The National Rifle Association’s overall spending surged by more than $100 million in 2016, surpassing any previous annual NRA spending totals on record, according to an audit obtained by the Center for Responsive Politics.

The explosion in spending came as the NRA poured unprecedented amounts of money into efforts to deliver Donald Trump the White House and help Republicans hold both houses of Congress.

The audit filed with the state of North Carolina shows that the NRA’s total expenditures exploded to more than $419 million, up from $312 million the prior year.

The jump is even more stark when compared to its spending during the previous two presidential elections in 2012 and 2008, when their outlays topped out at $261 million and $204 million, respectively, according to similar audits.These spending totals include all of the NRA’s operations in 2016, from law enforcement programs and hunter services to education and training.

The main driver of the growth in spending, however, came from two program areas: legislative programs and public affairs, which together accounted for about $75 million in the overall growth. The two program areas are not defined in the financial audit, nor do they have a standard definition in accounting practices, but they likely include the NRA’s historic political spending in the 2016 elections.

Reports filed with the Federal Election Commission show that the PAC and nonprofit arms of the NRA spent a combined $54.4 million in the 2016 elections. Most of that spending, $35.2 million, was channeled through the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), the powerful lobbying arm of the NRA.

As a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, the NRA-ILA does not have to disclose the donors who fueled its record spending. And in 2016 elections alone, this “dark money” arm of the NRA spent as much as it had in every election going back to 1992, combined.

The NRA did not respond to questions from the Center for Responsive Politics by time of publication.

Republicans in the House and Senate rode into power in 2016 on a wave of NRA money, and career NRA support for some members members of the 115th Congress now reach well into the seven-figure range.

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But no politician benefited more from the NRA’s 2016 spending binge than President Donald Trump. The NRA spent over $30 million in support of Trump’s candidacy — or more than its combined spending in all races during the 2008 and 2012 presidential election cycles, which include 45 Senate and 145 House races.

As president, Trump has promised to be a champion for the NRA. In April, he told a gathering of gun rights advocates that the “eight-year assault on your Second Amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end.”

And while mass shootings in Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs and Tehama County grabbed the nation’s attention, the administration has shied away from discussing measures that might anger the NRA.

On the revenue side of the equation, the growth was far more modest, going from just under $343 million in 2015 to $375 million in 2016. That growth had little to do with dues paid by NRA members, which actually dropped by more than $2 million. Rather, most of the growth was fueled by $31 million in non-dues contributions.

As a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, the NRA can receive unlimited contributions from individuals and corporations without disclosing those donors to the public, so there is no full accounting of who contributed to the organization or how much. But gun manufacturers like Smith & Wesson, Beretta and Sturm, Ruger & Co — which profit from the NRA’s message — have publicly announced large donations to the NRA in the past, according to CNN.

This information is coming out now because nonprofit organizations like the NRA file tax returns and other information long after the end of their fiscal year–which, in the case of the NRA, is a calendar year. This lag between the date the spending takes place and the date it’s actually reported to the IRS is why audits and other filings are often the first glimpse into a group’s financials.

While audits do use different accounting standards than annual form 990s filed with the IRS, the totals do generally track with one another over time.

The finances reported in the audit are not only a testament to the power the NRA wields in Washington but also to the comparative advantage it holds over its analogues in the gun control arena, where groups like Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Americans for Responsible Solutions measure their finances in the millions and tens of millions and where their spending in elections is bested more than 18 times over by the NRA.

In 2017, the NRA is not laying low. With a sympathetic Congress and an administration keen to support them, the NRA has already spent more on lobbying in the first three quarters of this year than it has spent in any full year in the past.



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