Lawmakers Opposing Assault Weapons Ban Received 130 Times More Gun Industry Donations

New campaign finance data reveals the extent to which efforts to pass meaningful gun control legislation is hamstrung by the power of pro-gun groups.

Analyzing information from the Center for Responsive Politics, the nonpartisan watchdog group MapLight reported Thursday that representatives in the House who refuse to support a ban on military-style semi-automatic weapons and other assault-style firearms, receive about 130 times more money in campaign donations from pro-gun groups than those who back such regulations.

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“It’s hard to imagine Congress being so out of step with the American public on gun measures if lawmakers were less focused on the campaign money for their reelection.”—Alec Saslow, MapLight

Only two of the 172 co-sponsors of the Assault Weapons Ban of 2018 (H.R. 5087) received donations from pro-gun groups during the 2016 election cycle, with Reps. Ben Ray Lujan  (D-N.M.) and Tim Walz (D-Minn.), who have previously backed pro-gun legislation, gathering an average of $64 in contributions.

House members who declined to support the legislation received an average of $8,671 from pro-gun groups. Six of the 21 Democrats who haven’t yet signed on as co-sponsors received at least $2,500 from gun groups like the National Rifle Association (NRA).

“This kind of disparity is a reminder that our broken campaign finance system has an outsized impact on both our elections and the legislative process,” said Alec Saslow, media communications director, in an email to Common Dreams. “It’s hard to imagine Congress being so out of step with the American public on gun measures if lawmakers were less focused on the campaign money for their reelection.”