Is The NRA Finished? Don’t Be So Sure.
Last week
the Wall Street Journal ran a story about NRA finances based on the publication of the
organization’s 2018 tax return. If this story had appeared before the
impeachment thing heated up, it would have been big news. But right now media
click-bait is based overwhelmingly on the contest between Schiff and Trump,
with an occasional aside about how yet another member of the MAGA team can’t keep
his you-know-what in his pants. Anyway, back to the fiscal and financial doings
at the home office in Fairfax, VA.
The
headline of the story was what has become the standard gotcha’ narrative
employed by Gun-control Nation to throw a little dirt on America’s ‘first civil
rights organization,’ namely, that while everything the NRA touches
these days seems to be going to Hell in
a handbasket, Wayne LaPierre’s salary and benefits keep going up. Putting
together his salary and some other financial perks, Wayne-o’s compensation
package increased by 55%. Not bad for a guy who looked like he was going to be jettisoned from the top position earlier this
year.
The WSJ
article went on at length about how Wayne-o continues to draw support from the
group’s major donors, but the reporter who did the story happened to miss the
most important news of all; namely, that revenue from membership dues also went
up by more than 30% last year. In 2017 the revenue from dues was $128 million, last year
the annual members kicked in $170 million. Remember when everyone was
predicting that the NRA was going down the tubes? Yea, right.
I have
been involved with various advocacy organizations for years, including the
usual conservation, wilderness and outdoor groups. All of these organizations
play an important role in promoting what I believe to be a public narrative
which needs to be heard. Lately I have become invested in supporting the Boone
& Crockett Club because they are becoming a strong voice in
conservation and the protection of wildlife.
That being
said, most not-for-profit advocacy organizations tend to spend much of the
money they receive from donations on themselves. Between salaries, perks and other
staff benefits, the average dollar received by these organizations is usually
split about 50-50 between the costs of getting their message out to the general
public and the costs of standing around the water cooler comparing who got the
best Black Friday deal.
In that
regard, the NRA’s balance sheet doesn’t look all that bad. Given the fact that
next year’s financials will not contain the hefty $30 million they were
spending every year on NRA-TV, if anything, they will probably be back
to operating in the black. Where they are still legally vulnerable is the
continuing New York State investigation concerning how Wayne, Ollie and a
couple of others were double-dipping by drawing paychecks from both the NRA
and Ackerman-McQueen. Know what will happen if it turns out that this behavior
violated New York State not-for-profit rules?
The NRA will be assessed a financial penalty, the lawyers will
negotiate over the amount for a couple of years, and then they will pay a fine. As my grandfather would
say, “det’s det.”
I was
never impressed by the NRA‘s attempt to become yet another alt-right
media presence via NRA-TV. Never mind the attempt to promote a political
line right out of Breitbart and Alex Jones, the one-minute spiels by Dana
Loesch and Grant Stinchfield, along with Colion Noir’s prancing around were
just boring to the extreme.
People join
the AAA because it’s something which just goes with owning a car, and
it’s not like the annual dues make such a dent out of the household budget each
year. I have renewed my AAA membership at least 20 times, I have used
their emergency towing service exactly twice.
It’s not protecting
the 2nd Amendment or the fear of losing their guns which keeps NRA
members in the fold. If you’re a gun owner, it’s simply something you do. Think
this habit can be broken by digging up some dirt on Wayne LaPierre? Think
again.
High Five to Margaret Ayers for sending me the WSJ article.
