GUNS and MONEY
Jay R. Mandle
In a market economy like the United States, it is only the political system that is able to limit the excesses of profit-seeking corporations. Unchecked by legislation, the country’s citizens are vulnerable to unrestrained corporate greed.
Legislative protection from corporate avarice, however, is endangered when electoral campaigns are privately financed. In such a financing system, the irony is that the same people whose exploitative corporate behavior needs to be constrained are nevetheless able to use their wealth to influence political outcomes for their own benefit. They do so by lavishing candidates with campaign funding and by hiring lobbyists who signal that future donations to candidates will depend on evidence of donor-friendly voting patterns.
Nothing illustrates the damage caused by the dominant role of private wealth in this country’s political system than the frequency of mass shootings. The vested interests of the gun and munitions industries have bought their way into blocking Congressional action on gun violence at the expense of its many victims.
More than 600 mass shootings (where 4 or more people are killed or injured) have been recorded in this country in each of the first three years of this decade. And this year as of February 15th, 71 mass shootings had already occurred. That means that in 2023, we are on a pace to experience more than 700 of these tragedies. Mass shootings in the United States far exceed those in any other developed country.
The social science literature has made it clear that the reason massacres occur more frequently in the United States than elsewhere is this country’s exceedingly high level of gun ownership. There are 120 firearms per capita in the United States, compared to 35 in Canada, 46 in England and Wales, and 20 in France and Germany.
Given the toll of deaths and injuries resulting from mass shootings, it is no surprise that a recent Economist/YouGov survey reveals that Americans support many gun control proposals. While there is almost unanimous support among Democrats, what is surprising is the significant level of support among Republicans: 71 percent support criminal and mental background checks for would-be gun purchasers; 56 percent support “Red Flag” laws; and almost half (46 percent) support “limiting who can be issued a license to carry concealed weapons.”
As is true for so many other political issues, the will of the American people with regard to gun reform is thwarted by the power of money. During the 2022 election cycle, political contributions made by “gun rights” groups totaled $4.6 million, while those of “gun control” organizations were $1.8 million. This lopsided pattern was even more pronounced with regard to lobbying expenditures – opponents of gun regulation spent $10.7 million compared to the $2.3 million spent by gun reformers.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is of course the best known of the organizations opposing gun control. Despite its declining membership and falling revenues, it was nonetheless able to massively involve itself in influencing the 2022 election. According to the Center for Responsible Politics, the NRA spent more than $14 million on “outside” spending to support opponents of reform, despite their being prohibited from coordinating with political campaigns.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the political clout of“gun rights” advocates has been enhanced by the increased activity of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). The latter is a trade organization with a membership of more than 8,000 gun manufacturers and retailers, including well-known brands such as Winchester, Remington, Rluger, Block and Smith & Weston. In an implicit division of labor, the NSSF is relatively less engaged in funding campaigns than is the NRA. Instead, it focuses on lobbying, spending almost $10 million during the 2022 election cycle to persuade office holders to resist meaningful gun reform.
The NRA and the NSSF, as well as organizations such as Gun Owners of America (described by Senator Rand Paul as “the only no compromise lobby in Washington”) have thus far been largely successful in moving Congress away from reforms hat would reduce the number of gun tragedies.
But Americans would be a lot safer if money were not as politically powerful as it is in today’s political system.
________________________________________________________ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jay Mandle is the Emerita W. Bradford Wiley Professor of Economics, Emeritus,at Colgate University. His many books include Change Elections to Change America: Democracy Matters Students In Action, and Creating Political Equality: Elections As a Public Good,. Mandle’s regular monthly editorials, Money On My Mind, appear on the Democracy Matters website where they explore the role of private money in politics and other critical social issues.
The views expressed in Money On My Mind are those of the author, (not necessarily those of Democracy Matters, and are meant to stimulate discussion.