Whom does the NRA really speak for? asked Jordan Weissmann. Yes, the National Rifle Association represents 4 million gun ownersthe deer hunters, and self-defense-minded 2nd Amendment devotees who would kindly like the government to keep its hands off their Glocks and AR-15s. But in a very direct way, the NRA also represents Bushmaster, Browning, Smith & Wesson, and the rest of the gun industry. Gun-makers have donated at least $39 million to the NRA in recent years, and have become deeply enmeshed with the organizations revenues through special gun-purchase deals and ads in its publication. As a result, the NRA adamantly opposes virtually all restrictions on gun saleseven ones that NRA members support, such as requiring background checks at gun shows and banning sales to people on the terrorist watch list. Gun-makers can no longer depend on a shrinking pool of hunters; they need to sell arsenals of powerful weaponry to hard-core gun devotees preparing to fight a tyrannical government. So when the NRA speaks, its these extremists and their suppliers who are talking, not your average Joe Six-Shooter.

The NRA is basically helping to make sure the gun industry can increase sales, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, a New York Democrat and longtime gun control advocate, told The Huffington Post.

The sales of guns and ammunition are going through the roof, since this catastrophe. All of the reports are reported through December 31 2012. There doesn't seem to be any reports of January sales yet. But, there is a great deal of anecdotal evidence the gun shows, and gun distributors are taking full advantage of this opportunity to cash in big time on the profits of guns and ammunition. Hundreds of thousands of people who never owned a gun before will be filling up the coffers of the gun manufacturing industry, no matter what laws get passed or not. The damage is already done.

The horse is out of the barn...the bell can't be un-rung.