With internal issues, lawsuits in New York and Washington, and questions raised by the lavish lifestyle and spending of CEO Wayne LaPierre, the subsequent abandonment of this year's National Rifle Association convention it just hasn't made the gun nuts happy campers.
Source: NPR
The NRA's internal turmoil burst into the open at the April 2019 annual members' meeting, when then-President Oliver North stepped down from the organization in protest after allegations of self-dealing and poor management of NRA funds were revealed in media reports.
These reports included mentions of LaPierre's lavish six-figure spending on clothing and travel. An attempt to oust LaPierre failed at that same meeting.
Subsequently, the New York and D.C. attorneys general launched investigations into the NRA's finances. Eight board members have resigned over the last year. And the NRA has been locked into protracted and costly legal battles with its longtime public relations firm.
LaPierre, who is the CEO and executive vice president of the gun rights group, said the scandals that have consumed his organization since 2018 have cost the group dearly.
"The cost that we bore was probably about a hundred-million-dollar hit in lost revenue and real cost to this association in 2018 and 2019," LaPierre said, according to a tape recorded by a source in the room. "I mean, that's huge."
These figures, not previously reported, are the first time that LaPierre has put a figure to how much the ongoing legal battles have cost the organization. For context, the NRA and its affiliates raised more than $412 million and spent more than $423 million in 2018, the last year for which there is public reporting.
Fred Guttenberg, father of one of the Parkland victims and an activist against gun violence responded.
