It’s no secret that pro-gun lobbyists like the National Rifle Association (NRA) overwhelmingly support Republican politicians. It’s an old joke that Republicans tend to campaign with a “God, Guns, [anti-]Gays” platform and, like many well-worn clichés, it keeps getting repeated because there’s more than a little truth to it.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, John McCain is–by far–the recipient of the most generous donations from “gun rights” organizations. He receives about $400,000 more than John Thune (R-SD), who received the second highest total amount of monetary gifts from pro-gun groups.
Here’s a chart the CRP shared on Open Secrets:
 “All figures are based on donations made
during the period 1989-2012. Figures for
the current cycle were released by the
Federal Election Commission on Monday,
November 12, 2012.” (Center for Responsive Politics)
To be scrupulously fair, McCain was the Republican nominee for President in 2008, and, as such, probably drew extra donations from all flavors of conservative political groups, not just the NRA and their ilk. That may or may not be why Michele Bachmann made the Top Twenty list, since she was the Republicans’ Golden Child (and in the lead in the polls for about five whole minutes) way back in 2011. It’s not surprising that House Speaker John Boehner is on it, either.
The table above includes all known donations to these politicians (the regrettable SCOTUS ruling on “Citizens United” has made it more difficult to track all political donations made) since 1989. Speaking of, here are the top pro-gun groups and how they spend some of their money (note that, unlike the table above, these donations were made between 2009-2011): |
