WASHINGTON — The National Rifle Association is liquidating investments as it bleeds cash amid legal turmoil, internal tumult, and dwindling membership revenue, according to an independent audit reviewed by Rolling Stone. 

In February, the NRA liquidated nearly $17 million worth of stocks and fixed-income assets from its investment portfolio and transferred the money to its operating account, the 38-page audit document, prepared by Atlanta-based accounting firm Aprio, indicates.

Separately, the NRA liquidated $28 million worth of stocks and fixed-income assets from its investment portfolio to pay off a line of credit with Atlantic Union Bank of Virginia.

The investment liquidation — $45 million in all — represents more than three-fifths the value of the NRA’s investment portfolio, which stood at more than $72 million at the end of 2023, according to the audit. Prior to the liquidation, stocks and other equity securities represented the majority of the NRA’s investment portfolio, with fixed income securities accounting for most of the rest.

The audit also indicates that total NRA member dues fell from more than $83 million during 2022 to $62 million during 2023. Membership income routinely topped nine figures even a few years ago.

“The NRA is only as strong as its members. Without loyal members, there is no NRA,” the NRA’s chief compliance officer, Robert Mensinger, wrote last month.

The nation’s most powerful gun lobby is flagging at a time when it should be ascendant, considering Donald Trump — a staunch gun rights advocate — is returning to the White House with promises of protecting the 2nd Amendment no matter his opposition. Trump will enjoy a governing trifecta, with both houses of Congress controlled by Republicans, as well as a conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court that is deeply hostile to firearm regulations.

“The NRA has experienced net losses over the past two years,” the audit acknowledges. “To reduce debt and provide funding for operations, the NRA liquidated some of its investments … expenses continue to be monitored and the NRA has met the cash demands of its operations and expenses as they come due.”

The audit, which was first published by nonprofit watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, does not address specific details of the NRA’s financial activity after February 2024.

The NRA did not respond to Rolling Stone’s requests for comment.

The NRA’s weakening finances come amid legal and political challenges for the 153-year-old gun rights organization.

The year began with longtime NRA leader Wayne LaPierre resigning on the eve of a civil trial for alleged corruption and mismanagement. At the time, the NRA cited “health reasons” for LaPierre’s departure.

In February, a New York jury found LaPierre civilly liable for using NRA money to enrich himself with private jet travel and trips to Greece, India, the Bahamas, and the United Arab Emirates. The jury ordered him to repay $4.35 million. 

Other former NRA officials have likewise been caught up in legal actions against the NRA, such as a class action lawsuit brought by a former NRA donor who alleges the NRA and LaPierre engaged in fraud and racketeering in its fundraising and spending. (The NRA asserts the lawsuit “lacks merit” and will “vigorously defend against it,” according to the audit.)

The NRA began experiencing significant financial troubles during the 2010s amid a rash of school shootings and its own internal mismanagement. 

In 2021, with its cash balance on a yearslong downslope, the NRA attempted to file bankruptcy and reincorporate in Texas, but a federal judge quashed the association’s plans, stating its filing smacked of an attempt to “gain an unfair advantage in litigation or to avoid a regulatory scheme.”

The audit document dedicates eight pages to ongoing “litigation and claims” that potentially affect the NRA’s financial outlook.

“A determination that the NRA’s or its affiliates’ operations or activities are not, or were not, in compliance with applicable laws or regulations could result in monetary damages or injunctive relief,” the audit acknowledges. 

Compounding the NRA’s troubles is a gruesome incident involving Douglas Hamlin, elected in May as NRA vice president and CEO, that took place during his college days at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. 

In 1980, Hamlin pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty after participating in the torture and killing of his fraternity house cat — an incident that resurfaced in the press this autumn.

Political challenges also loom for the NRA.

Bill Bachenberg, a top NRA official, argued in a recent letter to colleagues that “President Trump and his most inner circle have lost faith in the NRA.” 

That didn’t stop Trump from speaking at the NRA’s annual convention in Dallas in May, or telling association members it was a “true honor” to receive the group’s endorsement. 

But the NRA’s super PAC, which spent nearly $17 million to support Trump’s presidential candidacy during the 2020 election, spent just a fraction of that — $4.1 million — during the 2024 election, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Trump’s presidential transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The NRA is also on pace this year to spend less on federal-level lobbying efforts than it has during any year since the late 2000s, according to congressional lobbying records compiled by nonprofit research organization OpenSecrets.

“Between the NRA’s high-profile corruption scandals to plummeting membership and dire financial picture, the organization is a shell of what it once was,” Emma Brown, executive director of anti-gun violence group Giffords, tells Rolling Stone.

“It’s no surprise the NRA’s financial struggles are only getting worse — it’s riddled with infighting and drama, and even Donald Trump has reportedly lost faith in the organization,” says Justin Wagner, Senior Director of Investigations at Everytown for Gun Safety.

One financial measure where the NRA experienced a modest uptick: its endowments.

The gun association ended 2023 with nearly $63 million in total endowments, up from about $57 million at the end of 2022, according to audited figures. 

The increase is largely attributable to “appreciation” during a year when financial markets went on a bull run, the figures indicate.