The NRA Is Losing Its Influence Over Congress

Back in 2008, the NRA had an iron grip on Congress. They had that by doing two things -- grading each senator and representative on their opposition to gun restrictions (giving them a grade from A to F) and then donating campaign money to those given a A.

The charts above are from The New York Times (and they are accompanied in that paper by a very good article). They illustrate how the NRA is losing its influence over Congress.

The top chart shows the number of A's and F's (and other grades) in both 2008 and 2018. Note that in 2008 a majority of Congress received an A rating. In 2018, a majority receives an F rating.

The second chart shows the change over time in the number of A and F ratings. In 2008, about 52.1% of Congress had an A rating and only 33.8% had an F rating. By 2018, only 43.5% had an A rating, while 52.5 now have an F rating.

An A rating denotes those who can be depended on to tote the NRA line. An F rating denotes those who want sensible gun restrictions.

Most Republicans still get an A from the NRA. The shift has come from Democrats. The third chart shows the number of Democrats with ratings of A through F after elections from 2008 to 2018. In 2008, about 67 Democrats had an A rating and 157 had an F rating. By 2018, only 3 Democrats had an A rating, while 243 had an F rating.

The NRA is clearly losing influence in Congress, and most of it comes from Democrats. The NRA no longer controls the House, but now depends on the Senate to block gun legislation (especially Majority Leader "Moscow" Mitch McConnell). You can bet the NRA will be spending heavily to keep the GOP in control of the Senate in 2020. It's their only hope to retain any control over Congress.

This makes it very important for voters to flip the Senate in 2020 to Democratic control. Until that happens, the NRA will retain its control (and block all reasonable and constitutional gun laws).