Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

Mayors Against Illegal Guns hits the airwaves in N.H and Pa.

Why pro-gun groups still have the upper hand in Congress

To understand why the Senate voted today to reject a bipartisan deal on gun control, despite emotional -- and heavily broadcast appeals -- by parents of children gunned down in the Newtown, Conn. massacre, it helps to take a look at the influence profiles of groups on both sides of the debate.

Gun legislation in states forecasts close fight in Congress

As NRA pushes Congress, states consider bills to put guns in schools

Even as the National Rifle Association (NRA) announced a new push today to put armed guards in schools across the country, state lawmakers across the country are considering similar proposals. So far, legislation related to guns on school grounds has come up in at least three dozen states. The vast majority of these bills would make it easier for school personnel, guards, and volunteers to carry guns on campus, while a handful would toughen laws prohibiting firearms at schools.

As Congress weighs gun control, many states try Congress control

Updated on April 5 at 1:42 p.m. ET (see below)

Since Newtown, full employment for gun lobbyists

Since the Dec. 14 shooting that left 26 people dead at a Connecticut elementary school, at least 22 lobbyists have registered to influence Congress on gun-related issues, and several have been holding fundraisers for Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who is a potential swing vote in the legislative battle on Capitol Hill.

Gun ads in Illinois primary a harbinger of things to come?

The gun debate is already emerging as an issue for the 2014 election cycle. In the weeks since the State of the Union address, which President Barack Obama used to make an emotional appeal for gun control, at least seven groups have either purchased airtime in major markets around the country or posted TV-ready ads to their Youtube accounts.

Pro-gun interests hire new lobbyists

Three pro-gun interests have hired lobbyists, according to registration statements filed with the Senate Monday and last week, in the face of a push by Congress to introduce new gun control measures in the wake of the December massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.

Gun debate boomerang: Focus on video games targets Democratic givers

News that the alleged perpetrator of December's schoolhouse massacre in Connecticut had a cache of violent video games and may have been recreating a horrific virtual fantasy could put Democratic politicians in an awkward position with some of their political allies. 

Gun groups extend influence battle to state houses

DENVER -- A group of Democratic state legislators here had barely concluded their press conference unveiling a broad package of gun control bills when an outspoken opponent threatened to make them pay in the next election.

In floor speeches, lawmakers talk about their guns

During debate on the Senate floor over the Compromise of 1850, Henry Foote of MIssissippi pulled out a pistol and waved it around, threatening another senator, Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri. Lawmakers are no longer allowed to bring guns on the floor, but plenty own them, as a survey of Congress by USA Today shows. And they are of course allowed to talk about their guns. In fact, they talk about them in speeches on the floors of the House and Senate, according to a search of Capitol Words.

NRA PAC did not raise much post Sandy Hook

While the National Rifle Association (NRA) has claimed that membership surged in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre in December, there did not appear to be any corresponding flood in contributions to the organization's political action committtee. 

Gun lobby has some chits to collect on Judiciary Committee

Biden pitches gun control in NRA country

When Vice President Joe Biden travels to Richmond, Va. today to participate in a roundtable about gun violence, he'll be visiting a state where the legislature largely has beaten back proposals to regulate guns, and where politicians have gotten $2.2 million in support from gun rights groups over the past two decades.