The bus, 40 feet of stars, stripes and jet-black vinyl, swung out of the NRA’s parking lot in Fairfax, Virginia, last Thursday morning on its way west, with more than 2,000 miles of interstate before its first public stop. Painted down the flank, under the NRA’s familiar block-letter logo, is the Second Amendment clause the whole trip is built around: the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
What left Fairfax on Aug. 27 is the first national bus tour the NRA Institute for Legislative Action has ever run. During the next two-plus months, NRA-ILA grassroots staff and volunteers will be working at 63 scheduled stops in 13 states, winding their way through Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming before the tour ends on Election Day, Nov. 3.
That’s right: NRA-ILA is parking a 40-foot bus outside gun shops, ranges, manufacturing plants, county fairs and college football tailgates, and sending staff out to talk to whoever walks up as volunteers hand out material. In addition, candidates for local, state and federal office are slated to appear at stops along the route.
“Gun owners don’t need another polished ad interrupting their favorite show. They need real conversations about what’s at stake for the Second Amendment,” NRA-ILA Executive Director John Commerford said. “The Gun Bus Tour puts NRA staff and volunteers on the ground where it matters most—talking directly with the men and women who form the backbone of this organization. This is how we build lasting political power: one conversation, one neighborhood, one vote at a time.”
Commerford drove the opening leg himself, easing the coach off the brick apron outside NRA headquarters while staff watched from a grassroots table set up in the parking lot.
Fuel and freight for that trip come from Smith & Wesson, SIG Sauer, Winchester Ammunition, Patriot Mobile, Protect Liberty PAC and the NRA Women’s Leadership Forum, the six sponsors underwriting the 2026 NRA Gun Bus Battleground Tour.
Montana gets the tour first. The bus is due in Dillon for Montana's Biggest Weekend, Sept. 3-6, the Labor Day run of the Beaverhead County Fair, the Dillon Jaycees PRCA Pro Rodeo, livestock shows, a carnival, a country concert and the holiday parade. From there the route bends east into Iowa for a door-to-door canvass in Davenport on Sept. 11 and a full-day tailgate outside Kinnick Stadium the following afternoon, when Iowa hosts Iowa State.
Competitive shooters get their own date. The bus is scheduled into San Antonio on Oct. 22-24 for the National Sporting Clays Championship at the National Shooting Complex, an event the NRA sponsors and one that draws several thousand registered targets' worth of the country's most committed shotgunners to one property.
“Across the country, the NRA is working tirelessly to advance and protect the rights of law-abiding citizens,” NRA Executive Vice President and CEO Doug Hamlin said. “Thanks to our incredible staff and millions of NRA members, we have secured major victories that have ushered in a golden age of gun ownership. However, while we are enjoying unprecedented success, if we lose pro-gun majorities in Congress and the statehouses, the incredible gains we have made can be wiped out by the stroke of a pen. That is why it is more critical than ever for gun owners to get activated and vote to protect their sacred, God-given rights.”
Stops open to the public include:
- Sept. 3-6 — Dillon, Montana: Montana's Biggest Weekend
- Sept. 11 — Davenport, Iowa: Canvassing effort
- Sept. 12 — Iowa City, Iowa: Iowa vs. Iowa State tailgate, Kinnick Stadium
- Sept. 13 — Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin: 2A Day at Cabela's
- Sept. 14 — Racine, Wisconsin: 2A Day at Shooters Sports Center
- Sept. 16 — Rapid River, Michigan: 2A Day at Rapid River Knife Works
- Sept. 18-19 — Frankenmuth, Michigan: Oktoberfest
- Sept. 20 — New Hudson, Michigan: 2A Day at Huron Valley
- Sept. 21 — Kalamazoo, Michigan: 2A Day at D&R Sports Center
- Sept. 23 — Perrysburg, Ohio: 2A Day at Fin, Feather and Fur
- Sept. 24 — Lebanon, Ohio: 2A Day at 22Three Range
- Sept. 26 — State College, Pennsylvania: Wisconsin vs. Penn State tailgate, Beaver Stadium
- Sept. 28 — Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: 2A Day at 717 Armory
- Sept. 29 — Pittston, Pennsylvania: 2A Day at Advanced Arms
- Sept. 29 — Coplay, Pennsylvania: 2A Day at Relic Hunter
- Oct. 10 — Greenville, North Carolina: Rice vs. East Carolina tailgate, Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium
- Oct. 22-24 — San Antonio, Texas: National Sporting Clays Championship
NRA-ILA is asking supporters to RSVP for individual stops in advance. You can view the full schedule at the NRA-ILA website. Additionally, route updates run on the NRA’s Facebook, X and Instagram accounts.
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