The study includes a quote from Reverend Sharon Risher, whose mother was one of the nine people killed by white supremacist Dylann Roof in 2015.

“On June 17, 2015, the racism that had followed us for our whole lives where I was raised in Charleston, South Carolina, caught up to my mom: A white man filled with hate and armed with a gun murdered her and eight other African Americans, including two of my cousins and one childhood friend, while they prayed in Charleston’s Mother Emanuel Church," she said.

"It was the same church where my mom first saw me preach, sitting in the front row and saying, ‘Amen, that’s my baby.’ Racism is a killer. My mom was killed with a gun that the shooter never should have been able to purchase," she added.

She spoke about how a specific law that the NRA pushed allowed Roof to have access to the gun used to kill her mother.

"He was prohibited from buying a gun and should have been stopped in his tracks, but because of a loophole backed by the National Rifle Association, allowing a gun sale to go forward when a background check takes longer than three business days, he was able to buy one anyway and take nine precious lives,” Risher said.

The NRA-backed rule, now called the “Charleston loophole,” allows gun sales to proceed by default after three business days—even without a completed background check. Roof was legally barred from having guns but was able to buy his gun because the background check had not been completed within three days.

The report also explores the longstanding ties between traditional gun lobbyists and white supremacist militias. Pratt frequently spoke at white supremacist rallies and the NRA has spent years turning white supremacists like Randy Weaver into heroes.

"NRA leaders also deployed racist rhetoric to denigrate President Obama, with one board member calling him a 'subhuman mongrel' and LaPierre declaring that “eight years of one demographically-symbolic president is enough,” the report stated, adding that the NRA "was Donald Trump’s largest outside backer in 2016, spending more than $30 million to help get him elected."

"The president and his allies in the gun lobby have promoted xenophobia, racism, fear of outsiders, and fringe conspiracy theories, rousing white supremacist and anti-government activists across the country" the study noted.

The study notes that by 2017, it became clear to both the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security that lax gun laws exploited by white supremacist groups were a serious problem, writing in a joint report that “firearms likely will continue to pose the greatest threat of lethal violence by [white supremacist extremists] due to their availability and ease of use.”

By 2019, the Department of Homeland Security said “one of the most potent forces driving domestic terrorism” in the United States, according to the report.

As Blavity previously reported, FBI Director Christopher Wray has testified before Congress multiple times to warn lawmakers about the growing threat that heavily armed white supremacist groups posed to police departments and law enforcement.

With the election of Trump, the NRA kickstarted the now-defunct NRATV, which spent millions disseminating messages that tied Trump's opponents to the need for guns.

"Hour after hour, NRATV broadcast fear-mongering, conspiracy theories, and thinly veiled racism. This messaging was amplified by a slick social media operation and various influencers who shared content across right-wing digital spaces," the study read.

"The content was so toxic that even the NRA admitted, after it shuttered the operation, that the network was 'viewed as a dystopian cultural rant' that even 'some NRA leaders found distasteful and racist,'" the study added.

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