Though the percentage of Democratic support in the National Rifle Association has been less than Republican membership, the Washington Post reports that the demographic is increasingly changing, as Democrats pull their support from the organization.
They cited these reasons:
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Even before the Newtown shooting, some key Democratic seat losses in congressional elections, the shift of battlegrounds from rural areas to suburbs, and the growing view of the NRA as an arm of the GOP.
Several factors have lead to this change in membership. For one, the NRA devoted most of its national campaign efforts this year to supporting Republicans and trying to get President Barack Obama out of office. But as the most powerful lobbying group (with a reported budget of $200 million), the organization has gained its bipartisan demographic by having close ties to lawmakers in both parties (particularly those from rural areas).
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Secondly, recent factors have influenced Democratics to pull out of the organization. The Newtown massacre and other mass shootings have pushed gun-control back onto the main stage. But these shootings have also pushed Republicans to back gun-control reform.
What does this mean for the NRA? Are they losing speed and clout?
Apparently not. Reportedly, membership to the organization surged about 8,000 members a DAY since the Sandy Hook shooting. And gun sales are increasingly high.
It’s hard to say where they are headed now. More politicians are backing gun-control reform, but it seems that if the nation’s citizens aren’t buying it, well, they’re buying guns. That much is true.
SOURCE: Washington Post
