Much has been written about the shameful killing of Trayvon Martin in Florida. This article is not about his killer, gun-toting vigilante George Zimmerman. Much has been written about him also. This article is about the unholy alliance that helped to create the ‘Stand Your Ground’ (or Castle Doctrine) laws that enabled George Zimmerman to get away with murder in Florida: The Koch Brothers, the NRA and ALEC.
ALEC, also known as the American Legislative Exchange Council, is a not-for-profit entity whose goal is to rewrite laws and produce ‘model bills’ that govern our rights. It boasts a $7 million a year budget, and calls itself the nation’s largest group of state legislators but, in fact, the majority of its funding comes from corporations and special interest groups. So, it should be no surprise that its laws mostly benefit corporate America. Among the myriad of corporations funding ALEC are Koch Industries and the National Rifle Association. ALEC has been instrumental in promoting the so-called ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws that are shielding Trayvon Martin’s killer. There are now 24 states with sweeping ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws, just like the one in Florida.
The Koch Brothers are billionaires who spend millions of dollars funding groups, like ALEC and the Tea Party’s Americans for Prosperity, to rewrite our laws in their own right-wing ideological image. Twice a year, the Koch Brothers invite conservative politicians and millionaires to a summit to discuss legislative agenda. Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas are two of the past attendees. Ergo, we should not be surprised about the Citizens United ruling. The brothers are not shy about spending millions to influence legislation and, perhaps, buy an election while they’re at it.
In the wake of the Trayvon Martin murder, the Koch Brothers sought to distance themselves from the ensuing controversy by releasing a statement saying that they had nothing to do with it. This is an utter lie. Michael Morgan of Koch Industries has sat on ALEC’s Private Enterprise Board for 10 years, is the Kansas State Corporate Co-Chair, and was the ‘Vice Chairman’ level sponsor of the 2011 ALEC Annual Conference.
Not surprisingly, the driving force behind the ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws is the NRA. Why? Simple economics. The NRA championed the original Florida law in 2004, and has continued to push for these laws across the nation. In August 2005, NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer asked legislators and lobbyists at a closed-door meeting of ALEC’s Criminal Justice Task Force to adopt the Florida ‘Castle Doctrine’ bill as an ALEC model bill. According to the NRA, her suggestion “was well received” and was approved “unanimously.”
So, there you have it. The dots have been connected. It’s getting easier and easier to buy legislation without the direct input of the American people who, especially in this particular case, live and die by these laws.
Writer’s Note: An article just popped up on my screen regarding the ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws. The Congressional Black Caucus, an all-black, all-Democratic group of 42 Senators and Representatives have introduced a resolution to repeal the ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws in every state, including Florida.
Categories: ALEC, Koch Brothers, NRA, Stand Your Ground Laws
Revolutionary Radar 
Can’t the gun industry find something else to manufacture? Other industries have! Just some more dangerous American absurdity!
An “unholy alliance”? This is much, much worse than unholy. These are the “axes” of evil…and this is not a mispelling or typo: they would give the axe to anything which stood the way of corporate profits. The gun lobby/industry is simply the civilian arm of the military mindset, sanctioned by the empire mentality. These three are the trilateral commission on the obscenity of ethical abuse and human debasement. The Koch boys are simply toxic human waste, the NRA is the false bragadocio of insecure male virility and the ALEC is a confederacy of short-sighted monetary maggot idiots.
Reblogged this on McSpocky News.
Seriously? the Koch Brothers have as much right to fund special interests as much as George Soros or bill Gates. Just because you don’t like our gun laws doesn’t mean the Koch Brothers are evil. But then again I would say I find much of what Soros has done to be nefarious..
Seriously, Crazy? Let’s talk order of magnitude here. And as for guns, they aren’t the issue. It’s the laws that are the problem. Letting civilians shoot at will is absurd. Since the foolish “Stand Your Ground” laws, what is called ‘justifiable’ homicide has gone up 300%. You’ve got to be kidding me. Do we look any safer? In fact, I think Americans ought to be damned scared with a bunch of batshit crazy, guntoting self anointed lawmen running around. Give me a break.
This is an interesting viewpoint. I’ve been following the Zimmerman case for quite some time now and discussing a few items on our blog (http://abovepromotions.wordpress.com/) from a crisis communications and branding standpoint. Will look further into the “alliance” theory before making any other comments. Your post would make for a good media story.
I am still unsure about what the Koch brothers are really after. But they do have the right to fund what they want to fund.