AUSTIN — The National Rifle Association could always count on Texas.

The Lone Star State, and its GOP-dominated political leadership, have been at the forefront of enacting some of the loosest gun laws in the nation. Its Republican lawmakers cut the gun license fee and encouraged teachers to get armed.

And just this month, a spate of new laws expanding where, when and how Texans can carry firearms went into effect — all with a relatively meager financial incentive from the NRA.

In a gun-loving state like Texas, the National Rifle Association and its state affiliate have funneled just more than $700,000 into the campaign coffers of state elected officials since 2000, a relatively small sum in a state with virtually no contribution limits whose top leaders can easily raise millions even in non-election years.

Then, in August, 29 people were killed in two West Texas mass shootings, spurring politicians to act. For the first time since Republicans have controlled leadership in Texas, state officials are giving serious consideration to firearms restrictions as a means to curb gun violence. Stiffer penalties, straw purchases, even background checks — they're all on the table.

Political watchers say this could change how gun groups treat Texas. Will the NRA spend more now that gun restrictions are on the table?

“This has been such a red, pro-gun state. ... The battles are elsewhere,” said Bill Miller, a longtime lobbyist based in Austin. “I would expect their contributions would go up.”

By the numbers

The NRA and Texas State Rifle Association have given nearly $710,000 to state politicians including judges, legislators and political parties since 2000, according to a Dallas Morning News analysis of campaign finance data from the Texas Ethics Commission.

Governors topped the list. Rick Perry, who was the state’s chief executive for 15 years, came in at No. 1 with $25,250. Gov. Greg Abbott was second, bringing in $13,700 during his tenure as an associate justice on the Texas Supreme Court, the attorney general and now governor.

The NRA and TSRA also gave at least $10,000 each to the Republican Party of Texas, the current and former lieutenant governors and Attorney General Ken Paxton. Former Sen. Craig Estes brought in $12,175, more than any other member of the Texas Legislature. He authored the 2015 open carry law, which lets licensed Texans tote their pistols in public.

These contribution totals do not include Texas’ congressional delegation. Contributions given to federal officials including U.S. Sen Ted Cruz or former Congressman Beto O’Rourke are regulated by the Federal Elections Commission and subject to different reporting procedures, rules and caps.

About 4 in 5 of the 347 candidates and officials elected to state office who received money from the NRA and TSRA were Republicans. But Democrats got NRA cash, too. Rounding out the top 10 is John Whitmire, an influential Houston Democrat who’s spent nearly 40 years in the Texas Senate and chairs the Committee on Criminal Justice.

Ray Sullivan, Perry’s former chief of staff, said the NRA’s influence in Texas has been more about membership and organization than the money.

“The influence of the Texas [State] and National Rifle Association are more about numbers of people who are members and care about that issue,” Sullivan said. He pointed to Perry as an example.

“The numbers for Gov. Perry are largely a function of the fact that he was governor for 15 years,” Sullivan said. “In the scheme of things, particularly if you divide it by 15, it is a very modest number of political dollars, certainly compared to other donors and organizations and causes.”

While $700,000 may sound high, it's a drop in the bucket in Texas, where contributions to statewide campaigns can easily climb into the millions. In Texas, there are no contribution limits on people running for state office, except for judges. This means top officials regularly rake in millions, even in non-election years.

For example, the nine top Republicans in statewide office brought in nearly $19 million in total campaign donations at the end of June alone. Abbott, who raked in more than $12 million, got multiple $1 million contributions from moneyed donors even though he's not up for re-election until 2022. For comparison, one of those $1 million contributions was 72 times more than he's received from the NRA and TSRA over his entire career.

The low numbers may be due to the NRA's increasing tendency to favor independent spending on advertising and mailers in support of candidates or causes instead of contributing directly to a politician's war chest. The NRA sank $570,000 into independent expenditures in Texas between 2009 and 2016, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics, a nonprofit that tracks campaign finance data; more than $500,000 went to efforts benefiting Perry.

‘So many things can change’

But some think the days of small-ball contributions to state elected officials could also be over. To ensure it stays in the conversation, the NRA may begin funneling more cash to the elected officials who determine who has a seat at the table.

Spurred by the El Paso and Odessa mass shootings, the state's Republican leadership has been discussing restricting firearms laws for the first time in recent memory. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has backed requiring background checks for all private gun sales, Abbott has proposed passing state laws to ban straw purchases — when someone buys a gun for someone else — and state lawmakers are meeting now to hash out potential legislation.

The discussion alone has angered pro-gun groups, which have vocally opposed any new laws that restrict when, how and where Texans can have guns. The NRA called Patrick's background check proposal "a political gambit" akin to the "Bloomberg-funded failures that were attempted under the Obama administration."

"Instead of trampling the freedom of law-abiding Americans, the government should focus upon actual solutions: fixing our broken mental health system, prosecuting known criminals and enforcing the existing gun laws that require follow-up whenever a prohibited person tries to buy a firearm," the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, its lobbying arm, said in a statement.

What remains to be seen is whether these groups funnel money into the state, either directly into campaign coffers or in independent spending, to ensure politicians hear the message.

Estes, the former senator, said the NRA has never had to worry about the state being pro-gun: “It could be that they feel like Second Amendment issues are fairly safe within Texas.”

Maybe now, that could be changing.

The NRA and TSRA did not respond to requests for comment. But Ed Scruggs, the executive director of the pro-gun control group Texas Gun Sense, said the NRA backed off funneling money into swing districts in 2018 where its influence might have hurt the Republican candidate.

He expects pro-gun groups to back more conservative candidates in contested GOP primary races in March but said it’s harder to tell whether there will be a big influx of NRA cash for top Republicans like Abbott and Patrick, who already have big campaign war chests.

Plus, unless a special session is called, state lawmakers can’t pass new gun laws until they meet in 2021. Perhaps the appetite for gun control will wane before then, and the NRA playbook will remain the same.

“It’s probably too early to tell,” Scruggs said. “Gosh, the next legislative session is so far and so many things can change.”

Data journalist Ariana Giorgi and Austin bureau reporter María Méndez contributed to this report.