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“Tenacious, careful and incisive.”—Jonathan Swan • “Deeply and meticulously reported, colorfully and precisely written.”—Olivia Nuzzi • “Nonstop revelations are told with gripping detail and intimate insider knowledge.”—David Frum • “Fantastic.”—Chris Hayes
The NRA once compelled respect—even fear—from Republicans and Democrats alike. Once a grassroots club dedicated to gun safety, the NRA ballooned into a powerful lobbyist organization that maintained an iron hold on gun legislation in America. This influential nonprofit raised millions in small fees from members across the country, which funded hidden, lavish lifestyles of designer suits, private jets and yachts, martini lunches and Champagne dinners—while the group manipulated legislators and flirted with a Russian spy.
Yet in 2012, the NRA’s grip on Washington began to loosen in the wake of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary. Facing nationwide outrage, NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre gave a speech claiming the solution was not fewer guns, but more guns, in schools. The group’s rhetoric only escalated from there, a misstep that sparked a backlash and invited the scrutiny of the government.
Unveiled here for the first time ever are surprising, revelatory details spotlighting decades of poor leadership and mismanagement by LaPierre; the NRA’s long association with marketing firm Ackerman-McQueen; NRA executives’ 2015 trip to Moscow, a by-invitation affair packed with meetings with Russian government officials, diplomats, and oligarchs seeking influence in American politics; as well as the power struggle between LaPierre and former NRA president Oliver North that fractured the organization.
Misfire is the result of a four-year investigation by journalist Tim Mak, who scoured thousands of pages of never-before-publicized documents and cultivated dozens of confidential sources inside the NRA's orbit to paint a vivid picture of the gun group's rampant corruption and slow decline, marking a sea change in the battle over gun rights and control in America.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
November 2, 2021 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593504260
- File size: 274527 KB
- Duration: 09:31:55
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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November 22, 2021
NPR reporter Mak debuts with a disturbing look into the recent history of the National Rifle Association. He notes that the organization was founded in 1871 to promote marksmanship and supported the regulation of firearms until 1977, when activists staged a revolt at the group’s annual meeting and replaced the existing leadership “with a much more aggressive regime focused on fighting gun control laws.” Soon thereafter, the NRA began working with the advertising firm Ackerman McQueen, a partnership that helped turn the gun lobby into “an identity, a way of living, a secular religion,” but eventually led to internal discord over allegations of corruption by CEO Wayne LaPierre and a 2020 lawsuit filed by New York state attorney general Letitia James seeking to dissolve the organization for misappropriating funds. Mak presents a particularly damaging portrait of LaPierre, “a remarkably weak-willed man” whose tone-deaf responses to school shootings brought intense scrutiny of the NRA. He also reveals that the group provided a lifeline to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in the wake of the Access Hollywood tape scandal, and that Russian agents have used the NRA to gain access to Republican political circles. The book’s convoluted timeline is somewhat difficult to follow, but Mak’s access to NRA insiders impresses. Readers will be astonished by the levels of corruption and incompetence this sweeping investigation uncovers.
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