Gun Control Measures

Floor Speech

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Mr. WHITEHOUSE. We are here tonight when we should not be, because the epidemic, the pageant of gun violence in this country should have been addressed by us by now. We have not acted. We have not acted in large part because we are engaged in a bizarre, self-inflicted political experiment in this country in which we allow big special interests to use secret money in elections to manipulate our politics.

This ought to be easy. There have been 293 mass shootings since January 1, 2019--this year alone. These tragedies have galvanized the American public in support of sensible restrictions on guns, and the amount of agreement among the American public is astounding. Eighty-six percent of Americans support implementing what we call red flag laws that allow a judge to remove guns from someone who is determined to be a danger to himself or others. You could barely get 86 percent of the Senate to agree on the day of the week. Additionally, 89 percent support expanding Federal background checks to cover private sales and to close the gun show loophole, 86 percent support an assault weapons ban, and 70 percent support a ban on large-capacity magazines. These are large, popular majorities, and in a functional democracy, we would listen to them, we would hear them, we would honor them, and we would respond to this bloodshed. Why we have not done that takes us on a sordid crawl through the sewers of modern politics inhabited by the National Rifle Association.

The National Rifle Association spent $30 million supporting President Trump. No wonder they can undo all of our work with a simple phone call to the Oval Office. But it is much worse than that. Reports emerged last year that the NRA accepted money from foreign sources, including Russian banker and Putin ally Aleksandr Torshin, and spent that money in politics in America.

Senator Wyden sent letters to the NRA and to the Treasury Department about these reports. The NRA responded maintaining that it properly segregates any foreign donations so that they are not used for political purposes. Fat chance of that, with money being fungible. I joined Senator Wyden on a followup letter renewing the request following the arrest of Maria Butina, an evident NRA go-between.

The IRS, under President Trump, took no action against the NRA in response to these allegations. In August, the Federal Election Commission deadlocked 2 to 2 on whether to investigate this matter at all. The FEC is so locked up on this now that they wouldn't even investigate.

FEC Commissioner Weintraub in desperation wrote:

Some allegations are too serious to ignore. Too serious to simply take [the NRA's] denials at face value. Too serious to play games with. Yet in this matter, my colleagues ran their usual evidence-blocking play and the Commission's attorneys placed too much faith in the few facts [the NRA] put before us.

So we can't even look into the extent of Russian interference in our politics through the NRA.

It goes on. Last fall, the Campaign Legal Center and Giffords Center filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission alleging that the NRA was evading the anti-coordination rules of our election between the Trump campaign and with various Republican Senate campaigns. The complaints allege that the NRA and the campaigns coordinated spending through a GOP media consulting firm. What had the media consulting firm done? It had set up a series of shell corporations through which the campaigns paid.

We have all used media consulting firms in getting to the Senate. Which of those media consulting firms set up shell corporations?

In fact, these shell corporations--these supposedly separate companies--shared staff, office space, and other resources, so that the firm coordinated the ad buys between the NRA and the campaigns. Once again, the FEC did nothing, so the Campaign Legal Center had to sue the Federal Election Commission in district court.

The NRA's political spending has more than quintupled since the Supreme Court--I should say more specifically, since five Republican appointees on the Supreme Court--allowed unlimited, anonymous money into our political system--from $10 million in 2010, the year of the Citizens United decision, to about $55 million in the 2016 election. The NRA now spends unlimited amounts of dark money on political ads. They can come after people. They can threaten people. They can make promises to people. That is why 86 percent, 89 percent of the U.S. public gets ignored around here.

When Representative Raskin and I wrote the NRA and the consultants about this coordination scheme, guess what the supposedly independent groups did? They wrote back to us in the same letter from the same lawyer--some independence. Of course, we are still waiting on the FEC to take any action at all.

I will close where I began. There have been 293 mass shootings since January 1 of this year, and the American public has an extraordinarily common voice for red flag laws, for expanding Federal background checks, closing the gun show loophole, banning assault weapons, and banning large-capacity magazines, and we don't listen to the popular will here because of the menace that the NRA has become in our politics--the anti-Democratic menace that the NRA has become.

17, 2019] Bang for the Buck--A Guide to Every Known Investigation of the NRA Here are the facts about all ten active inquiries into the gun rights group (By Daniel Nass)

The National Rifle Association is caught up in a rapidly expanding tangle of investigations--eight launched this year alone. Investigators in the House, Senate, New York State, and D.C. are scrutinizing the gun group's nonprofit status following alleged financial misconduct exposed by The Trace, while other probes have their sights on the NRA's ties to Kremlin-linked Russians and to Donald Trump's presidential campaign, as well as several potential campaign finance violations.

Because it's challenging to keep track of these probes, we've rounded them up below. We included only investigations that directly involve the NRA or its staff. We'll keep this post updated to reflect the latest developments, and will add new investigations to the list, should they arise. WHAT'S UNDER INVESTIGATION

A fourth investigation of the NRA's nonprofit status is underway, this one initiated by D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine. Racine's office is seeking documents from the gun group and its affiliated foundation regarding ``financial records, payments to vendors, and payments to officers and directors.'' The NRA Foundation is chartered in Washington, D.C. NRA attorney William Brewer said in a statement that ``the NRA has full confidence in its accounting practices and commitment to good governance.'' WHAT'S UNDER INVESTIGATION

Amid the ongoing strife between the NRA and its former communications firm Ackerman McQueen, another congressional committee is attempting to determine whether the NRA has violated its tax-exempt status. In a letter to Wayne LaPierre, House Ways and Means Committee member Representative Brad Schneider demanded documents related to internal audits, financial misconduct, and conflicts of interest. It's the third probe of the NRA's finances launched since The Trace and The New Yorker first reported on alleged financial improprieties in April. In August, Schneider expanded the inquiry, sending a letter to Ackerman CEO Revan McQueen requesting documents related to the firm's past relationship with the NRA. WHAT'S UNDER INVESTIGATION

Three Democratic members of the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees tax-exempt organizations, are probing alleged financial impropriety within the NRA. Letters addressed to NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre and ex-President Oliver North request documentation of alleged financial misconduct raised by North during a public power struggle for control of the gun group, which culminated with North's ouster from his leadership role. A third letter requests documentation from Revan McQueen, the CEO of top NRA vendor Ackerman McQueen, due to LaPierre's claim that Ackerman had prepared a damaging memo in order to blackmail him. The feud erupted after reporting by The Trace and other news organizations revealed a culture of self-dealing and financial mismanagement within the NRA, particularly around its relationship with Ackerman. The NRA has refused to cooperate with the investigation, and a letter from Ackerman McQueen to the senators indicates that the NRA has not given the vendor permission to share relevant materials. WHAT'S UNDER INVESTIGATION

New York Attorney General Letitia James has opened an investigation into the NRA's nonprofit status, asking the organization, its charitable foundation, and other affiliated groups to preserve financial records. The probe, first reported by The New York Times, also touches the gun group's ``related businesses,'' although information about the parties involved is not yet public. James has jurisdiction because the NRA was chartered in New York in 1871. In August, the attorney general's office expanded the inquiry, issuing subpoenas to more than 90 current and former NRA board members, including former president Oliver North.

The probe follows a series of media reports about financial misconduct within the NRA, including a Trace investigation detailing allegations that former IRS official Marc Owens said ``could lead to the revocation of the NRA's tax-exempt status.'' WHAT'S UNDER INVESTIGATION

The NRA is among more than 80 organizations and individuals that received requests for documents as part of a wide- ranging House Judiciary Committee probe which aims to establish whether President Trump and those in his orbit have engaged in ``obstruction of justice, public corruption, and other abuses of power.'' A letter from committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler to NRA boss LaPierre demands information on the gun group's contacts with and about Russia and the Trump campaign during the run-up to the 2016 election. The NRA has reportedly submitted nearly 1,500 pages of documents in response to the request. WHAT'S UNDER INVESTIGATION

Representatives Ted Lieu and Kathleen Rice, concerned by a ``lack of transparency'' around the NRA's 2015 visit to Moscow and its other ties to Russia, have launched a new investigation intended to illuminate those connections. Another probe of the gun group's Kremlin connections is underway in the Senate, but House Democrats, unlike their counterparts in the Senate, hold the majority required to issue subpoenas. WHAT'S UNDER INVESTIGATION

A joint House-Senate probe is investigating possible ``illegal, excessive, and unreported in-kind donations'' made by the NRA to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and to several Republican Senate candidates. Sparked by The Trace's reporting, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Congressman Jamie Raskin have contacted NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre and five campaign advertising vendors to request information about the groups' relationships. ``The evidence shows the NRA is moving money through a complex web of shell organizations to avoid campaign finance rules and boost candidates willing to carry their water,'' Whitehouse told The Trace. WHAT'S UNDER INVESTIGATION

As part of a probe into security clearances issued by the Trump administration, House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings has requested documents from the NRA regarding Trump national security advisor John Bolton's contacts with Russia. In 2013, Bolton appeared in a video for The Right to Bear Arms, the Russian gun-rights group linked to Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin. He also headed the NRA's subcommittee on international affairs, which Cummings has also requested information about. The Oversight Committee investigation came months after Cummings and Representative Stephen Lynch first sought information from the White House about Bolton's ties to Russia. WHAT'S UNDER INVESTIGATION

An NRA delegation's trip to Moscow in 2015 is under the scrutiny of the Senate Intelligence Committee, headed by Senators Richard Burr and Mark Warner, which in November requested documents about contacts with high-profile Russians during the excursion. In January, investigators grilled former Trump aide Sam Nunberg about the links between the Trump campaign, the NRA, and Russian nationals including Maria Butina. Burr, the committee's chair, has received ample campaign support from the NRA. WHAT'S UNDER INVESTIGATION

Senator Ron Wyden, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, has sent a series of requests to the NRA and the Treasury Department seeking information about the gun group's financial ties to Russian official Alexander Torshin and other Putin-linked politicians. After the arrest of self- confessed Russian agent Maria Butina in July, Wyden and committee members Sheldon Whitehouse and Bob Menendez followed up with the Treasury requesting further information about Butina's financial links to the NRA. Butina later pleaded guilty to conspiring in the United States. Earlier this month, the Finance Committee launched a separate probe into a conservative think tank linked to Butina and Torshin. Senator Charles Grassley, who chairs the Finance Committee, has ties to the NRA.

A few other investigations bear mentioning. An inquiry by the House Intelligence Committee and the FBI's reported investigation of Alexander Torshin both probed the gun group's ties to Russia, although there is no hard evidence that the NRA or its employees have been pulled into either of those probes. Watchdog organizations have filed a series of complaints with the Federal Election Commission regarding the NRA's campaign finance activities, and two groups are now suing the regulator for its failure to act on those complaints.

We'll update this post as new information comes to light.
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