After Newtown, Beating The NRA At Its Own Game

washingtonpost.com — According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the National Rifle Association (NRA) and its affiliates spent nearly $20 million during the 2012 campaign. Yet reports of its ability to deliver political death blows may be greatly exaggerated. “This myth that the NRA can destroy political careers is just not true,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Sunday on “Meet the Press.” But in politics, perception shapes reality. Lawmakers fear the NRA, powerful or not. So let money counter money. Use the forces unleashed by Citizens United for good instead of for evil, a super-size super PAC to thwart the NRA. Call it Sanity PAC. What if candidates, tempted to make a politically dangerous vote in favor of gun control, knew that a super PAC would outspend the NRA? What if candidates learned to fear the gun-control lobby instead of the NRA?

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