Every time there is a mass shooting, and it is far too often, cable news outlets trot out advocates and victims to scream about how Republicans are beholden to the National Rifle Association.

We are told that the politicians care more about all that NRA money and they don’t care about the kids who are now dead. The argument is disingenuous when it comes from professional adults. When it comes from kids and young adults who just experienced a trauma, it’s clear they are being exploited to achieve a political gain. Not only is it sick, it is not true. All you have to do to dispel this obvious falsehood is look at the campaign accounts of Alabama’s Republican legislators and look at the NRA donations:

Here is what these politicians raised in 2016 alone:

Why this matters: If these amount are enough to purchase these politicians than they have a lot of owners. In fact, for Congressman Mo Brooks the NRA is the 91st largest donor of all his donors. This argument makes no sense, there are far bigger political players in politics than the NRA and any member of the media can see that with a minor amount of research. The real power of the NRA is in its engaged members and gun owners who support their cause, not the pittance it donates to politicians.

The details:

— The NRA has roughly 5 million members, but there are between 73 million and 81 million gun owners.

— NRA members are far more politically engaged than gun control opponents.

— Over half the guns in the United States are owned by 3 percent of the Americans.

— The demonization of gun owners never leads to gun control, it leads to more guns being purchased.

Dale Jackson hosts a daily radio show from 7-11 a.m. on NewsTalk 770 AM/92.5 FM WVNN and a weekly television show, “Guerrilla Politics,” on WAAY-TV, both in North Alabama. Follow him @TheDaleJackson.

CORRECTION: A previous graphic (here) did not correctly break out the years the NRA’s spending took place.