Dear Members of 118th Congress:

We implore you to revoke National Rifle Association’s tax-exempt status.

According to this U.S. Senate Committee on Finance Minority Staff Reprot NPR, the National Rifle Association (NRA) acted as a "foreign asset" for Russia in the period leading up to the 2016 election by underwriting political access for Russian nationals Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin.

• “NRA executive staff and resources were used to plan the delegation’s travel to Moscow in December 2015. In some cases, NRA staff planned critical aspects of the delegation’s travel, such as securing visas, making detailed travel itineraries and working with travel agents to procure flights. Then-NRA President Allan Cors formally designated two members of the delegation, David Keene and Joe Gregory, as representatives of the NRA in an NRA letter to Alexander Torshin. The NRA initially reimbursed some trip expenses paid for by Brownell. In 2018, after Senator Wyden first asked the NRA about its relationship to Torshin, the organization sought reimbursement from Brownell to get trip expense payments “off the NRA’s books.”

• “Key participants in the Moscow trip participated primarily or solely because of the business opportunities it presented. Then-NRA Vice President Pete Brownell and Butina began discussing Russian business opportunities. Butina later used his personal business interests to entice him to join the delegation.”

• “The NRA provided Butina and Torshin broad access to its events from 2014 to 2016, where the pair could have met members of Congress, governors, and 2016 presidential candidates.”

• “In April 2019, Maria Butina pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to act as a foreign agent in the United States without registering with the U.S. Department of Justice and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.”

Tax-exempt organizations are prohibited from using funds for the personal benefit of its officials or for actions significantly outside their stated missions. It’s clear the NRA used its funds for the personal benefit of its officials or for actions significantly outside their stated missions therefore its tax-exempt status should be revoked immediately.

Sincerely,

Newtown Action Alliance