Democrats and liberals often paint the National Rifle Association as merchants of death, whose hands drip blood after every mass shooting. But it turns out that gun control lobbyists, liberal media outlets, and the Democratic Party may be the heartless ones.

BuzzFeed News, which leans left, according to most observers, reported Friday that while gun control groups such as Everytown for Gun Safety and the Brady Campaign began as a voice for victims, they’ve since evolved into little more than money generators.

Lonnie and Sandy Phillips lost their daughter in the 2012 Aurora, Colorado, movie theater mass shooting, and joined the Brady Campaign doing survivor outreach.

“Here’s the deal: We really don’t have a true grassroots gun violence prevention movement in this country,” Lonnie told BuzzFeed. “It’s not a true movement, in the sense that everyone is not working from the ground up. We have two organizations who have not accomplished something since the Brady Bill.”

It seemed that once a survivor’s name was added to a petition, that was the last they heard from the gun control organizations.

“I would call survivors and they would say, ‘I haven’t heard from [Brady] in three years,’” Sandy recalled. “They don’t know what to do with survivors. They’re a business.”

Lonnie put in, “Their goal is to build their net worth. They’re building themselves a lifetime job.”

It’s not just the gun control lobby — mainstream media outlets and the Democratic Party have little use for anyone who doesn’t toe the party line.

In the wake of last year’s mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school that left 17 dead, CNN conducted what was billed as a conversation on gun violence — but it was wholly a one-way conversation.

When Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students were asked to participate, Colton Haab answered the call. CNN producer Carrie Stevenson asked him to prepare statements and questions to ask the politicians and other participants.

“In my interview with CNN, I talked about arming teachers, if they were willing to carry on campus,” he told Fox News host Tucker Carlson afterwards. But in the end, “CNN wrote the question for me.”

Haab’s suggestion apparently didn’t meet CNN’s agenda. Stevenson told Haab that he “needed to stick to the script.”

With the Democratic Party it’s all politics — a means to win elections. They especially see it as a roadmap to take back the White House in 2020.

Politico reported that Democratic presidential candidates are “road-testing” a campaign to distinguish gun violence and their platform from President Donald Trump’s rhetoric, which Politico described as “racist.” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, is typical of the 2020 lineup.

“To me, the tipping point was first of all Parkland, and you could see those results in the midterm, where those kids didn’t just march, they actually voted,” Klobuchar told reporters. “And then now, with these horrendous massacres in Dayton and El Paso.”

According to On The Issues, the “commonsense gun laws” that Klobuchar supports includes extending the 10-year ban on so-called “assault rifles” as well as on magazines having a capacity greater than 10 rounds.

The ban itself passed the Senate in 1994 by a slim 52-48 vote. It was never renewed because it had no discernible effect on firearm-related homicides.

Although both Republicans and the NRA are blasted for opposing “commonsense gun laws,” that’s not the case. The problem is distinguishing the “commonsense” from the ineffective.

Conservative freshman Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Texas Republican and former U.S. Navy SEAL, recognizes that the firearm isn’t the problem — it’s the person behind it. With that in mind, both he and Trump support “red flag laws,” laws that would remove firearms from the possession of someone who demonstrates a present danger to himself or others.

There’s just one caveat — such a law would need to be drafted so as to preserve the fundamental due process rights of the accused.

The NRA, which has become the left’s favorite whipping boy, also endorses red flag laws, referred to as Emergency Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs). The NRA lists nine requirements that would preserve due process.

According to Article II of its bylaws, the NRA represents gun owners and the Constitution, particularly the Second Amendment.

The NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action is its lobbying arm, and while gun manufacturers and dealers may, by extension, derive some benefit from its efforts, they’re not truly clients — the people and the Constitution are. And the NRA keeps its members informed constantly — unlike gun control lobbyists.

If survivors want to feel a part of something, they should ditch the Brady Campaign and consider joining the NRA. They’d feel the love at the annual conventions, and would be a part of an organization that supports gun control that’s truly “commonsense.”

Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to BizPac Review and Liberty Unyielding. He’s also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter, who can often be found honing his skills at the range. To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.