The National Rifle Association (NRA) and other gun interest groups pushed a seemingly coordinated effort for looser gun laws at the state level this year. CREW and Giffords Law Center filed 35 public records requests for communications between gun interest groups and state legislators in California, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, South Dakota, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.

In states that considered policies around arming teachers and allowing permitless carry, gun lobbyists and advocacy groups like the NRA may have had an outsized influence on policy making. The requested records should illuminate the legislative dynamics around those policies in these nine state governments, and the extent of lobbyist and advocacy group involvement. CREW filed 55 similar public records requests with Arizona, Wisconsin, Colorado, Idaho and Oregon in June, 2018.

Requests to State Legislators include:

California
Travis Allen
Heath Flora

Florida
Dennis Baxely
Bob Rommel
Senate Rules Committee

Indiana
Jim Lucas
Jack Sandlin
Tim Wesco

Louisiana
Julie Emerson
Raymond Garofalo
Barry Ivey
John Milkovich
J. Rogers Pope
Neil Riser

Missouri
Rick Brattin
Steve Cookson
Charlie Davis
Dean Dohrman
Robert Ross
Jered Taylor

South Dakota
Thomas Bruner
Spencer Gosch
Jeff Monroe
Larry Rhoden
Lance Russell
Alan Solano

Washington
John R McCoy
Liz Pike
Luanne VanWervan
Jesse Young

West Virginia
Mike Azinger
Jim Butler
Geoff Foster
S. Marshall Wilson

Wyoming
Tim Salazar

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