Walmart is a "top-tier" donor for the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus gun lobby

According to a New York Times article today, Walmart is a "top tier" donor to a major gun rights lobby group in Washington, D.C., called the Congressonal Sportsmen's Caucus, right up there with the NRA, Remington, and Winchester.

Contributions ballooned from $434,000 in 2001 to more than $2 million in 2011, with its top-tier donors including firearms makers and retailers like Remington, Winchester and Walmart.

The organization "counts more than 250 members in the House and Senate."

According to the article:  

The foundation opposes restrictions on high-capacity ammunition magazines, a ban on military-style AR-15 rifles and the imprinting of bullets with traceable serial numbers to help solve crimes.  ...

The caucus is regularly used as a launching pad in Congress for pro-gun legislation. The sponsor and all 27 original co-sponsors of a 2005 bill that shielded the firearms industry from liability suits were caucus members. More than 100 members co-sponsored the Second Amendment Enforcement Act, which was aimed at rolling back gun control measures in Washington, D.C., but died in committee in 2011. 

Also in 2011, caucus members wrote amendments that would have prevented gun dealers from having to report customers who make multiple purchases of certain weapons in states bordering Mexico, and would have rolled back restrictions on imports of shotguns with tactical features like extended magazine tubes. The N.R.A. issued a statement praising the amendments’ authors, Representatives Denny Rehberg of Montana and John Carter of Texas, both Republicans. 

 Luckily, not all legislators are willing to accept that viewpoint:

Representative Bill Pascrell Jr., a New Jersey Democrat who as a co-chairman of the law enforcement caucus has butted heads with the sportsmen’s caucus on gun issues, said pro-gun groups had stoked fear in Congress by portraying any limits on firearms as a threat to legitimate pastimes like hunting. 

“They see this as if they give in on any one item, it will put them on a slippery slope to coming into your home and taking your guns away,” Mr. Pascrell said. “They’re creating hysteria.”

Given that Walmart has more than one shooting on their properties every week, not counting all the armed robberies and threats where shots weren't fired, you would think Walmart would distance themselves from organizations like this which oppose even the most modest of gun regulation.

Walmart.  Save money.  Die faster.