Madmallard
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After accepting $5,000 in donations from the National Rifle Association between 2006 and 2012, the Democratic lawmaker from Buffalo announced on Facebook earlier this month that he now plans to donate that money to local and national organizations dedicated to fighting for what he called "common sense gun safety policies."
Higgins portrayed the move as proof of an honest change of heart, as events – one mass shooting after another – convinced him that Congress should do something more about gun control.
"As we’ve witnessed the growth of unconscionable gun violence in our elementary schools, clubs, on our streets and even at a concert event, we know that lives are at stake with each day that passes," he said in his Facebook post. "The fact is that the federal government is not doing nearly enough, and accordingly I have intensified my efforts related to common sense gun reform."
But to hear Harold "Budd" Schroeder tell it, Higgins' move is an act of betrayal.
"He told me he was pro-gun," said Schroeder, chairman emeritus of the Shooters Committee on Political Education, or SCOPE. "That was a lie."
First elected to Congress in 2004, Higgins took $1,000 from the NRA for his first re-election campaign, $2,000 in 2008 and $1,000 in 2010 and again in 2012.
At the time, he said in an interview, he was continuing his long-term support of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
But over time – and especially after a deranged young man murdered 20 elementary school children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. – Higgins said he came to realize that an absolute position opposing gun control was the wrong position.
"I think it's all about the events that occurred," Higgins said. "It's the magnitude and frequency of these shootings."
And so, without much notice, Higgins started siding with the vast majority of Democrats who favor stronger gun control measures.
Days after the Newtown shooting, he issued an angry statement lashing into the NRA's argument that armed guards in schools would be the best way to prevent such tragedies.
"One thing is absolutely clear: Turning schools into armed compounds cannot be part of any solution," he said at the time. “I am committed to working toward real change to protect our children, and believe proposals should consider all factors, including meaningful reforms to our gun laws."
Higgins immediately stopped taking NRA contributions and started supporting legislation that the gun group opposed, such as a bill that would allow the federal government to make grants to states and localities to fund gun buybacks, as well as another bill that would create a special congressional committee to study the causes of gun violence.
He started voting reliably on gun control measures, and before long, the congressman who had been endorsed by the NRA a decade ago now has a 100 percent rating from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
Higgins to give NRA donations to anti-gun charities
Higgins portrayed the move as proof of an honest change of heart, as events – one mass shooting after another – convinced him that Congress should do something more about gun control.
"As we’ve witnessed the growth of unconscionable gun violence in our elementary schools, clubs, on our streets and even at a concert event, we know that lives are at stake with each day that passes," he said in his Facebook post. "The fact is that the federal government is not doing nearly enough, and accordingly I have intensified my efforts related to common sense gun reform."
But to hear Harold "Budd" Schroeder tell it, Higgins' move is an act of betrayal.
"He told me he was pro-gun," said Schroeder, chairman emeritus of the Shooters Committee on Political Education, or SCOPE. "That was a lie."
First elected to Congress in 2004, Higgins took $1,000 from the NRA for his first re-election campaign, $2,000 in 2008 and $1,000 in 2010 and again in 2012.
At the time, he said in an interview, he was continuing his long-term support of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
But over time – and especially after a deranged young man murdered 20 elementary school children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. – Higgins said he came to realize that an absolute position opposing gun control was the wrong position.
"I think it's all about the events that occurred," Higgins said. "It's the magnitude and frequency of these shootings."
And so, without much notice, Higgins started siding with the vast majority of Democrats who favor stronger gun control measures.
Days after the Newtown shooting, he issued an angry statement lashing into the NRA's argument that armed guards in schools would be the best way to prevent such tragedies.
"One thing is absolutely clear: Turning schools into armed compounds cannot be part of any solution," he said at the time. “I am committed to working toward real change to protect our children, and believe proposals should consider all factors, including meaningful reforms to our gun laws."
Higgins immediately stopped taking NRA contributions and started supporting legislation that the gun group opposed, such as a bill that would allow the federal government to make grants to states and localities to fund gun buybacks, as well as another bill that would create a special congressional committee to study the causes of gun violence.
He started voting reliably on gun control measures, and before long, the congressman who had been endorsed by the NRA a decade ago now has a 100 percent rating from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
Higgins to give NRA donations to anti-gun charities
