By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
An investigation by ProPublica has uncovered that some of America’s most iconic gun manufacturers secretly shared sensitive personal information on hundreds of thousands of customers with political operatives—without their consent. The covert operation, spearheaded by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), aimed to bolster pro-gun politicians running for Congress and the White House. The intimate customer data, some of which date back to the 1970s, formed the backbone of a massive political database that influenced elections for over two decades.
The Start of a Secret Project
According to ProPublica, the clandestine operation began in the late 1990s as the gun industry faced increasing financial, legal, and political threats. At least 10 major firearm companies—including Glock, Remington, Smith & Wesson, Marlin, and Mossberg—supplied gun buyers’ names, addresses, and other private details to the NSSF. These companies collected this data primarily through warranty cards that customers filled out when purchasing firearms. While the cards promised confidentiality or allowed for third-party marketing, none informed customers their details would be used in political campaigns.
By 2000, the NSSF had built a database containing over 5.5-million-gun owners’ names, using not only warranty card data but also voter rolls and hunting license records. The NSSF then launched a voter education initiative, Vote Your Sport, which would later evolve into GunVote, to mobilize these gun owners and influence key elections. The organization’s efforts proved successful, helping elect both George W. Bush and Donald Trump to the White House and securing a wave of pro-gun lawmakers in Congress.
A Game-Changing Election Strategy
The NSSF’s database gave the industry an unparalleled ability to target gun owners, a fiercely protective group known for their privacy concerns. Many gun owners—police officers, judges, domestic violence survivors, and others at risk—had legitimate fears about their personal information falling into the wrong hands. Yet, unbeknownst to them, their data was being shared with lobbyists and political consultants.
ProPublica’s investigation revealed that by 2016, the NSSF had handed over large amounts of customer data to Cambridge Analytica, the controversial political consulting firm credited with playing a pivotal role in Trump’s 2016 election victory. Cambridge Analytica combined the NSSF’s database with additional information from commercial data brokers, building detailed psychological profiles of voters based on their purchasing behavior, including intimate details such as income, religion, and even the clothing sizes of female gun owners.
ProPublica said the profiles were used to craft hyper-targeted political messages aimed at swaying gun owners to support pro-firearm candidates. In the 2000 and 2016 elections, the NSSF’s data-driven voter outreach was seen as a “critical component” of the electoral success of pro-gun politicians. An internal NSSF report allegedly boasted that its campaign in 2000 likely tipped the balance in favor of Bush in several key states.
Gun Control in the Crosshairs
The NSSF’s influence in Washington has helped secure some of the most significant victories for the gun industry in modern history, the report noted. Following George W. Bush’s election, the industry celebrated the expiration of the 1994 assault weapons ban in 2004 and the passage of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act in 2005. The landmark law granted gun manufacturers sweeping immunity from lawsuits related to the misuse of their products—a protection that remains in place today despite the growing number of mass shootings across the nation.
Pro-gun lawmakers backed by the NSSF have repeatedly blocked efforts to reintroduce the assault weapons ban, raise the minimum age for purchasing assault-style rifles from 18 to 21, and expand background checks—despite overwhelming public support for these measures. The toll of these political victories has been devastating. Mass shootings involving assault weapons have surged in recent decades, and the firearms at the center of these attacks have become more lethal and accessible than ever before.
From Columbine to Uvalde: A Devastating Timeline
The NSSF’s political power grew in the shadow of some of the most horrific mass shootings in American history. The Columbine High School massacre in 1999, which claimed 13 lives, was a turning point for the gun industry. In response to the growing public demand for gun control, the NSSF ramped up its voter mobilization efforts. The group’s database had swelled to 5.5 million names just two years after Columbine, fueling its first full-scale election effort.
In 2012, the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, brought the gun industry’s influence into sharp focus. The shooter used an AR-15-style assault rifle, a weapon that had been aggressively marketed in the years following the expiration of the federal assault weapons ban. Despite the deaths of 20 young children and six adults, attempts to pass new gun control measures stalled in Congress. Pro-gun lawmakers, many of whom had benefitted from the NSSF’s campaign contributions, stood firm in their opposition.
ProPublica noted that the NSSF’s influence has only grown in the years since Sandy Hook. In 2018, 19 students and teachers were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, by a gunman wielding an AR-15-style rifle. The shooter had legally purchased the weapon just after turning 18—highlighting the continued loophole in federal law that allows teenagers to buy assault rifles, while handgun buyers must be 21. Several proposals to raise the minimum age for purchasing such firearms have been blocked in Congress, thanks to the lobbying power of the gun industry.
More recently, the gun industry’s influence was laid bare in the tragic shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas. 18-year-olds who legally purchased assault rifles carried out both attacks. Despite mounting public pressure and repeated legislative efforts, the gun industry has continued to use its political sway to block reforms that could prevent such tragedies.
A Crisis of Gun Violence
Today, the U.S. faces an unprecedented crisis of gun violence. For the first time, firearms have become the leading cause of death for children and teenagers, surpassing car accidents and other common causes. In 2021, more people died from gunshots than in any other year in American history, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In June 2023, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared gun violence a public health crisis, calling for the reinstatement of assault weapons bans and universal background checks as necessary steps to reduce the rising death toll. However, the political infrastructure that the gun industry has built over the past 20 years continues to thwart significant reform.
Despite public outrage, the gun industry and its allies in Washington remain entrenched in their opposition to new gun control measures. The NSSF’s influence has ensured that even the most widely supported reforms, like raising the age to buy an assault rifle, remain off the table.
The Legacy of a Secretive Campaign
As ProPublica’s investigation makes clear, the gun industry’s long-standing efforts to mobilize gun owners for political gain have had profound consequences for American society. The use of private customer data without consent represents a stunning breach of trust for millions of gun buyers who thought their information was confidential.
“The hypocrisy of warning about a governmental registry and at the same time establishing a private registry for political purposes is stunning,” said Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a vocal gun control advocate. “Absolutely staggering.”
