ICYMI: NEW REPORT: The “Shoot Now, Pay Later” Gun Financier Backing Adam Laxalt

Laxalt has “close ties to a ‘shoot now, pay later’ gun financier under congressional scrutiny for its ties to major mass shootings.”
 

“Laxalt received maxed-out contributions from executives of a firm that runs controversial financing schemes with the gun manufacturer behind the Las Vegas and Uvalde, Texas, shootings”

*** IN CASE YOU MISSED IT ***

A new report from The Lever reveals how Adam Laxalt has close ties and took campaign donations from executives of a firm called Credova Financial, which uses “aggressive ‘shoot now, pay later’ financing schemes that critics say are targeting young people and making it easier to quickly purchase guns.” Credova has received Congressional scrutiny for advertising “buy now, pay later” financing for gun sales, including in partnership with Daniel Defense—the gun manufacturer that sold the “firearms used by the 2017 Las Vegas shooter and the 2022 shooter at Robbs Elementary in Uvalde, Texas.”

The Lever: The “Shoot Now, Pay Later” Gun Financier Backing Nevada’s Adam Laxalt
By Julia Rock
October 26, 2022

Key Points:

• Nevada’s Republican nominee […] has close ties to a “shoot now, pay later” gun financier under congressional scrutiny for its ties to major mass shootings. 
• The 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting that left 60 people dead looms large over the election. The Republican candidate,Adam Laxalt, formerly the state’s attorney general, is challenging sitting Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, who co-sponsored the background check law passed by Congress in the wake of the Uvalde shooting.
• If Laxalt wins, he could be in a prime position to help counter growing congressional scrutiny of aggressive “shoot now, pay later” financing schemes that critics say are targeting young people and making it easier to quickly purchase guns.
• After Nevadans passed a ballot measure in 2016 requiring background checks for gun purchases, then-attorney general Laxalt, who had opposed the ballot measure, argued he didn’t have the authority to enforce the law.
• After he left the attorney general’s office, Laxalt was paid millions working as a lawyer for one of the National Rifle Association’s primary law firms, Cooper & Kirk, between 2019 and 2021.
• Laxalt has touted his endorsement from the National Rifle Association in his Senate campaign.
• But federal records reviewed by The Lever suggest these public efforts aren’t where Laxalt’s relationship with the gun industry ends. 
• [Laxalt] has received the maximum individual contribution — $2,900 — for each of the past two years from the CEO of fintech firm Credova Financial, which has pioneered the “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) gun purchasing agreements.
• Credova CEO Dusty Wunderlich hasn’t donated to any other federal candidates this election cycle. And his business partner, Samuel Paul, has only made one federal donation this cycle — in the form of a $2,900 maxed-out contribution to Laxalt.
  • Since Wunderlich joined Credova in 2021, the firm has begun advertising its BNPL financing for gun sales.
• That includes a partnership with the gun manufacturer Daniel Defense, which sells semi-automatic weapons to civilians, as well as automatic weapons to the military.
  • Daniel Defense firearms were used by the 2017 Las Vegas shooter and the 2022 shooter at Robbs Elementary in Uvalde, Texas.
  • Daniel Defense has used aggressive advertising tactics, including advertising its BNPL offerings with Credova. “Daniel Defense is basically the poster child of this egregious, aggressive marketing,” Ryan Busse, a former executive at the gun company Kimber who is now an industry critic, told the New York Times.
  • In the weeks following the Uvalde shooting, Daniel Defense’s website featured both a condolence message and a promotion to enter a $15,000 sweepstakes prize for people who made a purchase using Credova’s buy now, pay later financing.
• In an August letter to Wunderlich, 18 Democratic lawmakers expressed “strong concern” about Credova offering buy now, pay later financing options for guns.
  • “While other major BNPL providers explicitly prohibit firearm purchases, Credova has apparently sought to partner with gun merchants to aggressively advertise its BNPL product as a payment option for gun purchases, increasing the apparent affordability of firearms to consumers,” noted the letter.
  • The lawmakers asked Wunderlich to reply to 15 questions by September 26, including, “Is Credova aware of whether Credova’s financing was used to acquire firearms used during recent high profile mass shootings in the commission of violent crimes, including mass shootings such as the Uvalde, TX shooting and Highland Park, IL shooting?”

• Wunderlich donated to Laxalt’s statewide campaigns in 2015, 2016, and 2018.
• Laxalt’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

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