NRA Raises Dues for First Time in 20 Years

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Mar 5, 9:15AM EST

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Members of the National Rifle Association (NRA) get a special dues discount deal until later Saturday. They can avoid the first increase in dues made by the organization in 20 years. The NRA did not say why it has decided to make the increase. Perhaps the surge in gun ownership has increased its membership so quickly that the NRA believes it can raise its rates without the consequence of losing current members.

The deals to remain a member are pretty good. Renewing a membership for one year costs $30, a savings of $10. The renewal comes with a rosewood handle knife. Supply issues keep the NRA from offering its bottle opener.

Renewals of two years are even more attractive. Members receive a $20 savings, which brings the price to $55 and comes with a black and tan NRA cap. As the period of the renewal steps up, the deals get even better. Three-year members save $25 and get a $75 rate, along with an official NRA travel mug. People willing to extend for five years save $40 and only have to pay $100. Along with that comes a carbon fiber knife. A lifetime member offers the most extraordinary savings of $1,000 and only costs $500. Lifetime members renewing get a free Ridgeline Pathfinder backpack, which is worth $135.

The NRA has among the richest benefits for members among any large nonprofit in America. These include discounts on travel costs and insurance, and a car-buying service. However, it is unlikely these are the reasons people join.
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Perhaps it is a coincidence that gun maker Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: SWHC) announced a record quarter as unit sales surged. Revenue for the quarter reached $210 million, up $130 million in the same quarter a year ago. Net income rose to $31 million from $8 million.

Smith & Wesson President and Chief Executive Officer James Debney described the reasons for the increases:

The combined strength of our firearms and accessories businesses delivered an exceptional performance, driven by healthy consumer demand across our growing portfolio of firearm and outdoor lifestyle offerings. During the third quarter, the Adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) data, which serves as an indicator of consumer purchases, reported a significant increase in growth versus the prior year, especially in handguns. In addition, our product sell-through at distribution was much stronger than we had anticipated. Our flexible manufacturing model, combined with our ability to successfully utilize the internal inventories we had built in anticipation of potential sell-through strength, allowed us to capture incremental sales in the third quarter. Despite the fact that we entered our fourth quarter with lower inventories, we are focused on increasing the production rates of our key products during the fourth quarter and we are therefore increasing our guidance for the full fiscal year.

Smith & Wesson’s share price reached a 10-year high after the announcement.

The NRA offer to save money on a membership renewal ends Saturday.

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.