Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the American economy, the National Rifle Association (NRA) was dealing with serious financial problems. The Second Amendment cult has been embroiled in lawsuits with former public relations firm and bankroller Ackerman McQueen. Both sides are alleging financial malfeasance on the part of the other. It’s hard to know exactly how much money the NRA has been losing over the past few years, but it is clearly in the tens of millions of dollars.
Politico reports that sources tell them more than 60 NRA employees have been silently let go in the past few weeks. And while the novel coronavirus pandemic has definitely hurt the Second Amendment profiteers, as it has hurt millions of Americans, the NRA has been cutting back on its operations for some time now. When Politico asked for comment, a spokesperson gave them this statement: “On March 22, it was announced and widely reported that the NRA would be implementing a number of permanent and temporary staff reductions along with other cost-cutting measures, just like many other corporations and nonprofits as a result of the extraordinary impacts from the Covid-19 crisis.”
These layoffs have bookended statements from the NRA that cuts would be coming, not only in the forms of staff “reductions” but also in pay cuts to existing employees. NRA reported that head honcho Wayne LaPierre said he would be taking an unspecified cut to his $2.1 million salary. This doesn’t mean much considering that LaPierre seems to have been creating all kinds of revenue streams for himself with donor money, outside of the parameters of a salary.
On top of the civil war and the layoffs, the NRA and its nonprofit status have been being investigated for months now by New York state attorneys. Thoughts and prayers.