The NRA Trial Verdict Is a Big Loss for the NRA

When Michael Bloomberg and Shannon Watts combined Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action in 2013, they created Everytown for Gun Safety—a group they hoped could “eventually outmuscle the National Rifle Association.” Eleven years later, we did just that.

On Friday, February 23, the jury in the trial of Attorney General of the State of NY v. NRA returned a verdict. They found the NRA liable for mismanagement and certain executives liable for improperly diverting funds from the non-profit to benefit themselves or others close to them. And this ruling includes former NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre, who resigned just days before the trial began.

As guns became the number one killer of young people in America, the NRA and its leadership were not only profiting off of their deadly agenda; they were doing so while key executives were diverting funds from the organization to benefit themselves and/or their friends.

The NRA was hemorrhaging revenue, members, and clout before this trial even began, and its influence continues to diminish significantly. So far in 2024, the NRA has already managed to lose this trial, its longtime leader, and whatever political relevance it had left. Meanwhile, we’ve spent the last 11 years fighting to expose the NRA’s role in our nation’s gun violence crisis—and it’s working.

In the last decade, we’ve defeated countless dangerous NRA-backed bills in state legislatures that would force guns into schools and college campuses, expand stand your ground laws, and/or weaken background checks and permitting systems. We’ve outspent the NRA during elections in its home state of Virginia, flipping both chambers of the legislature to a gun sense majority. We tracked the legal and financial crisis at the NRA, posting regular updates from court and regulatory filings on NRA Watch. And we’ve provided first-of-their-kind resources to expose the NRA and the gun industry’s roles in gun violence today.

You—our 10 million and counting grassroots supporters—helped make this possible. 

In 2014, you turned out at our first national convening of Moms Demand Action volunteers. At the War Memorial Park in Indianapolis, you sent a message to the NRA that became the drumbeat of this movement: The Moms are here to stay.

Since 2014, you’ve been the backbone of our Gun Sense Voter campaign, mobilizing voters across the country to protect our communities from the gun violence crisis the NRA has made worse. You’ve knocked on doors during election cycles, advocating for candidates who will stand up for common-sense gun safety policies to protect our children, our neighbors, and our country.

You’ve lent your voice to the movement, successfully calling on Target, Chipotle, Trader Joe’s, and Starbucks—to name a few—to change the culture around public carry of guns in the U.S. Thanks to the hard work of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action volunteers nationwide, more than 10 million students across the country now live in a district that requires schools to educate parents about secure storage. 

Since 2015, you’ve turned out against the NRA at its Annual Meetings, calling out likely presidential candidates in attendance on their association with the NRA’s dangerous and extreme agenda. With your voice and your vote, you’ve shown these same candidates that gun safety isn’t just good policy, it’s good politics. And you’ve shown others in the movement that the Moms in the red shirts are “dedicated to implementing reasonable and effective gun regulations”—a position that became clear after Dallas eatery Ellen’s Diner chose to donate $15,000 of its proceeds to Moms Demand Action from its sales during the week when the NRA came to town for its 2018 Annual Meeting.

You’ve talked with neighbors, called your representatives to push back on the gun lobby’s dangerous agenda, and even run for office to champion gun sense. Your work to change the culture played a large role in breaking the 26-year logjam on Congressional action on gun safety.

2014

• The first national convening of Moms Demand Action volunteers is held at Indiana War Memorial Park, a “stroller jam” that tells NRA leadership that the Moms are here to stay.

2015

• Moms Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety turn out at the NRA Annual Meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. Volunteers tee up gun violence as an issue in the presidential primary election and call out likely candidates in attendance for their association with the NRA’s dangerous and extreme agenda.

2016

• The Fresh Market heeded calls from Moms Demand Action to ask customers to keep guns out of stores, joining Target, Chipotle, Trader Joe’s, and Starbucks—to name a few others persuaded by Moms—to keep these public spaces safer.

2017

• Former U.S. Representative John Lewis joins now-Congresswoman Lucy McBath and other civil rights leaders in Atlanta to rally against the NRA leadership’s “guns everywhere” agenda. Together with Moms Demand Action and Everytown, these leaders push back against the NRA during their annual meeting, sending a message to the rest of the nation that public safety must not be jeopardized by the gun lobby’s dangerous tactics.

2018

• During the NRA Annual Meeting in Dallas, local diner Ellen’s promises to donate a portion of the diner’s proceeds that week to “organizations dedicated to implementing reasonable and effective gun regulations.” Despite the NRA’s calls for a boycott, Ellen’s raises $15,000 in donations and proceeds, which they donate to Moms Demand Action.
• Also in 2018, Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund launches its Gun Sense Candidate Distinction program, recognizing more than 3,000 candidates running across the country. During the 2018 midterm elections, Everytown outspends the NRA, helping to flip the U.S. House to a Gun Sense Majority while undermining the NRA’s stranglehold on legislators.

2019

• Moms Demand Action volunteers knock on tens of thousands of doors and make more than 100,000 phone calls during the 2019 election cycle in Virginia. Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund spend $2.5 million to help flip the Virginia General Assembly to a Gun Sense Majority, outspending the NRA in their home state by a 4-to-1 margin while proving that gun sense is a counterweight to the NRA’s extreme messaging. 

2020

• Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action volunteers make over 800,000 calls and help over 100,000 young people register to vote ahead of the election. Alongside activists across the country, support for common-sense gun safety helps turn the tide to elect the Biden-Harris ticket to the U.S. Presidency, the strongest gun safety administration in our nation’s history. President-Elect Biden pledges to “defeat the NRA again” while in office.

2021

• Thanks to the tireless advocacy of Moms Demand Action volunteers, gun violence survivors, and partner advocates, states across the country build on President Biden’s momentum toward gun safety, rejecting dozens of extreme gun-lobby-backed bills while approving a record over $250 million in funding for gun violence prevention. This decisively signals that “the days of the NRA treating statehouses like their personal clubhouses are over” and that Americans are rejecting the gun lobby’s “guns everywhere” agenda.

2022

• Three days after the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Moms Demand Action volunteers and thousands of other gun safety proponents, notably joined by Beto O’Rourke, gather in Houston during the NRA’s annual convening.
• In a monumental victory, the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act breaks the 26-year Congressional logjam on gun safety legislation—a testament to the cultural and political change brought about through the efforts of countless Moms Demand Action volunteers and other gun violence prevention advocates.

2023

• In a landmark moment for the gun safety movement, the Biden-Harris Administration establishes the first federal Office of Gun Violence Prevention—the establishment of which Everytown, Moms Demand Action, and gun safety advocates and partners across the country have been calling for years.
• Months later, in a major defeat for the gun lobby, Virginia Gun Sense Candidates flip the Virginia House of Delegates to establish Gun Sense Majorities in both chambers. The grassroots army of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action made this flip possible, making over 100,000 door knocks and phone calls—and running for office themselves—to strengthen the gun safety movement while the NRA’s influence continues to wane. 

2024

• The jury in the Attorney General of The State of New York v. NRA trial reaches a verdict finding the NRA and its officers liable on nearly every count. This verdict solidifies what was already obvious: The NRA is in a deepening doom spiral—and gun safety advocates across the country made this downfall possible.

All of these victories seemed far out of reach when we were founded 11 years ago as we sought to be the counterweight to the NRA. For the last 30 years, the NRA had functioned as the gun industry’s suit of armor: One that was big enough to hide the corporations that profited from the NRA’s agenda, and intimidating enough to keep Washington lawmakers in line.

Today, thanks to you and others in this movement, this verdict signifies the end of an era for an organization that has caused irreparable damage to our country: The NRA’s glory days are done. There are cracks in the gun industry’s armor, and we’re only getting started.

We won’t stop until every lawmaker and every industry executive who chooses profit over the safety of our communities is held accountable, whether in the courtroom or at the ballot box.

Because sidelining the NRA was never our final goal—we will keep working until we create a future free from the horrors of gun violence.

Join Us in Holding the Gun Industry Accountable

Join our movement of grassroots supporters to hold the gun industry accountable for profiting off of the very crisis it has enabled.