What You Need to Know About Trump and the NRA Ahead of His Speech at the Convention

Tomorrow, Donald Trump will be the keynote speaker for the NRA Leadership Forum as part of the organization’s annual convention in Dallas, Texas. Trump has been a close ally of the NRA since his 2016 election, during which the NRA was the largest outside spender on behalf of Trump. Trump’s speech to the NRA comes after the organization and several of its current and former officers were found liable on nearly every count in the Attorney General of The State of New York v. NRA trial and settled in the District of Columbia’s suit against the NRA, which accused the NRA Foundation of improperly funneling millions of dollars to the NRA.

“Donald Trump and the NRA are like two peas in a pod: corrupt, politically toxic, and more concerned with safeguarding the gun industry than American lives,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “When Trump was in office, he adopted the NRA’s extreme ‘guns everywhere’ agenda lock, stock and barrel — and now he’s promising a repeat performance if he retakes the White House.”

Here’s what you need to know about Trump and the NRA:

• The NRA was the largest outside spender in President Trump’s 2016 election, spending more than $30 million to benefit his campaign.
  • By 2020, amid financial woes and declining influence, NRA spending for Trump was cut nearly in half, dropping to $16.6 million in support of his failed re-election campaign.
  • Current and former NRA officials have recently acknowledged that the NRA won’t have the same financial resources for the 2024 election and may decide to focus on races other than the presidential.
  • As The Washington Post reported, “Since 2016, NRA revenue fell more than 40 percent, while membership dues were down roughly 50 percent, according to tax filings through the end of 2022. Between 2018 and 2022, tax filings show the NRA spent more than $181 million on legal expenses — more than three times the amount it spent on federal candidates over the past three election cycles, according to spending tracked by OpenSecrets.”

• Emails obtained by The Guardian in 2020 showed that the Trump administration consistently allowed the NRA “to shape policy outcomes and personnel decisions” at the Department of Interior.
  • In 2021, Huffington Post reported that the Department’s Office of Inspector General had found that a former NRA lobbyist employed by the department had “repeatedly violated ethics rules by communicating with and directly participating in matters that involved his longtime former employer.”

• Trump pledged to take action on gun safety after the El Paso and Dayton mass shootings, but after then-NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre reportedly told Trump to “stop the games,” Trump walked away from his commitment.

• The NRA had a direct line to then-President Trump and his administration –– making us all less safe. Specifically, Trump pledged action on gun safety after the Parkland shooting in 2018 and the Dayton and El Paso mass shootings in 2019, then broke those promises after a reported “late-night Oval Office meeting with NRA officials” and a call from NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre.

• Emails obtained by The Guardian in 2020 showed that the Trump administration consistently allowed the NRA “to shape policy outcomes and personnel decisions” at the Department of Interior.
  • In 2021, Huffington Post reported that the Department’s Office of Inspector General had found that a former NRA lobbyist employed by the department had “repeatedly violated ethics rules by communicating with and directly participating in matters that involved his longtime former employer.”

At the NRA’s annual convention last year, Trump again promised to be the NRA’s “loyal friend” and said that mass shootings are not “a gun problem” — despite research proving his statement wrong.