Editor's Note: This show originally aired Nov. 8, 2021.
Founded in 1871 to “promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis,” the National Rifle Association has since become perhaps the most powerful gun rights organization in the country.
The group has spent hundreds of millions pursuing gun rights — during the 2012 election, the NRA spent more than 4,000 times its major opponents. In 2016, it spent about $50 million to help elect Donald trump and other Republicans, which included providing millions to North Carolina senators Thom Tillis and Richard Burr.
But the group has floundered in recent years. As a result of “poor leadership and mismanagement,” the NRA now faces a lawsuit from the New York Attorney General that aims to dissolve the NRA as an organization.
We speak with investigative reporter and author Tim Mak about the slow decline of the NRA and what the future of gun rights in America might look like without it.
GUEST
Tim Mak, Washington investigative correspondent for NPR and author of "Misfire: Inside the Downfall of the NRA"