Everytown for Gun Safety is going on the offensive in a new campaign targeting its nemesis, the National Rifle Association.
The Bloomberg-funded group released an attack ad (see above) this week along with a billboard designed to spotlight the NRA’s money problems over the past few years.
“Today’s NRA isn’t the organization many Americans grew up with, and today’s NRA members have been fleeced,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety in a press release obtained by GunsAmerica.
“With this ad campaign, we’re showing NRA members where their dues have been going, and we’re reminding lawmakers that the NRA has never been weaker — and the time for action is now,” he continued.
SEE ALSO: NRA Files Bankruptcy in New York, Plans to Move to Texas
Everytown makes the following claims with respect to the NRA’s purported mismanagement of donor dollars:
- Only 10% of what the NRA spends goes toward safety, education and training;
- The NRA spent more than $274,000 to purchase designer suits for CEO Wayne LaPierre from a Beverly Hills boutique;
- The NRA spent more than $243,000 on LaPierre trips to exotic locales like Hungry, Greece, and the Bahamas, spending millions more on private jet travel;
- LaPierre has already secured a post-employment golden parachute from the NRA, which will pay him at least $17.4 million even after he leaves the NRA; and
- The NRA continues to pay tens of millions a year to high-priced lawyers.
“NRA leaders spending members’ dues on luxury goods like yachts and Italian suits and exotic vacations — all while shortchanging gun safety and training programs — makes them more like Bond villains than nonprofit employees,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, a grassroots offshoot of Everytown.
“The NRA has betrayed its members for decades, turning the organization into a personal piggy bank for its executives and vendors,” she added. “And through this ad campaign, we’re making sure NRA members know it.”
Supporters of the nation’s gun lobby would probably argue that Everytown’s damning accusations are old news.
Many of the stories Bloomberg’s minions cite are from several years ago and the NRA is now in the process of putting its checkered financial past behind it and getting its house in order.
As part of righting the ship, the NRA admitted in a 2019 tax filing that executives received “excess benefits” over the years, and while the organization is actively seeking to recover that money from its former execs, its current boss Wayne LaPierre has already made good.
SEE ALSO: Former NRA Lobbyist Chris Cox Denies Grift Exceeding $1M
LaPierre “corrected” his misappropriation of funds by cutting a $300,000 personal check to the NRA for travel expenses from 2015-2019.
LaPierre’s mea culpa coincides with the announcement that NRA would file for voluntary chapter 11 bankruptcy and leave its incorporated home of New York for the Lone Star State.
“The NRA announced it will reorganize the Association as a Texas nonprofit to abandon the corrupt political and regulatory environment in New York. This action will ensure our continued success as the nation’s leading advocate for constitutional freedom,” LaPierre said in a January letter obtained by GunsAmerica.
The greener pastures of Texas are what is prompting the move, not reports that NRA is out of money, insisted LaPierre.
“The NRA is not financially insolvent,” he said. “In fact, this move comes at a time when the NRA is in its strongest financial condition in years.”
LaPierre ended the letter with cautionary advisement that seemingly presaged the Everytown barrage.
“Do not believe everything you hear in the media. We fully expect our adversaries to try to gain some sort of perceived advantage over the NRA by mischaracterizing this strategic plan. They will portray a so-called ‘bankruptcy’ as a negative and, once again, predict our demise,” he warned.
“The liberal media, anti-gun gadflies, and left-wing politicians will desperately try to advance another distorted truth about the NRA,” LaPierre concluded.
Time will tell what effect, if any, Everytown’s campaign has on the NRA. But truth be told, even if it somehow forces LaPierre to exit, NRA will not lose its political, social, and cultural clout. The reason is simple. It’s not a top-down nonprofit.
See, unlike Everytown, the power of the NRA stems not from the war chest of a sole, elitist Billionaire, rather it comes from the collective influence of the organization’s five million dues-paying members — members who will vigorously stand and fight against any and all gun control that comes their way.
Let me re-phrase what i stated above.
It is better that the NRA burns completely to the ground than keeping wayne and his cronies at the helm. There’s more than one swamp to drain!
I hate Bloomberg !!
I hate to agree with him, but if the NRA continues to support Wayne,I will be forced to support this effort. The NRA has been the equivalent of a RINO!!
I will continue to support th real gun lobby not the putrid carcus of the nra.
“… and we’re reminding lawmakers that the NRA has never been weaker — and the time for action is now,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety .
You’ve gotta know that Everything that comes out of that Everytown will be nothing but spin and outright lies/distortions. That statement by Feinblatt shows their true intent. They couldn’t give a rat’s a-hole about members’ funds being mismanaged. Their plan is to erode member support to weaken the NRA in order to make it more vulnerable to anti-2nd A. attacks from Progressive-Socialist politicians. Period!
Many years ago, I sent a letter(remember those?) to the NRA saying that they owe it to their members to publish a complete financial statement for their perusal, on at least an annual basis. I never even received a reply.
I constantly push for Congressional term limits. I believe Any member organization should adopt the same. With unrestricted tenure comes the inevitable sense of entitlement. That spells trouble!
What are you doing buying clothes for anybody? I don’t get it?
Common sense Gun regulations… what a crock! There’s no such thing as common sense! If it were, common sense would mean something entirely different than what they’re flapping their gums about. Here’s the definition of “common sense”: “noun: good sense and sound judgment in practical matters.”
“a common-sense approach” is completely bass ackwards.
What common sense is to me: guns are a necessary tool to protect my family.
Common sense to cowards who want the big bad mean old guns to go away ‘cause they’re so scary means getting rid of all those scary guns and punish people who won’t think like they do. Whew, that was a long painful sentence! In a nutshell, the first word says it all. Cowards. Gutless, two bit, fem bots who want the world to conform to their ideals. Go piss up a rope gun grabbers.
The Radical left will continue to lie every minute of the day and night. They know the strength of the NRA and it drives them crazy. When they come after our guns, you will be glad you supported the NRA. They fight on all fronts to keep our Country free. It’s freedom’s best friend. When they go after NRA members with their lies, you will know that it is a desperate move to persuade you guns are bad. Always Remember that you will never hear a Democrat use the word ” Criminal” it’s always the gun that’s bad, not you. Don’t fall for thIs NONSENSE.
I wonder why the NRA is still being targeted by the antis if the the organization has supposedly abandon donor mission of protecting gunowner ship and safety?
I sure hope the Universities and their massive endowments are scrutinized in the same legal manner. We will certainly see how the NY AG handles the many Como allegations.
This article just convinced me to send another donation to the NRA. Come on down to Texas where you belong. We look forward to having you here.
Great reply. So many people buy into the anti-2A psych-ops.
Among the noteworthy issues here is Bloomberg, through John Feinblatt, stating that the NRA is NOT “the organization many Americans grew up with.” Does that mean that Bloomberg believes that NRA members would be satisfied to turn back the NRA to before the Cincinnati revolt in 1977? No, thanks, I do NOT welcome any suggestions by my enemies on how to proceed with protecting my values.
You also have Bloomberg and other anti-2A people driving up the legal costs for the NRA while they are also saying that NRA has presided over the “mismanagement of donor dollars:” So certain anti-2A people out of concern for NRA donors seek to destroy the finances NRA. That makes no sense.
I remember the hatred that was spewed toward the NRA safety program with “Eddy the Eagle” that was intended protect children that might find a firearm. Cynically, that was called “Joe Camel with a gun.” Now the anti-2A people are acting like they were OK with the safety programs. I am in the NRA, ISRA and the SAF and I get more than a “sticker” you phonies.
I want LaPierre to step aside but I will NOT abandon the NRA, others can do want they want but giving aid and comfort to the enemy should be avoided at all costs. Also remember this, people, like Larry Pratt et cetera might NOT stand up that well if the anti-2A people decide can cast a sharper focus on their finances and history.
I don’t support the NRA anymore, but I do support the other 4 gun organizations that are actively fighting for our gun rights.
Bloomberg is just jealous because he still has to shop in the boy’s department for suits….
Thought for the day…
Having taken an oath to support and defend the Constitution (which was ratified ONLY after providing for the Bill of Rights), I have to support “Blue Dogdick’s” right to express “he/him’s” opinion. It is painfully obvious however, that he/him has never learned the old proverb…
It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove ALL doubt.
As soon as you said, “common sense gun violence solutions,” you revealed your stupidity. That deceitful, trite phrase that is regurgitated ad nauseum by HUTA Leftists as a smokescreen for their admitted agenda for a complete banning of civilian-owned guns fools nobody but their zombie voter base.
The NRA deserves all of this. Wayne LaPierre needs to step down and be thrown in jail.
My money will no longer go to the NRA. It will go to NSSF, 2A Foundation, and USCCA.
Wrong! The NRA, meaning the members, Does Not deserve Any of this! Hold leadership accountable on an individual basis. You have the same mentality as the gun-banners, who want to blame every decent gun owner for the actions of criminals. Pull yer head out, buddy boy!
There are other organizations that support 2A like S.A.F.
NRA brought much of this upon itself by its lack of transparency. Members can’t get any access to budget questions, and the Board members mostly ignore requests too. 🙄
Right. Many years ago I had requested a detailed financial statement from them. Never got a reply, much less the requested disclosure. It’s obscene that a Member organization refuses to make known it’s financial expenditures, yet regularly presses its members for ever more contributions.
That LaPierre returned $300k in excessive income doesn’t make-up for the fact that he Knew what he was doing when he grabbed it. And how much more abuses of his office Hasn’t he made-up for? He should be canned and stripped of that so-called “golden parachute.”
And in related news, Bloomberg’s AstroTurf mommies urge all gun owners to cut their own balls off.
For the children…
Hmmmm. They (Anti-gun advocates) can ALWAYS find things to try to make pro 2A people look bad. Strange that they NEVER see their never ending assault on one of the most important amendments to the Constitution. They also never see that there are so many politicians who abuse ALL American taxpayers.
You’re joking, right? You seriously think they don’t know what they’re doing in their attack on firearms, firearm owners, the firearm industry in general, and the 2nd A.?
You also think they “never see” the many abusive politicians? Of course they know that, because it’s they themselves– the Progressive-Socialists.
You need to get a clue, Jim.
So where is the part about how the antigun people get cities and states to violate laws and then use taxpayer money on lawsuits to defend their actions? That is a misuse of taxpayer money and needs to be paid back to us!
Sorta like the 2nd isn’t about hunting, NRA membership isn’t about the sticker.
Admittedly, the NRA needs to police it’s own on questionable discretionary spending but large expenditures on lobbyists and lawyers is kinda why I’m a member.
The NRA is very self-serving, and I don’t mean primarily the interests of its members.
I had an incident I won’t detail here, that was a legal case for NRA member support if there ever was one. I contacted them and beseeched them to help me. They refused. I surmised it just wasn’t sensational enough to use for propaganda purposes was the real reason. If you think they’ll assign one of their lawyers to help you when you need & deserve it, think again!
I wonder how that would stack up against other organizations, like the United Way or Susan G. Komen breast cancer awareness? Much the same probably could be said about them. The United Way is hella crooked and a lot of people have made comfortable livings working for the United Way. I have talked to lots of NRA members over the years and I don’t think it was ever a secret that the high ranking execs are high paid or that the NRA spent a lot of money on lawyers. They’re still on the wrong side of history and oppose common sense gun violence solutions but none of this is out of line for a big, national non-profit.
“Wrong side of history” so saith the trolling gun-grabber. I believe your “common sense gun violence solutions” phrase sounds noble, kinda like “reproductive rights”. Reality of the two phrases is “disarming the law abiding gun owning citizens” and “murder”. I prefer words/phrases that accurately depict reality, don’t you?