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Long-Powerful US Gun Lobby Mired in Scandal, Infighting

Rob Garver

   A nationwide call for increased regulation of firearms, sparked by the
   mass shootings in Texas and Ohio over the weekend, comes at a time when
   one of the most powerful voices on the pro-gun rights side of the
   argument, the National Rifle Association, is mired in multiple scandals
   and reeling from infighting among its top leadership.

   Gun rights activists would normally be looking to the NRA to take the
   lead in combating calls for tighter gun laws. The NRA is the largest of
   the U.S. gun rights organizations that lobby lawmakers to block new gun
   regulations. In 2018, the NRA spent more than $5 million on its
   lobbying operations, making it the largest component of the broader gun
   rights lobby, which collectively spent more than $12.1 million,
   according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

   The NRA and its allies also have the support of a firearms industry
   that takes in billions of dollars every year in revenue. According to
   the business research firm IBISWorld, stores that sell guns and
   ammunition took in about $11 billion in revenue last year, and their
   businesses have grown at more than twice the rate of the broader U.S.
   economy over the past five years.

   NRA difficulties

   The NRA has run into a rough patch. It is facing investigations into
   its tax-exempt status in New York, a congressional inquiry into its
   ties to figures associated with the Russian government, and a court
   battle with Ackerman McQueen, the advertising firm that for decades
   helped sculpt the group's public image.

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