Of all the special interests clogging our political system, there is no worse offender than the National Rifle Association. The NRA has a budget of $300 million, which it uses to lobby and support its desired candidates. Even more significantly, the organization boasts 4 million members, which it can effectively organize to influence elections.

This influence was especially noticeable during the Republican debates, where candidates pandered to gun supporters by reiterating their devotion to Second Amendment rights. In the RNC Chairman debate, Ann Wagner bragged about how her family got a new gun safe for Christmas, including “everything from pistols and a Glock to shotguns, rifles and … an all-out assault rifle.” Surprisingly, she was defeated by Reince Priebus who only touted owning five guns. The point is — politicians are often forced to either speak the NRA’s language or forget about holding office.

As Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin’s former chief of staff Chris Kofinis explained in an interview with the Huffington Post: “The idea is that if you come out for any type of gun control, any type of common-sense reform, they are going to come after you, especially if you are a red-state Democrat. And they will paint you with a broad brush as being anti-gun.” Thus, there are many politicians striving for a perfect score on the NRA’s report card instead of passing laws that are in the best interest of the country.

The facts are clear. The United States has some of the loosest gun laws and continues to see annual gun homicide numbers exceeding 11,000. In contrast, countries with stricter gun laws such as Australia and Japan never see figures over 100. With an average of 87 firearm related deaths per day, it’s clear that our nation needs to at least be having a discussion about guns.

With the recent tragedies in Aurora and Newtown, a large portion of America is finally voicing support for gun reform. Unfortunately, the NRA has tried to turn the discussion away from guns, instead pointing blame at violent video games and our broken mental health system. While it’s true that those factors should be considered, we cannot simply leave guns out of a discussion about gun violence. It’s pretty intuitive that if you take the semiautomatic weapon out of the hand of a lunatic, he becomes much less dangerous.

The NRA’s primary objective is to make it as easy as possible for people to purchase firearms of any kind. While the NRA bases this objective on the functional causes of self defense and recreational shooting and hunting, I don’t think that anyone buys the idea that a military-grade weapon is necessary to take out a deer. I also don’t think anyone can believe that the Second Amendment, which was written in the time of muskets, was intended to preserve people’s right to own the mass killing machines that are widely available today.

The real root of the NRA’s position is the irrational fear that waiving our right to own assault weapons is the first step toward government tyranny. Thus, no matter how many people die — be it by mass assassination, gang violence, you name it — the NRA will always justify its position under the idea that guns are the only things standing between a free America and World War II Germany.

President Obama has taken well-measured steps in recent weeks, appointing Vice President Joe Biden to meet with many different groups, including the NRA, to help reach a common understanding. However, the resulting proposal may all be for nothing as the Republican congressional leaders, still under NRA’s firm grasp, are trying to delay the discussion about guns to a later date — a time when all the outrage from the Sandy Hook massacre will have worn off and Congress will be less willing to act.

This is why now is the time for our democracy to shed the radical influence of the NRA and pass the common sense reform that Americans deserve. The only way this can happen is if mainstream America voices enough support to render the group irrelevant. While there are important debates over the debt ceiling and spending to come, the emotion of learning that 20 children were murdered needs to stay fresh in our minds.

As Obama said Wednesday in announcing his proposal, “I will put everything I’ve got into this … but I tell you, the only way we can change is if the American people demand it.”

If not, rest assured, the NRA will do all it can to prevent any reasonable compromise from occurring.   

Andrew is a sophomore in Engineering. He can be reached at [email protected].