The NRA Has Thrown $1.6 Million At Mitch McConnell To Block Expanded Background Checks

If you’re wondering why Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is refusing to advance a bipartisan bill to expand background checks on gun purchases, just follow the money.

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As CNBC reported on Monday, “The National Rifle Association spent $1.6 million during the first half of the year lobbying members of the House and Senate against laws that would enact stricter background checks for people looking to buy guns, according to disclosure reports.”

One piece of legislation has passed the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, but McConnell has stayed loyal to his NRA masters and refused to allow a vote on the bill in the Senate.

According to Giffords, a gun safety advocacy group named after former Rep. Gabby Giffords, the bill being blocked by the McConnell Senate “would require a background check on every gun sale or transfer, with carefully defined exceptions for gifts to family members, hunting, target shooting, and self-defense.”

It would also “require unlicensed gun sellers to utilize this same system by requiring them to sell or transfer firearms only through licensed dealers.”

This is common sense, and there is no question that passing this bipartisan legislation is the least we should be doing to reduce gun violence in the United States.

But $1.6 million from the NRA can buy a lot in Washington, and the Republican majority leader in the Senate appears to be one of those things up for sale.

Mitch McConnell is the literal grim reaper

Mitch McConnell has frequently bragged about being the “grim reaper” in the Senate by killing legislation passed by Democrats in the House of Representatives.

But in this particular case, McConnell is a literal grim reaper. His refusal to act means the violence we saw in El Paso and Dayton will inevitably rear its ugly head in another American community, and more people will die.

Every time he puts NRA bribes over American lives and refuses to act, he has an increasing amount of blood on his hands.

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Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.