NRA - Down One Million Members

**ImminentDanger** · February 10th, 2023, 02:23 PM

The NRA Has Lost Over a Million Members Since Corruption Allegations Surfaced
Stephen Gutowski - February 9, 2023
https://thereload.com/nra-has-lost-o...ions-surfaced/

The National Rifle Association keeps shrinking.

Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre told attendees at the gun-rights group*s most recent board meeting that the organization is down to 4.3 million members, according to multiple sources. That number is corroborated by the group*s November 2022 Financial Statement Package obtained by The Reload. That represents a downturn of more than a million members since allegations of financial impropriety were leveled against LaPierre and other members of NRA leadership in 2019. The NRA is now smaller than it has been since 2012 when internal documents show the group had 4 million members.

<SNIP>

The group was able to cut expenses to keep up with falling revenues in 2021 but not 2022. Given how far off the group was in projecting income and expenses in 2022, there*s reason to believe the 2023 budget may underplay the risks it faces.

Brian Mittendorf, an accounting professor at Ohio State University who has followed the NRA*s finances for years, said the membership flop should concern the gun-rights group and its supporters.

*Perhaps most concerning for the organization is that the decline in member dues revenues was both substantial and apparently unexpected, as their member dues were well below budgets,* he told The Reload. *The end result is that not only is the organization smaller than it has been in the recent past, but it had to resort to substantial borrowing from a credit line to maintain that size.*

Rocky Marshall, a former NRA board member who unsuccessfully ran to unseat LaPierre last year, had a more blunt assessment.

*This is a blood bath, and the NRA is desperately trying to stop the blood loss,* he told The Reload. *The current financial situation is untenable and is akin to bailing a leaking boat with a spoon.*

<SNIP>

Still, the group remains magnitudes larger than its counterparts on either side of the issue. It continues to spend tens of millions on political activism, legal activism, and firearms safety training each year. It also supports a nationwide network of state groups, including the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association which won a landmark Supreme Court case over gun-carry rights in America last year.

But the corruption allegations have taken their toll on the group*s ability to recruit and maintain members. Mittendorf said the financial spiral caused by the membership exodus threatens the very existence of the NRA.

*If the organization*s projections of a sizable rebound in member revenues in 2023 do not materialize, the long-run risks they have faced may quickly become short-run risks of a cash shortfall,* he said. *Downsizing core operations and borrowing to make up for lost member dues can only work for so long.*

(Bolding is mine - For more details, see the full article.)

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**JaySmith** · February 10th, 2023, 02:30 PM

I just don't feel like I'm getting my money's worth. Other pro-gun groups are doing considerably more.

**imashooter2** · February 10th, 2023, 02:39 PM

My Lifetime dues were paid many years ago, but they haven*t gotten any contributions from me since the LaPierre depredations came to light. Their path to recovery is clear, but I doubt that LaPierre can be ousted.

**Mr_Gixxer** · February 10th, 2023, 03:02 PM

Who?

**ArmyVet** · February 10th, 2023, 03:10 PM

Somewhere, I have a tear to shed for the NRA.

On second thought, perhaps not

**PASE717** · February 10th, 2023, 03:22 PM

Wow.. imagine that..

**eagleclaw** · February 10th, 2023, 03:44 PM

Wayne got caught with his money grab. My question is how many others in the NRA were doing the same but got away with it. Once it's clear to me that any organization is engaging in theft from its members and donors, I'm not rejoining or donating to it again.