December 21, 2012

Pro-Gun Fanatics Cash in on Sandy Hook Shooting

<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com">Illustrart</a>

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“Our Second Amendment rights are hanging by a thread. President Obama just announced he’s on the warpath… [T]his is an all-out EMERGENCY.” So reads a fundraising email blasted out Wednesday by the National Association for Gun Rights.

Since Adam Lanza massacred 20 children and 7 adults in Newtown a week ago, gun control is on the national mind more than any time since probably 1994. Several pro-gun lawmakers and public figures have had a change of heart in recent days. And on Wednesday, Obama came out in support of renewing a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips, and requiring background checks on all gun sales. That is bad news for gun rights groups all over the country. But it sure helps them raise money.

Let’s take a trip with the NAGR through the dawning horrorscape of a gun-controlled America. “Anti-gun hysteria is reaching a fever pitch… MSNBC anchors are calling for outright gun ‘confiscation’… Even prominent Republican backers like Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch is loudly calling for new gun control schemes, and Fox News commentator Bill Kristol is calling for ‘serious hearings.'” NAGR also bemoans the fact that the mass killing has undermined the ability of the NRA to buy off lawmakers: “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid—who [the NRA] handed nearly $5,000 to during his last reelection—just announced plans for Senate movement on gun control.” So if you want to do something about it, “please make a generous contribution of $35, $50, $100 or even $250.”

Gun Owners of America, for their part, put out a news release Wednesday prodding 2nd Amendmenters to give because in the midst of the media focus on Sandy Hook and lax gun laws, GOA “has been out front defending your gun rights…Make no mistake about it! We are in the fight of our lives. Barack Obama has made it his central priority to destroy us.” Then there’s a “Please support us” link to their donation page.

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms responded to Obama’s call for an assault weapons ban Wednesday by declaring that “before asking Congress to ban our firearms, President Obama should order his Justice Department to get back all the guns his administration allowed to be walked into Mexico under Operation Fast and Furious.” Their homepage asks for donations to help air an ad that plays into the conservative conspiracy theory that the failed gun-walking operation was a ploy to take away gun rights in the United States.

And to teach you the real lessons that should be learned from the Sandy Hook massacre, Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership would like to sell you a little booklet called “Gun Control Kills Kids” by Gran’pa Jack. In JPFO’s words, “The theme within the humble publication is concise but also very effective—’It destroys every major argument for ‘gun control’. It educates kids so they will know how to support firearms ownership. It immunizes kids against anti-gun propaganda and it provides long-term insurance for your right to be armed.”

You can buy 100 copies for $29.99, or 25 for $12.99.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we need readers to show up for us big time—again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

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