Why it matters: The NRA — the longtime premier gun-rights group in the U.S. — cut its political spending from $54 million in 2016 to $29 million in 2020, according to OpenSecrets data. It has reserved $1.3 million in ad spending in 2024, according to AdImpact.
- The Secure Our Freedom Alliance, a 501(c)4 organization, isn’t looking to compete with existing firearm groups, but wants to fill what it sees as an urgent need to address gun owners this election cycle.
- By some estimates, post-pandemic, there are some 22 million new gun owners.
The big picture: The goal is to convince new gun owners, especially women and minorities, that their rights are under attack by the Biden administration and progressive politicians.
- “Our purpose is to win the hearts and minds of the American public to protect the right to self-defense,” said Chris Cox, a senior adviser to the new group and the NRA’s former political director and chief lobbyist.
- “Every American family has a right to protect themselves and their homes from violent criminals, and the right to choose the method of self-defense they deem best,” he said. …
Driving the news: The ads by the new group are directed at younger voters, as well as women and minority gun owners, with an emphasis on self-defense.
- “Our neighborhood, it’s not so good,” says the mother in one 30-second commercial, as she’s tucking her daughter into bed.
- “She is my responsibility and I will protect her,” she says, locking away a handgun on her nightstand.
Another ad shows a young woman at the shooting range with her father. She then holsters her pistol and heads out on a run by herself.
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- “As a woman, I made the decision to always be ready.” she says. “To carry a gun is my freedom and my right.”
— Hans Nichols in Scoop: New Gun Group Launches to fill NRA Vacuum