NRA Spending More on Lawyers as Revenue Falls, Membership Lags

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Bloomberg

The National Rifle Association’s revenue is continuing to slide as record legal bills consume a growing share of its budget. The gun-rights group generated $139.7 million in the first eight months of the year, an internal NRA document reviewed by Bloomberg shows. During the same time period, the NRA’s office of the general counsel spent more than $40 million, the documents showed.

The organization’s annual revenue is on track to be the lowest in more than a decade as legal costs for 2022 approach $60 million, set to exceed previous records. One of the reasons for the decline was lagging memberships, which make up the largest source of income and fell far short of what the organization expected, the document shows.

The NRA’s revenue has been declining from its 2016 peak of $367 million and the legal expenses have increased since reports of abusive spending surfaced in 2019. The fresh look at the organization’s finances comes as it defends itself against a New York probe of its financial practices. New York Attorney General Letitia James has sued the nonprofit and its leaders for alleged mismanagement and self-dealing, which the NRA denies.

Andrew Arulanandam, managing director of NRA Public Affairs, said it would be inaccurate to compare the NRA’s partial-year figures with results from previous full years because it “ignores the cyclical nature of the Association’s business, and fails to account for current activity in fundraising, membership and NRA events.” The NRA’s legal costs are “an investment in the Association and its fight for survival,” Arulanandam said in an email, adding that the legal spending aims to defend the association and their constitutional freedoms.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-05/nra-spending-more-on-lawyers-as-revenue-falls-membership-lags

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Shut 'em down.

[AndyS]

1. Ms James is on a roll!

The NRA and Trump too!

Karma can be very unforgiving . . .

[republianmushroom]

2. LIKE IT

[Evolve Dammit]

3. A fascist organization. Have friends who are lifetime members and they are clueless. n/t

[J_William_Ryan]

4. The consequence of an extremist rightwing Supreme Court.

After Bruen, having established the legal foundation to eviscerate almost every firearm regulatory measure, the NRA has become pointless and irrelevant.

The whole point of the NRA – being a member and kowtowing to the NRA as a Republican politician – was to oppose new gun laws; now that’s the job of the Supreme Court.

[keithbvadu2]

5. The NRA used to be for sportsmen, hunters and gun safety.

The NRA used to be for sportsmen, hunters and gun safety.

Now it has become an industry owned shill for the sale of more guns and the enrichment of its leaders.
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NRA dues and solicitations
comment from a blog (DU I think)

I had a coworker who was a big time gun owner who kept a gun in every room in the house just in case someone broke in (lots of problems with that idea, may be worth a blog article someday, but that’s what he did). He even went so far as to start buying more guns for each room after a school shooting, like home invasion and mass shooting are correlated somehow. He had let his NRA membership lapse and refused to renew it because he got tired of nonstop requests for donations. To him all the membership did was give the NRA to badger him for more money with phone calls, and direct mailings. If the
organization is as strapped for cash as it appears, those solicitations may have gone way over the top and people are simply tired of being badgered for money and are choosing to let their membership to lapse.

[halfulglas]

10. I'm sure it's not just the badgering for money. They've outlived their usefulness.

Made themselves obsolescent. The fact is that gun nuts have no need for the NRA. Practically everyone in this country, whatever their age or training, who wants a gun can now get one. They have no need for the NRA to lobby for them to be able to own guns, and most state laws don't even require training to legally buy one, which the NRA used to give. So the only ones who need the NRA are the manufacturers.

[ampm]

6. Nevada checking in

I belonged to the NRA back in the ninety's, and then they changed. I watched them go more Republican, and I stopped being a part of it

[mountain grammy]

7. Guess Putin's too busy to help.

[yankee87]

16. Beat me

So true. Putin too busy

[Grins]

8. "Russia? If you're listening..."

Send MORE MONEY!!!!

[DENVERPOPS]

9. Exactly

Get that Russian NRA agent bimbo to send cash. RUSSIA????? allowing a chapter of our NRA????, I laughed my ass off the first time I heard that.

What a blatant way to launder Putin's massive "donor" amount of money thru Russia's so called "NRA Chapter", then "transfer" the money the U.S. NRA headquarters, to be distributed to Republican Politicians.

[twodogsbarking]

11. Putin's Russia stops giving money to the NRA.

[Bengus81]

12. Membership lags but Mush figures those MAGOT idiots will pay him $10-$20 per month

For one of his blue checkmarks?!?!

[NickB79]

13. They're losing members to newer gun rights groups

The NRA has an image problem. Younger gun owners see them as old Elmer Fudds, carrying their walnut and steel shotguns, not YouTube gun celebrities shooting AR-15's.

The newer gun rights groups have also been more aggressive in their legal filings, getting new pro-gun legislation passed that the NRA never did.

[MissMillie]

14. Their leadership stole all their money

Is it any wonder they're having a hard time with revenue? Who wants to join an organization with crooked leadership?

[Martin68]

15. Glad to hear it. Toxic organization. Back in the 1960s they were a gun safety organization. They

still do a little of that, but are focused mainly on electing politicians who will opposes any kind of common sense gun control, and getting rich on donations from gun manufacturers.