The National Rifle Association is still in damage control after a financial scandal rocked its leadership structure two years ago and triggered a major decline in memberships.
As the NRA returns to Houston for its annual convention this week, top officials are talking up a restructured organization and pleading with former members to rejoin.
“We’re making major strides,” Justin Davis, the NRA’s director of public affairs, said about the reforms. “We’re making the NRA back about the members again.”
In 2024, longtime NRA leader Wayne LaPierre, a key architect of the nonprofit’s hardline gun rights agenda, resigned after he was accused of spending more than $11 million on private flights and approving $135 million in NRA contracts in exchange for yacht access and free trips to the Bahamas, Greece and other vacation hotspots.
In an interview on the Texas Take Podcast, Davis said those days are long gone. He said the new leaders of the NRA have put in place strong audit procedures and are making sure every dollar spent faces “incredible scrutiny.”
“We are more focused now than we have ever been on judiciously spending every member dollar to advance the Second Amendment, not only in the political world, but also training, education and providing critical grants throughout this country,” he said.
That’s a critical message given how much the organization has watched its membership revenue decline.
Ten years ago, the NRA reported raking in $200 million from memberships. That was down to about $61 million in 2023, according to an independent audit of NRA finances made public in December by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a D.C. nonprofit.
NRA political spending has also dropped. In 2016, the NRA’s political arm spent $54 million to help get President Donald Trump elected. In 2024, that spending was just over $10 million.
Davis said after years of losses, the membership rolls have “stabilized.”
Davis said he hopes former members will see an organization going back to its “blue collar” roots and using their membership money more wisely.
“I can assure you you’re in good hands and we’re looking forward to having you come back home,” he said.