The NRA showed that it cares more about fancy trips and suits for its executives than about gun safety.
The NRA cut spending on gun safety programs while its leader went on lavish spending sprees, internal documents reveal.
The Washington Post reported on the details of the gun extremist group’s 2018 financials on Monday.
“Amid last year’s financial crunch, the organization cut funds for gun training, a key purpose spelled out in the NRA charter,” the Post noted.
The NRA cut spending for its gun safety and marksmanship program from $42.6 million in 2017 to $32.7 million in 2018.
But while his organization was skimping on gun safety, NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre was racking up expenses of over $200,000 for fancy suits for his personal wardrobe.
The NRA also increased its spending on travel and entertainment during that time period, the Post learned, laying out $10.1 million — up from $8.7 million in 2017. The group also spent $14 million more on fundraising in 2018 than in 2017.
“For administrative costs to go up at the same time that one of the core missions of the NRA is going down, that has me incensed,” Steve Hoback, a former employee of the NRA’s safety and training division, told the Post.
The NRA has been in a cash crunch in recent years, and has had layoffs and cuts to perks like office coffee as a result. It also faced public embarrassment after LaPierre’s excessive spending was revealed in a messy and embarrassing lawsuit between the NRA and Ackerman McQueen, the advertising agency that also operates NRA-TV.
And while the NRA’s top leaders are suing each other, other NRA representatives have created controversy by attacking the teenage survivors of the Parkland school shooting and making racist comments about a congresswoman.
The NRA also did not spend as much as usual to defend its favored candidates in the 2018 midterms, and instead pro-gun safety Democrats won many key races.
Meanwhile, for the first time in years, the House has passed legislation addressing gun safety — over the NRA’s objections.
The NRA’s corrupt practices continue to be exposed, and the gun extremists are finally losing some legislative ground after years of enabling violence, death, and destruction.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
