For decades, the National Rifle Association has been the proverbial 800-pound gorilla in the gun debate. Anti-gunners use it as the boogieman, the source from which all evil springs. They use the group as a euphemism for gun rights supporters in a more general sense, as well.

But the NRA has been a little preoccupied lately. New York Attorney General Letitia James has been going after them, doing every thing she can to unmake the nation's oldest civil rights organization. The actions of Wayne LaPierre only helped James and her efforts.

They're not as focused on gun rights as they were in the past.

So it seems a new gun rights group is seeking to stand up to help sort of fill that void.

A new gun rights group is launching a six-figure ad buy in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, focusing on the millions of Americans who became gun owners during and after the COVID pandemic.

Why it matters: The NRA — the longtime premier gun-rights group in the U.S. — cut its political spending from $54 million in 2016 to $29 million in 2020, according to OpenSecrets data. It has reserved $1.3 million in ad spending in 2024, according to AdImpact.

• The Secure Our Freedom Alliance, a 501(c)4 organization, isn't looking to compete with existing firearm groups, but wants to fill what it sees as an urgent need to address gun owners this election cycle.

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The big picture: The goal is to convince new gun owners, especially women and minorities, that their rights are under attack by the Biden administration and progressive politicians.

• "Our purpose is to win the hearts and minds of the American public to protect the right to self-defense," said Chris Cox, a senior adviser to the new group and the NRA's former political director and chief lobbyist.
• "Every American family has a right to protect themselves and their homes from violent criminals, and the right to choose the method of self-defense they deem best," he said.

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The bottom line: "We are going to make the case to the American public that he [Biden] is wrong, anti-gun liberals are wrong, and that the right to self-defense is fundamental to every law-abiding American," Cox said.

So far, the group has a couple of ads that seemingly target women and minorities, groups that anti-gun Democrats tend to have a lock on. They also are very upfront and basic about where gun rights factor into things, primarily talking about protecting yourself or your family, and not getting too deep into the weeds on the issue.

That's a good thing because people often don't start out taking the Second Amendment as literally as your typical gun rights advocate might. They need to be brought around to it, and focusing on people being able to protect themselves is important.

Now, is this group's existence a good thing?

Well, we have a lot of gun rights groups as it is. Will the Secure Our Freedom Alliance fill a void that doesn't exist or are they trying to recreate something we already have? If it's the former, then great. Based on their initial ads, I think we might have something beneficial here that can work to our favor over the long term. If it's the latter, then we've got a problem. 

At that point, it would be better to rally behind one of the other existing gun rights groups. Diluting the message among too many groups makes it a lot harder to advance that message. Yet if there are different focuses among the various groups while sharing an overall goal, then great things can be accomplished.

We'll have to see where this one falls.