One of the biggest winners of the 2016 election: the NRA

Though it’s understandably difficult to fathom, there are Americans out there who believe the 2016 election was a net positive. The NRA is among them. According to an analysis of FEC records by the Center for Responsive Politics and The Trace, the group poured some $50 million into supporting Trump and six Senate candidates—only one of whom, Nevada hopeful Joe Heck, lost.

In just the last month alone, one in every 20 political TV ads in Pennsylvania, a swing state Trump won by one percentage point, was funded by the NRA, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis. In all, the NRA aired over 10,000 pro-Trump or anti-Clinton ads between May and October.

The group nearly doubled its spending from the 2012 election, in which it spent about $12.5 million total in support of Mitt Romney. “In the face of threats against their constitutional freedoms, NRA members and Second Amendment supporters rallied to elect a pro-gun president,” NRA lobbyist Chris Cox said in a terrifying statement. Gun stocks dipped after the election because analysts believe Trump will protect their right to buy firearms, according to MarketWatch.

Sam Stecklow is the Weekend Editor for Fusion.