With less than 70 days until Election Day, the nation's major gun control groups have extended their fundraising lead in the political fight over firearms.
The political action committees run by Everytown, Giffords and Brady collectively raised just under $810,000 in July, according to Federal Election Commission filings released last week. In contrast, the National Rifle Association's Political Victory Fund raised just under $435,000 in July. Overall, gun rights PACs raised less than $485,000.
The total amount of donations raised in July underscores the spending advantage that gun control advocates currently have, due in large part to the NRA's limited capacity as a political force. In both In 2020 and 2016, the NRA raised and spent more money than the big three Gun control groups put together. In view of a drastic loss of members since then mainly driven by his corruption scandal, which has been ongoing for several yearsthe group a smaller pool of potential donors from which to raise money for its political activities. As a result, the group now sometimes struggles to match even individual gun control groups in donations.
Giffords PAC, the political arm of the nation's second-largest gun control group, raised more than the NRA in July, with $603,636.50. The group was by far the leading gun control group, followed by Everytown for Gun Safety's SuperPAC with a total of $122,563.51. Everytown's PAC took in an additional $17,581.62, while Brady PAC rounded out the big three with $65,275.56 for the month. Together, the groups increased their fundraising by nearly a quarter of a million dollars from the previous month.
The NRA's July revenue of $434,935.87 was also nearly $80,000 lower than June's results. Not only did they lag behind their political opponents for the second month in a row,, but the total amount of donations collected Was also declined significantly compared to previous presidential election cycles. In July 2020 PAC took $628,404.29, while his Super PAC collected an additional $3,041,118.76 (only $400 was raised in July). In July 2016, before the NRA formed a Super PAC, PAC increased $1,101,739.56.
Gun control groups were also more mixed on this score. Giffords exceeded his fundraising totals from July 2020 and July 2016 — in the former case by more than a quarter of a million dollars. On the other hand, both Everytown and Brady raised hundreds of thousands of dollars less last month than in July 2020.
Although the NRA failed to raise more money than the gun control groups, it was able to maintain its cash advantage. The NRA reported having about $13.3 million in cash on hand, along with its PAC and super PAC, at the end of July. The gun control groups, meanwhile, reported having a total of just over $10.5 million.
However, Everytown and Giffords have said they plan to spend significantly more money than they currently have on hand. Giffords told NBC News on July 28 that she plans to spend an additional $15 million to support Kamala Harris over Donald Trump, but did not say how much money would flow through her PAC. A few days later, Everytown pledged to spend $45 million on the election, without detailing what that money would be spent on.
The NRA also continued to outshine its gun rights rivals in fundraising. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) PAC raised $46,494.91 in July. The National Association for Gun Rights PAC raised $2,225.91, and the Gun Owners of America PAC raised just $588.00. The NSSF Protect Liberty PAC and the United States Concealed Carry Association PAC only release their results quarterly, so there were no July numbers for them.
