NRA Reveals It Has Spent Over $3 Million Fighting California’s Ammo Laws as Ammunition Depot Launches Checkout Donations to Fund the Battle

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BOCA RATON, FLA. — Ammunition Depot and the National Rifle Association have announced a new partnership aimed at expanding support for Second Amendment litigation across the country, and it comes with a number that has never been made public before.

According to figures provided by the NRA, the organization has spent more than $3 million supporting California Second Amendment litigation since 2021. That includes backing Rhode v. Bonta, the long-running challenge to California’s ammunition background check scheme in which Ammunition Depot has been a plaintiff for years.

I have covered Rhode closely, and this is where the case stands right now. A three-judge Ninth Circuit panel ruled in July 2025 that California’s ammunition restrictions are unconstitutional. California then petitioned for rehearing, and on December 1, 2025, the Ninth Circuit granted en banc review, which vacated the panel’s decision. The 11-judge en banc panel heard oral argument on March 25, 2026, in Pasadena. A decision is still pending, and California’s restrictions remain in force while gun owners wait.

That is what makes the timing of this partnership significant. The case is at its most critical stage in nearly a decade of litigation, and the outcome will affect millions of law-abiding California gun owners who currently cannot have ammunition shipped to their homes and must pass a background check for every purchase.

As part of the partnership, Ammunition Depot is launching a voluntary contribution option at checkout. Customers can add a donation that will be remitted to the NRA and the NRA Institute for Legislative Action to support ongoing Second Amendment litigation and advocacy.

“Ammunition Depot has been in this fight for years,” said Daniel Wolgin, CEO of Ammunition Depot, who added that ammunition is essential to meaningfully exercising the right to keep and bear arms.

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Ammunition Depot has been one of the industry companies willing to stay attached to the case through years of appeals, even as California’s restrictions continued to limit how law-abiding customers could buy ammunition.

The NRA’s legal footprint extends well beyond California. According to information provided by the NRA, the organization is currently litigating 42 active cases and is involved in more than 70 legal matters nationwide, including cases it funds and amicus briefs filed in support of other litigation.

NRA Executive Vice President and CEO Doug Hamlin said NRA members and Ammunition Depot customers “share the same goal: protecting the right to keep and bear arms.”

I think the larger story here is the shift both organizations are betting on. The biggest Second Amendment outcomes right now are being decided in courtrooms, not statehouses. Litigation is expensive, it takes years, and it depends on plaintiffs and organizations willing to stay in the fight through setbacks like an en banc grant. A checkout donation option is a small mechanism, but it gives gun owners a direct line into funding the cases that will define their rights.

USA Carry will continue tracking Rhode v. Bonta and will report on the en banc decision as soon as the Ninth Circuit issues it.

Read the original story: NRA Reveals It Has Spent Over $3 Million Fighting California’s Ammo Laws as Ammunition Depot Launches Checkout Donations to Fund the Battle