The ATF, charged with policing the gun industry, lets dealers get away with falsifying records and selling firearms without background checks.
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.
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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.
A quarter of the briefs filed in support of the NRA came from organizations and individuals who have been paid by the gun group. Only one disclosed the connection.
Politics
The research identified broad acceptance of political violence and authoritarian rule.
The gun group collected $97 million in dues in 2021, according to an annual financial report. That’s a 43 percent drop from 2018 and the lowest figure since 2006.
The annual gathering featured conspiracy theories, acres of military-style wares, and an insistence that guns are not the real reason for America’s recent carnage.
Bang for the Buck
Alan Gottlieb, the leader of two smaller gun groups, is assisting an NRA board member’s quest to replace the CEO at this weekend’s annual meeting.
A year before gun rights groups sued to stop California from collecting information on firearms ownership, the NRA’s chief researcher acknowledged that its advocacy prevents accurate studies.
Attorney General Letitia James’s lawsuit against the gun group's top executives will move forward, with the judge noting that it tells "a grim story of greed, self-dealing, and lax financial oversight.”
Gun Policy
In Oxford's home state, Republicans have had a lock on the statehouse for decades, stymieing reforms despite broad public support.
Hacked documents provide a rare glimpse into the gun group's efforts to seek influence at the Supreme Court, which is now hearing a major public carry case.
Despite its legal and regulatory problems, the gun group — which recently lost its bankruptcy bid — is in the black for the first time in five years.
The ruling is a significant blow to the gun group, which is facing dissolution in New York and was seeking to move to Texas.
Accusations that the NRA’s board of directors has been a rubber stamp for Wayne LaPierre have been swirling for years. Evidence suggests the board attorney worked on the group’s bankruptcy plan before board members even knew of its existence.
Internal documents show an NRA law firm spent at least five months developing the group’s plan to declare bankruptcy and reincorporate outside New York — a strategy some insiders view with skepticism.
So far, the federal government is the biggest creditor to emerge in the gun group’s bankruptcy case.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said her office would not allow the group to “avoid accountability.”
