The National Rifle Association is accused of buying lawmakers all the time. Anyone who takes a pro-gun stance is accused of being bought and paid for by the gun lobby in general and the NRA in particular. Time and time again, we hear this claim despite there being zero evidence of bribery or anything of the sort.

And considering the way some have been dishing dirt on the group, if they’d done anything of the sort, we’d have probably heard about it.

Meanwhile, though, Everytown is dropping piles of cash. At what point does it count as buying candidates?

A national gun violence prevention group on Tuesday launched a $200,000 Spanish-language digital ad campaign slamming Tony Gonzales, the Republican running to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Will Hurd.

The two ads released by the Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund attack Gonzales’ positions on gun control and health care. They are the latest in a frenzy of ad purchases in the 23rd Congressional District, a sprawling purple district stretching from San Antonio to El Paso, that Democrats are targeting this fall.

The first ad – “Ni un dedo” or “Not even a finger” – criticizes Gonzales’ stand against restrictions on gun ownership. The ad shows images of the August 2019 mass shooting in El Paso, where a gunman opened fire in a Walmart parking lot and killed 23.

“Every parent asks, what wouldn’t we do to protect our children?” a narrator says in Spanish. “On the other hand, Republican Tony Gonzales says he wouldn’t even lift a finger.”

The second ad – “Protectores” or “Protectors” – focuses on Gonzales’ support for repealing the Affordable Care Act, as a narrator says those efforts would hurt those with pre-existing conditions during a pandemic. The ad clips language from a candidate questionnaire in which Gonzales does voice support for repealing Obamacare but specifically notes that “Pre-existing conditions will be covered to ensure that citizens are covered and not left between the cracks.”

Nevermind that the El Paso shooter obtained his firearm after apparently passing a background check. What further restrictions would they want? Most mass shootings are carried out with handguns, not WASR-10s, after all.

And, of course, let’s note that Everytown is straying from the gun control that is supposed to be their single issue. That was something the NRA got blasted over.

More importantly, though, why is it that when they spend money to defeat a candidate, it’s good and noble and pure, but if the NRA or any other gun rights group does it, it’s buying candidates?

See, that’s what pisses me off the most. I can accept that people disagree with me about guns. They have a right to be wrong, after all. What I can’t accept is the rank hypocrisy that allows them to justify doing the same stuff they’re criticizing their opponents for. They know damn good and well the NRA isn’t doing anything wrong or immoral with their campaign spending. They know it because they do the exact same thing.

They just don’t have the integrity to acknowledge that fact.