The National Rifle Association's political action committee took in a record amount of contributions in March amid a major push for new gun-control regulations, Federal Election Commission filings show.
The NRA Political Victory Fund reported $2,353,095.31 in contributions from individuals throughout March, newly released filings show. It was the committee's best fundraising haul dating back to early 2003, according to a report from the Miami Herald.
The PAC experienced a surge in donations after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., as gun-control activists, politicians, and media personalities attacked the gun-rights organization. At the same time, the formation of a new gun-control group, March for Our Lives Action Fund, a 501(c)(4) "social welfare" organization not required to reveal its donors and which held widely publicized marches calling for new gun bans and other forms of gun control, has put pressure on lawmakers. States like Florida and Vermont, both with Republican governors, have already passed restrictive new gun laws banning gun ownership for adults under 21-years-old among other measures.
The NRA has fought back against the new gun-control efforts. It has filed its own lawsuit against Florida's law and supported a lawsuit filed by state-based groups in Vermont against their new gun-control law. The NRA has not publicly disclosed the number of members in its own 501(c)(4), the National Rifle Association of America, but it has continued to say it has at least 5 million members. The group recently launched a campaign to sign up 100,000 new members in 100 days.
"The NRA's strength is in our dedicated and politically savvy members," Jason J. Brown, NRA media relations manager, told the Washington Free Beacon about the campaign earlier this month. "Over the next 100 days we hope to welcome 100,000 new freedom-loving Americans to our ranks. The threat to our Second Amendment has never been greater."
The NRA PAC's March receipts are nearly $1.6 million more than it had raised in February—$779,000—and $2.1 million more than the reported $248,000 in January. The most the PAC had taken in during any month last year, which came in March, was $884,359. That makes March 2018's haul almost double the NRA's best month in 2017.
Almost all of the money that flowed into the PAC came from individuals who gave $200 or less.