|
NRA Plans to Spend ‘Tens of Millions' in Battleground States
[Free Beacon] The National Rifle Association plans to spend tens of millions of dollars to sway close races throughout the country for the 2020 election.Jason Ouimet, who runs the NRA's lobbying arm and political action committee, spoke exclusively with the Washington Free Beacon in his first in-depth interview on the gun-rights behemoth's 2020 electoral strategy. He said the group plans to spend heavily in battleground states to help reelect President Donald Trump over presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, whom he described as "100 percent anti-gun." The group plans to focus much of its attention on Arizona, Colorado, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Wisconsin—swing states with traditionally strong support for gun rights. "We'll be in those places at every level," Ouimet said. And the message will be simple: A President Joe Biden and Democratic Senate are a threat to gun owners. "You are literally going to be dealing with the potential confiscation of firearms. You're literally going to be told you can't carry in certain places. You can't own certain things for self-defense," Ouimet said. "Folks need to understand that." The NRA spent $50 million to boost the GOP in 2016 but saw disastrous results in 2018 when it was outspent by gun-control groups. Ouimet said it plans on moving forward with the spending push despite losing between $10 and $15 million from the cancelation of the Second Amendment group's annual meeting and other fundraising events due to the coronavirus pandemic. "We'll spend tens of millions of dollars. Will it be $50 million? I don't know," Ouimet said. "We got shut down from doing any of that level of fundraising. Yeah, that has an impact on us just the same way it has an impact on everybody else. Does it mean that we're not going to be effective? Does it mean that we're not going to play? No." The coronavirus pandemic and social unrest may have hindered fundraising, but they have also led to historic gun sales. Ouimet said the NRA has added more than 1,000 new dues-paying members per day since June.
Related: The National Rifle Association: 2019-09-11 NRA sues San Francisco for declaring it a domestic terrorist organization The National Rifle Association: 2019-01-11 Sen. Cornyn Reintroduces National Concealed Carry Reciprocity Legislation The National Rifle Association: 2018-09-27 Ollie North and NRA Blast Key Dems in Jaw-Dropping Ad in Support of Kavanaugh (video) Posted by: Besoeker 2020-08-07 |
|
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=579026 |