Engines of Extremism

How the Gun Industry Profits from Fear

• Jessie Ojeda
• October 24, 2024

On July 13, 2024, a shocking assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, underscored the severe and escalating nature of political violence in the United States.¹ Although the shooter’s motives remain unclear, this incident, which resulted in the death of a former fire chief and injuries to several others, highlighted the intense polarization and danger facing American society today. 

This attack was not an isolated event; a second attempt on Trump’s life followed just two months later.² There is no consensus yet about whether the perpetrators of these crimes were motivated by any particular ideology. Nevertheless, these events are emblematic of an era marked by escalating armed extremism fueled by conspiracy theories and misinformation. American extremism today spans a range of movements and groups that place firearms at the forefront of their actions.³ Exploiting weak gun laws, these movements have used firearms to intimidate people at protests,⁴ election sites,⁵ state capitols,⁶ and in all manner of other public spaces.⁷  

Issue

Guns & Democracy

The use of guns to intimidate and threaten voters, elected officials, and peaceful demonstrators poses a serious threat to our democracy.

As described below, the profitable gun industry and its powerful gun lobby have played instrumental roles in nurturing this extremism, carefully fostering a culture that not only tolerates but glorifies violent radicalism. Although weakened in recent years, the National Rifle Association (NRA), historically the most prominent and dangerous gun lobby player, has deliberately driven this dangerous extremist agenda forward.

While the NRA led the charge in pushing this extremist agenda, other gun lobby actors like the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) and Gun Owners of America (GOA) have likewise embraced similar rhetoric. Over the last several decades, the gun industry has also meticulously fanned the flame of extremism, using strategic fear-mongering within its marketing and rhetoric to intertwine gun ownership with personal identity and patriotism. This strategy frequently taps into military fantasies and reverence for the Second Amendment to foster a culture of fear and aggression that has propelled massive sales across the industry. Such rhetoric has proved particularly effective at attracting extreme far-right individuals and groups who provide a huge market for the type of assault weapons and rapid-fire devices the industry has increasingly promoted. 

The industry’s flirtation with extremists has been notably normalized since Trump’s presidency, bringing once fringe extremist groups and ideologies into the mainstream. Today, the gun industry continues to actively embolden extremists, who then leverage the weak gun laws pushed by the gun lobby to intimidate and incite violence. Despite rising gun deaths, the gun lobby and industry persist in prioritizing profits over safety, endorsing far-right policies and candidates while broadly opposing sensible gun violence prevention measures, even as gun sales continue to rise. 

The surge in gun sales driven by the industry’s exploitation of fear and extremism has had dire consequences for public safety. Beyond empowering extremist groups, the unprecedented proliferation of firearms has led to historically high rates of gun violence in everyday life. More guns in circulation means more deadly outcomes—routine conflicts escalate into shootings, suicides occur more frequently, and communities across the country suffer the consequences. The gun industry’s relentless marketing of firearms as tools of personal empowerment and symbols of freedom ignores the real-world impact: a cycle of violence that claims lives daily, often disproportionately affecting marginalized communities. By prioritizing profit over public safety, the gun industry not only endangers democracy but also perpetuates a culture of violence that touches every aspect of American society.

This report delves into the intricate interplay between the gun industry, political extremism, and democratic erosion, showcasing how the firearms sector has exploited and amplified right-wing extremism and political violence. By examining the gun industry’s long-time strategic manipulation of fear through marketing and rhetoric, as well as recent surges in armed protests and violence, the report underscores the urgent need for comprehensive legislative and regulatory reform. It also calls on policymakers, civil society, and engaged citizens to tackle these challenges through targeted measures, including stronger gun laws, enhanced industry accountability, and effective counter-extremism strategies. Ultimately, the goal is to foster a safer, more equitable society where democratic values are preserved and extremist influences are effectively mitigated.

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American far-right extremism today encompasses a variety of movements and groups—including the alt-right, involuntary celibacy, and militia movements—that commonly organize around fringe ideological beliefs, including white supremacy, antisemitism, neo-Nazism, anti-government extremism, anti-abortion extremism, and nativism.⁸ In 2023, the Southern Poverty Law Center documented 1,430 active hate and anti-government extremist groups across the US.⁹ While extremism has long been associated with political violence, recent years have seen groups and movements like the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and the Boogaloo Bois elevating firearms as a key part of their movements.¹⁰ Exploiting weak gun laws, these movements have used firearms to intimidate people at protests,¹¹ election sites,¹² state capitol buildings,¹³ and in all manner of other public spaces.¹⁴ 

Report

The Role of Guns in Rising Political Violence

Kelly Drane—Jan 06, 2023

Although extremism is not a new phenomenon, in recent years, we have seen an unprecedented surge in violence associated with these once fringe ideologies. For instance, research into the 2016 Trump campaign, which organized more than 300 rallies nationwide, uncovered a startling 226% subsequent increase in hate-motivated incidents in areas hosting these events.¹⁵ The incendiary rhetoric employed by Trump and his ideological allies has spawned what some refer to as a “spiral of reciprocal radicalization”¹⁶ that normalizes violence and emboldens extremists. In 2023, nearly one in four Americans polled believed violence could be necessary to “save the country.”¹⁷ Threats against members of Congress are also 10 times higher than they were in 2017.¹⁸  

Today, armed demonstration activity, much of which is conducted by far-right extremist groups and individuals, is increasingly prevalent.¹⁹ A joint study from Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) and Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund documented more than 560 events where demonstrators, counter-demonstrators, or other individuals or groups were present and carried or brandished firearms during the 18-month period from January 2020 through June 2021.²⁰ Similar research from GIFFORDS identified nearly 70 distinct incidents of armed protests involving the open carrying of firearms resulting in threats, harm, or intimidation targeting various individuals between January 2020 and December 2022.²¹  

This increase in armed protests is linked to a new wave of gun ownership among individuals with extremist opinions. Recent research has found that pandemic gun buyers—including an estimated six million first time gun buyers—were substantially more likely than pre-pandemic gun owners and non-gun owners to hold extreme beliefs.²² Specifically, this study found that: 

Reporting from the Anti-Defamation League has revealed that firearms are now the most common choice of weapon for extremists, with 93% of domestic extremist killings in 2022 committed with firearms.²⁴ Federal agencies anticipate that firearms will continue to pose the greatest threat of lethal violence by white supremacists, largely due to their availability and ease of use.²⁵  

Mass shootings and other killings linked to extremism in the past decade have also tripled compared to any other 10-year period since the 1970s.²⁶ Research from the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project highlights the mainstreaming of extremist ideas across the political spectrum, noting in particular the huge rise in far-right militia activity and how these groups are now able to operate more openly in the political mainstream than in prior years.²⁷  

Armed threats at polling stations and against election workers are all too common in recent years. Polling conducted in 2023 found that nearly one in three election workers has now experienced threats, harassment, or abuse because of their job:  

• In Maricopa County, Arizona, during the 2022 election, armed vigilantes stationed themselves at ballot drop boxes just outside of the legally mandated perimeter, ostensibly to prevent voter fraud. Their presence prompted widespread concern over voter safety and ultimately led to a court order against the group.²⁸ 
• Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his wife Tricia were terrorized with death threats following his certification of the 2020 presidential election results, including texts stating, “We plan for the death of you and your family every day.” The harassment escalated to members of the far-right militia group, the Oath Keepers, standing outside their home and the family was forced into hiding for a week after a break-in attempt at a family home.²⁹ 
• Former Fulton County Elections Director Richard Barron, who resigned after enduring similar abuse, shared with investigators hundreds of threatening and racially charged emails and messages directed at his predominantly Black staff. At the same time, at least a dozen Georgia election offices received bomb threats, with messages promising to “make the Boston bombings look like child’s play” if Trump’s loss was not overturned.³⁰  
• In Michigan, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson was threatened by armed protesters outside her home as she decorated her Christmas tree with her child. The protesters shouted threats and obscenities, a terrifying escalation of the harassment that election officials faced during this period.³¹ 

Violent threats against public officials have similarly increased, with CNN reporting a 178% increase during Trump’s presidency. Even after that time period, these threats continue, including: 

• In 2022, an assailant broke into the home of Nancy Pelosi, then Speaker of the US House, demanding her whereabouts. Although Pelosi was in Washington DC at the time, her husband, Paul Pelosi, was brutally attacked.³²  
• In early 2023, Solomon Peña, a former Republican candidate in New Mexico, was charged with orchestrating shootings at the homes of four Democratic officials after losing his election bid.³³  
• Just months later, an Oklahoma man was sentenced to prison after posting threats online, targeting politicians like Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, writing, “You would look good with a hole in your head.”³⁴  
• Between September and October 2024, a Democratic Party office in Tempe, Arizona—an important battleground in the 2024 presidential election—was targeted in three separate shootings, though the motives remain unclear.³⁵ 

As these movements continue to gain traction, the consequences of their increasing reliance on firearms have become impossible to ignore. 

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The rise in firearm use and violence by extremist movements is no accident. Rather, it is the result of a calculated, decades-long strategy by the gun lobby to root its messaging in fear and extremist ideology. Long before Trump, the NRA and other gun lobby organizations were laying the groundwork by crafting narratives that stoked fear and aligned with fringe ideologies. These groups fostered a culture of division, exploiting weak gun laws to bolster gun sales and expand their influence. This section delves into the historical evolution of these tactics, showing how the gun lobby helped shape the deeply polarized and dangerous environment we face today.

In its earliest days, the NRA primarily operated as an educational association for responsible firearm usage. Established in 1871 with a mission to “promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis,”³⁶ the NRA initially supported modest gun regulation and was instrumental in the development of some of the first federal gun regulations in the 1930s.³⁷ By the 1960s, however, the NRA began to fracture as a growing vocal segment of its membership became unhappy with the organization’s moderate approach to gun legislation.³⁸ As a result, the NRA transformed in the 1970s into a powerful conservative political force—one with a dangerous new mandate, “No compromise. No gun legislation.”³⁹ The birth of the NRA’s lobbying powerhouse—the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA)—in 1975 and a pivotal takeover in 1977 where hard-liners ousted moderate leadership, marked a fundamental shift for the organization.⁴⁰ Over subsequent decades, the NRA nearly tripled in membership and experienced massive funding growth while simultaneously aligning more closely with the Republican Party, thereby abandoning its former bipartisanship.⁴¹

Analysis

The Gun Industry’s Marketing Tactics Are Driving Gun Violence

Jessie Ojeda—Sep 05, 2023

 Meanwhile the industry at-large began to prioritize the sale of new, more expensive handguns, and later even more costly semiautomatic weapons like the AR-15, over the less profitable traditional rifles and shotguns used in hunting and recreation. To justify marketing tactics promoting the need for handguns as a means of self-defense, the NRA and other gun industry allies like GOA and the NSSF anchored themselves to an extremist interpretation of the Second Amendment—a stance that persists today.⁴² 

Despite new profits arising from these changes and swelling membership in the latter half of the 20th century, by the 1990s, the NRA and gun industry members were already grappling with myriad new issues. Mounting pressures included bad publicity from a series of high-profile mass shootings, increasing support for gun legislation resulting in a federal assault weapons ban, industry-wide revenue shortages, and a pervasive lack of direction.⁴³ The NRA’s staunch opposition to the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act and the Federal Assault Weapon Ban (FAWB) in the 1990s were the organization’s response to these pressures, leading it to embrace an increasingly extremist narrative that harnessed fear, religion, and political violence to drive record gun sales.⁴⁴ 

The NRA’s response to the 1999 Columbine High School shooting provides insight into this shift. The horrific Columbine school massacre was a planned attack carried out by two students, armed with semiautomatic handguns and shotguns, which claimed the lives of 12 students and a teacher.⁴⁵ After the shooting, NRA leadership initially contemplated creating a victim’s support fund and canceling its annual convention.⁴⁶ Yet, the organization ultimately opted for a strategy of defiance, suggesting that the media was trying to villainize the industry for profit and claiming “[t]he dirty secret of this day and age is that political gain and media ratings all too often bloom on fresh graves.”⁴⁷ 

In the following months, which aligned with the highly contested 2000 US presidential election, the NRA escalated its fear-based messaging. In a November 23, 1999, fundraising newsletter, NRA Executive Director Wayne LaPierre wrote, “You and I are now making history in the final, decisive battle for the future of our precious Second Amendment freedoms…. Al Gore intends to force every American gun owner to carry a national ID card. He didn’t exactly say tattoo a number on your forearm, but you get the idea.”⁴⁸ This extreme and irresponsible comparison suggested that Democratic gun safety policies were akin to Nazi practices of dehumanization and control. Such rhetoric marked a significant and alarming escalation in the NRA’s approach, shifting from policy advocacy to demonizing political opponents.

This early utilization of an unfounded and extreme characterization of the left set a precedent for the NRA’s future rhetoric over the next two decades. By framing Democrats as existential threats to freedom and drawing outrageous historical parallels, the NRA fostered an environment of distrust and hostility. This strategy not only polarized the political landscape but also contributed to an emerging culture of political violence within its membership. Over time, this strategy helped pave the way for more aggressive and extreme actions, reinforcing divisive and dangerous ideologies among gun owners. 

In more recent years, this rhetoric has only intensified. The NRA’s handling of its 2022 annual gun show illustrates just how far the organization had strayed from its roots. Occurring shortly after the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, which claimed 21 lives, the 2022 NRA convention sparked public protest and condemnation.⁴⁹ Unlike its response to the Columbine shooting two decades earlier—when the organization showed some recognition of the ethical and public concerns of hosting its annual show shortly after the mass shooting—the NRA’s reaction in 2022 exemplified its descent into extremism. Rather than reflecting on any role its actions and rhetoric played in American gun violence, the NRA chose to double down on rhetoric that emphasized the need for arming law-abiding citizens to combat mass shootings and other “evils.”⁵⁰

The convention floor itself mirrored this grim narrative—featuring promoters pitching military-grade hardware amongst dark images and slogans of societal collapse—while demonstrating the close alignment of the NRA with members of the gun industry. Exhibitors like Black Rain Ordnance sold an AR-15–style rifle dubbed the “Bro-Patriot,” with optional finishes depicting the American flag, Texas flag, or other militia-friendly branding. Another company, Savior Equipment, offered faux guitar cases with foam inserts, marketed as a way to “transport your AR like you were on your way to band practice.” 

Source: Black Rain Ordnance

In dissecting the disturbing evolution of the gun lobby’s rhetoric, a stark reality emerges—one where the NRA, once rooted in the promotion of responsible gun ownership, began to cynically employ fear, extremism, and divisive ideologies in the name of profit. The result is a profound shift toward violent and extremist rhetoric in American gun culture that reverberates across many aspects of American life.

As highlighted by the marketing exhibited at its recent conventions, the NRA’s extremist rhetoric has been closely paralleled by trends in industry advertising. Recent research has identified a significant shift in the core emphasis of US gun culture beginning in the 1970s and lasting through present day.⁵¹ Analysis of ads in prominent gun magazines, namely The American Rifleman and Guns, reveals that sports and recreation ads in the early 20th century accounted for more than 90% of all gun advertising.⁵² Over the decades though, the culture began shifting away from sports and recreation and towards self and family defense. This change is notable beginning in the 1970s with sports and recreation themed ads still accounting for a slight majority of all ad shares and self-defense at less than 10% on average.⁵³ However, starting around 1992, the prevalence of self-defense themed ads more than doubled while sports and recreation ads inversely declined.⁵⁴ Today, self-defense ads consistently compose over 50% of all advertisements while sports and recreation now account for less than 20%.⁵⁵ Importantly, these studies noted that this change aligns with the liberalization of state concealed carry laws in the late 1990s and the subsequent rise of permitless carry in the 2010s, which created a growing market for armed civilian consumers interested in self-defense.⁵⁶

This shift towards self-defense advertising and extremism was followed by the advent of social media, which has given the industry unprecedented access to young people in particular. The expansive reach of platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube has allowed the gun industry to target a significantly larger and younger audience than ever before. Today, major industry players boast substantial social media followings, including:

• Glock: 2 million Instagram followers, 1.9 million Facebook followers, and 84,000 YouTube subscribers.⁵⁷
• Smith & Wesson: 1.2 million Instagram followers, 1.6 million Facebook followers, and 218,000 YouTube subscribers.⁵⁸ 
• The NRA: 2.3 million Instagram followers, 4.7 million Facebook followers, and 263,000 YouTube subscribers.⁵⁹

While these seemingly large followings parallel the followings of other businesses, through regular content and advertisements on these platforms, gun industry members engage directly with millions of consumers. Furthermore, private accounts and smaller firearm dealers contribute to the proliferation of pro-gun social media content.⁶⁰ Unlike major manufacturers and distributors, these personal accounts often feature openly violent narratives, conspiracy theories, and other falsities that help fuel the fear-based consumerism cultivated by the gun lobby.

These posts and advertisements frequently target young audiences, a demographic particularly susceptible to deceptive marketing practices for dangerous products like guns.⁶¹ According to a recent Gallup poll, half of all teens spend up to four hours a day on social media.⁶² The gun industry’s ability to target young audiences is particularly dangerous given the lack of regulation over industry advertising. Despite federal and state laws nationwide setting minimum ages to purchase or possess firearms, the gun industry places no age-verification restrictions on its online content or advertising.⁶³ This makes the gun industry an outlier among other industries selling potentially dangerous products, such as alcohol, tobacco, and even lottery tickets, all of which utilize minimum purchase age restrictions to limit the reach of their content to young audiences. 

The recklessness of the industry’s approach to youth marketing is exemplified by a recent controversy involving Remington. In November 2023, the company faced criticism for signing a product placement deal with Activision to feature its assault rifles in the Call of Duty video game series—where up to 30% of players are aged between 10 and 20.⁶⁴ This example highlights the urgent need for regulation to address the gun industry’s unchecked influence on social media, particularly regarding its targeting of younger, more impressionable audiences.⁶⁵

While First Amendment rights protect commercial speech, the industry’s practices raise critical questions about the ethical implications and the potential need for more nuanced regulations. Striking a balance between free speech and public safety requires careful consideration and further analysis, but it is clear that the current regulatory framework is insufficient to address the risks posed by the industry’s marketing strategies.

Assault weapons—typically meaning semiautomatic weapons designed and equipped with features that enable mass killing, such as high-volume rapid-fire shooting and large-capacity magazines—have experienced massive growth in recent decades. Critically, these weapons are emblematic of the extremism within the industry. Advertisements tying guns to military use are among the earliest examples of gun ads, predating the rise of automatic weapons in the late 20th century.⁶⁶ Early marketing strategies focused on associating firearms with national defense, with ads proclaiming how gunmakers like Remington supplied weapons to the army—tools that helped “defend democracy.” The emphasis was on quality, reliability, and the honorable service of the military.

However, this approach has since evolved. Modern gun advertisements often take a more aggressive tone, urging civilians to purchase the same firearms used by soldiers in combat, explicitly encouraging buyers to prepare to defend against “bad guys” in civilian life. Central to this transition was the AR-15 assault weapon. 

While the term “AR-15” is now commonly used to refer to assault rifles in general, it actually describes the specific firearm produced by its original manufacturer, ArmaLite. In 1959, ArmaLite sold the patent and trademark for the AR-15 to Colt’s Manufacturing, which popularized the design. After most of the patents for the Colt AR-15 expired in the 1970s, firearm manufacturers began to produce their own versions of the rifle under various names.⁶⁷ In turn, the name for this gun—AR-15—became an umbrella term for this type of rifle. This report refers to these firearms as “AR-15–style weapons” and “assault weapons” to encompass the many manufacturers that now produce this style of weapon.

Originally designed as a rifle for soldiers in the late 1950s, the AR-15 assault weapon initially struggled to find a market with ordinary gun owners, who shunned the rifles as “overkill” for home defense and ill-suited for hunting.⁶⁸  While early ads for assault weapons in the 1960s attempted to promote the weapons as enhancements for hunters and recreational shooters, they were soon relegated to the shadows of gun trade shows.⁶⁹ 

However, interest in assault weapons began to extend beyond the military during the Vietnam War, with the industry advertising the AR-15 as a civilian variant of the M16 rifles used by US military forces. Mounting crime in the 1980s and 90s provided the industry with new opportunities to develop public interest, this time focusing on self-defense and positioning civilians, rather than enemy soldiers, as the targets of these weapons.⁷⁰ Congress wisely enacted the Federal Assault Weapons Ban (FAWB) in 1994, but this ban was allowed to expire in 2004, ushering in the easy availability of variants of the AR-15, AK-47, and other assault weapons.⁷¹ A post-9/11 surge in military glorification and the “war on terror” further propelled the assault weapon to the industry’s forefront. 

The industry promoted AR-15–style rifles to a particular new class of gun owners who sought to personalize their weapons with tactical accessories.⁷² Manufacturers quickly built marketing campaigns around this interest, capitalizing on tactical imagery, phrasing, and military valorization.⁷³ The fantasy of the uniformed commando, decked out in tactical gear, was pushed to the forefront not only through traditional ads but increasingly through popular video games like Call of Duty and in blockbuster movies targeting younger audiences.⁷⁴ 

Amid this change, advertisements featuring assault weapons began to adopt a troubling underlying tone of racism and fear. In one early example from 2009, a marketing firm hired by Remington proposed an ad campaign for Remington’s Bushmaster AR-15s that targeted civilians aspiring to be part of law enforcement.⁷⁵ The initial draft, later obtained by lawyers representing the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, included overtly racist slogans like “Clear the Crack House,” “Ice the Perp,” and “Save the Hostage.”⁷⁶ Although the language was later toned down, Remington continues to exploit fears of urban crime and mass shootings in its current advertisements.⁷⁷ 

Source: Call of Duty: Mobile on YouTube

A 2011 report from the Violence Policy Center uncovered numerous similar advertisements, finding that the industry commonly “bombard[ed] its target market with the message that civilian consumers—just like real soldiers—can easily and legally own the firepower of militarized weapons.”⁷⁸  

This concern was reiterated in a recent 2022 US House of Representatives report, which noted explicit visual and textual connections between civilian rifles and the military in ads by companies like Sig Sauer.⁷⁹ That same year, a New York Times report found that military-grade weapons had also become more prominent in political campaign ads: There were more than 100 ads in the 2022 midterms featuring guns, and over a dozen of them showcased semiautomatic military-style rifles.⁸⁰ 

The surge in these ads has coincided with a substantial increase in high-profile mass shootings involving assault-style weapons.⁸¹ Research shows that mass shootings are much more likely to occur today than they did historically.⁸² Since 2015 alone, the number of mass shootings has nearly doubled.⁸³ And as the number of mass shootings has risen, the proportion that involve semiautomatic rifles has also increased. 

Analysis

How Extremism Fuels Gun Violence

Jessie Ojeda—Aug 02, 2024

From 1966 to 2009, less than a third of all high-fatality public mass shootings involved a semiautomatic rifle or assault weapon. From 2010 to 2019, the proportion jumped to more than half of all incidents.⁸⁴ The escalating use of semiautomatic rifles or assault weapons in mass shootings similarly corresponds with increased injuries and death. Between 2000 and 2017, active shooter incidents that involved a semiautomatic rifle had nearly twice as many injuries and deaths compared to incidents that did not involve a semiautomatic rifle.⁸⁵

Ironically, high-profile mass shootings drive massive profits for the gun industry. Research from the Brookings Institution shows that gun industry sales increased by three million in the month following the Sandy Hook shooting, 1.6 million after the San Bernardino terrorist attack, and 700,000 following the Parkland shooting.⁸⁶ Research consistently finds that gun sales spike in two circumstances: following mass shootings and preceding the enactment of gun violence prevention laws.⁸⁷ This phenomenon, driven by the perception that a personal firearm is protective and concerns about the possibility of stricter gun legislation in the wake of high-profile shootings, underscores a concerning interplay between tragedy and profit in the industry.⁸⁸ 

Gun industry insiders are not only aware of this trend but openly acknowledge that mass shootings fuel sales.⁸⁹ In one egregious example, an expose by The Interceptin 2015 revealed that Tommy Millner, the chief executive of Cabela’s, a major gun retailer, stated at a major investor conference that the organization had made a “conscious decision” to stock additional weapons merchandise before the 2012 presidential election.⁹⁰ Similarly, Milner discussed how business “went vertical” after the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting—where a 20-year-old shooter opened fire at an elementary school and killed 20 people, including 14 children aged six and seven—while acknowledging the “tailwinds of profitability” associated with these events. He added that Cabela’s “didn’t blink as others did to stop selling AR-15 platform guns,” after the shooting, thereby gaining many new customers in the aftermath of the tragedy.⁹¹   

Thankfully, in recent years, assault weapon manufacturers like Remington have received greater scrutiny for the impact their ads may have on mass shootings. Of particular note, the assailant at Sandy Hook used a Remington manufactured semiautomatic AR-15 assault rifle and two pistols. In their lawsuit against Remington, the families of the Sandy Hook victims alleged that Remington’s intentional marketing towards young men with military aspirations, notably including product placements in first-person shooter video games, had influenced the shooter’s actions, leading him to choose a particularly lethal weapon for his attack.⁹² 

In recent years, some industry players have abandoned subtlety, opting instead to directly market to extremists, who in turn use these guns to commit violence. This marketing often includes the use of symbols which are a thinly veiled call to extremists. Notable examples of this marketing strategy include: 

• Daniel Defense’s 2017 inventory catalog, which featured an image of a shooter adorned with a Valknot (or “Valknut”) tattoo.⁹³ This symbol, closely associated with transnational white supremacists and recognized as a hate symbol by the Anti-Defamation League,⁹⁴ made headlines when it was identified on Jacob Chansley, the “QAnon Shaman” involved in the US Capitol insurrection on January 6.⁹⁵  
• Palmetto State Armory, a North Carolina–based gun store, sold a line of “Big Igloo Aloha” AK-47 assault rifles, featuring a Hawaiian-style flower camouflage teflon finish. This design was an intentional reference to the Boogaloo Movement.⁹⁶ The Boogaloo movement (or Boogaloo Bois) is a far-right, anti-government, white supremacist and extremist movement whose adherents generally believe a second civil war or race war is imminent. Known for wearing Hawaiian-style shirts,⁹⁷ individuals associated with the Boogaloo movement have been involved in numerous violent acts and criminal conspiracies, including the 2020 murder of two law enforcement and security officers in California,⁹⁸ setting fire to a police precinct during the George Floyd protests,⁹⁹ a plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and violently overthrow the state government,¹⁰⁰ and the January 6 Capitol insurrection.¹⁰¹ More recently, in 2024, Palmetto State Armory was sued by a former Black employee who found a noose at their workstation.¹⁰² 
• Several dealers at the 2022 NRA convention capitalized on the Boogaloo movement to drive sales, including a seller called Dark Storm Industries that marketed its AR-style assault weapons with a poster of a menacing, rifle-toting man wearing a tropical button-up shirt. Stag Arms also marketed an AR-15–style rifle painted in a Hawaiian floral camo called the “Aloha.”¹⁰³ Nearby clothing vendors sold Hawaiian shirts with images of AR-15s mixed into the floral print.¹⁰⁴ 
• A month before the 2024 presidential election, Felix Ammunition posted an image of an assault rifle with the caption, “Just remember, it’s only treason if you lose.”¹⁰⁵ 

Alongside its promotion of extremist groups and ideologies, the industry has heroized individuals who have committed acts of extremism and violence. For instance, a social media post from Big Daddy Unlimited, a licensed gun retailer,¹⁰⁶ featured an image of Kyle Rittenhouse alongside its products with the caption “Be a Man Among Men.” Rittenhouse was acquitted—many believe unfairly—for shooting and killing Black Lives Matter protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020. Additionally, the slogan is a reference to the Rhodesian Army, which was active in the 1960s and 1970s and was used by the white minority in power to subjugate the majority Black population.¹⁰⁷ In recent times, Rhodesia has become a source of inspiration in white supremacist circles. By actively promoting such products tied to hate symbols and movements, the gun industry contributes to the erosion of social cohesion and gives rise to a direct threat to public safety. 

In recent years, the use of firearms in religious, racial, political, and other hate-motivated attacks has become increasingly prevalent, reflecting a disturbing trend of firearms being used not just to commit violence but to intimidate and terrorize communities.¹⁰⁸ Estimates from the Bureau of Justice Statistics indicate that over 10,300 hate crimes involving the use or threatened use of a firearm occur annually in the United States, highlighting how firearms are not only used to inflict physical harm but also to instill fear and assert dominance.¹⁰⁹  

High-profile shootings have disastrously illustrated the violent impact of racial hatred when fueled by firearms. In Jacksonville, Florida, a white gunman armed with a rifle covered in swastikas targeted and killed three Black individuals after using racial slurs and leaving behind a racist creed.¹¹⁰ In Buffalo, New York, a shooter fueled by racist conspiracy theories he encountered online murdered 10 people in a predominantly Black neighborhood, underscoring the lethal impact of hate amplified by online extremism.¹¹¹ 

The mobilization of armed extremist groups like the Proud Boys has intensified violence against marginalized communities, especially LGBTQ+ individuals. The 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, where a gunman killed 49 people, remains one of the most devastating acts of violence against the LGBTQ+ community. More recently, there has been a troubling increase in attacks against drag performers. A report from GLAAD highlights multiple armed incidents against drag performers, including more than 20 in 2023 alone. Incidents in recent years include:

• In Columbus, Ohio, 50 members of the Proud Boys extremist group armed with long guns and wearing helmets, full face masks, and flak jackets protested a children’s Drag Story Hour hosted at a church.¹¹² 
• In Katy, Texas, armed protesters, raising hands in Nazi salutes, disrupted a drag bingo fundraiser.¹¹³  
• In Sparks, Nevada, children at the town library ran for safety from a Proud Boys protester carrying a gun.¹¹⁴ 
• In Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, police arrested 31 Patriot Front members who had traveled from 10 different states armed with riot gear and smoke grenades to protest a Pride event.¹¹⁵ 

Religious communities have also been frequent targets. The 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, where 11 worshippers were killed, remains one of the deadliest acts of antisemitic violence in US history.¹¹⁶ Other incidents include the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church shooting, where a gunman motivated by anti-Taiwanese hate opened fire during a Sunday service, killing one person and injuring several others,¹¹⁷ and the Poway Synagogue shooting, which left one dead and three injured during a Passover service.¹¹⁸ 

This alarming rise in hate-motivated firearm use not only amplifies the danger posed to specific communities but underscores the urgent need for comprehensive strategies to address the weaponization of hate in the United States.

Content warning: This section contains descriptions of racist and antisemitic imagery and language.

With the gun industry now openly marketing to extremists, its allies in the gun lobby have exhibited a similarly troubling pattern of condemning peaceful protests that support marginalized groups while conversely remaining largely silent—even supportive—of extremist movements and individuals. This section delves into the gun lobby’s most egregious behavior, examining its condemnations of movements for women,¹¹⁹ Black Americans,¹²⁰ and immigrants,¹²¹ juxtaposed with its muted response to violent white supremacist gatherings like the Unite the Right rally in 2017.

The gun lobby notably stayed silent throughout the infamous 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The rally, initially designed as a protest of the removal of local confederate statues, was also billed as an attempt to seek common ground between far-right and white nationalist organizations.¹²² Jason Kessler, a prominent neo-Nazi, was the lead organizer for the rally, and advertisements for the event touted speakers from a range of alt-right and white nationalist backgrounds and platforms, including Richard Spencer,¹²³ Mike Enoch,¹²⁴ Christopher Cantwell,¹²⁵ Matt Heimback,¹²⁶ Pax Dickinson,¹²⁷ and others. A poster advertising the event used Nazi-style imagery.  

The night before the rally, protesters marched through the University of Virginia campus while carrying burning torches. The protesters chanted slogans associated with Nazi ideology including “Jews will not replace us,” “You will not replace us,” and “Blood and soil.”¹²⁸ Rally members also carried flags, shields, and other paraphernalia branded with Swastikas, the Confederate flag, and a range of white supremacist symbols.¹²⁹ Public outrage at both the protest and at the rally the following day was swift and the event quickly devolved into violence, ultimately resulting in over 30 injuries and one death after a white supremacist rally member rammed his car into a group of counter-protesters.¹³⁰  

In response to the rally, then president Trump infamously stated that there were “very fine people on both sides.”¹³¹ Prominent gun lobby figures like NRATV host Chuck Holton and Dana Loesch, the NRA’s top spokesperson, were quick to jump to Trump’s defense and echo his argument, questioning criticism of the president and equating the neo-Nazis and other alt-right individuals at Charlottesville to Antifa and Black Lives Matter counter-protesters.¹³²  

In contrast to its treatment of far-right protests, the NRA now broadly ridicules and criticizes left-wing protests and movements. For instance, on March 24, 2018, the NRA posted on Facebook that an upcoming March for Our Lives rally in response to the Parkland Shooting—a 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people and injured 17 more¹³³—was organized by “gun-hating billionaires and Hollywood elites” who were “manipulating and exploiting children as part of their plan to DESTROY the Second Amendment and strip us of our right to defend ourselves and our loved ones.”¹³⁴ Similarly, NRATV hosts have criticized movements like Black Lives Matter, with Holton claiming that the violence in South Africa serves as a warning for the US if tensions escalate, attributing blame to groups like Black Lives Matter for contributing to racial hatred in American society.¹³⁵ 

The NRA’s behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 presidential election further highlighted its growing alignment with extremist narratives. As the nation faced unprecedented shutdowns due to the pandemic, the NRA capitalized on public fears, framing lockdowns as government overreach and a direct threat to Second Amendment rights. It even went as far as to sue both California and New York, states that required gun retailers to close during the peak of the crisis.¹³⁶ At the same time, fringe members of the gun lobby and other conservative voices encouraged protests against public health measures, positioning gun owners as defenders of freedom in the face of what they described as unjustified authoritarian control.¹³⁷ Two weeks after Trump tweeted “Liberate Michigan” in response to COVID lockdown measures, armed protesters flooded the Michigan capitol, many openly carrying assault rifles into the gallery above the Senate chambers while members spoke on the floor.¹³⁸ While the public was quick to condemn this event, the NRA remained silent and later fought efforts to pass a law prohibiting firearms at the state capitol.¹³⁹  

The NRA’s coverage of the Black Lives Matter movement was notable for its overtly racist rhetoric. NRA pundits frequently referred to the predominantly peaceful protests as violent “lootings” while downplaying police brutality against the Black community. NRA board members added additional fuel to the fire through their notably racist public statements: 

• NRA board member Ted Nugent compared the Black Lives Matter movement to ISIS and complained that Black Americans have never said ‘thank you’ to white people for, as he put it, freeing them from slavery.
• NRA board member Allen West argued that Black Lives Matter was “no different” from the Nazi “Brown Shirts that used to roam the streets,” and suggested sending in the military to suppress protesters.
• NRA board member Dean Cain shared a video that called people protesting the killing of an unarmed Black man by police—Rayshard Brooks—“rioting thugs” and said, “You do not have a right to be offended by stereotypes that say Black people are inherently violent, when that is exactly the way you act when given the first opportunity.” 
• Just two years prior to becoming NRA President, Bob Barr argued that the “riots” had “nothing to do with the death of George Floyd.” He further suggested that Black Lives Matter was a front group for Marxism that has “little, if anything, to do with racial justice.”
• NRA board member Mark Geist called Black Lives Matter a“rancid evil trying to take over our country.”

The gun lobby’s selective narrative and skewed support of extremist incidents have contributed to the normalization of violent extremism and divisive rhetoric against peaceful movements. Addressing this imbalance requires a concerted effort towards responsible discourse, rejecting divisive tactics, and fostering a society that actively condemns all forms of extremism. By holding the gun lobby accountable for its role in shaping narratives, we can strive for a more inclusive and just public discourse that rejects violence and embraces the principles of unity and equality.

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The NRA’s exploitation of fear reached an apex with the Trump presidency and the COVID-19 pandemic, transforming a long-standing marketing strategy into a powerful tool for profit. The gun lobby, adept at capitalizing on societal anxieties, found a particularly receptive audience in the fear-driven rhetoric of the Trump era. By framing its messaging around imminent threats and personal security, the NRA harnessed a charged political climate to amplify its influence.

This strategy was evident from the outset of Trump’s presidency, as then NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre’s speech at the 2016 Conservative Political Action Conference epitomized. Painting a dire picture of a nation under siege by “violent leftists” and using rhetoric that stoked fear and division, LaPierre issued a battle cry to his fellow NRA members to fight and defend their way of life:

This narrative was not merely political bluster but a deliberate tactic to capitalize on heightened insecurities. As the NRA sought to solidify its influence it strategically reframed criticisms of President Trump as direct threats to gun owners and Second Amendment rights. By positioning any opposition to Trump’s policies as an assault on the broader rights of law-abiding gun owners, the NRA aimed to rally its base and intensify their fears. This approach not only served to bolster the NRA’s position as a defender of the Second Amendment but also created a sense of urgency among gun owners to protect their rights from perceived encroachments.

A notable early example of this change was a 2017 NRA ad featuring then spokeswoman Dana Loesch. In this ad, Loesch accused liberal “saboteurs” from the “government, […] media, universities and billionaires” of “gagging sanctimony” and committing a “ruthless attack on a president, and the people who voted for him” while claiming such groups would “perish in the political flames of their own fires.”¹⁴¹ 

As the pandemic unfolded, the NRA again intensified this fear-based strategy, leveraging the crisis to drive record-breaking gun sales and reinforce a culture of panic and distrust. According to estimates from The Trace, the gun industry collectively experienced a 64% increase in overall sales between 2019 (13,265,468 firearms sold) and 2020 (21,799,813 firearms sold),¹⁴² with other records indicating the gun industry ultimately sold more than 2.5 million firearms in March 2020 alone.¹⁴³ In total, the gun industry collected upwards of $3 billion in total profits during this time.¹⁴⁴ The strategy of using fear to drive gun sales continues to profit the industry. According to the NSSF, at almost 15.9 million sales, 2023 was the fourth highest year on record for firearm sales since the FBI’s NICS system was implemented, trailing behind only 2020, 2021, and 2022.¹⁴⁵    

The increase in gun sales during this time likely contributed to historically high rates of gun violence between 2019 and 2020. During that period, national firearm related homicides increased by 35%, and relative to historical averages, the period between March 1, 2020, and February 28, 2021, saw a 15% increase in firearm-related incidents, a 34% increase in nonfatal gun injuries, and a 28% increase in gun deaths.¹⁴⁶ While rates of gun violence have decreased since that time, they have yet to drop to pre-pandemic levels. 

The NRA’s persistent fear-driven messaging during the pandemic highlights its role in leveraging national crises to maximize profit. Examples are numerous: 

• During the early days of the pandemic, NRA board member Anthony Colandro––who has previously used blatantly Islamophobic and homophobic rhetoric¹⁴⁷––encouraged people to attend anti-social distancing protests while calling the pandemic “bullshit” and claiming the government wanted to start tracking citizens through microchipping and cell phone apps and would “quarantine us in camps and stuff.”¹⁴⁸  
• NRA board member Bob Barr claimed that “left-wing governors and mayors” across the country were using the pandemic to deny Second Amendment rights.¹⁴⁹  
• On March 21, 2020, the NRA released an ad featuring Carletta Whiting, a disabled NRA member, holding an AR-15–style weapon who proclaimed that “You might be stockpiling up on food right now to get through this current crisis. But if you aren’t preparing to defend your property when everything goes wrong, you’re really just stockpiling for somebody else.”¹⁵⁰  
• A different 2020 NRA ad featuring country music artist Charlie Daniels lobbed accusations against the political left: “Left up to some politicians, all you’d have to defend your home with would be a stick, some rocks, and if you’re lucky a slingshot, because they want your guns. They want them all.”¹⁵¹  
• In advance of the 2022 midterm election, an official NRA instagram post captioned “#VOTE TODAY TO SAVE OUR COUNTRY!” featured a screenshot of a Twitter (now X) post from NRA CEO Wayne La Pierre saying, “No one can sit out this election. You and I will be facing two scenarios: A venomous anti-gun president with rabid gun-hating majorities in Congress. Or, that same president with pro-Second Amendment majorities in Congress keeping him in check.”¹⁵² 

The NRA’s divisive messaging and alignment with extremist rhetoric culminated in one of the most dangerous moments in recent US history: the January 6 insurrection. On that day, a mob stormed the US Capitol, driven by false narratives about a stolen election—narratives the NRA and other gun lobby groups had stoked. Many rioters were armed or had weapons nearby, underscoring the lethal consequences of intertwining political grievances with firearm access.¹⁵³ The insurrection highlighted how dangerous the NRA’s fear-based strategies could be when amplified by extremist groups, further fracturing the nation and underscoring the profound risks of using gun rights as a tool to incite political violence.

Today, the NRA’s efforts to politicize gun issues not only threatens to increase violence, it also deepens political divisions and generates unnecessary partisan antipathy.

The current association of gun ownership with a specific political party casts a shadow over the unity that is vital for a functioning democracy and erases the very real opinions and experiences of Democratic gun owners and Republicans who choose not to own guns. In the face of these challenges, exposing the dangerous symbiotic relationship between political rhetoric, the gun industry, and extremism is crucial. To forge a path forward, it is imperative to dismantle these divisive narratives, foster open dialogue, and reassert the shared values that transcend political affiliations. 

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The deep-rooted connections between the gun industry, the gun lobby, and political extremism in the United States pose severe threats to public safety and the very foundation of our democracy. This report has shown how the firearms industry and the gun lobby, through retrogressive advertising, direct marketing to extremists, and alarmist fear-mongering, have empowered extremist groups and fostered an environment conducive to political violence and intimidation. By highlighting specific examples of industry complicity and proposing actionable solutions, we underscore the urgent need for legislative action, heightened accountability, and responsible discourse.

Addressing these critical issues requires a comprehensive approach. Legislators must balance the right to bear arms with the imperative to protect citizens and uphold democratic principles. Laws that can effectuate this goal include implementing stringent hate crime laws, prohibiting guns in democratic spaces, ensuring greater transparency within the gun industry, and regulating gun industry marketing and social media content to curb the spread of extremist narratives. Moreover, repealing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) and enacting robust industry accountability laws are vital steps towards holding the gun industry accountable for its role in perpetuating violence and extremism.

Protecting our democracy and public safety demands the collective efforts of lawmakers, industry leaders, and the public. By fostering a culture of responsibility and accountability, we can build a safer, more just society where democratic processes are preserved and extremist ideologies are unequivocally rejected. Immediate action is now crucial to dismantle the perpetuation of these harmful narratives and practices and to ensure a secure future for all.  

1. Scott Neuman and Eric Westervelt, “Trump’s Close Call: A Detailed Time Line,” NPR, July 23, 2024,  https://www.npr.org/2024/07/19/nx-s1-5041734/trump-shooting-assassination-crooks-bulter-secret-service.[↩]
2. Adriana Gomez Licon and Will Weissert, “5 things to know about the apparent assassination attempt on Trump,” Associated Press, September 17, 2024, https://apnews.com/article/trump-assassination-attempt-what-to-know-564c56e167c3cdc6c50f6a2e91db9a6c.[↩]
3. Mike McIntire, “At Protests, Guns Are Doing the Talking,” New York Times, November 26, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/26/us/guns-protests-open-carry.html.[↩]
4. Mike McIntire, “At Protests, Guns Are Doing the Talking,” New York Times, November 26, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/26/us/guns-protests-open-carry.html.[↩]
5. Robert Spitzer, “Guns at Voting Sites Have Long Sparked Fears, But Few States Ban Their Presence,” Kansas Reflector, November 5, 2022,  https://kansasreflector.com/2022/11/05/guns-at-voting-sites-have-long-sparked-fears-but-few-states-ban-their-presence/.[↩]
6. Grace Panetta, “Lockdown Protestors in Michigan Brought Rifles and Other Weapons Into the State Capitol,” Business Insider, April 30, 2020, https://www.businessinsider.com/michigan-lockdown-protesters-brought-rifles-into-the-state-capitol-2020-4.[↩]
7. Eliza Noe, “4 Men Charged With Bringing Firearms to Gloucester County School Board Meeting,” Pilot Online, July 15, 2023,  https://www.pilotonline.com/2023/07/14/4-men-charged-with-bringing-firearms-to-gloucester-county-school-board-meeting/.[↩]
8. Jennifer Mascia, “What Do Guns Mean to Extremists?” The Trace, September 2, 2022, https://www.thetrace.org/2022/09/gun-culture-proud-boys-domestic-terror/.[↩]
9. “The Year in Hate & Extremism 2023: Decoding the Plan to Undo Democracy,” Southern Poverty Legal Center, 2024, https://www.splcenter.org/resources/year-hate-extremism-2023.[↩]
10. Mike McIntire, “At Protests, Guns Are Doing the Talking,” New York Times, November 26, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/26/us/guns-protests-open-carry.html.[↩]
11. Mike McIntire, “At Protests, Guns Are Doing the Talking,” New York Times, November 26, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/26/us/guns-protests-open-carry.html.[↩]
12. Robert Spitzer, “Guns at Voting Sites Have Long Sparked Fears, But Few States Ban Their Presence,” Kansas Reflector, November 5, 2022,  https://kansasreflector.com/2022/11/05/guns-at-voting-sites-have-long-sparked-fears-but-few-states-ban-their-presence/.[↩]
13. Grace Panetta, “Lockdown Protestors in Michigan Brought Rifles and Other Weapons Into the State Capitol,” Business Insider, April 30, 2020, https://www.businessinsider.com/michigan-lockdown-protesters-brought-rifles-into-the-state-capitol-2020-4.[↩]
14. Eliza Noe, “4 Men Charged With Bringing Firearms to Gloucester County School Board Meeting,” Pilot Online, July 15, 2023,  https://www.pilotonline.com/2023/07/14/4-men-charged-with-bringing-firearms-to-gloucester-county-school-board-meeting/.[↩]
15. Ayal Feinberg, Regina Branton, and Valerie Martinez-Ebers, “The Trump Effect: How 2016 Campaign Rallies Explain Spikes in Hate,” PS: Political Science & Politics 55, no. Issue 2 (2022): 257–265, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096521001621, https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ps-political-science-and-politics/article/abs/trump-effect-how-2016-campaign-rallies-explain-spikes-in-hate/5665F542B16FC275D2761CE5ACB90A70.[↩]
16. Daniel L. Hyman, “How Hateful Rhetoric Connects to Real-World Violence,” Brookings Institution, April 9, 2021, https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-hateful-rhetoric-connects-to-real-world-violence/.[↩]
17. David Smith, “Nearly One in Four Americans Believe Political Violence Justified to ‘Save’ US,” The Guardian, October 25, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/25/us-political-violence-justified-survey.[↩]
18. Rachel Kleinfeld, “The Rise in Political violence in the United States and Damage to Our Democracy,” Carnegie Endowment, March 31, 2022, https://carnegieendowment.org/2022/03/31/rise-in-political-violence-in-united-states-and-damage-to-our-democracy-pub-87584.[↩]
19. “Armed Assembly: Guns, Demonstrations, and Political Violence in America,” Everytown for Gun Safety, August 23, 2021,  https://everytownresearch.org/report/armed-assembly-guns-demonstrations-and-political-violence-in-america/.[↩]
20. “Armed Assembly: Guns, Demonstrations, and Political Violence in America,” Everytown for Gun Safety, August 23, 2021,  https://everytownresearch.org/report/armed-assembly-guns-demonstrations-and-political-violence-in-america/.[↩]
21. “Armed Protestors Inspire Fear, Chill Free Speech,” GIFFORDS, last updated December 15, 2022,  https://giffords.org/lawcenter/report/armed-protesters-inspire-fear-chill-free-speech/.[↩]
22. Brian M. Hicks et al., “Who bought a gun during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States?: Associations with QAnon beliefs, right-wing political attitudes, intimate partner violence, antisocial behavior, suicidality, and mental health and substance use problems,” PLoS One 18, no. 8 (August 2023): doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0290770, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10464976/.[↩]
23. Brian M. Hicks et al., “Who bought a gun during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States?: Associations with QAnon beliefs, right-wing political attitudes, intimate partner violence, antisocial behavior, suicidality, and mental health and substance use problems,” PLoS One 18, no. 8 (August 2023): doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0290770, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10464976/.[↩]
24. “Murder and Extremism in the United States in 2022,” Anti-Defamation League, February 22, 2023,  https://www.adl.org/resources/report/murder-and-extremism-united-states-2022; See also Mark Pitcavage, “Firearms Increasingly Weapon of Choice in Extremist-Related Killings,” Anti-Defamation League, April 13, 2016, https://www.adl.org/resources/blog/firearms-increasingly-weapon-choice-extremist-related-killings.[↩]
25. “Armed and Dangerous,” Everytown for Gun Safety, September 30, 2020, https://everytownresearch.org/report/extreme-right/.[↩]
26. “Murder and Extremism in the United States in 2022,” Anti-Defamation League, February 22, 2023,  https://www.adl.org/resources/report/murder-and-extremism-united-states-2022.[↩]
27. Catrina Doxsee et al., “Pushed to Extremes: Domestic Terrorism Amid Polarization and Protest,” Center for Strategic and International Studies, May, 17, 2022, https://www.csis.org/analysis/pushed-extremes-domestic-terrorism-amid-polarization-and-protest; See also Roudabeh Kishi, “From the Capitol Riot to the Midterms,” Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), December 6, 2022, https://acleddata.com/2022/12/06/from-the-capitol-riot-to-the-midterms-shifts-in-american-far-right-mobilization-between-2021-and-2022.[↩]
28. Terry Tang, “Judge Orders Armed Group Away From Arizona Ballot Drop Boxes,” Associated Press, November 2, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-arizona-phoenix-5353cfd0774727e6dd03bdbf48c12211.[↩]
29. Linda So, “Trump-Inspired Death Threats Are Terrorizing Election Workers,” Reuters, June 11, 2021, https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-trump-georgia-threats/.[↩]
30. Linda So, “Trump-Inspired Death Threats Are Terrorizing Election Workers,” Reuters, June 11, 2021, https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-trump-georgia-threats/.[↩]
31. Caitlin O’Kane, “Dozens of Armed ‘Stop the Steal’ Protestors Threaten Michigan Secretary of State Outside Her Home,” CBS News, December 7, 2020, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/michigan-protest-jocelyn-benson-secretary-of-state/.[↩]
32. Veronica Miracle and Jeffrey Kopp, “Paul Pelosi Attacker Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison,” CNN, May 17, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/17/politics/paul-pelosi-attacker-david-depape-sent​​enced/index.html.[↩]
33. Mike Ives, “Republican Ex-Candidate Faces Federal Charges Over Shootings,” New York Times, June 1, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/01/us/elections/solomon-pena-new-mexico-shootings.html.[↩]
34. Rob Kuznia et al., “A Deluge of Violent Messages: How a Surge in Threats to Public Officials Could Disrupt American Democracy,” CNN, December 7, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/07/politics/threats-us-public-officials-democracy-invs/index.html.[↩]
35. “Arizona Democratic Office Hit by Third Shooting in Weeks,” AP News, October 9, 2024, https://apnews.com/article/gunfire-arizona-democratic-office-7707867b9421585576d9a42c4cc4cc9b.[↩]
36. “A Brief History of the NRA,” National Rifle Association, last accessed August 28, 2024, https://home.nra.org/about-the-nra/.[↩]
37. Arica L. Coleman, “When the NRA Supported Gun Control,” TIME, July 29, 2016,  https://time.com/4431356/nra-gun-control-history/.[↩]
38. Joel Achenback et al., “How NRA’s True Believers Converted a Marksmanship Group Into a Mighty Gun Lobby,” Washington Post, January 12, 2013,  https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-nras-true-believers-converted-a-marksmanship-group-into-a-mighty-gun-lobby/2013/01/12/51c62288-59b9-11e2-88d0-c4cf65c3ad15_story.html.[↩]
39. Joel Achenback et al., “How NRA’s True Believers Converted a Marksmanship Group Into a Mighty Gun Lobby,” Washington Post, January 12, 2013,  https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-nras-true-believers-converted-a-marksmanship-group-into-a-mighty-gun-lobby/2013/01/12/51c62288-59b9-11e2-88d0-c4cf65c3ad15_story.html.[↩]
40. Joel Achenback et al., “How NRA’s True Believers Converted a Marksmanship Group Into a Mighty Gun Lobby,” Washington Post, January 12, 2013,  https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-nras-true-believers-converted-a-marksmanship-group-into-a-mighty-gun-lobby/2013/01/12/51c62288-59b9-11e2-88d0-c4cf65c3ad15_story.html.[↩]
41. Joel Achenback et al., “How NRA’s True Believers Converted a Marksmanship Group Into a Mighty Gun Lobby,” Washington Post, January 12, 2013,  https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-nras-true-believers-converted-a-marksmanship-group-into-a-mighty-gun-lobby/2013/01/12/51c62288-59b9-11e2-88d0-c4cf65c3ad15_story.html.[↩]
42. Joel Achenback et al., “How NRA’s True Believers Converted a Marksmanship Group Into a Mighty Gun Lobby,” Washington Post, January 12, 2013,  https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-nras-true-believers-converted-a-marksmanship-group-into-a-mighty-gun-lobby/2013/01/12/51c62288-59b9-11e2-88d0-c4cf65c3ad15_story.html.[↩]
43. Fox Butterfield, “Aggressive Strategy by N.R.A. Has Left Its Finances Reeling,” New York Times, June 26, 1995, https://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/26/us/aggressive-strategy-by-nra-has-left-its-finances-reeling.html. See also Jeff Donn, “As Bottom Falls Out of Gun Market, Production Hits 30-Year Low,” Middletown Press, April 14, 2001, https://www.middletownpress.com/news/article/As-bottom-falls-out-of-gun-market-production-11896281.php.[↩]
44. See, e.g., James Dao, “The 2000 Campaign: The Gun Lobby; N.R.A. Tightens Its Embrace of Republicans With Donations,” New York Times, April 26, 2000, https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/26/us/2000-campaign-gun-lobby-nra-tightens-its-embrace-republicans-with-donations.html; Thomas B. Edsall, “NRA Aims Assets at Beating Gore in November,” Washington Post, May 20, 2000, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2000/05/21/nra-aims-assets-at-beating-gore-in-november/ccc113e0-58d0-420f-9193-55a51ca30bb7/; “Analysis: What is the NRA?,” BBC News, March 1, 2000, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/332555.stm.[↩]
45. Danika Worthington et al., “Where Did They Get the Guns? A Comprehensive Look at Colorado’s History of Public Gun Violence,” Colorado Sun, April 12, 2021,  https://coloradosun.com/2021/04/12/guns-used-in-colorado-mass-shootings/.[↩]
46. Tim Mac, “A Secret Tape Made After Columbine Shows the NRA’s Evolution on School Shootings,” NPR, November 9, 2021,  https://www.npr.org/2021/11/09/1049054141/a-secret-tape-made-after-columbine-shows-the-nras-evolution-on-school-shootings.[↩]
47. Tim Mac, “A Secret Tape Made After Columbine Shows the NRA’s Evolution on School Shootings,” NPR, November 9, 2021,  https://www.npr.org/2021/11/09/1049054141/a-secret-tape-made-after-columbine-shows-the-nras-evolution-on-school-shootings.[↩]
48. Bob Dreyfus, “The NRA Wants You,” The Nation, May 11, 2000, https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/nra-wants-you/.[↩]
49. Rina Torchinsky, “Days After the Uvalde Shooting, the NRA Convention Went On as Planned,” NPR, May 29, 2022,  https://www.npr.org/2022/05/29/1101994074/nra-convention-houston-ends.[↩]
50. Glenn Thrush, “At N.R.A. Convention, the Blame Is on ‘Evil,’ Not Guns,” New York Times, May 27, 2022,  https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/28/us/politics/nra-convention-guns.html.[↩]
51. David Yamane, Paul Yamane, and Sebastian L. Ivory, “Targeted Advertising: Documenting the Emergence of Gun Culture 2.0 in Guns Magazine, 1955–2019,” Palgrave Communications 6, no. 6 (2020), https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-020-0437-0, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-020-0437-0.[↩]
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53. David Yamane, Paul Yamane, and Sebastian L. Ivory, “Targeted Advertising: Documenting the Emergence of Gun Culture 2.0 in Guns Magazine, 1955–2019,” Palgrave Communications 6, no. 6 (2020), https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-020-0437-0, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-020-0437-0.[↩]
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144. Mary Louise Kelly, Taylor Hutchinson, and Courtney Dorning, “Gun Companies Have Made Billions of Dollars Since the Pandemic Began, Reports Says,” NPR, June 3, 2022, https://www.npr.org/2022/06/03/1102989967/gun-companies-have-made-billions-of-dollars-since-the-pandemic-began-report-says.[↩]
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148. “NRA Board Member Encouraged People to Attend Anti-Social Distancing Protest,” Mom’s Demand Action, April 30, 2020, https://momsdemandaction.org/nra-board-member-encouraged-people-to-attend-anti-social-distancing-protest-they-cant-arrest-all-of-us/.[↩]
149. Bob Barr, “The Latest Victim of COVID-19 is the Second Amendment,” Townhall, March 25, 2020, https://townhall.com/columnists/bobbarr/2020/03/25/the-latest-victim-of-covid19-is-the-second-amendment-n2565667.[↩]
150. NRA (@NRA), “Americans are flocking to gun stores because they know the only reliable self-defense during a crisis is the #2A. Carletta Whiting, who’s disabled & vulnerable to #coronavirus, asks Dems trying to exploit the pandemic: Why do you want to leave people like me defenseless? (video),” Twitter (now X), March 21, 2020, https://twitter.com/nra/status/1241418470341980167.[↩]
151. Everytown for Gun Safety, “NRA ‘On Life Support:’ Fear Mongering to Sell Guns and Stoking Anti-Quarantine Protests,” news release, May 8, 2020, https://www.everytown.org/press/nra-on-life-support-fear-mongering-to-sell-guns-and-stoking-anti-quarantine-protests/.[↩]
152. NRA (@NRA), “#VOTE TODAY TO SAVE OUR COUNTRY! 🇺🇸,” Instagram, November 8, 2022, https://www.instagram.com/p/Cks_oQfLqCA/.[↩]
153. Tom Dreisbach and Tim May, “Yes, Capitol Rioters Were Armed. Here Are the Weapons Prosecutors Say They Used,” NPR, March 19, 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/03/19/977879589/yes-capitol-rioters-were-armed-here-are-the-weapons-prosecutors-say-they-used.[↩]