The National Rifle Association (NRA) has one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington. For years they have enjoyed success in defeating efforts at tighter gun control legislation by invoking the Second Amendment of the Constitution which calls for a citizen’s “right to bear arms.” Although the amendment originally is thought to be about defense of the country, the NRA uses it to justify any individual’s right to buy and keep a gun.

Emboldened by their success over the years, the NRA lobby is now, according to a report in the New York Times, venturing afield to such areas as financial regulation, campaign finances, health care. And even the selection of Supreme Court justices. (They oppose the confirmation of the liberal-minded Elena Kagan, for a seat on the Supreme Court.)

In the recent health care debate, NRA lobbyists managed to tack on a provision to the bill banning insurance companies from charging higher premiums for people with guns in their homes. They also succeeded in exempting themselves from a proposal for interest groups to disclose their financial donors. And in a bill restricting credit card use, they succeeded in adding an irrelevant provision that allows people to carry loaded guns in national parks.

So why is the NRA so powerful? The answer is “votes.” With the upcoming November mid-term elections, both Democrats and Republicans are giving in to NRA pressure, because the organization influences such a large number of voters. And if legislators don’t go along with NRA, the organization threatens to turn out not only its armies of supporters but also a well-financed media blitz which could help defeat a candidate.

The rationale for not opposing the NRA goes something like this: If the candidate opposes the NRA they are likely to lose their seat, and therefore would be unable to support important legislation they are already committed to. Even the Speaker of the House, Harry Reid, admits he is “a champion of the Second Amendment.”

The Supreme Court also seems on the side of the NRA. A month ago, for the second time in three years, they ruled that the Second Amendment of the Constitution guarantees an individual’s rights to own a gun.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not opposed to having a license to own a gun for target practice or hunting. I used to shoot competitively in a Rifle Club in high school and I gave hunted small game. But these are regulated activities. On the contrary, the NRA promotes the idea that anyone has a right to walk into a sporting goods store and purchase a gun.

Representative Caroline McCarthy of New York, an advocate of stricter gun control laws, whose husband was an accidental victim of a shooting spree, blames for the fact that her colleagues on both sides of the aisle have capitulated to the NRA, to campaign funds. The organization has donated over $17 million to candidate in the last 20 years and spent millions more on its lobbying activities.