Maddow shows why the NRA is just a ‘Republican interest group’

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On her show Monday night, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow accused the National Rifle Association of being far more interested in electing Republicans than defending Second Amendment rights.
Last week, the NRA endorsed Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and has now launched ads against President Barack Obama.
“The NRA is not looking to honestly compare the two candidate’s records on their one and only issue of gun rights,” Maddow said. “The NRA just wants the Republican. That is what they want. That’s why they exist. They are a Republican interest group and to describe them any other way is to play into their spin. The idea of how to advance their own interests is to get a Republican elected to office. And whatever you think about that in terms of its effectiveness on Republican politics, frankly, that stinks for people who really do care about gun policy, because they have the worst supposed advocates ever.”
Maddow noted that Romney actually endorsed strict gun laws and signed an assault weapons ban as governor of Massachusetts. Obama, on the other hand, has not signed any bills that restrict gun rights. To the contrary, the President has signed into law bills that allow for guns to be carried on Amtrak trains and in national parks.
Romney has previously described assault rifles as “instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing people.” But he began to shift his views in 2006, purchasing a lifetime membership from the NRA and telling reporters that he had gone “varmint” hunting.