The New York Times has an editorial today castigating the National Rifle Association for doing the bidding of gun manufacturing companies, rather than its members. It cites NRA members’ support for background checks before sales are made at gun shows, which the NRA has opposed, as an example.

The editorial also appropriately places the gun makers’ efforts to sell more of their product, without regard to public preferences or safety, in the context of the fight we’re leading to end the fiction that corporations have constitutional rights:

Businesses and special-interest groups often cloak their profit motives in the garb of constitutional rights — think Big Tobacco and its opposition to restrictions on smoking in public places and bold warnings on cigarette packages. The Supreme Court has made clear that the right to bear arms is not absolute and is subject to regulations and controls. Yet the N.R.A. clings to its groundless arguments that tough regulations violate the Second Amendment. Many of those arguments serve no purpose other than to increase the sales of guns and bullets.

The full editorial is available here.