The NRA, at the request and sugestion of its members lobbied congress to prevent tax dollars going into anti-gun propaganda, as was happening at that time. The NRA didn't have to lobby with dollars so much as with the fact that it was composed of (at the time) about three million members , nation wide, who vote. Now the NRA is composed of a bit over five million dues paying members, who also vote. 
Non-tax funded studies suggest that defensive gun uses, which often do not require shots fired, but still save gun owners from serious injury or death, massively outnumber the extra-legal deaths where a firearm was used. 
I say extra-legal because some "firearms related deaths" are legally justified, either as defensive gun uses by law abiding citizens, or cases where police were forced to use lethal force.