Originally posted by Patient_Leech
"Terrorist organization" might be a tad hyperbolic, but pathological for sure. But that could be said about a lot of corporate lobbies.
Does this apply to all lobbies?
Would you say the same thing about Planned Parenthood's lobbying? (not insinuating you wouldn't, just curious) Because IIRC the pro-abortion lobby is roughly the same size in terms of monetary donations as the pro-gun lobby, and yet every republican who lines up with their point of view is labeled "corrupt" and "bought" while the a lot of the same people casting those aspersions often buy that pro-choice politicians are genuinely principled and not bought off by planned parenthood.
I'm not going to speak up in defense of lobbying, but honestly, compared to most corporate lobbying, the NRA could honestly be argued to be more ethical in a sense. If you give money to most corporations, you're buying a product or service, generally not with the intent of supporting their political goals. At least with the NRA people who donate to them actually intend for their money to be used for that purpose. Basically what I'm saying is that there's more of a grassroots element to the NRA than you'd find with most lobbying.
Like if I give money to an alcohol company, I'm doing so because I want the booze, not because I want them to then use my money to lobby against weed legalization. At least the person who donates to the NRA agrees with that use of their money.
Personally, I don't know why people don't focus more on the private prison lobby... which is literally a lobby with the incentive to skew laws and criminal justice standards to throw more people in jail for longer periods of time so they can make a profit.