From Russia with Love for the NRA

It all started with a Russian mobster. Now the gun lobby is buddy-buddy with Moscow and attacking anyone who dares question the Trump-Putin nexus.

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The National Rifle Association’s relationship with Russia dates back to 2011, when conservative Nashville lawyer G. Kline Preston IV introduced then-NRA President (and former American Conservative Union chair) David Keene to
Alexander Torshin, a senator in Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party. Torshin was also known to have ties to the Federal Security Service (FSB), the Russian intelligence agency formerly known as the KGB. Preston is an expert on Russian law whose has a white porcelain bust of Putin in his office.

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A few months later, in the fall of 2013, Keene traveled to Russia for a conference hosted by an organization called The Right to Bear Arms. “The former president of the legendary NRA” [Keene] spoke at the conference, and Torshin attended.

The head of The Right to Bear Arms is the enigmatic Russian national Maria Butina. At various times, Butina has portrayed herself as a Siberian furniture store owner, a “representative of the Russian Federation,” a graduate student in Washington, D.C., a journalist, and a liaison between the Trump transition team/administration and Russia. She enjoys a close relationship with Alexander Torshin.

https://medium.com/LaddEveritt/from-russia-with-love-for-the-nra-ffc69088fe41

Yet another Trump/Russia connection, only this time his arms merchant friends at the extreme right-wing NRA/ILA are also involved. In the mean time, 33,000 Americans die each year and another 75,000 are wounded as a result of the treacherous influence of the US right-wing gun lobby and the apologists who enable them.