Someone once talked about the evils of taxes, arguing that one of the worst evils is to take money from someone to fund something he vehemently opposes. I don’t remember the quote and I’m not having a lot of luck finding it, but the sentiment is sound.

To be sure, we face this all the time. Some oppose the military, and their tax dollars still fund it. Others oppose Planned Parenthood, yet tax dollars flow there just the same.

However, COVID-19 and the ensuing shutdown of our entire economy had the government trying to figure out how to lessen the impact. They use tax dollars to help all kinds of businesses pay their expenses and employees during the shutdown.

Many people aren’t crazy about tax dollars funding private enterprises, which is fair. Perhaps worst, though, is that it funded political action as well.

Gun control activists are lining their pockets with taxpayer-funded coronavirus economic relief while at the same time paying millions to antigun candidates who would crush the Second Amendment rights of American citizens.

The difficulty is deciding which is more infuriating, the wanton abuse of taxpayer-funded support for small businesses or the audacity of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and Giffords: Courage to Fight Gun Violence co-founders former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband and Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Arizona, Mark Kelly. Brady netted between $350,000 and $1 million, while Giffords grabbed between $150,000-$350,000. At the same time, Brady pledged $4 million for gun control in the 2020 election, and Giffords just announced a plan to spend $1.25 million in Colorado alone to support former Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper in his race against Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner.

…

To help bridge the troubled waters for businesses, Congress passed the CARES Act, which provided Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans for employers to keep workers on their payroll. Watchdogs have zeroed in on companies that received loans but could’ve gone without them. Brady and Giffords are using taxpayer dollars to keep their operations afloat, while spending millions to buy the gun control candidates they want, including Mark Kelly. Because money is fungible, American taxpayers are underwriting gun control organizations and their efforts to infringe on the Second Amendment rights of those taxpayers.

When asked about receiving PPP loans, Brady’s spokesman told the Washington Free Beacon, “We just applied and were approved, obviously, under the same sort of criteria as others with concerns for payroll.”

Except for two important factors.

One, as a non-profit funded by donations, they really weren’t as likely to be impacted as a private business that couldn’t make any money.

Second, they’re political action groups, meaning taxpayer dollars went to help fund groups trying to advance a political agenda. Can you imagine the outcry if the NRA received PPP money? Oh, it’s all we’d hear about for months.

The truth is, no political group should get taxpayer money, especially not funds intended for small businesses. After all, PPP money ran out rather quickly at one point, leaving hundreds of small business owners wondering what they would do. That, fortunately, has been dealt with, but I don’t think anyone intended for Brady and Giffords to use that money.

Especially since financial contributions were likely still flowing in.

So thanks to taxpayer dollars, our opponents have gotten a financial leg up as we head into the coming election season. Whether or not you wanted to back either group, you did. We all did.

And that’s a problem that should never have happened.