If Democrats hold control of the House and gain seats in the Senate, the possibility they blow up the filibuster and pass new gun laws rises. If Republicans gain control of either house of Congress, the likelihood of new gun laws falls to near zero.

The gun groups know this, and they're spending as much as they can to push the outcome in either direction. So, this week, I've got Anna Massoglia of Open Secrets on to examine how much those groups have raised, how much they've spent, and where they've spent it.

Massoglia gave the latest numbers from the NRA, Everytown, Giffords, and Brady. She explained how the NRA is still outpacing its gun-control opponents, but not to the same degree it used to overwhelm them. In 2022, the money fight is closer to parity.

However, the gun-control groups have taken a much broader approach to how they spend their money. They've even started to move into races that have nothing to do with gun policy.

Massoglia also gives insight into how groups on each side of the aisle are funded. While the NRA relies on a combination of big-dollar donations and small-dollar donor fees, the gun-control groups are more likely to rely on just the latter. She breaks down what we know about how the groups raise money, and what we can't know.

Plus, Contributing Writer Jake Fogleman and I cover a new federal ruling upholding California's "ghost gun" ban.

Special Guest: Anna Massoglia.

We recently obtained the NRA's 2020 annual report and compared it to previous ones to get a broad view of what the group's books look like. Despite years of operating in the red, recent internal turmoil over corruption allegations, and the pandemic, the group is back to running a surplus. A rather large one of about $54 million, in fact.

But that came about as a result of massive spending cuts. As revenues fell by more than $78 million from 2018 to 2020, the NRA cut more than $124 million in spending over that time to keep pace. Political spending took a $50 million hit. Gun safety training was slashed in half.

Then Mike Willever from the Active Self Protection podcast joined me to talk about the most incredible self-defense stories he's chronicled so far. He also provides insight from his 25-year-long law enforcement career and how those skills translate to the podcasting world. He also talks about the overheated and misleading nature of political and gun news.

Special Guest: Mike Willever.