INSTITUTE INDEX: Breaking the gun lobby's hold on state politics

By Sue Sturgis / February 27, 2018

Activists with Teens for Gun Reform rallied outside the White House earlier this month calling for action in the wake of the Feb. 14 school shooting  at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead. The movement for stricter gun regulation is increasingly shifting its focus to the state level. (Photo by Lorie Shaull via Flickr.)

In the 2016 election cycle, total amount the National Rifle Association contributed to congressional candidates: just over $1 million

In that same election cycle, total amount the NRA contributed to state-level politics, according to data from the National Institute on Money in State Politics: more than $8.3 million

Between 1990 and today, total amount the group has contributed to state-level politics: over $17 million

Percent by which NRA spending on state-level politics increased from 1990 to 2016, accounting for inflation: 21,009

Percent of the NRA's state-level political spending since 1990 that was spent in the 2010-2016 election cycles alone: 78

Of top 10 states where the NRA has spent the most on politics since 1990, number that are in the South: 4

Rank of Arkansas among the states where it spent the most in the 2016 election cycle: 3

Number of anti-gun control organizations that have spent at least $10,000 on state politics since 1990: 41

Total amount the anti-gun control lobby as a whole has spent at the state level since 1990: over $23.5 million

Amount spent at the state level by the Gun Owners Action League of Washington, which is the second-biggest anti-gun control spender after the NRA and accused Democrats and the news media of "whining" about gun regulations after the Florida massacre: over $727,000

Of the 13 Virginia state House candidates in competitive races that the NRA backed last year, number who lost: 12

Number who won in a coin toss: 1

Percentage points by which the NRA-backed GOP gubernatorial candidate lost in that Virginia election: almost 9

Year in which the pro-gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety was launched, mounting a challenge to the gun lobby's power in state legislatures: 2014

Amount by which state-level spending by pro-gun control interests since 1990 exceeds that by the anti-gun control lobby: $10.9 million

Of the total pro-gun control spending at the state level, percent that's been spent just since 2015: 99.1

Last year alone, minimum number of states that passed laws lifting controls on guns: 8

Of those states, number in the South: 3

Minimum number of states that passed new gun-control measures last year: 12

Of those states, number in the South: 2

(Click on figure to go to source. Many of the figures in this index come from the National Institute on Money in State Politics' FollowTheMoney.org database.)

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