The National Rifle Association has figured prominently in the recent national political conversation thanks to its work to undercut the movement for common sense gun control. That movement has been operating with increased momentum in the aftermath of last month’s shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school that left 17 people dead, and it culminated in part in the recent “March for Our Lives.”
A short time before that event, students across the country walked out of their classrooms for 17 minutes in support of common sense gun reform.
On the morning of the walkout, the NRA posted an image on Twitter of the type of gun used in the Parkland attack with a caption reading, “I’ll control my own guns, thank you.”
Those sorts of callous antics aren’t the only reason the NRA has come under scrutiny, however.
Earlier this year, McClatchy reported that the FBI was looking into the question of whether or not the gun rights organization had received foreign money that was illegally used in U.S. political activity. It consequently came out that the Federal Election Commission had opened a preliminary investigation into the same question.
Now, NPR is reporting that the organization admitted in a letter to a U.S. Senator that it has, indeed, received foreign funds. Unsurprisingly, however, the organization claims to have not used those funds for political activity, which would be illegal.
Top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee Sen. Ron Wyden asked the organization earlier this month:
‘Can you categorically state that your organizations have never, wittingly or unwittingly, received any contributions from individuals or entities acting as conduits for foreign entities or interests?’
The organization’s response came from their General Counsel John C. Frazer, who wrote:
‘While we do receive some contributions from foreign individuals and entities, those contributions are made directly to the NRA for lawful purposes. Our review of our records has found no foreign donations in connection with a United States election, either directly or through a conduit.’
Frazer added that although his organization received donations from U.S. companies that may be led by foreign nationals, “[n]one of those entities or individuals is connected with Russia, and none of their contributions were made in connection with U.S. elections.”
Wyden, according to NPR, was not impressed, and has now demanded that the organization provide him with a detailed accounting of their receipts and uses of foreign funds over the past three years.
As NPR notes, the organization has a variety of financial accounts, making it “difficult, if not impossible, to track how the [foreign] money is spent since it is not isolated or sequestered.”
The Trump team benefited from tens of millions of dollars in NRA spending during the 2016 election, a number pointed out by Parkland survivor Emma Gonzalez in an address she gave shortly after the atrocity.
The NRA spent at least $1,071,100 on Republican Congressional candidates in the 2016 election cycle, according to Open Secrets.
Concern about the NRA’s ties to foreign — particularly Russian — interests centers on the role that Russian politician Alexander Torshin has played in the organization. He has attended at least five years of the organization’s annual conventions; at the 2016 one, he had a brief meeting with Donald Trump Jr.
Featured Image via Xinhua/ Ting Shen via Getty Images
