A blistering exposé of the National Rifle Association, revealing its people, power, corruption, and ongoing downfall, from acclaimed NPR investigative reporter Tim Mak

The NRA once compelled respect-even fear-from Republicans and Democrats alike. Once a grassroots club dedicated to gun safety, in the 1990s the NRA ballooned into a powerful lobbyist organization that maintained an iron hold on gun legislation in America. The executives of this influential non-for-profit raised millions in small fees from mom-and-pop club members across the country, as well as massive corporate donations, which funded hidden, personal lifestyles of designer suits, private jets and yachts, martini lunches and Champagne dinners-all in violation of the law-while the group seduced and manipulated legislators and flirted with a Russian spy.

Yet in 2012, the NRA's grip on Washington began to loosen in the wake of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary. Facing nationwide outrage, NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre gave a speech claiming the solution was not fewer guns, but more guns, in schools. The group's rhetoric only escalated from there, a misstep that finally sparked a backlash and invited the scrutiny of law enforcement.

Misfire is the result of a four-year investigation by journalist Tim Mak, who scoured thousands of pages of never-before publicized documents and cultivated dozens of confidential sources within the NRA itself, as well as its affiliate marketing firm, Ackerman McQueen, to paint a vivid picture of the gun group's rampant corruption and slow decline, marking a sea change in the battle over gun rights and control in America.

Story Locale: USA and Russia