NRA & Gun Manufacturers?

[Rod Snell]

https://www.nra.org/NRA-UniformDisclosureStatement.pdf
The uniform disclosure statement of the NRA is published as required by law.
The current NRA financial report is available on request.
Nonprofits are not required under any federal statutes to post their annual reports, nor to give them away free. Much of the activity is the NRA Foundation, which is about training and education. https://www.nrafoundation.org/media/1785/2015-nra-foundation-annual-report.pdf

NRA-ILA is the political branch.

"My question: To what extent is the claim that the NRA’s real motive is to promote gun sales valid?"
IMHO, about as much as the rest of the ignorant--or often intentionally misleading--NRA bashing pushed by the well-funded anti-gun organizations. (Who benefit from tax-free status for all their activities).

 

[lee1000]

I barely know anything about the NRA, but one thing I heard is that a huge majority of their funding comes from manufactures when in the past it used to be from membership subscriptions and donations. If you ask me, and I guess you are, Jesus did say it's impossible to serve two masters. You'll be either devoted to one and despise the other or love one and hate the other.

So, seeing as the NRA is supposedly mostly funded by the manufactures, I'm sure they don't want to bite the hand that feeds them while simultaneously giving lip-service to its members who no longer are their main source of income for reasons of publicity. The real question you should be asking is if the goal of promoting gun sales matches up with the things NRA members themselves are concerned with. Are there things that would please the gun manufactures but would be a bad deal for the 2nd Amendment, and what are some examples of the NRA teetering one way or the other on that line?

What's good for the manufacturers is good for gun owners, period, end of story.

The manufacturers are just passing your money on to the NRA.

All of us somehow or another are paying the NRA to lobby on our behalf.

 

[dennishoddy]

I just renewed my NRA membership today.

 

[caojyn]

I just renewed my NRA membership today.

Have they said anything further about the “hearing protection act?”

 

[dennishoddy]

Have they said anything further about the “hearing protection act?”

I thought I gave the latest update last week from the suppressor lobby group? I quoted you on it with a link in another thread.
It's still alive, but stagnant if I remember right. Nobody in congress is going to touch suppressors at the moment.

 

[caojyn]

I didn’t know that was their latest, I heard some relatively more recent statements on podcast about it so I thought there might be an update.
Like i said before, that’s a surefire way to get me to renew my membership. It also wouldn’t hurt if they joined the GOA’s lawsuit against Trump’s bumpstock ban/attempt to redefine what is a machine gun. They’re doing good on the age issue for now.

 

[Dave70968]

I just renewed my NRA membership today.

I haven't renewed mine since I bought that life membership a decade ago--relevance in a minute.

I really can't argue with that. I mentioned to several folks during his last term that Obama sold more guns than anyone in recent history. :/

But still, those rights weren't lost. If it becomes illegal to buy guns, then many firearm manufacturers will bite the dust.

What's good for the manufacturers is good for gun owners, period, end of story.

Not necessarily. Manufacturers benefit from fearful attitudes that inspire panic buying. The NRA benefits from fearful attitudes that inspire membership signups, renewals, and political donations (indirectly--the donations generally go to the NRA-ILA and NRA-PVF, which are legally separate entities for tax reasons). My life membership is probably less influential than annual memberships (though not entirely without notice, especially given the way the NRA regularly asks me to upgrade my membership level). The NRA also has to weigh the potential of losing members due to societal pressure.

I don't presume to speak for others here, but I would rather not live in fear of having my rights (further) infringed...a goal which is not entirely compatible with what benefits the interests of the manufacturers and organization. And, frankly, this wouldn't be the first time the NRA has been willing to straddle the fine line; remember, the NRA asked for (and received) a third of the oral argument time in the Heller case, and made a much weaker argument in that time.

So...I think the NRA is the best, most powerful ally we have in the halls of Congress...but I don't have any faith that it would advance our interests over its own where the two may not fully intersect.

 

[lee1000]

I haven't renewed mine since I bought that life membership a decade ago--relevance in a minute.




Not necessarily. Manufacturers benefit from fearful attitudes that inspire panic buying. The NRA benefits from fearful attitudes that inspire membership signups, renewals, and political donations (indirectly--the donations generally go to the NRA-ILA and NRA-PVF, which are legally separate entities for tax reasons). My life membership is probably less influential than annual memberships (though not entirely without notice, especially given the way the NRA regularly asks me to upgrade my membership level). The NRA also has to weigh the potential of losing members due to societal pressure.

I don't presume to speak for others here, but I would rather not live in fear of having my rights (further) infringed...a goal which is not entirely compatible with what benefits the interests of the manufacturers and organization. And, frankly, this wouldn't be the first time the NRA has been willing to straddle the fine line; remember, the NRA asked for (and received) a third of the oral argument time in the Heller case, and made a much weaker argument in that time.

So...I think the NRA is the best, most powerful ally we have in the halls of Congress...but I don't have any faith that it would advance our interests over its own where the two may not fully intersect.

Panic buying was not rooted with the NRA, it was with the voting record and appointments of Obama. There's nothing wrong with raising awareness

 

[Dave70968]

Panic buying was not rooted with the NRA, it was with the voting record and appointments of Obama. There's nothing wrong with raising awareness

I didn't say the NRA caused it; I said the NRA benefited from it (though the constant breathless reporting was certainly a contributing factor).

Ask yourself this: if John Moses Browning's ghost were to become the president, would the NRA's financial numbers go up or down?

 

[dennishoddy]

(though the constant breathless reporting was certainly a contributing factor).

BOOM!!! You just hit the nail on the head although I think the hammer was not directed where it landed.