Columnist disturbed by influence of NRA over congress
By: Nate Sikora – Sophomore, History
The influence of money in politics has never been something one has to dig deep to uncover. It is apparent in every policy issue, whether one can distinctly observe it or not. The recent event in Orlando and the reaction on Capitol Hill is just one more example of money in politics ruining the opportunity for legislators to actually do their job. The actions of Senator Murphy from Connecticut were long overdue. For his state, it has been almost 4 years since the Newtown shooting with NOTHING changing. Does it really have to take 15 hours of holding the senate floor, the 10th longest filibuster in U.S. Senate history, to merely get a vote on a bill? Why has nothing been done about the gun issue in America?
The reason is simple: the NRA owns the U.S. Congress. The Republican leadership bows its head at any conflict it may have with the NRA. The ironic thing about the NRA is it was originally founded in 1871 as an organization that promoted gun safety. Today, however, it seems it advocates for the opposite. The NRA has funneled millions upon millions of dollars into the campaigns of Republican candidates nationwide in order to ensure the gun industry receives massive profits and stays an immune entity. They do this under the guise of protecting the second amendment.
Republicans boast about protecting our freedom but hinder at maintaining that stance once guns come into question. America is so naïve and blinded by the second amendment that they will allow potential terrorists, who they always want to go to war with, to buy guns. You just can’t make this stuff up. The reason why the Republican Party takes that ludicrous stance is because the NRA makes money off of the fear of potential danger and turns around to give the favor back in campaign donations. Quid Pro Quo politics. A transaction that totals $37 million in donations to 54 current senators and that is not including outside lobbying. When 91% of all Americans, both Republicans, and Democrats, agree that we need to expand background checks and a close to the terrorist watch-list loophole yet only 44% of the representatives vote in favor of that motion, it is very clear who the politicians work for.
I, along with millions of other empathetic Americans, have had enough. It is high time we as a nation do something about this crisis. Schools, bars, you name it, are not safe anymore. Sure, the 2nd amendment is in the Constitution, but read before the 2nd amendment. In the preamble, it reads “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” Innocent Americans are being killed by the thousands each year due to gun violence. The first paragraph of the Constitution says it is our job, our obligation, to insure domestic tranquility. That is what we must do. Unfortunately, money in politics perpetuates the problem of legislative inaction, and the NRA is the indirect source of a habitual slaughter of innocent civilians in the United States.