There’s a new top gun advocate in town – and it’s spending more than twice as much as the National Rifle Association to sway the US government on gun laws.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) is an American national trade firm that forked out more than $5.4 million on federal lobbying last year.
Compare that to the NRA’s $2.3million, and it’s apparent there’s been a shift in the firearms industry. The former first-place firearms advocate spent nearly $5million in 2021, and even more in previous years – but that money has since trailed off.
Meanwhile, the NSSF has upped its spending, reaching close to $5million each of the the past four years, after gaining a great deal of traction since its start in 1961.
As an organization, it helps write safety and instruction standards for lawmakers to protect the Second Amendment, and to ‘[keep] guns out of the wrong hands.’
The group has more than 8,000 members, after starting solely for hunting and recreational purposes. It has since surfaced as an entity unable to be ignored, after supplanting its longtime, currently embattled counterpart on Capitol Hill.
The association’s CEO spoke about the group’s increased spending at a trade event in January, flanked several Republican governors who support their cause.
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The association’s CEO, Joe Bartozzi spoke about the group’s increased spending at a trade event in January, flanked Republican governors from seven states who have passed laws as a result of their efforts
The NSSF- an American national trade firm that spent more than $5.4 million on federal lobbying last year – is seen at its annual trade event in January. Several Republican governors from states like Arkansas, Arkansas, and Georgia took the stage to support their cause
The group last year spent more than twice than the NRA to sway the government and protect the right to bear arms, as its counterpart continues to face waning membership and revenue
‘I’m Joe Bartozzi, president and CEO of the National Shooting Sports Foundation,’ the exec told a crowded room in Vegas at the group’s annual Governors’ Forum at their now-famed SHOT Show.
The executive addressed governors from states like Arkansas, Georgia, and Wyoming, each of whom had to say about their efforts to fight for the Second Amendment and to protect and promote the firearm industry in each of their states.
For more than an hour, the governors – Nevada’s Joe Lombardo, Montana’s Greg Gianforte, Arkansas’ Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Nebraska’s Jim Pillen, Wyoming’s Mark Gordon, Idaho’s Brad Little and Georgia’s Brian Kemp – spoke about the legislative climate in their states as the NRA continues to cut back to combat waning revenue.
They also discussed what they constituted as the Biden administration’s continued attacks on the firearm industry – through executive overreach, punishment through ‘lawfare,’ and efforts to suffocate and bankrupt an already regulated industry.
Each had a lot to say, and the event was moderated by another senior NSSF staffer – and board member – in Senior Vice President & General Counsel Lawrence G. Keane.
Like events past, there were laughs and an audience Q&A that looked to be a huge success – indicative of the success the association has seen since its start decades ago as an authority on hunting and recreational shooting.
Previously attended by presidents like Jimmy Carter, the NSSF’s celebrated shows have grown in size along with the firm – which allows buyers to peruse state-of-the-art firearms that are proudly put on display.
Designed to load retailers and range operators with such equipment, the expos also offer strategies and inspiration for participating proprietors ‘essential for success’, – all with a free, less confrontational, approach than the notoriously no-compromise NRA.
An attendee looks at Smith & Wesson M&P15 MOE Mid rifles at the Smith & Wesson booth at the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s trade show in 2012
Shooting targets are also put on display at the group’s trade shows, which are meant to load retailers and range operators with equipment, and offer strategies for participating proprietors that are ‘essential for success’
This comes as part of a far less confrontational approach than that of the NRA, which notoriously never partners with federal agencies it may not necessarily agree with
Previously attended by presidents like Jimmy Carter (seen here at the groups trade show in Atlanta in 1984), the events have since grown in size along with the firm – which allows prospective buyers to peruse state-of-the-art firearms that are proudly put on display
Retired Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Officer William Cooper tries out an Aimpoint sight on a rifle at the NSSF’s fair in 2011
Charles Brinton of Oregon looks at a SIG522 Commando rifle at the Sig Sauer booth at the same event, meant to represent gun manufacturers, retailers and other business interests, not necessarily gun owners themselves
The stems from the NSSF’s increased regulatory focus and partnerships with the federal agencies it may not necessarily agree with.
With this in mind, the Connecticut-based group resists comparisons to the long-looming gun group, billing itself as a trade association that merely represents gun manufacturers, retailers and other business interests, not gun owners themselves.
The NRA, meanwhile, does, and has struggled with declining membership and revenue over the past decade as a result.
This, combined with a litany of internal scandals – including its longtime leader Wayne LaPierre being found liable for corruption last month – has forced the group to reduce its federal lobbying expenditures, leaving room for the NSSF to expand.
And expand it has. The NSSF’s spending towards gun rights last year coming as more than any other gun rights expenditure in history.
CEO Bartozzzi – whose six-year tenure is responsible for most of this growth -credited these success to an outsized amount of firearms sales in recent years even with the Biden Administration combatting it.
Appearing on Tom Gresham’s Gun Talk Radio over the summer, he cited how it’s been four years straight of one million or more FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) verifications processed for the sale of a firearm.
He told Gresham of the stretch: ‘It shows that people are serious about their Second Amendment rights and there’s something going on.
‘People are discovering – or rediscovering – not only recreational shooting and hunting but this issue of self-defense.’
Bartozzi spent the majority of his life in the firearms industry. He become the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute and Treasurer and Member of NSSF’s Board of Governors.
He is also certified as a Range Safety Officer, and was nominated for the 2013 ‘Person of the Year’ by SHOT Business magazine.
NSSF’s Lawrence G. Keane – the group’s Senior Vice President & General Counsel – guided the conversation at the NSSF’s big event in January, asking about the policies each of them have passed
Most of the success has been seen during Bartozzi’s six-year tenure with the firm, which originally started as an authority on hunting and recreational shooting
It has since pivoted more to protecting the Second Amendment, with the CEO appearing on podcasts and several interviews to get his point across
Bartozzi is seen here speaking wit the United States Concealed Carry Association in 2020, where he discussed why preserving American freedoms is essential during a pandemic
Larry Keane, NSSF’s chief lobbyist who moderated the January event, also recently added how the group is dedicated to protecting ‘the exercise of a constitutional right’ of the individual, as opposed to the businesses benefitting from them.
‘The product is firearms, and there’s no divorcing the politics from the product,’ Keane said in a recent sit-down.
This mission has drawn several big names in the gun industry – like Robert L. Scott, of Smith & Wesson and Jeff Reh of Beretta to the group’s board of governors.
Through their donations, the group hopes to gain headway in its main mission – the continued defense of the Second Amendment.
Some recent efforts it has thus deemed as a threats have been the Biden Administration’s attempt to require universal background checks for all gun purchases, as well as a simultaneous attempt to crack down on untraceable ‘ghost guns’ that people build themselves.
As they work toward this goal, they believe presenting themselves as a more pragmatic player as opposed to the NRA will benefit these bids.
Bartozzi and Keane – NSSF’s Senior Vice President & General Counsel – are just two of the group’s top staffers, with several others joining their cause as it picks up steam
BIG NAMES: Robert L. Scott, the chairman of Smith & Wesson, serves as chair of the group’s own board of governors
Jeff Reh (left), General Counsel and Vice-General Manager at Beretta, is Co-Vice Chair of the group’s board of directors. Josh Dorsey, Vice President of gun manufacturer Glock, is also part of the group’s high-powered board
Meanwhile, the NRA continues to taper away from gun-related expenditures, even as laws they deem to be unnecessary continue to make their way through state and federal legislature.
Such laws – many of them still only a thought – include a federal bid to restrict the use of traditional ammunition on National Wildlife refugees, and an effort started by Andrew Sorkin of the New York Times and Amalgamated Bank to push for Merchant category codes for all gun purchases.
At January’s governor event, Keane commented on the prospective guidance that would see the government force sellers to apply four-digit numbers to individual purchases that can be traced by officials at their
‘You used to have to worry about what’s in your wallet – now you’re gonna have to worry about who’s in your wallet,’ he told the gubernatorial group in January
‘It’s going to lead to the banks being able to look inside the customers checkout basket and deny sales because that’s the wrong kind of firearm.
‘It’s a real concern for the industry about that and we’ve seen California now pass a lot of mandate its use.’
Meanwhile, despite its rampant spending, the firearm group has repeatedly denied it’s trying to replace the NRA.
It maintains that its mission to ensure gun safety is genuine, and not deep-rooted in partisan politics.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the firm for comment.