the smoking gun in the Trump campaign

I recently called a friend who lives alone in Oakland, a neighborhood in San Francisco that has one of the highest homicide rates in the nation. A former journalist who now works for the American Civil Liberties Union tells me that she is considering buying a self-defense weapon. Not so much if Donald Trump wins the November election, but more if he loses and refuses to step down. On the day Trump won in 2016, I remember calling her and you could hear the looting outside her newspaper office. She fears the same thing will happen again and wants to be prepared.

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In 2016, the NRA spent more than $ 30 million on the Trump campaign, according to the Federal Election Commission. Despite the worsening financial crisis with 200 forced layoffs at Virginia headquarters and the civil lawsuit against Vice President Wayne LaPierre alleging fraud, financial misconduct, and misuse of charitable funds, the club’s dissolution is called for because of chronic illness and fraudulent management appears to appear to bump deaf ears. The NRA remains an important supporter of the Republican movement in 2020.

You can be sure that the gun rights group will be recruiting women in these presidential elections in swing states like North Carolina, Florida, Michigan, Georgia, and Ohio. Here the female voters decide who becomes president.

Some, like Air Force veteran, second amendment advocate, and Florida Republican Anna Paulina Luna, are the new faces at nrawomen.com trying to convince women that buying a firearm is an empowering, personal choice .

NRA Women is promoting everything from Ruger’s “Vote 2020 10/22 Carbine” collectible to Bear Creek Arsenal’s pink rifle parts to promote Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October. Other sites like agirlandagun.org claim their membership has increased this year, while thewellarmedwoman.com offers trigger protection tips for soft holsters and fashion tips to hide a gun.

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It still surprises me. In the 10 years that I lived in the United States, I never got used to the gun business. US gun owners claim it makes them feel safer. I felt the opposite.

My US-born son is now 18 and has voted for the first time in these US elections. While resisting the urge to tick the box for rapper Kanye West, California’s elected vice president of the America Independent Party, he told me he was grateful to have grown up in Australia and attended school in a free nation of mass shootings and the threat – no, an NRA idea after the 2018 Parkland School shootings – of having teachers at gunpoint and security guards at the school.

He believes guns are to Americans what gambling is to Australians. I remember his dad when he first came to Australia more than 20 years ago and took a double shot entering a TAB betting shop, much like my reaction to finding guns in a supermarket.