The "Stand Your Ground" law wasn't passed because the State of Florida had a crime wave and innocent people were being gunned down in the streets. It was passed for one reason only...to sell more guns.
The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is registered as a non-profit 501(c)(4) organization, and aren’t required to disclose
their donors. That’s why the contributions to these "social welfare groups" have been dubbed “dark money.”
Tax experts say it’s possible that businesses are using an aggressive interpretation of the law to wring a tax advantage out of their
donations to these type of "social welfare groups" (The Koch brothers' Tea
Party Patriots is also a "social welfare group".)
By law, companies are not allowed to deduct money spent on intervention in any political campaign or any attempt to influence the general
public, or segments thereof, with respect to elections, legislative matters, or referendums.
But tax experts say a company could argue that money given to “social welfare groups" isn’t political spending at all, and that the
donations are instead “ordinary and necessary” business expenses.
The NRA supposedly advocates for the protection of the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights and the promotion of
firearm ownership rights (as well as marksmanship, firearm safety, and the protection of hunting and self-defense).
But in reality, the NRA is really just a lobbyist on behalf gun manufactures seeking higher profits, and thus, the NRA can be traced
directly to the death of the 17-year-old teenager in Sanford, Florida (who was, indirectly,
killed for money). The gun lobby ceased
to be just about hunting and hunters long ago, and makes no bones about it.
NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer successfully pushed the "Stand Your Ground" law through the Florida legislature. The NRA's chief lobbyist Chris Cox was quick to credit Hammer's lobbying effort, saying "Law-abiding Floridians may now stand their ground and defend themselves against attack by violent criminals without fear of criminal prosecution or civil lawsuit."
Was Trayvon Martin a "violent criminal"?
Over a nine-year period the NRA gave more than $73,000 in campaign donations to the 43 Florida legislators who backed the "Stand
Your Ground" law in Florida. Direct campaign donations from the NRA are limited by the state, but thousands of dollars more in independent spending can be used to buy
political ads (returning a politician's favor for backing legislation that will get the
politician re-elected...akin to bribery).
In 1963, a man named William Zantzinger (a wealthy young tobacco farmer from Charles County, Maryland)
and his wife arrived at a charity event called the Spinsters' Ball at the Emerson Hotel in
Baltimore. It was on a Friday evening, February 8, 1963. Mister Zantzinger was
dressed in top hat, white tie, and tails -- attire with which a cane is optional.
That night William Zantzinger killed a black barmaid named Hattie Carroll by striking her with his cane.
The lyrics of Bob Dylan's song "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" is a commentary on the racism of the 1960s. In 1963 when Hattie Carroll was killed, Charles County was still strictly segregated by race in public facilities such as restaurants, churches, theaters, doctor's offices, buses, and the county fair.
Bob Dylan's song gives a generally factual account of the killing
and William Devereux "Billy" Zantzinger's subsequent sentence to only six months in a county jail.
Which brings us back full circle to the lonesome death of Trayvon Martin. Will George Zimmerman ever spend six months (or more) in jail? William Zantzinger never felt threatened by Hattie Carroll, she was just too slow in delivering his drink.
George Zimmerman was working as an insurance agent when he murdered 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman once lost a job as a security guard for being too aggressive. A former co-worker said Zimmerman was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde. "When the dude snapped, he snapped. He had a temper and became a liability.”
Zimmerman had been previously arrested for battering a police officer, and whose neighbors had also complained about his aggressive behavior.
Besides losing his temper, George Zimmerman should now lose his freedom. He didn't just strike Trayvon Martin with a cane, but blasted him into eternity with a Kel-Tec PF-9 9mm semi-automatic pistol -- a "right" that the National Rifle Association had lobbied for.
All employees of Kel-Tec are members of the NRA. The pistol George Zimmerman used is “double-action only,” which means the trigger must be pulled fully in order to fire.
I can understand someone's right to defend themselves and their family, such as if someone breaks into their home (the castle doctrine); but a private citizen who is a pistol owner with a carry permit doesn't have the right to chase down a 17-year-old boy on a sidewalk (who was on his way home to watch a NBA basketball game), then shoot him point blank in the chest and claim "self defense"...no matter what color the victim is.
For all poor Trayvon Martin knew, George Zimmerman could have been a pedophile or mugger. But as it turns out, Zimmerman was just a cold-blooded murderer. Didn't Trayvon have a right to defend his ground?
If George Zimmerman had been a black man, and he had shot and killed the neighbor's dog on that sidewalk, Zimmerman would have been immediately been arrested. But either way, the gun manufacturers made their profit.
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Major Hand Guns Manufacturers in the U.S.
These are companies that lobby congress and are "incorporated" and enjoy "limited liability", and whose executives can't be sued for their personal assets, but can profit from their company's actions.
American Derringer, Charter Arms, Hi-Point Firearms, Kel-Tec Inc, Ruger Arms, Kahr Arms, Kimber, Smith & Wesson, Calico Firearms, FMK Firearms, Colt, L.W. Seecamp Company, Inc., FNH USA, LLC, and FMK Firearms.
According to Congressional lobbying records, Thomas Moore is listed as a lobbyist for FN Herstal, the world's largest manufacturer of small arms. FN Herstal USA maintains a plant in Columbia, South Carolina, which is primarily responsible for the production of U.S. military weapons, such as M16 rifles, M249 light machine guns, M240 machine guns, and M2 machine guns.
Thomas Moore is also listed as the lobbyist for Le Mas Ltd., a Little Rock, Arkansas, distributor for armor-piercing bullets ("cop killers") designed to explode in flesh. Corporate 2006 records in the District of Columbia lists Thomas Moore as a director of the Jefferson Davis Camp No. 305 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. (His Bio) Tea Party? A white supremacist hacker claims to have broken into Trayvon Martin's email.
* A close friend of George Zimmerman claims he is 5'8" tall and currently weighs 170 pounds. The police "estimated" (before an autopsy report) that Trayvon Martin weighed less at 160 pounds; and his family reported Trayvon's height at 6'2". But a gun in the hand of someone like George Zimmerman makes him much larger.
The First Brigade is the official monthly giving program of the Tea Party Patriots. Tea Party Patriots, Inc. operates as a social welfare organization organized under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions to Tea Party Patriots, Inc. are not deductible as charitable contributions for income tax purposes.
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UPDATE ON NRA:
ReplyDeleteFew interest groups are better at affecting the legislative process than the gun lobby. Within months of pushing back against legislative responses to the Giffords' shooting, its members were once again on the offensive, shepherding legislation that would require the various states that allow the concealed carrying of guns to recognize each others permits through the House of Representatives.
Their success has been even more pronounced on the state level than on the federal level, and it hasn't been restricted to matters of Second Amendment rights. Over the past few years, the National Rifle Association has altered the trajectory of campaign finance legislation, voter ID laws and state-based immigration reform.
The shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida more than a month ago has started that proverbial clock once again. At issue are the so-called 'Stand Your Ground' laws present in Florida and roughly 30 other states that allow people to use deadly force if in self-defense. Martin's killer, a 28-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer named George Zimmerman, has invoked the law in his defense. Gun-rights advocates are moving as swiftly as possible to get those laws and others changed, organizing a major Capitol Hill push for April 16 and 17th.
Mitt Romney will address the National Rifle Association's annual meeting later this week. (We all know it's about selling more guns and corporate profits, not about our right to own guns or defend ourselves.)