The role of the gun industry in America’s gun violence epidemic.
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National Rifle Association
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.
Bang for the Buck
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.
LaPierre has cultivated an image as a paragon of American gun culture, but video of his clumsy marksmanship — and details regarding his Rodeo Drive shopping trips — tell another story.
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.”
Attorney General Karl Racine alleges the gun group improperly siphoned millions of dollars from an affiliated foundation.
The streaming network lost money and never gained significant viewership, but it helped groom talking heads whose election conspiracies and other falsehoods now reach millions online.
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.
Election 2020
Spending by groups on either side of the gun issue is nearly even in federal races this year.
A consulting operation that's been tied to allegedly illegal campaign tactics by the RNC in Nevada and Montana is running the gun group's get-out-the-vote effort in at least 16 states.
Documents show that the NRA's new anti-Biden ad emerged from the same web of firms involved in potentially illegal coordination in 2016 races.
At the same time, 94 percent of Republican candidates remain in the group's good graces.