A new gun advocacy group known as Secure our Freedom Alliance is set to make a huge debut through a six-figure ad buy to reach gun owners in swing states ahead of the November general election.
This new group is positioned to fill an opening left by the National Rifle Association, which has been forced to reduce its political efforts in recent years as its membership numbers and revenue have plummeted.
Ad Buy
According to an Axios report, the group has started an ad campaign to reach the swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Their campaign seems to focus on a new group of millions of Americans who became gun owners in the wake of the COVID pandemic.
New Advocacy Group
Despite having lots of cash to spend, Secure our Freedom Alliance is relatively new.
The group’s YouTube channel was created on August 20, and their official X account was also created in the month of August.
Gun Owner Surge
Between the years 2020 and 2022, Americans purchased nearly 60 million guns, massively expanding the gun ownership base in the country.
According to reports, yearly gun sales have nearly doubled from what they were 15 to 20 years ago.
New Type of Owner
Experts have asserted that these new gun owners have different motivations compared to what people may ascribe to traditional supporters of guns in the country.
“It’s a totally different type of gun ownership now,” said John Roman, a senior fellow in the Economics, Justice and Society Group at NORC, a research organization based at the University of Chicago. “It’s not a rifle stored away somewhere that you take out twice a year to go hunting. It’s a handgun, probably a semiautomatic handgun, that you keep in your bedside table or in your glove compartment, or that you maybe carry around with you.”
Self-Defense
This new advocacy group hopes to appeal to these new gun owners, which now increasingly include women and minorities, to protect self-defense rights.
“Our purpose is to win the hearts and minds of the American public to protect the right to self-defense,” said Chris Cox, a senior adviser to the new group and the NRA’s former political director and chief lobbyist.
Violent Criminals
An ad on their YouTube channel posted on August 29 emphasized the danger some Americans face from criminals trying to break into their homes or threatening their families. Cox in comments published in Axios emphasized how important access to weapons is for fighting against violent criminals.
“Every American family has a right to protect themselves and their homes from violent criminals, and the right to choose the method of self-defense they deem best,” said Cox.
NRA Struggles
The National Rifle Association, long thought of as the defacto advocacy group for gun rights in America, has been forced to reduce its political spending and agenda efforts in recent years.
According to data from OpenSecrets, they reduced political spending from $54 million in 2016 to $29 million in 2020. In 2024, the group had set aside $1.3 million in ad spending.
Waning Influence
This waning political capital and influence from the NRA seems to be an inspiration behind the formation of this latest group.
The NRA declared bankruptcy in 2021, and the company’s former president Wayne LaPierre resigned this year in the wake of allegations of improper spending.
Filling the Void
Secure Our Freedom Alliance is stepping in to help push gun advocacy forward and push against what they see as a liberal threat to gun ownership.
“We are going to make the case to the American public that he [Biden] is wrong, anti-gun liberals are wrong, and that the right to self-defense is fundamental to every law-abiding American,” Cox said.
NRA Still Active
Although the NRA has had its impact reduced in recent years, they are still committed to electing Trump this cycle to protect the rights of gun owners.
“Between now and November, NRA will be strategically targeting key states to reelect President Trump and stop Kamala Harris from taking her radical gun confiscation agenda to the Oval Office,” said Doug Hamlin, NRA executive vice president and CEO, in a statement to Axios.
Attitudes on Gun Ownership
This angle of self-defense emphasized in the group’s ad matches up with general American sentiments around gun ownership.
According to a Pew Research report in July, personal defense is the overwhelming top reason for owning a gun with 72% of gun owners. Only 32% of gun owners listed hunting and 30% listed sport shooting as reasons for gun ownership.
