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Second Amendment Foundation

U.S. right (gun-rights advocacy)

Owned byIndependent nonprofit organization headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. It was founded in 1974 by Alan Gottlieb, who is its executive figure. It has no corporate parent. Adam Kraut is its executive director.
FundingTax-deductible donations from individuals, foundations and businesses. SAF does not disclose its donors. Tax filings show gifts from foundations such as the Melva Bucksbaum Family Foundation, the KatherineJames Foundation and DonorsTrust. Reporting by The Trace says a large private foundation (CDF) has also funded Second Amendment litigation groups since 2020.
On the administrationbroadly supportive

Background

Alan Gottlieb founded SAF in 1974. It publishes gun-rights magazines and educational material, funds conferences, and supplies media contacts. Its main activity is sponsoring and joining lawsuits, and it says it has taken part in more than 260 cases. It marked its 52nd anniversary in August 2026, with two assault-weapons-ban cases headed for Supreme Court argument. Gottlieb pleaded guilty to felony tax fraud in 1984. Critics have also questioned his private direct-mail and marketing businesses, which have business arrangements with his advocacy groups; Gottlieb has responded to questions about its finances. The Trace reported that a surge of private-foundation funding since 2020 helped Second Amendment groups, including SAF, grow their litigation sharply. Under the second Trump administration, SAF has welcomed federal actions. These include a February 2025 executive order directing a DOJ review of gun policies, a 2026 package of ATF and DOJ rule changes, a DOJ program to restore gun rights to some nonviolent ex-felons, and ATF's October 2026 decision to stop enforcing registration and approval requirements for suppressors and short-barreled firearms after an August ruling in Texas cases SAF had joined. SAF has also challenged the lifetime gun ban for nonviolent felons. Its output is advocacy from a gun-rights perspective, and its statements should be read as coming from an interested party.

Sources

  1. Second Amendment Foundation – Wikipedia
  2. Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) – InfluenceWatch
  3. Inside the Dark-Money Scheme Attacking America's Gun Laws – The Trace
  4. Trump's DOJ, ATF roll back rules, sue in support of gun rights – NPR
  5. A new DOJ program restores ex-felons' right to own guns – NPR
  6. SAF marks 52 years of Second Amendment litigation – Illinois Government Today

Profile compiled 2026-10-21; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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