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NRA going after W.Va. senator for gun stance

UPDATED 7:40 AM EDT, June 14, 2013 | LAWRENCE MESSINA, Associated Press

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The National Rifle Association is targeting U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin after years of endorsing the West Virginia Democrat.

Manchin has continued to push to broaden background checks to include firearms sold online or at gun shows.

The NRA says it launched a TV ad Wednesday urging state residents to call Manchin over the measure.

Manchin says the NRA is more concerned about political power than gun rights and safety.

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UPDATED 7:45 AM EDT, March 11, 2013

Pro-gun voters put heat on Democratic senators

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Max Baucus has been here before.

Back during the Clinton era, the Democrat faced a choice: support an assault weapons ban urged by a president from his own party and risk angering constituents who cherish their gun rights, or buck his party. He chose the ban, and nearly lost his Senate seat.

Now, as he begins his campaign for a seventh term, Baucus faces the question again. For weeks, gun foes have sought assurances he would oppose the assault weapons ban. But it was only this past week he said he would oppose it.

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UPDATED 7:56 AM EST, March 5, 2013

Giffords ad urges support for background checks

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is urging key senators to support expanded background checks for gun purchases in a new television ad that is to begin airing Tuesday in Arizona and Iowa.

Americans for Responsible Solutions, the gun control group started by Giffords and husband Mark Kelly, said it is spending six figures on the ad in the two states. It comes as the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to take up tougher firearms regulations Wednesday.

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UPDATED 18:50 PM EST, February 13, 2013

Keystone Support

The American Petroleum Institute on Wednesday released polling results showing strong public support for the Keystone XL pipeline, the same day environmental advocates began staging protests against the project.

Of respondents contacted by phone Feb. 5-10 by Harris Interactive, 69 percent said they supported construction of the pipeline, compared to 17 percent who opposed it.

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UPDATED 6:39 AM EST, January 23, 2013

Chamber Cash

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, America's chief business lobby, spent $40 million on lobbying in the last three months of 2012, according to the disclosure report it filed with Congress.

The advocacy group disclosed on House of Representative lobbying forms that it spent $40.42 million hiring and paying lobbyists, advertising, and other costs seeking to influence Washington, during the fourth quarter of 2012.  That joins $40.1 million it spent during the third quarter, making the group the largest lobbyers in the U.S.  

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UPDATED 7:35 AM EST, January 11, 2013

US Chamber makes immigration overhaul top priority

WASHINGTON (AP) — The president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said Thursday that the "door to the American dream must always remain open" as he announced a broad coalition of business, labor, faith organizations, law enforcement and ethnic groups intent on overhauling the nation's immigration system.

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UPDATED 10:05 AM EST, January 12, 2013

NRA lobbying targets courthouses

WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Rifle Association has enjoyed high-profile success over the years in shaping gun-rights legislation in Congress and statehouses, in part by campaigning to defeat lawmakers who defied the group.

Now, the NRA has added a lesser-known strategy to protect its interests: opposing President Barack Obama's judicial nominees whom it sees as likely to enforce gun-control laws. In some cases, the group's opposition has kept jobs on federal benches unfilled.

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UPDATED 6:41 AM EST, January 2, 2013

Wind, biofuels lobbies win big in fiscal cliff deal

In all the New Year's Day wrangling over the final fiscal cliff legislation, there were two clear winners beyond middle-class taxpayers -- the wind and biofuels lobbies.

But the work to keep their tax credits is just beginning. Passage of the bill late Tuesday only re-set the clock for another year, one in which every special interest tax break will face possible elimination in a push to cut federal red ink.

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UPDATED 0:17 AM EST, December 24, 2012

Unwavering NRA opposes any new gun restrictions

WASHINGTON (AP) — An unwavering National Rifle Association said Sunday that new gun regulations would not make children safer and that a White House task force on gun violence may try to undermine the Second Amendment.

The organization blasted "a media machine" that it said relishes blaming the gun industry for each new attack like the one that occurred just over a week ago at a Connecticut elementary school.

"Look, a gun is a tool. The problem is the criminal," said Wayne LaPierre, the CEO of the nation's largest gun-rights lobby, in a television interview.

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UPDATED 18:49 PM EST, December 19, 2012

NRA responds

WASHINGTON (AP) — After four days of self-imposed silence on the shooting that killed 26 people inside a Newtown, Conn., elementary school, the nation's largest gun rights lobby emerged Tuesday and promised "to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again."

The National Rifle Association explained its unusual absence "out of respect for the families and as a matter of common decency" after Friday's shooting that left dead 20 children, all ages 6 or 7.

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