NRA lawsuits come amid changing face of American gun owners
| SAVANNAH, Ga.; and ALEXANDRIA, Va.
Babu Omowale says he needs the National Rifle Association 鈥� but only until he doesn鈥檛.
As the national firearms organization finds itself under existential threat, Mr. Omowale, the co-founder of the Huey P. Newton Gun Club in Dallas, is emblematic of a shifting gun-owning population in the U.S., some of whom say they do not identify with the NRA鈥檚 message.
On the one hand, the NRA certifies gun owners in many states. But that narrow utility makes it expendable, especially for Black gun owners, whom the NRA has historically struggled to engage as members.
Why We Wrote This
Outside lawsuits and internal revolts for the once-powerful organization come at a time when more Americans 鈥� and more diverse Americans 鈥� are buying guns. Not all say the NRA speaks for them.
鈥淭he NRA is just a political tool for us to be able to arm ourselves, but we don鈥檛 buy into the politics of any of it since it鈥檚 the right of every American to take advantage of [the Second Amendment],鈥� says Mr. Omowale, who has joined armed rallies recently on behalf of Black rights. 鈥淚 believe it鈥檚 time for [Black people] to start our own NRA.鈥�
As New York prosecutors aim to dissolve the NRA in a lawsuit alleging self-dealing and mismanagement, one thing is becoming clear to Mr. Omowale: Even as more Americans are exercising their Second Amendment rights, the NRA鈥檚 framing of that right as a conservative political ideal is losing potency.
At a time when guns have marched to front and center of political debate, the NRA鈥檚 use of the Second Amendment as a political cudgel has run headlong against the growing diversity of the gun-owning public, many of whom tell pollsters they support some forms of gun control, including background checks for private sales 鈥� a longtime sticking point for the NRA.
In that way, the NRA鈥檚 troubles are occurring at a time of shifting attitudes about the role of the Second Amendment in American life.
The NRA鈥檚 鈥渋nsularity is intimately connected with the ideological alignment ... with politically conservative culture warriors,鈥� says Wake Forest University sociologist David Yamane, founder of the Gun Culture 2.0 blog, in an email. Now, 鈥渢he proliferation of gun clubs, groups and organizations representing diverse gun owners 鈥� [National African American Gun Association], A Girl and a Gun, Liberal Gun Owners, to name a few 鈥� fills the vacuum left by the NRA.鈥�
Chartered in New York in 1871, the NRA grew from a firearms training organization to, by the 1980s, a political kingmaker that politicians were wary of crossing.
Flush with money and success in the 2016 election cycle, the NRA and its political fortunes faded in the 鈥渂lue wave鈥� of the 2018 election. Expensive lawsuits and internal revolts 鈥� as the Monitor鈥檚 Simon Montlake chronicled last year 鈥� have dwindled its resources to the point where it had to borrow money against the deed to its Virginia headquarters.
Even as the organization鈥檚 cash on hand turned from a $28 million surplus to a $36 million deficit between 2015 and 2018, CEO Wayne LaPierre secured a $17 million post-employment package, prosecutors say. The attorney general in Washington, D.C., also filed suit alleging the organization used its charitable arm to fund its political activities. In New York, prosecutor Letitia James the NRA 鈥渁 breeding ground for greed, abuse, and brazen illegality.鈥�
The speed and span of the NRA鈥檚 buckling has stunned even longtime gun policy observers.
鈥淧ride goeth before a fall,鈥� says Bob Spitzer, author of 鈥淕uns Across America. 鈥淭he announcement [of the New York lawsuit] was a surprise, but not the reason for it. That鈥檚 kind of not just sad, but tragic, in a Shakespearean way. They weren鈥檛 brought down by gun control forces, but by their own avarice, and nobody watching them.鈥�
After the lawsuit was filed in New York last week, the NRA countersued on First Amendment grounds. It says it still plans to spend tens of millions of dollars in battleground states to help reelect President Donald Trump. A gun-buying spree has led to thousands of people joining the group every month, it reports.
鈥淭he NRA is well governed, financially solvent, and committed to good governance,鈥� says Mr. LaPierre in a statement to the Monitor. 鈥淲e鈥檙e ready for the fight. Bring it on.鈥�
It may be an epic battle even for an organization that grew to prominence on what Mr. Spitzer calls 鈥渟ky is falling鈥� hyperbole.
The country鈥檚 political tides have shifted after a string of mass shootings across the U.S. failed to sway Congress to enact gun control laws. Long sidelined, gun control groups now match the NRA dollar for dollar on the campaign trail. The grassroots lobbying by student survivors of a school shooting in Parkland, Florida, helped to frame a raft of gun control measures introduced in states.
And critically, the prototypical face of gun ownership 鈥� long that of an older white man 鈥� is changing. Women now make up 40% of first-time buyers. And as gun sales hit historic highs amid the unrest of 2020, Black Americans represented 58% of gun purchasers, outpacing all other groups.
The exploration of the Second Amendment as a civic duty rather than a political rallying cry came to light this year at political events featuring armed demonstrators, including both Black and white militias.
鈥淭he historical origin [of the Second Amendment] is about overthrowing an oppressive government,鈥� says Sanford Levinson, co-author of 鈥淔ault Lines in the Constitution.鈥�
Gun rights on a local scale
Jennifer Bailey, a digital marketer near Richmond, is a member of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, which held a massive rally in Richmond earlier this year to protest new gun control measures after Democrats took control of the statehouse. She is not, however, an NRA member.
If government should be small and by the people, she says, then advocacy should be, too.
鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty natural for people to come together in their own communities first and foremost, and I also think that鈥檚 the way our country was designed and I also believe that鈥檚 how God created us,鈥� says Ms. Bailey. In that way, 鈥渋t seems only natural that we would come together in a community-based way more powerfully than a national organization or even a national government would be able to.鈥�
Such attitudes have fueled questions about the source of the NRA鈥檚 political might, and what would happen should it disappear or be severely hobbled.
Adam Skaggs, the New York-based chief counsel and policy director at Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, is skeptical that a neutered NRA would automatically translate to more gun control.
鈥淚f the NRA disappeared tomorrow,鈥� he says, 鈥渢here would still be a number of Americans who ... would continue to resist any strengthening of the gun laws.鈥�
What鈥檚 more, the NRA鈥檚 鈥減ower came from the ability to organize and drive action by that very small, but very passionate group of single-issue voters,鈥� he says. That means that 鈥渇or many years 鈥� decades 鈥� the NRA claim to speak for American gun owners has not really been credible.鈥�
NRA defenders
David Adams, an NRA member in Virginia鈥檚 Chesterfield County, disagrees. His now-15-year-old daughter received her lifetime membership to the NRA when she was in diapers.
That New York and Washington authorities decided to file a civil suit instead of criminal charges suggests that 鈥渋t鈥檚 totally political鈥� 鈥� a bid by Democrats to weaken the NRA ahead of an election, says Mr. Adams. Allegations of financial improprieties, including C-suite lavishness, amounts to c鈥檈st la vie in corporate America, he says.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 have any complaints about what I鈥檝e gotten in return鈥� for contributions, he says.
But Mr. Adams also believes that the NRA鈥檚 legal troubles come at a critical time for the role of guns in society. Failures to stem several new gun control measures in Virginia earlier this year, he says, set up a broader test of America鈥檚 unique and complicated relationship with firearms. Those took effect July 1 and include limiting handgun purchases to one a month.
鈥淕un owners showed up a day late and a dollar short鈥� for the Richmond rally in February, says Mr. Adams, who is the vice president of the Virginia Shooting Sports Association. And 鈥渋f they want to make sure that we don鈥檛 get closer to [firearms-cautious] New Jersey or California, they better keep the same energy they had at the beginning of this year going into this election, because if they don鈥檛 like what they saw in Virginia, they鈥檙e not going to like what they see at the national level.鈥�
