"Blistering book... fascinating behind-the-scenes stories... [showing] an organization run by pampered, buffoonish elites exploiting the faith of gullible members for power and profit"
-The Washington Post

"Character-rich... [reminds] that conservative institutions in Washington are oversupplied with preening characters and undersupplied with playwrights"  
-The New Yorker

"Revealing and lively account of the NRA...Mak's account of the NRA’s gothic decline and fall is both crisply narrated and deeply reported."
-The New Republic

"Lays bare the rot and turmoil that has unfolded during LaPierre's nearly 30-year tenure at the held of the NRA"
-The Times

“Fantastic… [Misfire] is really great work. People should pick up the book.”
—Chris Hayes, host of MSNBC’s All In

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 inside the NRA’s orbit 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.

This influential nonprofit raised millions in small fees from members across the country, which funded hidden, lavish lifestyles of designer suits, private jets and yachts, martini lunches and Champagne dinners—while the group manipulated legislators and flirted with a Russian agent.

Unveiled here for the first time ever are surprising, revelatory details spotlighting decades of poor leadership and mismanagement by LaPierre; the NRA’s long association with marketing firm Ackerman-McQueen; NRA executives’ 2015 trip to Moscow, a by-invitation affair packed with meetings with Russian government officials, diplomats, and oligarchs seeking influence in American politics; as well as the power struggle between LaPierre and former NRA president Oliver North that fractured the organization.