Sunday 23 May 2021
NRA dismantles itself
Is Biden taking advantage of the gun lobby crisis?
From Kevin Schulte
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For decades, the US Democrats have been trying to tighten gun laws. But even the worst massacres or rampages in schools have so far not led to any fundamental changes. Is the wind turning now because the gun lobby organization NRA is weakened like never before?
“Since a well-ordered militia is necessary for the security of a free state, the right of the people to own and carry weapons must not be impaired.” This is the Second Amendment to the United States of America. It dates from 1791 and leaves room for interpretation. Originally, the sentence probably only referred to militias, the predecessors of the National Guard. Most conservatives and especially the gun lobby derive an individual right to gun ownership for every US citizen. And they have the Supreme Court by their side. The Supreme Court last derived an individual basic right to gun possession from the constitutional amendment in 2010.
The roots of US arms legislation lie in a time “when it was a matter of guaranteeing one’s own security because the state could not guarantee this security,” explains David Sirakov, director of the Atlantic Academy in Kaiserslautern, in the ntv podcast ” Learned again “. The political scientist also identifies a “historically and culturally determined deep distrust of the state and statehood”. This is noticeable again and again in political debates in the USA and is often brought forward by the conservatives in particular, including in the discussion about gun laws.
Biden fights for stricter gun laws
In the particularly heated arms debate, the Conservatives have the National Rifle Association at their side. The gun lobbyists have been fighting for the preservation of the second amendment for many decades. After four years with their ally Donald Trump in the White House, the NRA is currently grappling with Joe Biden. In April, the 46th US President issued a regulation that issued stricter gun regulations. And yet the Democratic Party is unlikely to win its fight to tighten gun laws in the United States this time either. Or is everything going to be different after all?
“After 150 years of existence, the NRA will probably experience its greatest crisis in 2021. And that will certainly also make itself felt in its influence,” Sirakov is convinced. The state of New York opened a case against the NRA, its managing director Wayne LaPierre and three other high-ranking officials in August last year. That was the result of a mud fight between LaPierre and then NRA director Oliver North, who had made serious accusations against each other. This persuaded the Democratic Attorney General of New York State, Letitia James, to open an investigation.
The NRA has non-profit status in the USA and is therefore subject to special requirements with regard to the use of donations or accounting. They have evidently only inadequately met them. The NRA bosses are accused of misappropriating donations and membership fees. They are also said to have given orders to family members and friends.
NRA wants to relocate to Texas
The gun lobbyists then tried to be particularly clever. In January of this year, the organization unceremoniously filed for bankruptcy and filed for bankruptcy protection. In addition, she announced her move from the founding place and legal seat of New York to Texas. New York is a “poisoned” and “corrupt political and regulatory environment,” said the NRA in a statement. The plan: wind up the NRA in New York and re-establish it in Texas, a much quieter environment for gun lobbyists.
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With the maneuver, the organization apparently wanted to escape further legal prosecution in New York. That didn’t work out. Just a few days later, a judge in New York ruled that the NRA could continue to be prosecuted in the state despite filing for bankruptcy. The next setback followed in the middle of this month: a court dismissed the bankruptcy petition because it was simply trying to avoid investigations into embezzlement in New York State, so the reasoning.
In a notice released this week announced NRA chief Wayne LaPierre to continue fighting for the receipt of the Second Amendment to the Constitution. “All of our work continues and remains as important as ever,” wrote LaPierre to the approximately five million NRA members. The plan to relocate to Texas is being pursued.
Trump made NRA arrogant
Nonetheless, the announcement cannot hide the fact that the NRA is in deep crisis and severely weakened. David Sirakov makes it clear that this has not just been the case since the judiciary was investigating. The NRA threatens to fail because of its own arrogance, the expert said. “Paradoxically, the NRA also got into difficult waters because Donald Trump won in 2016. His victory and the electoral successes of the Republicans in the Senate and House of Representatives has obviously strengthened the impression that there is not so much lobbying power needs because from the NRA’s point of view the right people are in office and dignity. ” This “hubris” has led to “the financial endowment of the NRA between 2017 and 2019 almost plummeting, or at least significantly reduced”.
The deep crisis comes at an inopportune time for the NRA. After the end of the Trump era, a different wind blows in the White House under Joe Biden when it comes to gun legislation. The Democratic President, when he unveiled his measures against gun violence in April, said it was “an eyesore on the character of our nation”. It spread to an epidemic in the United States.
Biden’s ordinances include stricter rules for so-called ghost weapons, which weapon users have to assemble themselves, and new requirements for upgraded pistols. The US President also called on Congress to take further measures. Biden is campaigning for a ban on the sale of assault rifles, and users should be screened more thoroughly before buying weapons so that weapons do not end up with the wrong people.
Majority for changes not in sight
David Sirakov makes it clear why Joe Biden describes discussions about gun law in the USA as “difficult”. The Democrats had failed time and again over the past few decades when attempting to tighten gun laws. Changes that go beyond “Executive Orders” from the President are not to be expected this time either. Despite a split Republican party and a severely weakened NRA.
Although there has been a majority in the American population for years in favor of stricter gun laws, as polls from the Gallup Institute show, but these cannot be pushed through by the Democrats in Congress because the Republicans are blocking. In order to end a debate before a law is passed, the Senate needs the votes of at least 60 of the 100 senators. Because the Democrats and Republicans each have 50 seats, such a majority is a long way off, explains political scientist Sirakov: “The Democrats would definitely need the votes of at least ten Republicans to even end a debate on a possible gun control law. And that is hopeless from today’s perspective. “
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