RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Since the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, several U.S. businesses have severed ties with the National Rifle Association. But a new report has revealed that the NRA still has financial connections to hundreds of American schools. The group has spent millions in the last decade funding shooting clubs and Junior ROTC programs, including the one where the alleged Parkland school shooter had been a member. Florida's Broward County stopped accepting NRA money after the shooting, but many other school systems still get these funds. Joining us now, Collin Binkley. He was one of the reporters on this story for the Associated Press. Thanks for being with us.
COLLIN BINKLEY: Hi. Good morning.
MARTIN: How much money are we talking about here exactly, and how many schools have been getting it?
BINKLEY: So the NRA Foundation gave about $7.3 million to 500 different schools across the country in the period that we were looking at, and that was from 2010 through 2016.
MARTIN: So we mentioned ROTC programs, shooting clubs. I mean, can you give us more details about that? What programs beyond those? And what was the process for schools to get this money? Were the schools reaching out and applying for funds, or was the NRA just voluntarily giving it?
BINKLEY: Yeah. These are grants that schools have to apply for. And it goes to a lot of different local groups as well - Boy Scout troops, 4-H groups across the country. Local gun clubs apply for these grants. And schools, it goes to a wide variety of programs that have some connection to gun safety or shooting sports, something like that. So beyond a lot of JROTC programs that receive this money, you're talking about hunting safety courses, farming clubs. It goes to a wide variety of clubs and organizations that could have something to do with guns or shooting sports.
MARTIN: Do the schools have to do anything in return?
BINKLEY: No. The schools apply for these grants. They have to say what they need the money for and how they're going to use it. There's a typical documentation process. But no, it's sort of an easy source of money for some of these programs that schools say are really underfunded. And that's why a lot of these schools say they've been glad to accept the money in the past.
MARTIN: But we mentioned Broward County, Fla., where the Parkland shooting happened, is no longer accepting NRA money, schools there. Have other school systems reconsidered taking this funding since the Parkland shooting?
BINKLEY: Yeah. Just yesterday, actually, the public school district in Denver, Colo., said that it would follow suit. And it's no longer going to accept NRA grants it has in the past. It actually was set to receive several grants this school year. They say they're going to turn those down. They're going to reject the equipment that was supposed to be delivered. But it's still pretty early to see how schools might respond to this.
Some districts said they - school board leaders said they didn't even know that their districts had been getting these grants. And they said they would raise the issue. But it does create a conflict for some of them because these are public school districts, for the most part, that don't want to turn down money necessarily. But they do understand that it's a little political right now.
MARTIN: Right. Does the NRA do this in other ways? I mean, do they give out grants to other organizations? Or is this just about schools, education?
BINKLEY: Actually, the money that goes to schools is a relatively small share of the overall amount of money going to this grant program. So in the period we looked at, 2010 through 2016, about $7 million went to schools. That's out of a total of 61 million that went to a wide variety of groups, again, Boy Scout troops, 4-H programs. So it's actually relatively small...
MARTIN: So those things - the 4-H, the Boy Scouts - those aren't under the auspices of school systems, those are separate grants?
BINKLEY: That's correct. And these also go to some universities that run 4-H programs. But that's separate, correct.
MARTIN: So what has the NRA had to say about this now that some of these school systems are sending this money back or not - they've decided not to take it anymore?
BINKLEY: Well, I'm not sure. They have not returned calls. They haven't commented on this yet. So it's unclear what their stance is on this.
MARTIN: Social media campaigns have pressured businesses to break ties with the NRA in recent weeks. Have you seen any signs that that could happen in this case?
BINKLEY: Not yet. You know, talking to different school district leaders, they say they've actually not received a lot of pressure. In several school districts, they said that - when I called and asked about these - it was the first they had heard about it and that they had heard nothing from parents or community members with concerns about these grants.
MARTIN: All right. Collin Binkley is a reporter for The Associated Press talking about his new story revealing the NRA funding to school systems in the country.
Hey, Collin, thanks so much for being here.
BINKLEY: Great. Thanks for having me.
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By COLLIN BINKLEY and MEGHAN HOYER
The National Rifle Association has dramatically increased its funding to schools in recent years amid a national debate over guns and school violence, an Associated Press analysis of tax records has found. But few say they plan to give up the money in the aftermath of the latest mass shooting.
The AP analysis of the NRA Foundation’s public tax records finds that about 500 schools received more than $7.3 million from 2010 through 2016, mostly through competitive grants meant to promote shooting sports. The grants have gone to an array of school programs, including the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, rifle teams, hunting safety courses and agriculture clubs.
In some ways, the grant distribution reflects the nation’s deep political divide over guns. Nearly three-quarters of the schools that received grants are in counties that voted for President Donald Trump in the 2016 election, while a quarter are in counties that voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton, according to the AP analysis. Most are in medium-sized counties or rural areas, with few near major cities.
California received the most in school grants, more than $1 million, while Florida was a close second.
Florida’s Broward County school district is believed to be the first to stop accepting NRA money after a gunman killed 17 people at one of its schools Feb. 14. The teen charged in the shooting had been on a school rifle team that received NRA funding. School officials announced the change Tuesday but declined to comment further.
Denver Public Schools followed on Thursday, saying it won’t pursue NRA grants in the future and will turn down several that were to be awarded this year. But officials in many other districts say they have no plans to back away.
“Whatever I think of the NRA, they’re providing legitimate educational services,” said Billy Townsend, a school board member in Florida’s Polk County district, whose JROTC programs received $33,000, primarily to buy air rifles. “If the NRA wanted to provide air rifles for our ROTC folks in the future, I wouldn’t have a problem with that.”
The grants awarded to schools are just a small share of the $61 million the NRA Foundation has given to a variety of local groups since 2010. But it has grown rapidly, increasing nearly fourfold from 2010 to 2014 in what some opponents say is a thinly veiled attempt to recruit the next generation of NRA members.
The NRA Foundation did not return calls seeking comment.
Annual reports from the pro-gun group say its grant program was started in 1992 and raises money through local Friends of NRA chapters. It says half the proceeds from local fundraisers go to local grants and half goes to the national organization. Tax records show roughly $19 million in grants going to the group’s Virginia headquarters in 2015 and in 2016.
Besides schools, other typical recipients include 4-H groups, which have received $12.2 million since 2010, Boy Scout troops and councils, which received $4 million, and private gun clubs. Overall, about half the grants go to programs directed at youth.
Grant funding to schools rose sharply in the years after the 2012 shooting at Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School, fueled in part by a new grant program the NRA unrolled to help schools make safety improvements. Three districts received safety grants totaling $189,000 in 2014, tax records show, but none appears to have been awarded since then.
Nearly half of the 773 overall school grants have gone to JROTC programs, which put students through a basic military curriculum and offer an array of small competitive clubs, like the rifle team at Broward’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. But JROTC leaders say few students ultimately enlist in the military, and the primary goal is to teach students skills like discipline and leadership.
“The safety that we’re teaching, the good citizenship that we’re teaching here, those are the things you don’t hear about,” said Gunnery Sgt. Jim Flores, a JROTC instructor at Cibola High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “The majority of people walk out of here awesome young men and women, respectful of authority, things of that nature. Not so much little tin soldiers.”
In some parts of the country, shooting clubs draw the same sort of following as any school sport. Bill Nolte, superintendent of the Haywood County district in North Carolina, says he still shows up at school sportsman’s club tourneys even though his son graduated. Starting in sixth grade, students can join the clubs to compete in shooting events, archery and orienteering. For many families, Nolte said, it’s just like any other weekend sports event.
“You take your lawn chair and your coffee in a thermos, and do much like you would do if you were going to a youth soccer or travel basketball or baseball event,” Nolte said, adding that NRA grants have helped buy firearms and ammunition and cover other costs that otherwise would fall to the parents. “We are constantly seeking revenue for sportsman’s club just like we do for cheerleading and track.”
Districts that tallied the largest sums of NRA money typically used it for JROTC programs, including $126,000 given to Albuquerque schools, $126,000 to Broward County and $125,000 to Anchorage, Alaska. The most awarded to a single district was $291,000, given to Roseville schools near Sacramento, California, which say much of the funding went toward ammunition and gear for trap-shooting teams.
Grants are often provided as equipment rather than cash, with schools given rifles, ammunition, safety gear and updates to shooting ranges. Nationally, about $1.3 million was provided as cash, while $6 million was provided through equipment, training and other costs.
The data does not include grants smaller than $5,000 — those do not need to be individually tracked in tax filings.
Ron Severson, superintendent of the Roseville Joint Union High School District, says no parents have raised concerns over the funding, but administrators may reconsider it in the wake of the Florida shooting.
“After we get through this spring, we will probably take some time to assess how to move forward,” he said.
School board members in some districts said they didn’t know about the grants. Donna Corbett, a Democrat on the school board in southern Indiana’s New Albany-Floyd County School Corporation, said she never heard about $65,000 that went to a JROTC program at one of the high schools. Corbett said she plans to raise the issue with her board but feels conflicted about it.
“I am not a big NRA fan, but I also realize that ROTC is a good program,” she said. “I’m not sure I would be willing to pull it to the detriment of the kids and their programs.”
While some states received dozens of school grants, about 20 got only a few or none at all. In Massachusetts, for example, known for its strict gun laws, no schools have received NRA grants since 2010, tax records show. Terry Ryan, a school board member in the Westford district northwest of Boston, says a local teacher considered applying for a grant in 2014, but the district ultimately didn’t pursue it.
“We were not interested in any way, shape or form endorsing the NRA or its philosophy,” Ryan said in an interview.
By contrast, parent Jana Cox in Louisiana’s Caddo Parish says few in the area would have a problem with the $24,000 in NRA grants that have gone to school JROTC programs.
“Everybody here has guns,” Cox said. “This is north Louisiana. You’ve got a lot of hunters and you’ve got a lot of guns.”
Without NRA grants, some programs would struggle to stay afloat, officials say. For JROTC groups, which receive most of their money from their respective military branches, the grants have become more important as federal budgets have been cut. Programs at some high schools in Virginia, Missouri and other states have folded in recent years amid the pinch.
Lt. Colonel Ralph Ingles, head of the JROTC program at Albuquerque schools, says the Florida shooting has sparked a conversation about NRA grants, but he doesn’t anticipate cutting ties anytime soon.
“I don’t see anybody really backing down,” he said. “I think it’s just ingrained that we’re going to continue to move forward in a positive direction.”
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Follow Binkley on Twitter at @cbinkley and Hoyer at @MeghanHoyer
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This story has been corrected to show grants to the Roseville, California, school district totaled $291,000.
