Money spoke when the 230 lawmakers voted to approve Rep. Marilyn Musgrave’s (R-4) amendment on June 28 to defund a requirement that gun dealers provide trigger locks when selling handguns. On average, the 230 representatives received more than 14 times as much campaign cash and support from the National Rifle Association and other pro-gun groups than the 191 who voted against the amendment–$6,689 v. $474 since 2003. Money spoke when the 230 lawmakers voted to approve Rep. Marilyn Musgrave’s (R-4) amendment on June 28 to defund a requirement that gun dealers provide trigger locks when selling handguns. On average, the 230 representatives received more than 14 times as much campaign cash and support from the National Rifle Association and other pro-gun groups than the 191 who voted against the amendment–$6,689 v. $474 since 2003.
Gun control groups also lend support to candidates, of course, but they don’t have as much, ahem, firepower. The lawmakers who voted against the Musgrave amendment received an average of $173 from these groups, while those who voted for it got an average of $1.
MuckrakingMom, aka Nancy Watzman, did this analysis with Federal Election Commission data supplied by the Center for Responsive Politics; data include PAC contributions and independent expenditures and communciations costs in favor of candidates during the 2004 and 2006 election cycles.
