The firearms industry’s trade group has taken an early lead over its peers and foes alike in attempting to shape gun policy with the current government.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) spent $1,850,000 on federal lobbying efforts between the first of the year and March 31, according to first-quarter Lobbying Disclosure Act reports. Other gun-rights interests, including Gun Owners of America (GOA), the National Rifle Association (NRA), Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), spent an additional $1,277,276 on lobbying over the first quarter–with GOA spending more than half of that total. By contrast, Everytown, Giffords, and Brady collectively spent just $400,000 on gun control lobbying over the same period.
The early data suggest a new enthusiasm gap between the two sides of gun policy under current political conditions. The first quarter of the year coincided with the swearing in of the 119th Congress, which features Republican control of both chambers of the legislature. It also covered President Donald Trump’s return and early tenure, whose path back to the White House featured promises to deliver pro-Second Amendment reforms.
With their political allies in control of all levers of federal policymaking, gun-rights groups are trying to press their advantage.
The data also reaffirms that the NSSF, which represents the gun industry, is the biggest player in gun lobbying. That dynamic has been building in recent years, with the NRA’s political stature at least temporarily diminished. NSSF has now reported more than a million dollars in lobbying activity every quarter since the middle of 2019.
According to its Q1 filing, the group poured nearly $2 million into lobbying on a broad spectrum of pro-gun reform efforts. These include everything from big-ticket gun-rights movement bills like concealed carry reciprocity and suppressor deregulation, to more industry-specific concerns like Bureau of Industry and Security Firearm Export Licensing and anti-discrimination legislation for gun businesses working with banks.
Meanwhile, the NRA reported spending $530,000 lobbying on more than a dozen proposed gun bills, with substantial overlap on the NSSF’s key issues, as well as on general themes related to wildlife conservation and public lands. FPC and CCRKBA spent $50,000 and $46,904.16, respectively, but only listed general support for the Second Amendment as the purpose of their lobbying efforts.
Notably absent from the Q1 filings on the gun-rights side was the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR). It ramped up its lobbying activities in recent years, approaching and at times surpassing the NRA. NAGR disclosed $1,026,452 in lobbying activities last year. It didn’t file a report for the first quarter of 2025 or respond to a request for comment on its current lobbying activities.
On the gun-control side, Everytown led the pack with $260,000 in lobbying activity. The group tailored its spending to roughly a dozen bills, primarily those proposing tougher gun laws unlikely to move in the current Congress. Giffords spent an additional $100,000 on an extensive array of gun-related issues and regulatory agency funding measures, both in support of and opposition to current federal proposals. In total, the group listed more than 100 different specific lobbying issues on its disclosure form, far more than any other gun group.
Finally, Brady spent $40,000 supporting gun-control measures like raising the age to purchase all firearms and opposing two different national reciprocity proposals, one of which would apply to firearms and the other to knives. The group also reported non-Second Amendment-related activity, including lobbying to make Washington DC a state.
The totals for the second quarter will be disclosed in July.
UPDATE 5-13-2025 11:19 AM EASTERN: This piece has been updated with spending data from GOA.
