The latest lobbying reports show that despite decades of dominance on the issue of gun rights, the National Rifle Association was shoved aside by a newcomer — and it wasn’t a new gun control advocacy group.

The National Association for Gun Rights, a “no-compromise” gun rights group with close ties to Ron and Rand Paul, spent more than $1.8 million in the first quarter of 2013 — almost $1 million more than the $830,000 spent by the NRA. It’s the first time the group has lobbied at the federal level.

When it comes to shelling out for lobbyists, the NRA has regularly outspent all other groups that count guns as their primary issue. But even though the NRA spent more in the first quarter of this year than in the final quarter of 2012, it was swamped by the NAGR, which regards the NRA as too soft on gun rights.

The Newtown, Conn., school shootings in mid-December spawned a raft of legislative proposals to expand background checks, halt assault weapons sales and otherwise further regulate gun ownership and sales. But the measure that seemed to have the most support, the Manchin-Toomey Amendment, was defeated in the Senate on April 17.

Dudley Brown (at left), the NAGR’s executive vice-president, told OpenSecrets Blog that while the group had operated a PAC for several years, it decided in December it was time to hire a lobbyist.

“We had not hired a federal lobbyist previous to that point, and we immediately started seeking one out after Connecticut,” he said in an interview.

In addition to the $1.8 million spent in the first three months of 2013, Brown added that the group has spent even more — the exact amount hasn’t been calculated yet — in the first two weeks of April, leading up to the defeat of the Manchin-Toomey amendment.

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His group’s sudden rise to prominence in the lobbying world could be attributed to what he believes is a more direct and aggressive style of lobbying than that of other gun rights groups. One reason its lobbying number is high, he said, is that the group includes in the tally money spent targeting members of Congress on social media sites and with issue ads run in their districts. Most other organizations do not include such expenditures on their lobbying reports, nor is it required that they do so.

“Unlike some other organizations with a lot of paid staff, we don’t think lobbying means wearing $2,000 suits and sitting around in fancy K Street bars,” he said. “We’re not playing nice.”

Ties to Paul Family



In March and April, the NAGR raised some GOP hackles when it began running attack ads targeting Republicans, including House Majority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.). The ads accused the two of supporting President Obama’s gun control policies. At the time, Rigell complained to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), whose image and name were used in the group’s fundraising appeals. Paul denied having any connection with the group other than allowing it to use his name to drum up funds, but an OpenSecrets Blog investigation found closer ties than Paul let on. Two members of the NAGR’s board of directors were hired as contractors by various campaign committees affiliated with Paul and his father, former presidential candidate Ron Paul. They were paid millions for their work. Now more ties to the Pauls are evident: According to the latest lobbying filings, the group has just a single lobbyist, Christopher N. Kuper (the NRA lists 12 lobbyists so far this year). Campaign finance records and Kuper’s LinkedIn profile show that he previously worked for Liberty For All , the super PAC that supported Ron Paul’s presidential campaign. According to OpenSecrets.org data, Kuper was paid at least $45,909 by the super PAC for “strategic consulting” in the 2012 cycle. Kuper was hired on Jan. 15, but has never been a registered lobbyist at the federal level, nor has NAGR ever employed a registered lobbyist. Also, in late March, the NAGR cohosted a fundraiser for Rand Paul at the UPS Townhouse on Capitol Hill. According to a copy of an invitation to the event posted on the website Political Party Time, PACs had to contribute $5,000 to Paul’s campaign in order to be named as cohosts. Brown said that NAGR considers Paul an ally, but not the only one. “Look, we’re friendly with anyone who stands on principle,” he said, listing Reps. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) and Louis Gohmert (R-Texas), among others, as members of Congress “with guts and principle.” “But none of them help set our agenda,” he said. Brown said more ads currently are running. They include a new batch against Rigell, whose complaining he characterized as: “Waa! Waa! Waa!” “His complaints brought him another round of commercials,” Brown said. Detailed Disclosure The NAGR’s lobbying filing for the first quarter of this year is also unusual in its level of detail. While many organizations list on their reports the bills in which they have an interest, many don’t. Few of them explicitly say whether they support or oppose a particular piece of legislation. But the NAGR reported the position it took on the dozens of bills it lobbied, along with brief explanations. Like many gun rights groups, the NAGR opposed S.150, the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013, proposed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). It noted in its filing: “Oppose: Bill would outlaw hundreds of commonly used semi-automatic rifles and pistols and limit magazine capacity to 10 rounds.” It also opposed proposals to limit the size of magazines and any proposals to expand background checks or create any type of list of gun owners. But the filing also described in great detail the group’s opposition to bills like H.R.236, the Crackdown on Deadbeat Gun Dealers Act of 2013. That proposal would impose tougher penalties for licensed gun dealers (sometimes known as FFLs, short for Federal Firearm Licenses) for improper paperwork. According to the NAGR’s filing, “it also allocates the ATF an additional 50 agents to harass FFLs across the country.” And the group reported its opposition to H.R.452, the Gun Trafficking Prevention Act of 2013, because “This bill would lock you up for up to 20 years if you purchase a firearm and later transfer it to a friend neighbor or relative if that person is prohibited from possession under any federal, state or obscure local ordinance.” “I demanded we put detail into it,” Brown said. “I think our donors need to know what’s being spent, and gun owners around the country want to know whose doing what. I think they think all kinds of weird things are happening, and we want to be as explicit as we can.” The full filing can be found here

Clarification: One paragraph of this story has been updated to better describe NAGR’s spending so far this year. We have also corrected Dudley Brown’s title.





Images: NAGR hat and logo picture via NAGR Facebook page; Dudley Brown photo courtesy of Dudley Brown.





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