Thoughts and prayers are flying around as normal following the latest mass shooting in the US.
Something else that is flying around is cash. Lots of it.
Dollars that some may consider to be blood money because of where it comes from – the National Rifle Association.
Mitt Romney alone received $13,647,676 from the NRA in 2019 according to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
Of course, after Salvador Ramos went on a rampage at Robb Elementary School, slaughtering 19 children and two adults he offered his ‘thoughts and prayers’.
People hoped things would change after Sandy Hook and now people are hoping things will change after the latest massacre.
The NRA, of course, is opposed and continues to give huge amounts of cash to lawmakers with the expectation that they’ll oppose gun control measures.
Blood money
Senators who have taken the most money from the NRA, according to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
- Mitt Romney (Utah) $13,647,676
- Richard Burr (North Carolina) $6,987,380
- Roy Blunt (Missouri) $4,555,722
- Thom Tillis (North Carolina) $4,421,333
- Marco Rubio (Florida) $3,303,355
- Joni Ernst (Iowa) $3,124,773
- Rob Portman (Ohio) $3,063,327
- Todd C. Young (Indiana) $2,897,582
- Bill Cassidy (Louisiana) $2,867,074
- Tom Cotton (Arkansas) $1,968,714
- Pat Toomey (Pennsylvania) $1,475,448
- Josh Hawley (Missouri) $1,391,548
- Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee) $1,306,130
- Ron Johnson (Wisconsin) $1,269,486
- Mitch McConnell (Kentucky) $1,267,139
- Mike Braun (Indiana) $1,249,967
- John Thune (South Dakota) $638,942
- Shelley Moore Capito (West Virginia) $341,738
- Richard Shelby (Alabama) $258,514
- Chuck Grassley (Iowa) $226,007
- John Neely Kennedy (Louisiana) $215,788
- Ted Cruz (Texas) $176,274
- Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) $146,262
- Steve Daines (Montana) $123,711
- Cindy Hyde-Smith (Mississippi) $109,547
- Roger Wicker (Mississippi) $106,680
- Rand Paul (Kentucky) $104,456
- Mike Rounds (South Dakota) $95,049
- John Boozman (Arkansas) $82,352
- John Cornyn (Texas) $78,945
- Ben Sasse (Nebraska) $68,623
- Jim Inhofe (Oklahoma) $66,758
- Lindsey Graham (South Carolina) $55,961
- Mike Crapo (Idaho) $55,039
- Jerry Moran (Kansas) $34,718
- John Barrasso (Wyoming) $26,989
- John Hoeven (North Dakota) $22,050
- Susan Collins (Maine) $19,638
- James Lankford (Oklahoma) $18,955
- Jim Risch (Idaho) $18,850
- Tim Scott (South Carolina) $18,513
- Kevin Cramer (North Dakota) $13,255
The in 2019 compiled a list of Republican senators who have accepted the most cash from the NRA.
At the top of the list, having received more than $13million, is Senator Mitt Romney of Utah. Regarding the Texas school shooting, Romney wrote: ‘Grief overwhelms the soul. Children slaughtered. Lives extinguished. Parents’ hearts wrenched. Incomprehensible. I offer prayer and condolence but know that it is grossly inadequate. We must find answers.’
But a contributing writer for The Atlantic, Jemele Hill, to Romney, ‘Grief does not overwhelm the soul nearly as much as $13M from the NRA overwhelms your bank account. The answer you seek is the money you continue to take.’
Meanwhile, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas has received more than $176,000 from the NRA. Cruz called the massacre in Uvalde ‘truly horrific’.
‘Heidi and I are lifting up in prayer the entire Uvalde community during this devastating time and we mourn the lives that were taken by this act of evil,’ Cruz . ‘Thank you to heroic law enforcement & first responders for acting so swiftly.’
Cruz faced backlash from gun control groups and Democratic lawmakers.
‘Fervently lifting Uvalde up in prayer while refusing to do a goddamned thing to stop gun violence is why this keeps happening, especially in Texas,’ Shannon Watts, founder of the gun control group Moms Demand Action.
‘In fact @SenTedCruz has been spreading gun lobby lies about the (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives) ATF director nominee while trying to stop a federal ghost guns ban.’
Democratic Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez replied to Cruz’s tweet by : ‘Aren’t you slated to headline a speaking gig for the NRA in three days – in Houston, no less? You can do more than pray. Faith without works is dead.’
.
