GBC News Archives

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s largest gun rights organization played a pivotal role in President Donald Trump’s victory in 2016. Three years later, the National Rifle Association is limping toward the next election divided and diminished. It’s a reversal that has stunned longtime observers and that is raising questions about the one-time kingmaker’s potential firepower heading into 2020 as Trump and Vice President Mike Pence prepare to headline the group’s annual convention in Indianapolis on Friday. “I’ve never seen the NRA this vulnerable” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit that advocates for gun control measures. In the months after Trump’s election, the NRA seemed on top of the world. After pouring tens of millions of dollars into the presidential race, its dark horse candidate occupied the desk in the Oval Office. Republicans controlled both branches of Congress. And the emboldened group had ambitious plans afoot for easing state and national gun regulations. Instead, much of the legislation the group championed has stalled, due, in part, to a series of mass shootings, including the massacre at a Parkland, Florida, high school that left 17 dead and launched a youth movement against gun violence that has had a powerful impact. At the same time, the group is grappling with infighting, bleeding money and facing a series of investigations into its operating practices, including allegations that covert Russian agents seeking to influence the 2016 election courted its officials and funneled money through the group. Indeed, as Trump is speaking Friday, Maria Butina, the admitted Russian agent, is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court in Washington. And then there’s the simple fact that, with Trump in office, gun owners no longer fear the Second Amendment is under attack. “Good times are never good for interest groups because it’s much better when Armageddon is at

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