The NRA vs. The world
Last week, Attitude General of New York Letitia James brought a blockbuster civil lawsuit against the National Rifle Association, accuses it of a host of financial crimes and seeks its dissolution. The NRA has long been a staunch ally of the Republican Party, spending millions to help Trump win in 2016.
Her office ran a major national announcement the day before, speculating that it would target a company or person to the Trumps. But zero in the NRA was the culmination of a long-running probe that has generated summer consternation among gun group allies, pointing out that James is not understated about her views on the subject.
“The NRA holds [itself] out as a charity, but in fact, [it] really [is] a terrorist organization, ”she said in a 2018 interview with Ebony.
Many of the allegations in the 100-plus-page case, including that the NRA CEO used the organization’s funds to fly his family members on private jets, were misrepresented in media reports last year. . But James’s lawsuit gave those concerns the imprimatur of law enforcement, and the suit mentions NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre himself.
It is highly unlikely that the lawsuit will be resolved before the election, and the NRA has counted, calling the state’s case a political attack (the NRA president called it “a coup by a political opportunist – a desperate movement that is part of a political rank vendetta. ”) But the pack could have a big impact on November – the only question is how.
Several people close to the NRA spoke with POLITICO about how the suit will affect the group. Two things are all but certain: First, it will whip up NRA supporters and likely drive an increase in membership. And second, it will be expensive. Sources said the group’s mounting legal costs could seep in money that would go to TV commercials designed to get those new members to the ballot box. That the lawsuit in New York could clarify what more means: the legions of voters motivated by perceived attacks on gun rights, as the formal force of the largest group lobbying for them.
Since the Trump election, the NRA has faced many financial problems, including some nice ones that insiders have long said they attack themselves. In particular, the group’s spending on legal bills since the Trump election may have done too much of how much it has spent on Trump to win that race; a legal submission from his former PR company claimed in April that the gun group’s top lawyer had paid it $ 54 million, as The Trace report. And their costly legal battles have not subsided, indicating that their legal spending since then has probably only grown.
Meanwhile, the NRA’s spending on elections has declined.
“They were a nonfactor in 2018,” said one person close to the gun group POLITICO. “They will become an even bigger nonfactor financially by 2020.”
In 2016, the group spent more than $ 50 million helping Republicans. In 2018, per OpenSecrets, the NRA spent just $ 9.5 million on federal elections. And so far by 2020, the group’s expenditures do not look impressive. In June 2016, the NRA spent more than $ 5 million. This past June, however, the NRA reportedly spent only $ 2 million so far, according to Federal Election Commission records. A recent poll shows that it spent $ 530,000 in canvassing in August to support Trump. Meanwhile, the group has laid off dozens of workers.
Despite all this, the group’s leadership is seeking telegraph optimism. In an interview with the Washington Free Beacon, a top NRA official said the group will spend ‘tens of millions’ in the fall and has added thousands of new members since June. Assuming these numbers are equal, the association has probably raised about $ 3 million in new membership fees (on its website it says annual memberships are $ 45) so far this summer.
And another challenge could be to maintain the trust of large donors. The association states that the allegations in James’ case are fancy, and that the private jets and hunting trips were for the good of the NRA. It is an open question whether that defense will convince the group’s major donors to pass on.
For the opponents of the group, all this brings a lot of shadow joy.
“Simply put, the NRA will spend this cycle less on politics and more on lawyers, and that will make us all safer,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, which pushes for stricter gun laws.
