Organizations: National Rifle Association

Gun Industry Drops $3M For Trump Via The NRA

One day after Donald Trump effectively called for “second amendment people” to take violent action against Hillary Clinton, the National Rifle Association — which promptly came to Trump’s defense in the aftermath of his inflammatory comments — is launching a new $3 million ad campaign attacking Clinton.

It’s no surprise that the NRA would intervene to give Trump a boost in the presidential race, because that’s what the organization is all about: bankrolling candidates like Trump, who they know will in return bolster the $13.5 billion-a-year gun industry’s hardline opposition to commonsense measures to curb gun violence.

The truth is the NRA doesn’t even represent the interests of America’s gun owners; it’s primary objective is advancing the gun manufacturing industry’s agenda. Look at the numbers:

49% of individuals living in gun-owning households support a ban on assault-style weapons; but the NRA opposes any of such bans whatsoever.

62% […]

Read more after the jump.

The Week In Conservative Attack Ads

Including a stray late-Friday-afternoon spot that didn’t make it into our roundup from last week, Bridge Project fact-checked 10 conservative ads this week. Eight of those were from the usual players – the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which focused on House races, Crossroads GPS, which took on its usual Senate targets, and American Crossroads, with a presidential ad. The remaining two came from the National Rifle Association and American Unity PAC, more minor players on the electioneering ad scene.

Rhetorically, this week saw a heavy focus on supposed threats to small business jobs, with six of the ads mentioning small businesses specifically. But most of the conservative claims about “small business” rely on distortions – for example, the conservative definition of a small business often includes large corporations and wealthy individuals rather than the mom-and-pop businesses the term conjures for most people. And the health care law, often cited as a source of crippling new taxes on small business, actually offers tax credits that will help those small businesses provide their employees with health insurance.

Read more after the jump.

NRA Political Victory Fund: “Chipping Away”

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In an ad that provides no details or citations, the National Rifle Association claims an unspecified “they” are “attacking our Second Amendment rights” before urging voters to support the Romney/Ryan ticket. But despite conservative fears, the only gun laws President Obama has signed expand – rather than restrict – gun rights. The ad’s other claims about “mountains of debt” and “new spending” are also misleading, since it was Bush-era policies and the recession that drove up the debt and spending growth under Obama has been low.

Read more after the jump.