HARTFORD, CT - Today, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) released a new report revealing the disconnect between the National Rifle Association (NRA) and gun owners across the country. The report sheds light on data showing that unlike NRA leadership, NRA members and American gun owners overwhelmingly support reasonable measures to reduce gun violence. For example, the vast majority of NRA members and gun owners support background checks for anyone wishing to purchase a gun. Murphy’s report details a number of other areas where NRA leadership acts in direct contrast with the beliefs of NRA members, and exposes how it has increasingly represented the firearms industry instead.
“The NRA’s leadership continues to demonstrate just how out of step they are with the American public, their own membership, and reality in general,” said Murphy. “NRA members and responsible gun owners across the country want to ensure the safety of our children and our communities, and support common sense measures to reduce gun violence. Universal background checks—which the overwhelming majority of NRA members support—will make our city streets safer, and a ban on military-style assault weapons and high capacity magazines will prevent future mass shootings. I hope more and more gun owners realize that the NRA’s leadership has become unhinged from the responsible gun owners across America the NRA claims to represent.”
This is the third in a series of reports that Murphy will release on the national gun lobby. Earlier this month, Murphy released a report revealing the vast sums of money funneled to the NRA from firearms manufacturers, which in turn shapes the organization’s lobbying agenda. And a previous report showed the NRA’s ineffective political spending in the 2012 election, winning fewer than 20 percent of the key races it invested in.
Murphy has been an active leader on anti-gun violence initiatives. He recently joined six Members of Congress to introduce the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013, legislation that would ban certain military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. Murphy is also an original cosponsor of the Ammunition Background Check Act of 2013, which requires instant background checks for the sale of gun ammunition.
