Gun violence and gun industry in the United States

The American firearms industry is not only solid but growing, supported by organizations and corporations that have a strong saying in the national arena

By Susana G. Baumann

Last Friday, the National Rifle Association (NRA) shut down its Facebook page, after the tragic events at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. They had recently celebrated a milestone of 1.7M fans. Why?  Is it fear? Is it shame? Is it avoidance of the public rage?

Other than merely representing gun-owners rights and the defense of the Second Amendment, the NRA and the firearms industry are linked in ways that have profoundly impacted the culture of guns and the culture of violence in the United States.

Firearms industry in the United States

According to the Professional Gun Retailers Association, guns retail sales in the United States averages about $3.5 billion while individual retailers size the industry at $4 billion a year.  A healthy industry that has not decreased in major recessions or economic crisis, the firearms industry increased jobs by more than 30 percent and improved its economic impact by more than 66 percent between 2008 and 2011.

The United States not only produces for domestic consumption but it also exports misery. The United States is the world’s leading exporter by far.  In 2010, America exported $674 million worth of firearms, $270 million more than Italy, the next leading exporter, according to customs data compiled by the Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers, (NISAT). Worldwide weapons sales by the United States tripled in 2011, according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service.

America’s arms sales to both developed and developing nations reached $66.3 billion last year, up from $21.4 billion in 2010. Russia sold $4.8 billion, the second highest exporter in the world. The total worldwide weapon sales nearly doubled to $85.3 billion last year. The United States sold three-quarters of the total sales worldwide.

In a list of 100 countries with stricter gun control legislation, the United States ranks No. 1 in gun ownership. There are approximately 888 firearms for every 1000 Americans.  In 2006, 10,225 people were killed by the use of a gun in the United States. Suicides with firearms are also high. In 2005, 17,002 suicides were committed using a firearm.

On the other end of the spectrum, only 6 firearms are owned every 1000 people in Japan, which has the lowest rate in the world of violence murders with guns.  While in 2008, the United States had over 12.000  firearm-related homicides, Japan reported only 11, down from 2007 when the number raised to 22, becoming a national concern for all citizens.

To get a gun in Japan, not only you have to attend a class, pass a written exam and a range shooting class; in addition, a mental test and drug test is filed with the police before a thorough criminal background check. However, the search does not end there. Your family, friends, neighbors, even your co-workers are consulted.

NRA and the firearms industry

The NRA describes itself as an organization that represents the “uncompromising voice of the American gun owner” in support of a wide range of firearms-related public interest activities –such as firearms and hunting safety, marksmanship skills for sports shooters, and educating the public about firearms. The organization receives top dollars from the US firearms industry.

The history of the organization started in 1871 launched by Union veterans Col. William C. Church and Gen. George Wingate with a primary goal to "promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis.” The culture of guns was born in the United States.

Along his history, the NRA always had a clear goal in mind: to increase and promote the use of weapons in young and adult Americans. In 1903, NRA Secretary Albert S. Jones pushed for youth programs in all major colleges, universities and military academies. These programs are still an NRA’s core activity with over a million participants a year nationwide.

In civilian training, the NRA continues to be the leader in firearms education. Over 50,000 certified instructors now train about 750,000 gun owners a year. They feed the firearms industry in the country but they are not alone.

Since 2005, the NRA has received millions of dollars from donors and grants as reported on the NRA Foundation website. But who are their donors?

The organization claims to receive industry grants for education programs, funds from individual donors, and donations through programs that round up gun store customers’ purchases to the nearest dollar with the difference going to the NRA.

Corporate contributions come from manufacturers of firearms and ammunitions, industry magazines, gun distributors and dealers, and vendors of ammunition and other shooting-related products.

But the NRA’s influence in the national arena comes from its power through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization that behind closed doors decide changes to national legislation. The organization’s membership includes national and global corporations and US legislators.  It has been called the “state legislature without the people’s mandate.”

Through ALEC and its corporate funders, the NRA has pushed end of the ban on assault weapons, a legislation allowing people to bring guns to work in 17 states, and the “Stand your Grown” laws in more than 20 states.

In 2008, as noted by the Center for Media and Democracy, in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech massacre, ALEC adopted a model bill to remove Virginia’s state prohibitions of guns on college campuses and to allow students to bring guns to class. The NRA reports that crime has decreased in the state of Virginia by 27 percent. 

In 2005, corporate lobbyists and politicians at an ALEC task force meeting voted to approve the NRA's request that the “Stand Your Ground” or “Shoot First” or “Kill at Will” law the organization lead in Florida would be modeled by other states. Surely, it was passed later in 20 additional states.   

Other bills were drafted by the NRA and adopted by ALEC corporations and legislators as models for the rest of the country impeding laws that would help protect Americans from gun violence in the name of the Second Amendment defense.

The close fist of the NRA

The NRA is the umbrella organization for other legal entities including the NRA Foundation, the Civil Rights Defense Fund, the Institute of Legislative Action, the Political Victory Fund, (NRA-PVF) and the Business Alliance.

Fueled by the power of the Super PACs, some of these organizations run undisclosed attack ads in political campaigns; or lobby and fundraise tens of millions in undisclosed, tax-deductible donations. Others push legislation to profit from unregulated firearms sales or offer free legal representation in cases involving “significant legal issues relating to the right to keep and bear arms.”

According to the NRA-PVA, in 2008 the organization was involved in 271 campaigns for the U.S. House and Senate. It won in 230 of those races (85%) and endorsed thousands of state legislative candidates that same year with an 84 percent success rate in those elections. The NRA is feared by both Democrat and Republican legislators alike.

Does the American public have a saying?

Most NRA activities and policies are concealed from the public eye. Many still believe that the NRA represent gun-owners and,  according to polling conducted by the Mayors Against Illegal Guns in 2011, between 85 and 90 percent of both gun owners and people living in gun households surveyed agree that tougher restrictions on gun ownership is required in the United States.