The Spin Keeps it Coming In, Or Maybe Not

Bitter has two really good posts up about how the anti-gun groups are going to have to spin the Democrat/NRA deal as a victory even if it isn’t really.

I actually disagree. They are in a do or die situation here. If they can’t be seen as getting a win after the PR tragedy that was handed to them on a silver platter, they will start to lose funds and support.

She goes on to document the demise of Americans for Gun Safety, and goes on to mention:

Now with all of that said about AGS, I realize that the Brady Campaign has a much more entrenched status as the leader for anti-gun activism. They solidified that by taking over the Million Mom March. However, most sources of funding for non-profits don’t keep the tap open forever without at least a few results. If the Brady’s allow this to come out as the only gun legislation that can pass and only then because of the NRA getting on board, they are screwed. They will have to spin this as success, only without mentioning all the stuff we got out of the deal.

So expect the Brady’s to ignore that part, and just focus on “We strengthened the background checks to ensure blah blah blah blah”.   Her next post points out that things at the Brady Campaign already aren’t too good:

So we can see that the two major divisions of the Brady Bunch did see a combined loss of $2,310,000 in revenue from 2004 to 2005.  With losses like the passage of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act that took several of their big legal challenges off the table, it’s not a shock that they would see a drop in 2005.  It will be interesting to see their 2006 numbers, the year that Michael Barnes left and Paul Helmke took over.  Of course, he didn’t take over until the first quarter was over, so the 2007 numbers would really be more reflective.  If with the Parker case and Virginia Tech, the Brady Bunch doesn’t regain all of the lost revenue and more, I would say they have to start making cuts.  They don’t have the assets to support themselves for even a few months if donations take a drastic drop.

And when you’re operating in DC, cutting your staff signals to the people you’re trying to influence that your support is eroding, and that’s the kiss of death.

Also keep in mind folks, that gun owners tend to let their memberships and donations to pro-gun organizations lapse when we start to get too complacent as well.  Having gun control off the table as a political issue is great for us, but if we want to keep things that way, we have to keep our pro-gun organizations strong.