The collision of two American epidemics.
The programs, policies, and people driving positive change in America’s gun violence problem.
American lives, shaped by guns.
The National Rifle Association is one of the most powerful special interest groups in America. We’re investigating how it spends its money.
Our team, our mission, our partners, and more. Plus: How to contact us.
We report stories that would go untold. Generous readers sustain our work.
Sign up now to get our latest stories and eye-opening briefings.
National Rifle Association
An email obtained by The Trace criticizes a lack of transparency around ongoing staff reductions, which have hit the group’s fundraising staff especially hard. “Why have we not been advised regarding termination of employees?” it reads.
Bang for the Buck
New York Attorney General Letitia James said her office would not allow the group to “avoid accountability.”
Attorney General Karl Racine alleges the gun group improperly siphoned millions of dollars from an affiliated foundation.
CEO Wayne LaPierre, who is being investigated for tax fraud and collected $1.9 million in compensation last year, repaid $300,000 to the gun group.
Bill Brewer promised to rescue the National Rifle Association from perilous legal straits, but he’s won only one of the 10 expensive suits he’s filed. Insiders say he’s inappropriately prioritizing the protection of chief executive Wayne LaPierre.
While describing extensive corruption at the gun group, Joshua Powell’s book depicts its leader as an inept manager with a self-pitying streak.
Meanwhile, the gun group's legal costs soared.
Politics
The NRA and like-minded groups cast the sales surge as an inflection point in the gun debate. Experts aren't convinced.
Breaking down the allegations in the New York attorney general’s lawsuit seeking to dissolve the gun group.
Calling the gun group “a personal piggy bank” for executives, Letitia James laid out a pattern of financial mismanagement, many details of which were first reported by The Trace.
For more than two decades, the National Rifle Association has used member money to fund a covert campaign to keep Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre and his loyalists in power. That’s the story told in a recently released episode…
The gun group rails against state power, but almost always rallies behind the cops — who are also reliable donors.
William A. Brewer III certainly has the look of a power attorney. And he enjoys name recognition in the legal world. But does he have the clout to rein in the Attorney General of New York? National Rifle Association…
Ackerman McQueen, the National Rifle Association’s former marketing and public relations agency, is asking a federal judge to bar William A. Brewer III and his law firm from representing the gun group in a lawsuit between the two parties, who…
Coronavirus & Guns
The pandemic has prompted the gun group to slash staff salaries and cancel its annual conference. Meanwhile, it’s inked a partnership with BlazeTV, which airs broadcasters who’ve claimed the virus posed little risk to Americans.
A list of board members, executives, and other high-ranking staffers who have departed the gun group as Wayne LaPierre consolidated power.
