The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-27)

A14 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.FRIDAY, MAY 27 , 2022

Texas school shooting

BY TODD C. FRANKEL

Gunmaker Daniel Defense
posted online an advertising
photo of a toddler holding one of
its AR-15-style rifles just days
before one of its firearms was
used in the elementary school
shooting in Uvalde, Tex.
The photo shows a young boy
holding the rifle on his lap, along
with the caption: “Train up a
child in the way he should go,
and when he is old, he will not
depart from it.”
That is a reference to a Bible

proverb.

The caption ends with an

emoji of two hands held together

in prayer.

In the photo, the boy is sitting

cross-legged and looking down

at the firearm on his lap. The

ammunition clip is lying sepa-

rately on the ground. He is

wearing a T-shirt that reads,

“#Rascal.” An adult’s arm is seen

pointing at him.

Daniel Defense posted the im-

age to Twitter on May 16.

The next week, a gunman used

a Daniel Defense DDM4 Rifle to

kill 19 children and two adults at

a school in Texas, authorities

said.

The rifle is modeled after the

M4 carbine, the U.S. military’s

go-to rifle, according to a Daniel

Defense blog post. Daniel De-

fense, which manufactures the

weapon, is based outside Savan-

nah, Ga.

Shortly after the school shoot-

ing, Daniel Defense protected its

tweets, hiding them from public

view.

But screenshots of its older

tweets circulated online. Ar-

chived versions of the Twitter

messages were also available.

Daniel Defense did not re-

spond to requests for comment.

In a statement about the shoot-

ing, it said in part, “We will keep

the families of the victims

and the entire Uvalde communi-

ty in our thoughts and our

prayers.”

On the same day as the shoot-

ing, Daniel Defense tweeted

again — perhaps unaware of the

devastation that had just taken

place at a school in a small Texas

town.

“Do you run a DDM4 V7?” the

post asks, over a photo of a

Daniel Defense branded ball cap

and vest, its rifle in full view.

Daniel Defense had planned

to host an exhibitor’s booth at

the upcoming National Rifle As-

sociation’s annual convention,

set to begin Friday in Houston —

just 275 miles from Uvalde.

“GIVEAWAYS, DEMOS, CE-

LEBRITY APPEARANCES &

MORE!” the gunmaker adver-

tised online.

One of the people set to make

an appearance at Daniel De-

fense’s booth on Saturday was

Colion Noir, a prominent Black

gun rights activist and attorney,

according to online ads.

But those plans — along with

Daniel Defense’s entire exhibit —

appear to be scrapped.

The NRA’s exhibitor list no

longer includes Daniel Defense

among the hundreds of gunmak-

ers, firearm parts manufacturers

and taxidermists appearing at

the convention hall.

Booth No. 4839, once claimed

by Daniel Defense, now lists a

new name: the NRA.

Maker of killer’s firearm tweeted image of child with rifle before massacre

“The NRA is not doing any-
thing around the country any-
where; all their staff lawyered up
and are fighting amongst each
other,” said Dudley Brown, a gun
rights lobbyist who has long criti-
cized the NRA for being too open
to compromise. Brown’s rival
group, the National Association
for Gun Rights, has grown to 75
staff members and a $15 million
budget, he said, up from about
$6 million in 2019.
For GOP voters and lawmakers,
gun rights have become a central
culture-war issue animating their
movement. Arguments that once
centered on hunting and rural
traditions have turned into bitter
battles over identity, with no need
for a giant lobbying group like the
NRA to stoke the flames.
“The movement itself is re-
markably resilient, and it’s not a
pyramid as much as the NRA
would love it to be,” Brown said.
“It used to be, but it’s not any-
more.”
Brown’s group is not the only
competitor to pick up money and
members from the NRA’s wake.
Gun Owners of America grew
from less than a dozen staff mem-
bers in Springfield in 2018 to now
having field directors in 25 states.
The organization’s income surged
to about $5.9 million in 2019,
more than double what it raised
two years earlier, according to tax
filings.
“I’ve been told we could stop
fundraising for five to 10 years
and keep operating on the money
we have,” said the group’s general
counsel, Mike Hammond. As an
illustration of the group’s grow-
ing influence, Hammond said ev-
ery Republican congressional
candidate in New Hampshire
came to visit his country store in
Dunbarton, N.H., seeking the
group’s endorsement. “The NRA
is a convenient foil for the left, but
the NRA is not the be-all, end-all.”
The NRA says it has more than 5
million members but hasn’t re-
leased specific figures over time.
NRA affiliates made campaign
contributions totaling about
$786,000 in the 2020 cycle and
spent more than $29 million on
ads, according to data from the
Center for Responsive Politics. But
the organization’s clout has always
derived less from direct spending
than from its ability to mobilize its
members to pressure their repre-
sentatives. An NRA spokesperson
did not respond to messages from
The Washington Post.
Now, many of the most vocal
gun rights voters are turning to
activists like Brown and Ham-
mond, who fault the NRA for
negotiating in the past on some
legislation. The NRA discussed
expanding background checks for
gun buyers in the ultimately un-
successful 2013 proposal by Sens.
Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and
Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) follow-
ing the massacre in Newtown,
Conn., and initially supported the
Trump administration’s proposed
regulations on machine-gun-sim-
ulating bump stocks after the
2017 mass shooting at a music
festival in Las Vegas. The splinter-
ing of the NRA’s institutional
voice and the rise of groups taking
a harder line has created a politi-
cal environment in which a once-
coveted “A” rating from the NRA is
no longer enough for some Re-
publicans.
“The NRA has been the biggest
supporter of gun control not only
in Congress, but in state capitols
nationwide for decades,” said Pat-
rick Parsons, the former chief of
staff to Rep. Marjorie Taylor
Greene (R-Ga.). Parsons said the
NRA never endorsed Greene or
contacted her office to support
her legislation, such as a bill to
block federal funding for any gun
regulations. He’s now the execu-
tive vice president of American
Firearms Association, whose
members, he said, “take a con-
frontational politics approach to
gun rights activism.”
The effect of this pressure on
Republican politicians was clear
from their unflinching opposi-

NRA FROM A

tion to new legislation in re-

sponse to this week’s shooting at

Robb Elementary School in Uval-

de, Tex. Trump, Texas Gov. Greg

Abbott, Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and

South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem

stuck with plans to speak at the

NRA’s Houston meeting. (Guns

will not be allowed in the audito-

rium during Trump’s speech be-

cause of the Secret Service’s secu-

rity requirements, according to

the NRA’s website.)

Democrats including President

Biden have demanded action and

called on lawmakers to “stand up

to the gun lobby.” The Democratic

National Committee condemned

Republicans who planned to at-

tend Friday’s NRA convention,

and Democratic gubernatorial

nominee Beto O’Rourke called on

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who had

also planned to speak, to with-

draw. Abbott later canceled his

appearance, his office told report-

ers Thursday evening, choosing

instead to visit Uvalde again. He

will deliver pre-recorded remarks

to the convention.

“Dismantling the power that

the gun lobby accumulated over

the years was never going to hap-

pen overnight, but it’s clear that

this NRA consumed by chaos and

mismanagement is in a weakened

position,” Shannon Watts, found-

er of Moms Demand Action, said

in a statement. “It’s on Senators

now to realize that this isn’t the

NRA of years past, and actually do

something because we can’t wait

another minute.”

But the NRA’s decline has not

reduced the potency of guns as an

animating force in right-wing

politics. A Gallop survey last year

found that support for stricter

gun control had fallen five per-

centage points to 52 percent, the

lowest percentage since 2014.

Americans disagree on whether

stricter gun control would reduce

mass shootings, and policy pro-

posals tend to break down along

partisan lines, according to the

Pew Research Center.

Campaign ads mentioning

guns, the Second Amendment,

the NRA and “self-defense” ac-

counted for 7.2 percent of all Re-

publican media spending this

year, compared with 3.6 percent

in 2018, according to data from

the media tracking firm AdIm-

pact. Candidates are engaged in a

literal arms race to show off ever

more firepower, from pistols and

shotguns to assault rifles and ma-

chine guns. Some ads show the

candidates firing the weapons at

targets symbolizing policies they

oppose — and even, in one case, at

actors playing Democratic politi-

cians.

“The NRA is not a big player

when it comes to spending on

political advertising, but guns are

still an issue that a lot of candi-

dates are talking about,” said Tra-

vis Ridout, a politics professor at

Washington State University and

co-director of the Wesleyan Me-

dia Project, which tracks political

ads. “A lot of it is by virtue of being

pictured with a gun, and that

sends a message that the candi-

date is not hostile to gun rights.”

In another sign of how the

party has moved since the New-

town massacre, the baseless claim

spread by Alex Jones that the

shooting was staged has turned

into a knee-jerk response for some

Republican elected officials after

new mass shootings. Greene, be-

fore she was elected to Congress,

endorsed a false claim that the

2018 school shooting in Parkland,

Fla., was staged, leading the

House to remove her from her

committee assignments. On the

day of the vote last year, Greene

acknowledged school shootings

were “absolutely real.” This

month, the Arizona state Senate

opened an ethics investigation

into Sen. Wendy Rogers for a so-

cial media post that falsely sug-

gested the May 14 mass shooting

at a Buffalo supermarket, which

authorities have said was motivat-

ed by the gunman’s white-su-

premacist beliefs, was done by a

federal agent. Rep. Paul A. Gosar

(R-Ariz.) on Tuesday tweeted and

then deleted false information

blaming the Texas shooting on a

“transsexual leftist illegal alien.”

Ahead of Friday’s meeting, the

NRA indicated plans to “redouble

our commitment to making our

schools secure,” suggesting the

group will maintain its position of

encouraging more armed person-

nel in schools.

After the Sandy Hook Elemen-

tary School shooting in 2012, as

news channels broadcast images

of shattered parents planning

their first-graders’ funerals dur-

ing the holiday season, several

senior NRA officials cautioned

that the organization should

strike a more conciliatory ap-

proach than they had in the past

and weigh proposed tweaks to

gun laws, The Post reported.

Instead, NRA chief executive

Wayne LaPierre struck a defiant

tone in a Dec. 21, 2012, news

conference in Washington — sev-

en days after that shooting —

insisting that the NRA’s enemies

were the ones to be ashamed for

their fearmongering.

“While some have tried to ex-

ploit the tragedy for political gain,

we have remained respectfully

silent,” he said. The NRA leader

then blamed pro-gun-control pol-

iticians for supposedly putting

children in harm’s way by posting

“gun-free” signs outside schools.

LaPierre proposed a plan to in-

stall armed security guards at

schools.

At the time, LaPierre confided

to NRA officials he was frightened

for his personal safety and be-

lieved he might be targeted for

assassination by gun-control

“nuts,” according to multiple peo-

ple familiar with his views at the

time. He and his wife then left by

private jet for a visit to the Baha-

mas and remained there through

the Christmas holidays, a trip that

cost NRA members $70,000.

The NRA has been on a steady

downward slide since 2018, when

it began spending huge sums on

legal fees.

That year, the NRA froze its

pension plan to try to save

$13 million and obtained $28 mil-

lion in a new line of credit by

borrowing against its Virginia

headquarters — and still ended

the year with a $10 million deficit.

The huge drain on NRA finances

was twofold: Some high-profile

members were slowly pulling

away from the organization, and

legal fees were rapidly mounting.

The New York attorney general

launched an investigation into

LaPierre’s alleged abuse of NRA

coffers for personal use, and the

NRA and its longtime public-rela-

tions firm engaged in a feud

stretching across several court-

houses. NRA legal fees more than

tripled in 2018 from the previous

year, rising above $25 million.

In 2020, the nonprofit cut the

money it spent on its gun training

program again, this time by

43 percent, internal records show.

By early 2021, the NRA reported

cutting its number of employees

by about 35 percent, from 770 to

490.

The gun rights group’s legal

bills were among the rare costs

that continued to rise, with the

NRA paying $62 million to its

outside counsel between 2018

and the end of 2020. Those astro-

nomical expenses came as the

NRA battled with its PR firm and

later agreed to settle the lawsuits.

Earlier this year, a judge reject-

ed most of the NRA’s arguments

seeking to dismiss a suit by the

New York attorney general with

an opinion that began with a

dramatic explanation why the

case should go forward.

“[T]he Attorney General’s alle-

gations in this case, if proven, tell

a grim story of greed, self-dealing,

and lax financial oversight at the

highest levels of the National Ri-

fle Association,” the judge wrote.

“The NRA is irrelevant inside

the gun community right now,”

said Rob Pincus, a lifetime NRA

member and current firearms in-

structor who led efforts to over-

haul the group’s board. He and

many others expressed disgust at

LaPierre’s leadership and revela-

tions of his self-enrichment using

members’ dues. “It’s a distraction

from the organizations that are

really doing the work and repre-

senting the interests of the gun

community and gun owners.”

The NRA’s hold on American

gun culture now also has to com-

pete with YouTube influencers

who have millions of subscribers,

project their own messages

against gun regulations and have

pilloried the NRA’s squabbles.

The NRA’s $300 million budget

still dwarfs any other gun rights

organization, but its turmoil has

elevated the profile of rival

groups that are more dogmatic.

“We’re all less compromising

and less willing to deal on an issue

that we consider fundamental

civil rights,” Jeff Knox, director of

the Firearms Coalition, a network

of grass-roots organizations and

gun clubs. “The NRA is the soft

line in the gun lobby.”

The NRA has also responded to

the pressure to take harder stanc-

es. Under LaPierre, the NRA —

which once supported moderate

Democrats — has increasingly

aligned itself with Republican po-

sitions and the ultraconservative

side of America’s culture wars. In

2016, the NRA placed a $30 mil-

lion campaign bet on Trump, fur-

ther cementing its interdepen-

dent relationship with the GOP.

And at times, the NRA has echoed

far-right positions on issues far

afield from the Second Amend-

ment. That has included promot-

ing prayer in school, criticizing

football players for kneeling dur-

ing the national anthem in pro-

test of racial inequality and police

brutality, and mocking efforts to

promote diversity in school ma-

terials.

LaPierre’s newest team of NRA

deputies have echoed Trump’s

baseless claims. The NRA’s new

vice president, Willes Lee, has

made false claims about the 2020

election being rigged, asserting

that 89 percent of the votes Joe

Biden received were “cast for

dead people.” He also claimed

that cities led by Democratic poli-

ticians are engaged in a “geno-

cide” plot to restrict guns and kill

“inner-city residents.”

Such combativeness from the

NRA and splinter groups con-

trasted with the posture taken on

Thursday by the National Shoot-

ing Sports Foundation, a trade

group representing gunmakers

and sellers. The organization said

it supported improving back-

ground checks by connecting

“disqualifying mental health rec-

ords” to the FBI’s system.

As NRA’s influence wanes, other activists take harder line

JESSICA TEZAK FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Brady Day works a raffle for a rifle during a September 202 0 rally in Ringgold, Ga., for Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, w ho went on to win a U.S. House seat.

“We’re all less compromising and less willing to

deal on an issue that we consider fundamental civil

rights. The NRA is the soft line in the gun lobby.”

Jeff Knox, director of the Firearms Coalition, a network of grass-roots

organizations and gun clubs