In a rally organized by CREDO Action, hundreds of Americans today converged outside the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the National Rifle Association, the top gun lobby in the country.
Here are a few pictures from the action, taken by attendees:
You can follow live updates on the protest by browsing the hashtag #StandDownNRA on Twitter. But you can also help make sure the momentum from today’s protest continues by pledging to take action for common sense reforms.
In the wake of the horrible mass shooting at Sandy Hook, many Americans are rightly asking their elected officials to begin to debate serious legislation that could help prevent such tragedies in the future. Ranging from a variety of gun control reforms to mental health legislation, these various policy options are entirely reasonable to debate in the wake of a series of mass shootings this year.
But following each shooting this year, Congress failed to truly debate any serious reforms in this area. Why is this? Many point to the power of organizations like the National Rifle Association which typically oppose any reforms whatsoever to gun laws and which downplay gun massacres.
Let’s look at exactly how much power anti-gun control groups have on Capitol Hill. I looked at just one metric — how much money they spent lobbying.
Last year, the NRA spentAi??$2,205,000Ai??lobbying Congress. The pro-gun control Brady Campaign spentAi??$30,000. Michael Bloombergai??i??s pro-gun control Mayors Against Illegal Guns spentAi??$150,000Ai??and the anti-gun control Gun Owners of America spentAi??$1,307,996Ai??.
Altogether, pro-gun control groups spent $180,000 and were outspent 19-to-1 by anti-gun control groups, that spent $3,512,996.
We don’t think that groups with more money should have a bigger voice. That’s why we’re going to counter with people power.