WASHINGTON — Today, Donald Trump spoke at the NRA Leadership Forum as part of the organization’s annual convention in Dallas, Texas, where he promised to protect the organization’s “guns everywhere” agenda if he’s re-elected. Everytown for Gun Safety released the following statements in response:
“In between meandering rants about Al Capone, the President of France, and golf, Donald Trump once again made clear that he is all in on the NRA’s politically toxic agenda of undoing the life-saving progress we’ve made on gun safety under President Biden,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “As his first term showed us, we must believe Trump when he says that he’ll do nothing to protect our communities from gun violence if re-elected.”
“As Donald Trump joins the NRA to promise to put the gun lobby over the safety of our families, he’s once again proving that he doesn’t care about our communities, our children, or our futures,” said Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action. “We won’t forget how Trump refused to take any action to prevent gun violence during his presidency, and gun safety advocates are more than ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work re-electing the Biden-Harris Administration so we can continue doing the work necessary to keep American communities safe.”
Before Trump took the stage, Texas Governor Greg Abbott told the crowd that Trump’s re-election “depends on the extraordinary effort by the NRA.” This doesn’t bode well for the former president considering that the NRA went from spending $30 million on Trump’s 2016 election to $16.6 million in 2020 amid financial woes and declining influence. 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.
Here’s what you need to know about Trump and the NRA:
- 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.