Just yesterday, the Gun Owners of America was castigating the NRA for supposedly “selling out” other gun organizations by carving themselves an exemption from the provisions of HR 5175 (also known as the DISCLOSE Act). Today, they’re taking credit for killing the thing. Go figure.
The NRA’s “carve out” exemption was the poison pill that killed the act. The 1st Amendment is at best a tangential issue for the NRA, but in this case, they had to get involved to protect the interests of their membership. Getting directly involved in a 1st Amendment battle takes them a bit off the reservation, but tainting the bill with an exemption that was bound to offend its sponsors was a good strategy.
It may be cynical, but it works. Two years in a row, sponsors of the DC Voting Rights Act have chosen to abandon efforts at passage rather than accept reforms to the District’s onerous gun laws. Continued...