The website I’m choosing to focus on for this post is the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA). The NRA is a far-right interest group lobbying for gun rights. I specifically chose their lobbying arm (the ILA) because it is also the NRA’s dark money arm that they use to funnel funds into its superPAC, the NRA Victory Fund.
SuperPACs are organizations that collect political donations to funnel to political candidates. However, this is in the form of dark money, in that it is not disclosed to the public of how much and where the money is coming from. This is especially dangerous because not only can individuals donate through dark money, but corporations with massive bank accounts as well.
The NRA-ILA is particularly interesting because the website itself acts as a news source for the NRA and updates of legislation the organization lobbies for. The taskbar at the top only has three tabs: join, renew, and donate, and each one is related to payment through subscription or a donation. The headline rotates between different NRA news, especially Supreme Court updates, and important organization milestones. This emphasizes the NRA’s legislative progression to show how their donors’ support is being well used in getting the policy they want passed. Several articles in the top stories are highlighting the NRA’s prominence in politics and other mainstream networks.
The website itself is very user-friendly and easy to navigate, as well as being visually appealing. It has an eerily similar visual to any other news website like the Washington Post or the New York Times, but I believe that is the point of the site given that it’s the NRA’s legislative arm. The site has several (and by several I mean at least seven) different prompts to donate in just one scroll of the site.
Many of the news articles posted on the site emphasize how the government works against the NRA to fuel donors to support them so that the NRA can work harder. One of the headline stories is titled “Supreme Court Gets it Right, Congress Gets it Wrong.” The article itself (hardly an article in my opinion) essentially condemns Congress for passing a bill increasing gun control while reiterating the NRA’s commitment to working against gun control laws and how they “cannot and will not support senseless gun control measures.” By evoking pathos in the target audience of gun owners, the NRA garners support for their cause.
Something I thought was quite interesting on the site was the “Know Your State’s Gun Laws” bubble where users can select a state from the drop down menu to find out the gun laws in that state. This creates a sense of comfort and trust with the NRA in believing that the organization is looking out for the user to ensure they can help avoid unnecessary conflict.
While I don’t support the NRA, I have to admit that using its legislative arm as a dark money arm for its superPAC is genius. By collecting funds from its subgroup dedicated to NRA involvement in legislation, the NRA can channel the money through the superPAC and contribute any amount of money they want without donor identity being disclosed. And although the articles are terribly written and hardly inform, I can respect the NRA’s dedication to its craft.
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