BUH-BYE NRA: NEW TAX FILING REVEALS MEMBERSHIPS DROPPED BY $47 MILLION

[IronLionZion]

http://americannewsx.com/politics/nra-tax-filing-membership/

Fed up with gun violence in America? Take heart from the fact that an NRA tax filing reveals a decline in membership fees by a whopping $47 million.

As one gun measure after another dies in Congress, the National Rifle Association may seem like an unbeatable juggernaut. But now, it’s looking more and more like their days are numbered. The Trace reports:

The National Rifle Association’s (NRA) New York state financial disclosure forms for 2014 are now online, and like past years’ tax filings, the documents provide a rare glimpse at the organization’s inner machinery. The group’s total revenues fell from more than $347 million in 2013 to roughly $310 million. Contributing to the decline was a drop in income collected from its members. Revenue from annual dues fell from $175 million to $128 million in 2014, a drop of 27 percent.
Really, no one knows how many members the pro-gun group has. They’ve never allowed any kind of head count from outside parties. In 1998 a former board member told reporters the NRA’s membership rolls include “lifetime members” who’ve died. Ooops.

DESPITE ALL THE NRA’S BLUSTER, GUN CULTURE IS ON THE DECLINE.

It's a good sign I hope. They are losing some of their influence and membership. Public opinion has shifted away from them in recent years.

[Squinch]

1. People are beginning to see the toxicity of their message. Even here, long standing NRA apologists

are being told to shut the hell up.

I love it.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Now I understand what happened to Mitch's chin:he shot off his mouth, and lost his chin with it. n/t

[Jerry442]

5. Amazing that such a small-calibre round would do that much damage. NT

[Jerry442]

3. I've always suspected that a lot of pro-gun money...

...is "dark money" of some kind, not coming from NRA members or from the gun industry, but maybe from deep-pockets players who think they'll benefit from strife and turmoil in society.

[Dustlawyer]

15. The NRA is another PR/Lobby firm for gun manufacturors.

The members are really more like a front for them. It also helps them sell more guns since they know their target customers info.

[hack89]

4. The NRA was never the huge power many made them out to be

only a small percentage of gun owners ever joined them in the first place. Not sure this represents a sea change - gun rights laws are still passing all over the country.

[yallerdawg]

16. Gun laws are passing alright.

When California Gov. Jerry Brown enacted a sweeping package of gun ownership restrictions this month, including an assault-weapons ban and background checks for bullets, gun-control advocates hailed a legislative victory that's been impossible at the national level – despite seemingly routine mass shootings, and the outrage that usually follows.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-07-15/california-could-be-a-model-for-restricting-gun-ownership-nationwide

[hack89]

17. Three weeks ago Rhode Island rejected an AWB for the third consecutive year.

CA has a long history of strict gun control. When pro-gun states start passing gun control is when you know there has been a sea change in America.

[underpants]

6. They've always been a paper lion

but political advisors all stick with the same script so they don't oppose them.

The NRA has opposed and the relented on all of the following:
Serial numbers
Ballistic testing
Background checks.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

8. Maryland sank $100 million into ballistic "finger printing" before ending the program due to

it never proving useful in solving even a single case.

[Wounded Bear]

7. Meh, doubt it means all that much...

The real money behind the NRA is from the manufacturers and distributors. It went from being a grass roots org to an industry shill many years ago.

[SCantiGOP]

13. Beat me to it, Wounded Bear

Memberships are no longer important to the NRA; they buy politicians with money from the gun and ammo industry.
They are, in effect, the lobbying and marketing division of the gun industry.

[sarisataka]

19. Using those numbers

$182 million or 58.7% is from sources other than members.

[writes3000]

9. Looks like good news to me. Less money for them to use.

[aikoaiko]

10. A long term analysis would be interesting. 2013 was a banner year b/c of Obama's gun control push

I'm astounded that revenue from membership is as high as $128 million.

At most, the NRA has 5 million members. It hard to how many are currently paying dues because you can reup for a 5 years at a time for $125 or get a life membership at $500 when on sale. I'm sure that $125 or $500 is just lumped in with yearly renewers.

still $128 million is a shitload of money and that doesn't include donations from individuals or corporations to the political arm of the group the NRA-ILA.

[Straw Man]

21. A look at the chart might be instructive.

[jmg257]

11. Not really sure its a drop in membership , as much of less influx of life members...

NRA Source of Funds
...
Roughly 40 to 50% of the NRA’s annual revenues of between $226.2 and $361.6 million come from members’ dues. Another 26 to 33% of the NRA’s revenues come from contributions. In addition, approximately 15 to 17% of the NRA’s revenues come from advertising and member sales. From 2010 to 2014, the NRA’s revenue from membership dues grew from $100.5 million to $128.3 million. There was a one-year spike of member dues in 2013 of $175.6 million. It is likely that this was due to an increased number of life memberships in 2013. This type of membership involves a large one-time fee and the NRA recognizes the majority of the revenue from life memberships during the first year of membership.[38] The NRA’s revenue from contributions increased from $73.5 million in 2010 to $107.8 million in 2014. The NRA’s revenue from advertising grew from $20.9 million in 2010 to $25.4 million in 2014. The NRA received between $18.5 million and $30.2 million in revenue from member sales in those same years.[39]

The NRA is not required to disclose the make-up of the organization’s $107.8 million in 2014 contributions, which made up one-third of its annual revenue. The limited available evidence suggests that the NRA has received significant contributions from manufacturers and suppliers of firearms and ammunition.[40]

http://csgv.org/blog/2016/nra-tax-exempt-loaded-private-interest/



Sort of like applauding the "plunge" in gun stocks & gun sales in the spring/summer, only to once again have record sales by the end of the year (a typical annual cycle for every year since background checks started).

https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics/reports/nics_firearm_checks_-_month_year.pdf

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/03/gun-related-stocks-plunge-on-reports-of-slowing-background-checks.html

"Shares of gun stocks Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger & Company stumbled Friday on reports that a background check system run by the FBI showed slowing growth in May.
...
Background checks from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System rose 2.6 percent in May versus 14.4 percent in April, according to StreetAccount. May background checks were reported 942,970 in May versus 918,710 in the prior year."

[Astraea]

12. 128 million

is still too much. I wonder how much the board skims off the top.

[Eleanors38]

14. THESE SHOCKING STORIES FLOAT UP EVERY NOW AND AGAIN...

Hell, the NRA usually runs a $100,000,000 debt most of the time, depending on picking up the slack later.

Frankly, I wish there was an exodus from the NRA to other pro-2A groups.

[sarisataka]

18. So are these numbers

For the total organization or just New York?

[Skittles]

20. fuck the NRA

they represent gun manufacturers and gun humpers