robust given this story? 

Considering the amount of money it is taking from manufacturers like Thureon, is the NRA deserving of tax-exempt status – or is it simply a lobbying business funded by coordinated, for-profit businesses to further their aims while hiding behind a ‘charitable’ and  ‘educational’ veneer?

I know NRA-funded congresspeople will fight to avoid the NRA facing scrutiny – but it’s time the NRA is finally called out, publicly scrutinized, and for its tax-free days to end.  

After you contact your senator, click the orange banner at the top of this page to report your action!