Answer:
The answer is: C) Special interests; they are bearing the costs.
Step-by-step explanation:
A group of people, institutions or companies that share a common goal are more likely to achieve them or be more successful at their execution when they are easily and publicly identified to them. In politics, this is the whole concept behind lobbying. Generally those groups that take the effort to make their demands public will be more successful in achieving them. That is true even if some other group or the majority of the population suffers from those actions.
We can use the NRA as an example for this assumption. They are a well organized, funded and publicized group that firmly believes in their right to bear arms. I myself share that same belief. But I doubt anyone could argue why we need to sell machine guns or grenade launchers to common ordinary people that aren´t even trained to use them. But they have made their claim so well known and connected with the right politicians, that even mass murdering machines are available to the common public. And the cost of their actions are been paid mostly by innocent victims (and their families and communities) and the nation as a whole.