But, it turns out, the NRA’s message has become so solidified in the Republican Party that even if the organization implodes from allegations of lavish spending and misuse of funds, its unapologetic pro-gun point of view will live on, as the heated debate increasingly shifts from Washington to the states.

Not even the shift in power to Democrats in the White House and Congress has been enough to push through new federal restrictions, and states continue to pass laws with far-reaching protections for gun owners.

Ever confident, the NRA, which is based in Fairfax, Virginia, says the suggestion it is receding is magical thinking on the left. The group promises it will emerge from its failed bankruptcy effort stronger, particularly as it seeks to relocate to the decidedly pro-gun rights state of Texas.

The durable nature of the NRA’s clout is an exemplar of how difficult it is to claw back control from an entrenched lobbying powerhouse that has planted deep roots in the American political system with money, organization and relentless messaging.

“The NRA built up an impressive mountain of power over the course of 40 years. And despite their recent fall from grace, that power doesn’t disappear overnight,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said in an interview.

Not to say there is no hope for gun control — far from it, said Murphy, whose own views are shaped by the massacre of 20 children in Newtown, Conn. on Dec. 14, 2012, and the subsequent (successful) effort by the NRA to stop gun legislation in the aftermath.

He said Democratic gains in Congress, despite the efforts by the NRA to stop candidates, are one measure of a change in the dynamic. Another is a shift in some public opinion. A Gallup poll in 2019 found the percentage of people viewing the NRA favorably dropping below 50% for only the second time in three decades.

“There’s no doubt that their political muscle is reduced,” Murphy said, adding that the Georgia special elections for U.S. Senate, won by Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in January, are a clear indication of that. “Democrats who support universal background checks are winning all over the country, including in states where you would have thought the NRA had a stranglehold.”

One of Biden’s first executive orders was on gun control. On Monday, the Justice Department announced model legislation for red-flag laws, which permit police to ask for the removal of firearms from people who may present a danger to themselves or others.

In March, the House passed two bills requiring background checks on all firearms sales and transfers and allowing an expanded 10-day review for gun purchases. But the legislation faces strong headwinds in the Senate, with some Republican support required for passage.

At the same time, though, the NRA has been growing, with 225,000 additional dues-paying members since January, its ranks now swelling to more than 5 million. Its embattled leader, Wayne LaPierre, has led the fund-raising efforts for nearly three decades, selling himself as an aggressive guardian of the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

He positioned the lobby as the major antagonizer of Democratic administrations. Then, in 2016, the organization spent more than $30 million on behalf of Donald Trump’s campaign, according to Federal Election Commission data. The effort paid off — after back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, Trump seemed inclined to take action on extensive background checks but backed off after a phone call with the NRA.

But those successes were happening while the NRA was having major problems within. By 2018, the organization had a $36 million deficit due to lavish spending. A class action lawsuit by members over mismanagement and a lack of transparency followed in 2019. And then, Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James sued to disband the group, arguing it was “fraught with fraud and abuse.” In D.C., the attorney general sued over improper diversion of funds.

The NRA filed for bankruptcy in January, but the effort was rejected by a judge. During the trial, an embarrassing deposition by LaPierre emerged in which he said he’d borrowed a friend’s 108-foot (33-meter) yacht to hide multiple times between 2013 and 2018 after threats following multiple mass shootings.

Even with that inner turmoil, the NRA has also been behind hundreds of successful efforts to loosen gun laws in the states — most recently working to persuade states to abandon requirements that people get training and pass background checks to carry concealed handguns.

Six states have passed legislation removing or weakening concealed-carry permit requirements this year, most recently Texas. About 20 states now allow people to carry concealed weapons without a license.

Four more states have passed legislation banning police from enforcing federal gun laws, a preemptive shot at any new measures passed by Democrats.

The NRA is far from the only pro-gun group at the table in state legislatures now. In Utah, one of the first states to remove permit requirements this year, it was just one of at least six gun rights groups speaking in favor of the bill at the Capitol — and it wasn’t the most outspoken one.

The number of generally pro-gun rights states outnumbers those that pass gun control measures 40 to 10, although the latter have more people, so the country’s population is about evenly divided between the two camps. And a Pew Research Center report released in April found the number of Americans who favor stricter gun laws has declined this year to 53%, down from 60% in September 2019.

“Gun rights, the Second Amendment, the right to keep and bear arms is bigger than any organization,” said Jordan Stein, communications director for the Gun Owners of America, one such group.

Gun owners would continue fighting if the organizations who often help them organize and coordinate around the issue were gone, he said.

Recent gun sales suggest a new zeal for owning a weapon. Gun dealers sold more than 2 million firearms in January, a 75% increase over the same month last year and the biggest-selling January on record, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, an industry trade group. The FBI, meanwhile, reported 4.3 million firearm-related background checks, the highest monthly total since the system was created over two decades ago.

While the NRA is easily the best known gun lobby, Josh Horwitz, the executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said the real players are the state gun groups.

“The groups that work at the state level are much more powerful than they used to be,” Horwitz said. “Even if the NRA went away tomorrow, and it may, (Senate Republican leader) Mitch McConnell is still going to be checking in with whatever the Kentucky gun rights alliance is, and the Ohio legislature is going to be checking in with the Buckeye Firearms Association.

“We’re in a generational battle,” he added. “Guns in America is going to be a big fight for a long time.”

Despite its troubles, the NRA remains confident in its prowess.

The organization, which in January reported total assets of about $203 million, liabilities of about $153 million and $31 million in bank loans, said in court papers it saw revenues drop about 7% because of the coronavirus pandemic. To cut costs, it laid off dozens of employees and canceled its national convention.

Last month, a federal judge in Dallas dealt another blow to the lobby when he dismissed its bankruptcy case, because he found it was not filed in good faith.

But it has also balanced its budget and is again in the black after years of deficits.

“Coupled with our typical excellent report card on legal and legislative advances and wins, the record is clear: the NRA is as strong and effective as ever as we confront President Biden’s anti-gun agenda,” said Andrew Arulanandam, the NRA’S managing director for public affairs.

“Any suggestion to the contrary is wishful thinking from our adversaries.”

Associated Press writers Gary Fields and Lindsay Whitehurst in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.

The announcement came months after New York Attorney General Letitia James sued the NRA, seeking its dissolution over claims that top executives illegally diverted tens of millions of dollars for lavish personal trips, no-show contracts for associates and other questionable expenditures.

The coronavirus pandemic has also upended the NRA, which last year laid off dozens of employees. The group canceled its national convention and scuttled fundraising. The NRA’s bankruptcy filing listed between $100 million and $500 million in assets and between $100 million and $500 million in liabilities. Still, the NRA claimed in announcing the move that the organization was “in its strongest financial condition in years.”

The NRA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal court in Dallas and said it planned to incorporate in Texas, where records show it formed a limited liability corporation, Sea Girt LLC, in November 2020. Sea Girt LLC made a separate bankruptcy filing Friday, listing few assets and fewer than $100,000 in liabilities.

In its filing, the NRA said its longtime leader, Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, made the decision to file for bankruptcy protection in consultation with a committee of three NRA officials formed in September to oversee its legal strategies. The NRA board voted Jan. 7 to clarify LaPierre’s employment agreement, giving him the power to “reorganize or restructure the affairs” of the organization.

“The move will enable long-term, sustainable growth and ensure the NRA’s continued success as the nation’s leading advocate for constitutional freedom – free from the toxic political environment of New York,” the NRA said in a statement.

In an interview, NRA board member Charles Cotton made clear that the bankruptcy filing was motivated by litigation and regulatory scrutiny in what he called “corrupt New York” — not financial concerns.

“We’ve got to get in a state where we can operate without that kind of undue weaponizing of governmental agencies, and frankly to get all the litigation in a place where we’ve got an even shake,” Cotton told The Associated Press.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, quickly welcomed the news, tweeting: “Welcome to Texas — a state that safeguards the 2nd Amendment.” The NRA said it has more than 400,000 members in Texas and plans to hold its annual convention in Houston later this year.

Shortly after the announcement, James said she would not allow the NRA to “evade accountability” or oversight. The Democrat����ap lawsuit last year highlighted misspending and self-dealing claims that have roiled the NRA and LaPierre in recent years — from hair and makeup for his wife to a $17 million post-employment contract for himself.

“The NRA’s claimed financial status has finally met its moral status: bankrupt,” James said.

Adam Skaggs, chief counsel at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, called the bankruptcy filing “a transparent attempt to evade (James’) campaign to hold the NRA and its corrupt leaders accountable.”

Cotton said the allegations in James’ lawsuit will be proven false. He said he expects LaPierre to remain at the helm of the reconstituted NRA, praising his popularity with members and proficiency at raising money for the organization.

“Wayne leaving would be a bigger blow to the organization than was the illness and death of Charlton Heston,” Cotton said.

The gun-rights group boasts about 5 million members. Though headquartered in Virginia, the NRA was chartered as a nonprofit in New York in 1871 and is incorporated in the state. Going forward, the NRA said a committee will study opportunities to relocate segments of its operations to Texas and elsewhere.

Cotton declined to comment when asked if Sea Girt, which shares the name of a New Jersey firing range where the NRA began holding annual competitions in 1892, was formed as a part of a plan to facilitate the bankruptcy filing in Texas.

In recent years, the NRA’s relationship with New York has increasingly soured.

In 2018, the organization sued Gov. Andrew Cuomo, claiming a “political vendetta” was behind a state financial watchdog’s probe of whether it broke state laws by marketing an insurance program to gun owners. In November, the NRA agreed to pay $2.5 million and accept a five-year ban on marketing insurance in the state.

In response to James’ lawsuit, the NRA countersued with claims her actions were motivated by hostility toward its political advocacy, including comments she made while running for attorney general in 2018 that the NRA is a “terrorist organization.”

The NRA’s largest creditor, owed $1.2 million, is the organization’s former advertising agency, Ackerman McQueen. The NRA sued the company in 2019, alleging overbilling, and said in Friday’s bankruptcy filing that the debt owed is disputed. The lawsuit is pending.

In the New York lawsuit, Ackerman McQueen was accused of aiding lavish spending by LaPierre and other NRA executives by picking up the tab and then sending a lump sum bill to the organization for “out-of-pocket expenses.”

“No financial filing can ever shroud the moral bankruptcy of Wayne LaPierre and his wife and their lap dogs on the NRA board,” said Bill Powers, an Ackerman McQueen spokesperson and former public affairs director for the NRA.

Court records also show more than $960,000 owed to Membership Marketing Partners LLC, a firm that lists its headquarters at the same address as the NRA. Another $200,000 is owed to Speedway Motorsports, the North Carolina-based company that owns and operates NASCAR tracks, according to the records.

Sisak reported from New York. Associated Press reporter Jake Bleiberg in Dallas contributed to this report.

“If you just got your concealed carry permit this year, we want you here,” McWilliams said. “I want to train you.”

The 1770 Armory and Gun Club is Colorado’s first Black-owned gun club, and it opened its doors last week as Black people increasingly are arming themselves amid a pandemic and racial division within the United States.

In Aurora, a church pastor this month started a gun club for Black residents and other people of color after seeing a demand for it in his community.

“Given the place in which we are in America — politically, racially — African Americans don’t feel safe anymore,” said Wanda James, the gun club’s co-owner. “It’s a sad scenario when people don’t feel comfortable in their homes, walking down the street or in their cars.”

In the first six months of 2020, a record 10.3 million firearm transactions were processed by U.S. retailers, according to a . Among those sales, the highest overall increase in purchases were among Black men and women, who bought 58.2% more guns in the first half of 2020 when compared with the same period in 2019, the report found. Overall, Black men made up 9.3% of all firearms sales while Black women accounted for 5.4% during the period.

Still, Black people are less likely to own guns than white people. In 2017, about a quarter of Black Americans owned a firearm while 36% of white people did, according to on gun ownership in the United States.

There is no comprehensive gun sales data that shows racial demographics for Colorado. But the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s background check database — an indicator of the number of gun sales in the state — shows a significant increase in purchases in 2020.

As of Sept. 30, the CBI’s Instacheck program processed 373,036 background checks for gun buyers this year, an 8.2% jump from the same period in 2019 when 342,439 background checks were processed and 27% more than in 2016, the last presidential election year.

“You’ve got to protect your family”

When the novel coronavirus pandemic struck in mid-March and stores started running low on food and household supplies, James Beverly reconsidered his stance on gun ownership.

“You need to protect your family,” said Beverly, an Aurora resident who grew up in Five Points. “If it comes down to it with a food shortage and it����ap the wild, wild west out there, you’ve got to protect your family.”

So Beverly purchased a Sig Sauer P-365 9 mm handgun, one of the most popular models for people who want to carry a concealed weapon. Until then, Beverly said he never considered himself a “gun person.”

But last week Beverly found himself at 1770 to check out the range.

The owners chose Five Points so the new range would be affordable and accessible to people in Denver. And while the neighborhood is undergoing considerable change through new development, lead instructor Master Young said, “I want people to know that in the middle of this reconstruction there are still Black-owned businesses in the community.”

The owners chose the name 1770 after the year the American Revolution started and the year Crispus Attucks, a Black man who is widely considered the first American to die in the revolution, was killed.

At 1770, shooters won’t find a live-fire gun range. Denver prohibits those, but Young said the club has partnerships at outdoor ranges in other counties for its members.

Instead, the range uses an infrared simulator where computer cartridges shaped like bullets are inserted into a gun’s chamber, and those cartridges send signals to a computer that records the shots fired at targets mounted on the walls.

From there, McWilliams and the other instructors analyze a shooter’s grip, stance, trigger pressure, breathing and aim.

Using a simulator saves members the expense of ammunition, which is rising in price as Americans stockpile it, James said. Boxes of 9 mm ammo are hard to find because that caliber of handgun is so popular, James said, and when a shooter finds a box it can cost $35 to $50.

All of the trainers have multiple licenses and certifications to teach people to shoot pistols, shotguns and semi-automatic rifles, and to help them earn a concealed carry weapons permit.

Young, an Army veteran who has been teaching for 14 years in Colorado, most recently was the range manager at Cherry Creek State Park, where he met Anubis Heru, another instructor at 1770.

They became friends when Heru brought his son to Cherry Creek to shoot.

“It����ap rare you see a Black man out there — but a Black man and his son!” Young said.

“People became fearful”

Derone Armstrong, pastor of Leake Memorial Church in Aurora, is leading the charge to form a new local chapter of the Black Gun Owners Association.

He started the group after talking to other Black gun owners in Aurora, who said they felt uncomfortable at a predominantly white range, and with the encouragement of his wife, who decided she wants to get a concealed weapon permit.

“I’ve been talking to her about getting a concealed weapons permit to protect herself because of the state of this country,” Armstrong said.

Church members started talking about arming themselves after the 2015 shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, where nine people, including the pastor, were killed by a white supremacist.

“When the pandemic hit, it escalated. People became fearful because they didn’t know what was going to happen with the hoarding,” Armstrong said. “And then with the rise of racism and white supremacy, people want to protect themselves.”

Armstrong grew up hunting and firing guns and he continues to hunt. He understands the nervousness Black people have in the current political climate, especially in rural areas. He recalled a recent rabbit hunt in Kit Carson County where he saw a large Confederate flag flying on nearby property.

“I thought, ‘Derone, you’re way out here. You better watch out,’” he said.

The new Ethnic Ordnance group, which will be a chapter of the Black Gun Owners Association, earlier this month formed a board of directors, created a logo and mission statements, and filled out paperwork for nonprofit status.

“Part of our curriculum will be to teach our people to protect their families,” Armstrong said. “We don’t know what����ap going to happen after this election.”

Traditionally, many African Americans have eschewed gun ownership because firearms were associated with street gangs and because people with liberal political views often are opposed to guns, James said.

Black people also are afraid to carry guns in case they encounter police, fearing it will bring them unwarranted trouble, Young said.

Since moving to Colorado in 2006, Young said he has been stopped by police four times — including once when he was walking in Five Points while wearing an Oakland Raiders jersey — but his training helped him navigate the situation and deescalate any perceived threat an officer might have felt when encountering a Black man with a gun.

“I didn’t fear them,” Young said.

This year, Young has taught 300 people in concealed weapons classes, a requirement to receive a state permit. Only five were non-Black, he said.

Now, the gun club owners and the Aurora church pastor want to educate all those new owners on how to use their weapons responsibly.

“Honestly, to be frank, it����ap the state of politics right now. White supremacy is on the rise,” James said. “It����ap not as safe as it used to be. A lot of people are buying out of fear right now.

“Now that they have it we want to step in and fix that fear. The people who are afraid are the people who we will have problems with later. They’ll be the ones who shoot the wrong person.”

The National Foundation for Gun Rights announced Friday that it is raising money for 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse of Illinois. The NFGR is the legal arm of the National Association for Gun Rights, headquartered in Loveland.

Rittenhouse has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, attempted first-degree intentional homicide and possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18.

He is accused of shooting multiple protesters Tuesday night, killing two of them, after traveling to Kenosha to protect businesses from looting. The Wisconsin city has been the scene of racial turmoil since police there , Jacob Blake, last weekend.

Rittenhouse, an admirer of law enforcement and President Donald Trump, is seen as a dangerous vigilante by many but has the support of some prominent figures on the political right who believe he was acting in self-defense.

Dudley Brown, executive director of the National Foundation for Gun Rights, says Rittenhouse was peacefully defending himself and businesses when he was attacked by “Antifa thugs.”

“Kyle was doing his best to protect business owners from losing their entire livelihoods when criminal actors instigated violence against him. Unfortunately for them, Kyle was armed with an AR-15 and their rocks, skateboards and handguns stood no chance against his well-placed shots,” Brown said Friday.

Brown was formerly the executive director of . RMGO and the National Association for Gun Rights were founded on the premise that the National Rifle Association is too liberal and compromising.

“It����ap a sad day in America when anti-gun prosecutors want to throw a young man in jail for defending himself against violent attackers,” Brown said. “When we say the Second Amendment is for lawful self-defense, we mean it. Maybe next time rioting thugs will think twice about squaring off against a patriot carrying an AR-15.”

Shannon Watts, a Colorado-based gun control advocate who founded Moms Demand Action, says Rittenhouse should not be idolized.

“It is chilling to see conservative politicians and pundits, along with gun lobbyists, rally around and idolize the teenager who killed two protesters in Kenosha with an AR-15,” . “And all the while they’re condoning the shooting of Jacob Blake. Their politics are a corrosive poison.”

Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit, filed in state court in Manhattan after an 18-month investigation, highlighted misspending and self-dealing allegations that have roiled the NRA and its longtime leader, Wayne LaPierre, in recent years — from hair and makeup for his wife to a $17 million post-employment contract for himself.

Simultaneously, the Washington, D.C., attorney general sued the NRA Foundation, a charitable arm of the organization designed to provide programs for firearm safety, marksmanship and hunting safety, accusing it of diverting funds to the NRA to help pay for lavish spending by its top executives.

The troubles, which James said were long cloaked by loyal lieutenants and a pass-through payment arrangement with a vendor, started to come to light as the NRA’s deficit piled up and it struggled to find its footing after a spate of mass shootings eroded support for its pro-gun agenda. The organization went from a nearly $28 million surplus in 2015 to a $36 million deficit in 2018.

James, a Democrat, argued that the organization’s prominence and cozy political relationships had lulled it into a sense of invincibility and enabled a culture where non-profit rules were routinely flouted and state and federal laws were violated. Even the NRA’s own bylaws and employee handbook were ignored, she said.

“The NRA’s influence has been so powerful that the organization went unchecked for decades while top executives funneled millions into their own pockets,” James said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “The NRA is fraught with fraud and abuse, which is why, today, we seek to dissolve the NRA, because no organization is above the law.”

NRA President Carolyn Meadows said the group was counter-suing the New York attorney general’s office, setting the stage for a drawn-out legal battle that could last for years. “It����ap a transparent attempt to score political points and attack the leading voice in opposition to the leftist agenda,’ Meadows said in a statement.

James is taking aim at the NRA after her office last year dismantled President Donald Trump’s charitable foundation and fined him $2 million to settle allegations he used donations meant for worthy causes to further his own business and political interests. Though it is headquarters in Virginia, the NRA was chartered as a non-profit in New York in 1871 and continues to be incorporated in the state.

The Washington, D.C., attorney general has been investigating the NRA Foundation for more than a year. It said its investigation determined that low membership and lavish spending left the NRA with financial problems and so it exploited the foundation to remain afloat. It offered as an example two $5 million loans that the NRA Foundation board approved in 2017 and 2018 despite the NRA’s financial problems, and then repeatedly granted requests to extend and modify the loan.

“Charitable organizations function as public trusts — and District law requires them to use their funds to benefit the public, not to support political campaigns, lobbying, or private interests,” Washington Attorney General Karl Racine said in a news release. “With this lawsuit, we aim to recover donated funds that the NRA Foundation wasted.”

The New York lawsuit also named LaPierre and three other current and former executives as defendants: corporate secretary and general counsel John Frazer, retired treasurer and chief financial officer Wilson Phillips, and LaPierre’s former chief of staff Joshua Powell. While the lawsuit accuses all four men of wrongdoing and seeks fines and remuneration, none of them have been charged with a crime.

LaPierre, who has been in charge of the NRA’s day-to-day operations since 1991, is accused of spending millions of dollars on private travel and personal security, accepting expensive gifts such as African safaris and use of a 107-foot yacht from vendors and setting himself up with a $17 million contract with the NRA, if he were to exit the organization, without board approval.

The lawsuit said LaPierre, 70, spent millions of the NRA’s dollars on travel consultants, including luxury black car services, and hundreds of thousands of dollars on private jet flights for himself and his family, including more than $500,000 on eight trips to the Bahamas over a three-year span.

Some of the NRA’s excess spending was kept secret, the lawsuit said, under an arrangement with the organization’s former advertising agency, Ackerman McQueen.

The advertising firm would pick up the tab for various expenses for LaPierre and other NRA executives and then send a lump sum bill to the organization for “out-of-pocket expenses,” the lawsuit said.

Frazer, the corporate secretary and general counsel, is accused of aiding the alleged misconduct by certifying false or misleading annual regulatory filings, failing to comply with governance procedures, failing to enforce a conflict of interest policy, and failing to ensure that board members were reviewing transactions or that the the organization was following the law.

Phillips is accused of overseeing the pass-through arrangement. The lawsuit said he ignored or downplayed whistleblower complaints and made a deal to enrich himself in retirement — a bogus $1.8 million contract to consult for the incoming treasurer and a deal worth $1 million for his girlfriend.

Powell, the former LaPierre chief of staff, is accused of getting his father a $90,000 photography gig through an NRA vendor, arranging a $5 million contract for a consulting firm where his wife worked and pocketing $100,000 more in housing and relocation reimbursements than the organization’s rules allowed. He was fired after 3½ years for allegedly misappropriating NRA funds.

The lawsuit comes at a time when the NRA is trying to remain relevant and a force in the 2020 presidential election as it seeks to help President Donald Trump secure a second term.

There has been an ongoing factional war within organization, pitting some of its most ardent gun-rights supporters and loyalists against one another. The NRA has traded lawsuits with Ackerman McQueen, which crafted some of its most prominent messages for decades, eventually severing ties with it last year and scrapping its controversial NRA-TV, which aired many of its most controversial messages.

The internal battles reached a fevered pitch at its 2019 annual meeting where its then-president, Oliver North, was denied a traditional second term amid a tussle with LaPierre as he sought to independently review the NRA’s expenses and operations. He accused LaPierre of exerting “dictatorial” control.

Chris Cox, the NRA’s longtime lobbyist and widely viewed as a likely successor to LaPierre, left after being accused of working behind the scenes with North to undermine LaPierre.

Pane reported from Boise, Idaho. Tom Hays also contributed from New York.

In the past several weeks, various states and municipalities have offered different interpretations of whether gun stores should be allowed to remain open as Americans stay at home to avoid spreading the virus. In Los Angeles, for example, County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has twice ordered gun shops in his territory to close, leading to legal challenges from gun rights advocates.

After days of lobbying by the National Rifle Association, the National Shooting Sports Foundation and other gun groups, the Department of Homeland Security this past weekend issued an advisory declaring that firearms dealers should be considered essential services — just like grocery stores, pharmacies and hospitals — and allowed to remain open. The agency said its ruling was not a mandate but merely guidance for cities, towns and states as they weigh how to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Still, gun control groups called it a move to put profits over public health. The Brady group on Monday filed a Freedom of Information request with DHS seeking emails and documents that explain how the agency reached its decision to issue the advisory and to determine if it consulted with any public health experts.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.

“The gun lobby is not willing to stand for a few days or a few weeks of less profit in order to protect public health, and it����ap outrageous and definitely not required by the Second Amendment,” said Jonathan Lowy, chief counsel for Brady. He added later: “It����ap a public health issue, not a Second Amendment issue. The fact is that guns, the nature of guns, require that they be sold with a lot of close interaction. They can’t be sold from vending machines, can’t be sold with curbside pickup.”

The gun lobby has been pushing back vigorously against places where some authorities have deemed federally licensed gun dealers are not essential and should close as part of stay-at-home directives. The gun lobby has said it’s critical these shops remain open so Americans, who are buying firearms in record numbers, have the ability to exercise their constitutional rights.

In recent weeks, firearm sales have skyrocketed. Background checks — the key barometer of gun sales — already were at record numbers in January and February, likely fueled by a presidential election year. Since the coronavirus outbreak, gun shops have reported long lines and runs on firearms and ammunition.

Background checks were up 300% on March 16, compared with the same date a year ago, according to federal data shared with the NSSF, which represents gunmakers. Since Feb. 23, each day has seen roughly double the volume over 2019, according to Mark Oliva, spokesman for the group.

In Texas, the attorney general there issued a legal opinion saying that emergency orders shuttering gun shops are unconstitutional. That stands in contrast to some municipalities, such as New Orleans, where the mayor has issued an emergency proclamation that declares the authority to restrict sales of firearms and ammunition.

NSSF and other gun lobbying groups hailed the ruling as a victory for gun owners, especially first-time buyers of a firearm who are concerned that upheaval and turmoil over the virus could affect personal safety.

“We have seen over the past week hundreds of thousands, even millions, of Americans choosing to exercise their right to keep and bear arms to ensure their safety and the safety of loved ones during these uncertain times,” said Lawrence Keane, senior vice president and general counsel for NSSF. “Americans must not be denied the ability to exercise that right to lawfully purchase and acquire firearms during times of emergency.”

Brady’s Lowy said it shouldn’t be considered a violation of Second Amendment rights since it’s temporary and in the midst of a pandemic. He likened it to constitutional rights to peaceably assemble, a right that is being curtailed at the moment as Americans practice social distancing.

“If you have a gun in the home, you are exercising your Second Amendment rights. No court has held that you have a Second Amendment right to a stockpile of guns,” he said.

The vast majority of states are allowing gun shops to remain open. However, some states that have been the hardest hit by the coronavirus have ruled that gun shops are not essential and should close. In the absence of a mandate from federal authorities, gun groups have been filing lawsuits challenging state and local authorities who are ordering gun shops and ranges to close.

The NRA thanked President Donald Trump for the DHS ruling. The NRA has been an unflinching backer of Trump, pumping about $30 million toward his 2016 campaign.

Schools have been closed, ski resorts shuttered and restaurants limited to delivery or take out as authorities try to slow the spread of the highly contagious respiratory disease. For some, the frenzy has pushed them to buy a firearm or stock up on ammunition.

Background checks at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, which are required to purchase a gun, have nearly doubled in the last few days when compared to the same week last year, CBI spokeswoman Susan Medina said. There were about 14,604 checks requested between March 10 and Monday, compared to about 7,357 in the same period last year.

The influx created a backlog of 5,000 pending background checks and pushed wait times to about two days for a process that usually takes fewer than 10 minutes.

“We’ve had people coming saying they were at King Soopers, trying to track down some toilet paper, and they’ve seen grown men and women fist fighting over who gets the last pack of tissues,” Zac Rios, a salesman at Green Mountain Guns in Lakewood, said. “They are taking their security into their own hands.”

Rios started to see sales climb early last week, but said business really skyrocketed on Friday and Saturday, with sales doubling even compared to the busy days in the previous week, a pattern seen at gun stores across the region and the country.

The uptick, he thinks, is due to the panic surrounding the coronavirus and the behavior of others, rather than the virus itself.

“You can’t shoot a virus,” he said.

The CBI is expanding its hours for background checks, upping staffing and making some modifications to the submission process in order to work through the backlog, even as gun shops across the region continue to see a steady stream of customers, Medina said Tuesday.

“All I can say is business has exploded by about 20 to 30 times what normal is,” said George Horne, owner at The Gun Room in Lakewood, before excusing himself to get back to customers.

At Devils Head Choppers in Castle Rock, a joint gun and motorcycle shop, owner Brandon Mize ran out of ammunition on Friday morning.

“Everyone is out of ammo,” he said, adding that he usually keeps a couple weeks worth of ammunition in stock. “I can’t even order it from anywhere.”

Still, he said, it����ap typical to see an uptick in sales and slower background checks in response to unusual events or even elections, particularly if a Democrat looks likely to win, he said. After the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012, where a gunman slaughtered 20 children and six adults in a school in Connecticut, wait times for CBI background checks were up to several days, Mize said.

The shifts in demand are normal — even when they’re steep — and the supply chain is in still in good shape, said Bryan Clark, co-owner of Bristlecone Shooting, Training and Retail Center in Lakewood.

“We’ve seen these types of ebbs and flows before in the industry,” he said. “And it always comes back. There is no need to panic.”

On Tuesday, there were many empty shelves at Bristlecone, both for guns and ammunition, but Clark said he’s expecting a shipment to arrive soon so he can restock.

“We haven’t had any hiccups in the distribution chain,” he said, adding that 2020 was already shaping up to be a busy year before the novel coronavirus reached Colorado in early March.

One of Clark’s customers, Travis Aldrich, was browsing guns while he waited to take a turn in the shop’s shooting range. Visiting from Arizona, Aldrich decided to go shooting with his brother for fun after their planned ski trip was cancelled. Already a gun owner, he said he hopes first-time buyers take time to learn about their new weapon and how to use it safely.

“I’d like to make sure they’re fully trained,” he said, adding that he understands the desire to buy a gun when facing uncertainty.

“You don’t know how things are going to turn out,” he said.

One of those first-time buyers, Andrea Barragan, said she’d been contemplating buying a gun for a while because she lives alone and wanted a weapon for personal security. The empty shelves at the grocery store and everything else surrounding the virus prompted her to pull the trigger on the purchase now.

“It seems like it is getting kind of crazy and no one knows what is going to happen,” she said. “Not knowing is a little scary.”

Loesch will speak at 7 p.m. Oct. 10 in the Math 100 lecture hall in an event put on by the CU Boulder chapter of conservative student group Turning Point USA.

Tickets are required for attendance and are available for free to students and the general public through the event listing on .

Loesch is a conservative commentator who has served as a spokeswoman for NRA and a writer for Breitbart News.

In the past week, four more American cities were added to the grim list of places that have been the sites of mass shootings. In what have become rote responses to these increasingly frequent tragedies, our political representatives will assure us that their thoughts and prayers are with the victims. The public will be told by the National Rifle Association and its shills, such as U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado (notorious for accepting millions in campaign contributions from the NRA), that this is not the proper time to discuss gun safety legislation. For those with blind allegiance to the gun lobby, the “proper time” would be Feb. 30.

Furthermore, with Republicans clinging to a slight majority in the U.S. Senate, we can expect little more than token proposals to address gun violence, because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will block any meaningful measures.

However, congressional gridlock does not preclude Colorado voters who are serious about abating the carnage from removing Gardner from office in the November 2020 election. Gardner’s exit from D.C. would aid in changing the balance of power in the Senate, thereby providing a pathway toward adopting reasonable gun safety legislation when the 117th Congress convenes in 2021.

Frank Tapy, Denver

Outrage misdirected

Words cannot describe the aftermath of the carnage in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas. Of course, many people (including the Democratic hopefuls) now are blaming President Donald Trump, which is ridiculous and unconscionable. But it is only the latest to justify their racist calls. I don’t see any evidence that Trump is racist; he is against illegal immigration. The key word here is illegal. How about all the people who have been killed by people here illegally? No outrage over that, and there are many.

Thank God these shooters were apprehended in El Paso and killed in Ohio by police officers. But please do not politicize these tragedies. This is a nonpartisan issue that needs to be addressed and can only be solved if we all come together as Americans. Sadly, it looks like it will be a blame game again.

Kay Robbins, Denver

It����ap the “illegal” immigration

Re: “Innocent lives are in the hands of the U.S. Senate,” Aug. 6 editorial

Trump deserves admonishment for a lot of his actions and behaviors. What he doesn’t deserve is to be is labeled anti-immigrant when he is anti-illegal immigrant. This wordplay exemplifies the distrust the media have brought upon themselves.

Wes Campbell, Calgary, Alberta

Universal coverage better than all the free health care

Re: “Missing from debate: Will doctors make less money?” Aug. 5 commentary

In Catherine Rampell’s op-ed piece regarding provider pay and Medicare for all, she misses the key point. There are 28 million people in this country who do not have health insurance. When they need care and can’t pay, that����ap free health care. This practice needs to be eliminated, which universal coverage does.

Rampell mentions hospitals closing because of reduced payment, but there is no evidence that would happen. What is happening now to rural hospitals is financial danger, not from doctor fees but from high numbers of uninsured.

So here’s the trade-off: Should providers trade lower fees for the elimination of pro bono treatment? Maybe someone should ask.

Jim Ayres, Littleton

Re: “NRA’s worst nightmare,” June 9 news story

Moms Demand Action is blowing hot air. Gun legislation, short of total and complete gun confiscation, won’t stop gun violence. To stop the gun/knife/bomb violence, you have to stop the people who think the solution to their problems is killing. Magazine bans don’t work, and universal background checks don’t work. Many recent shootings were committed using legal guns.

Restricting ammunition purchases is dumb. How do you expect gun owners to maintain proficiency if they can’t practice? If you’re going to start a movement, know the facts. Hundreds of thousands of concealed carry permits have been issued to Coloradans since 2003. Let any one of them get a DUI, or be arrested for a number of qualifying crimes, and that permit is gone.

If a concealed carry holder goes through training, shooting qualifications, an intense background check and is monitored by law enforcement, why do we have to go through additional background checks to buy additional weapons? In reality, we’re being checked daily. Every day concealed carry folks ride trains and buses with you. They go to the same stores, the same churches, hospitals, offices, restaurants and movie theaters, and they walk the same streets as you. Has a good guy with a gun engaged and stopped crimes? Yep. It isn’t guns. Let me repeat that. It isn’t guns. We have to figure out what happened to our society that made killing a solution. Blaming the NRA, which has trained millions of people in gun safety, is just piling on.

Kirk Jamison, Centennial

Colorado can lead way again in abortion fight

Re: “Colorado has no laws restricting access to abortion,” May 28 news story

Post reporter Anna Staver’s recent observation on abortion law in Colorado that “the state has no laws restricting access to abortion, but no laws guaranteeing it, either,” needs some context.

Colorado was the first state in the nation to legalize abortion in 1967, months before California and seven years before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973 decriminalized it nationwide in Roe vs. Wade. Colorado’s 1967 law contained various restrictions that many people would find offensive today. For example, all abortions had to be done in hospitals, required the approval of two doctors, and parental consent for girls under 18.
But the law was a bipartisan effort led by Republican John Bermingham in the State Senate, freshman Democrat Dick Lamm in the House, and signed by Republican Gov. John Love. The proposed legislation was drafted for a third-year class at DU Law School by Susie Barnes, who later became a Denver District Court judge. Barnes got an A+ in the class, with a note from her professor stating something like “it wasn’t a requirement to get your draft legislation passed, but you did. Congratulations!”

If Roe vs. Wade were overturned now by the U.S. Supreme Court, Colorado’s law would still be on the books, except that about 10 years ago it was purged from Colorado’s Revised Statutes along with other obsolete laws. Whether it could or should be revived if Roe vs. Wade were reversed is an interesting question.

It might be better for Colorado to protect a woman’s right to choose, appropriate for today. We could eliminate Colorado’s Hyde Amendment, now embedded in the state constitution, which currently prohibits the use of state funds for reproductive choice for poor women. We should also eliminate the requirement that minors notify parents or go through a judicial bypass procedure for an abortion. Almost 50 years after abortion was decriminalized nationwide, most Coloradans believe only a woman, in consultation with her family and doctor, should make such intimate decisions. The government should not be involved!

We did it once. We can do it again. And may have to.

Cyndi Kahn, Denver

Hancock cheerleading not appreciated

Re: “Hancock overcomes challenges in elections and life,” June 9 commentary

Must we hear from Michael Hancock cheerleader Doug Friednash, yet another Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck lawyer about the mayor’s valiant charge to victory? The former city attorney’s so-called “column” is but a cheesy PR piece, waxing about the mayor celebrating “diversity and inclusivity,” while overlooking well-publicized personal conduct shortfalls, and issues such as ushering in anything pushed by developers. The result of eight years of this has been gentrification and displacement, over-density, scarce parking and transportation deficits. This re-election foretells the need to pass a law limiting future mayors to two terms.

Peter Ehrlich, Denver

Sanctioning Doug Friednash to moralize in sanctimonious text the attributes of Mayor Michael Hancock using — metaphorically — a 92-yard comeback by the Denver Broncos in an AFC championship game where Hancock was their mascot, and elevating him to savior status in overcoming numerous obstacles in his youth — is utterly insufferable, even by The Denver Post����ap standards.

Although Hancock did win the election running against a political novice, one would not elevate this victory to a runaway. When you tabulate Jamie Giellis’ votes and those of the Denver voters too preoccupied to fill out a ballot, Hancock received less than 20 percent of the registered voters’ support. A win is a win, but how do you govern when you are opposed by indifference and an alternate social and political philosophy?

Friednash continues in his columns to put forth politics that benefit his lobbying firm, and former elected officials he has been employed by and currently supports.

A reader would surmise that The Denver Post could consider someone else with Friednash’s adeptness and intellectual capacity, however with an unbiased and unsentimental political independence.

Marc Silverglade, Denver

Our pocketbooks won’t be any better off

Re: “We fought for Coloradans’ pocketbooks this year,” June 9 commentary

Gov. Jared Polis’ commentary might have better been titled “We raided Colorado taxpayers’ pocketbooks this year.” The spending splurge by the governor and legislature this session guarantees higher taxes in the long term for Colorado taxpayers. Beyond that, higher costs to consumers (for example, electricity) will also be the legacy of this session.

Michael Stertz, Thornton

EVs aren’t just for the rich

Re: “We’re still paying for rich folks to buy a luxury second car,” June 9 commentary

I wish Jon Caldara would get his facts straight about electric vehicles. My husband and I recently purchased a “pre-owned” electric vehicle to replace his 16-year-old car. We were surprised by the number of choices that we had and how quickly improvements are coming to the batteries of these vehicles. We are retired and are not “rich folks,” as Caldara would like to call us.

When investigating purchasing our electric car, we learned about an app that tells us where it can be recharged any place in the United States if we are away from home. It is amazing how many places there are.
Caldara seems to lack knowledge about all the auto manufacturers that are going electric, including Ford, Nissan, Chevy, Fiat and BMW. Also, VW is retooling its Tennessee plant for them as well. Except for BMW, these auto manufacturers are not considered “high end.”

Caldara needs to get his head out of the 1950s and learn to live in today’s evolving world.

Andre Ransom, Denver

Clearing the air for farmers about CDC statistic

Re: “Gardner has abandoned Colorado farmers to suffer Trump’s trade war,” June 2 commentary

In Ian Silverii’s opinion piece on Sen. Cory Gardner, he repeats the false claim that farmers and ranchers have a suicide rate higher than military veterans. This is not true. The “factoid” comes from a 2016 Centers for Disease Control report that erroneously categorized “farmers and ranchers” with logging and fishing workers. In 2018, the CDC corrected the error, pointing out that the high suicide rate was for all workers in agriculture, logging and fishing. In fact, farmers and ranchers — those who own their farms and ranches — were categorized among management and leadership.

That doesn’t mean a farmer’s suicide isn’t appalling — it devastates a community.

If Silverii really wants to know what it����ap like out here in agland, I’d be happy to show him around. Have him contact me, make the two-hour drive out, and I’ll introduce him to the people he seems to care so much about.

Jeff Rice, Sterling

Editor’s note: This column has been corrected with the statistic removed.

Thank you, CDOT

The Colorado ski season seems finally about to end. Or is it?

This is a hearty, thankful shoutout to CDOT for remarkable, road-clearing service through this long winter. Like many of the regular travelers to the mountains, their work allowed us to enjoy what really was an epic — if not ikon — season of skiing. For me, this year was a Winter Park season pass opportunity to drive over Berthoud Pass many times. The CDOT folks were out there constantly, clearing the way, making safe our travels.

Much thanks! Keep those snowplows sharp and get some rest!

Lyle Williamson, Denver