The National Rifle Association’s political arm rebounded in May, surpassing its rivals on the other side of the gun issue.
The NRA’s Political Victory Fund (PVF) raised just under $650,000 last month, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records released this week. It also increased its haul by more than $200,000 from April. The political arms of leading gun-control groups Everytown, Giffords, and Brady raised just over $570,000 combined.
For the first time this year, this puts the gun-rights group ahead of its opponents in the 2024 fundraising race.
The rebound is a rare bit of positive news for the embattled gun-rights behemoth, which has been dealing with an internal corruption scandal for half a decade. The fundraising uptick coincides, at least partially, with reformers winning most of the NRA’s top leadership positions. The increased fundraising could indicate NRA members, who are the only ones able to donate to the PVF, are more inclined to open their checkbooks now than in previous months.
The NRA did not respond to a request for comment on the fundraising numbers. But, in exclusive comments to The Reload shortly after his mid-May victory, NRA CEO Doug Hamlin promised increased “transparency” and a recommitment to the group’s core mission. He promised a different direction for the NRA shortly after former CEO Wayne LaPierre was found liable by a jury for diverting millions of dollars in the charity’s money toward lavish personal expenses.
“We want to welcome all of our members to the new NRA,” Hamlin said. “We want to welcome those that we’ve lost in the past five years to come back to us. And we want them to bring friends and family with them.”
The change in leadership and direction may have helped spark the uptick in donations to the NRA’s political arm. However, Hamlin said the group doesn’t plan to change course in its advocacy.
“The NRA is going to continue to stand for the very best in Second Amendment advocacy,” he told The Reload. “We have a tremendous track record of success, with 29 constitutional carry states. And, with November rapidly approaching, we’re going to sharpen our focus to help turn the vote out.”
It’s not all good news for the NRA, which still faces the second phase of its civil corruption trial next month, though. While the group’s 2024 May numbers were an improvement from the previous month, they represented a serious decline from the same month in previous presidential election cycles. FEC records show the PVF raised $783,484.31 in 2016 and $1,034,481.62 in 2020. The group also fell just short of its 2024 single-month fundraising record, set at just under $660,000 in March.
The NRA also remains several million dollars off the overall political fundraising pace it set in 2016 and 2020, with a bit over $13.6 million cash on hand compared to $15.9 in 2016 and $15.8 in 2020.
Still, the news isn’t better for the gun-control groups. Their combined haul fell by about $87,000 between April and May.
Additionally, while Everytown’s political action committee did not file monthly FEC reports before this cycle, the Brady PAC saw a steep decline in fundraising from the previous presidential cycle. In May 2020, Brady raised $341,488.34. In 2024, it brought in just $24,790.64. Giffords PAC is the only major gun group to boost its May fundraising over the previous two election cycles, upping their haul by almost $120,000 from 2020 and $65,000 from 2016 (when the group was called the Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC).
None of the gun-control groups responded to a request for comment on their fundraising numbers.
All of the political arms for other pro-gun groups that report fundraising totals to the FEC on a monthly basis fell below even the Brady total, with the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) raising the most at just over $19,000. The super PACs for the NSSF and the United States Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) have only filed quarterly reports with the FEC. The USCCA group reported raising $302,534.97 through the first three months of 2024. The NSSF’s Protect Liberty PAC brought in $63,239.80 during that time.
