The March for Our Lives in D.C. last Saturday was supposed to be the death knell to the United States’ close relationship with firearms, America’s youth rejecting guns, and the end of the National Rifle Association.
Only, it wasn’t any of that. In fact, it was the exact opposite. Not only was the march packed to the brim with people just under the age of 50, many people weren’t even there to support gun control. Not to mention the number of guns that were actually at the march protecting the people railing against them.
But the other failure was that the NRA is now more powerful than ever. Not only has the Parkland shooting shot internet searches into NRA membership into the stratosphere, it’s increased donations to the organization by leaps and bounds.
And the leftist media just doesn’t get it.
Huffington Post, for one, noted the surge in donations after the Parkland shooting:
Donations to the group spiked in the aftermath of the school shooting, in which a former student armed with an assault-style rifle killed 17 people. According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, the NRA received “twice as much money from nearly five times as many donors” in the week after the shooting, compared with the week before.
Donations to the NRA’s Political Victory Fund, which contributes money to political campaigns for NRA-friendly candidates, tripled in February from the month earlier, reported CNN.
The article goes on to talk about how the NRA increased its advertising and recruitment efforts after the Parkland shooting, which is not uncommon for many groups, especially ones that come under immediate attack after an atrocity, as the NRA sometimes does. The NRA is also aware of what usually follows after shootings occur, and readies itself to combat activist groups, politicians, and the media in order to keep gun rights secure.
That’s been their job for eons now.
It should be noted that while the extra advertising likely helped it boost its numbers, the advertising can hardly be blamed for the surge of donations and membership.
As has been proven for ages, the NRA is an organization that thrives when pressure is applied to it, gun owners, or the 2nd Amendment. Its army of lawyers, experts, and commentators has made it something of a fortress that many people run to when they feel their 2nd Amendment right is under attack.
If you were to believe HuffPo, you’d think people flocked to the NRA after Parkland because the NRA scared them into doing so. That’s not even remotely close to the truth. The activist led Parkland students, media, and politicians is what drove the people into the arms of the NRA, but it’s not the mindless fear-driven kind of scared the left would have you believe.
Twitter user Stephen Miller called what happened with the NRA after Parkland very accurately.
NRA members don’t organize marches with celebrities. They don’t get a microphone on CNN or network Sunday shows. They don’t get pizza parties at Twitter or magazine covers. They see attacks on them so all they do is quietly donate & vote and go about their lives.
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) March 29, 2018
It’s that simple. The people and their rights were attacked, they voted with their wallet on the issue and went about their lives. The NRA could have sat stock still in its advertising department during the entire episode and the end result would have been more or less the same.
Like Obama was to gun sales, the left is to NRA membership. When it comes to advertising a need for the product the NRA is selling, there is no better salesman than the leftist activist complex.
People like their guns. They want to keep them. They want to maintain their right to keep them. With every shot that is fired at our 2nd Amendment right, the NRA fortress gets stronger. It’s that simple.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member