NRA Spending on Lawyers Is on Pace for Record This Year
- Gun-rights group has cut costs, says it added members in 2021
- Bankruptcy bid failed and N.Y. lawsuit brings risk of breakup
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The National Rifle Association racked up $22 million in legal costs in the first five months of 2021, on pace to surpass the record $40 million spent for all of last year, even as efforts to match its 2020 revenue faltered, internal documents indicate.
Legal costs were the nonprofit’s largest single expense after membership activities in the five months through May, when a judge rejected the gun-rights group’s bid to reorganize through bankruptcy, documents obtained by Bloomberg show. While there’s no guarantee legal expenses will continue to rise at the same rate, they’ve accelerated since 2018, according to tax filings. That’s when staff members began expressing concerns about practices that have since led to costly disputes.