The National Rifle Association (NRA) has been standing as an interest group that supports key interests surrounding the protection of the Second Amendment in the United States. The issue of gun control has become increasingly important in American politics. Therefore, interest groups on either side of the issue have worked to back political candidates who support their interests. This has resulted in significant spikes in lobbying activity and more specifically, campaign contributions to candidates. The 2016 and 2018 election cycles, saw the National Rifle Association contribute to an extensive amount of candidates as a result of the state of the country's political landscape at the time of those cycles.