The NRA issues lower grades to Members of Congress

By al, October 7, 2019

The NRA has many fewer friends that it would award an “A” grade to than it did a decade ago.

Year after year, the number of Members of Congress who get an A-grade is declining and the “F” category is growing as the NRA loses friends.  Click here to see individual grades from the NRA for every member of Congress.  The site also includes state legislatures.

The New York Times, using data from Project VoteSmart, reported:

Voters, meanwhile, are generally not punishing members of Congress who turn away from the N.R.A., making it a less threatening force in elections.

The Times analysis looked at complete data on N.R.A. ratings and endorsements for six election cycles, from 2008 through 2018. The group uses “A” ratings to signify consistent support for gun rights and opposition to restrictions; “F” ratings signify the opposite. The group advertises its grades to supporters, who use them to guide their votes. Many A-rated candidates receive an endorsement, which can bring support like money, mailers and campaign ads.

The Times said:

F ratings are now the norm for Democrats, and many of them treat it as a badge of honor.

A small handful of Republicans have broken publicly with the N.R.A. in recent years. But even if the shift has mostly been one-sided among Democrats, it has big implications. When Democrats had a large House majority and a near-supermajority in the Senate a decade ago, there were so many N.R.A. allies within the party that more than half of Congress had A’s, and only a third had F’s.