The NRA is in deep do-do and it's about damn time

[Beetlegeuse]

NRA’s Dirty Laundry Exposed as Pro-Gun Group Cleans House

Ammoland Inc. Posted on April 20, 2019 by Jeff Knox

Opinion


As the news of the shocking lawsuit made the rounds of mainstream media and was just sinking in – especially to most of the members of the NRA Board of Directors, who had no advance warning about the suit – a new exposé on the shady dealings of NRA insiders was published by The New Yorker (Secrecy, Self-Dealing, and Greed at the N.R.A.). That article, shedding new light on lousy business, showed that this isn’t just NRA leaders in a nasty mess of their own making, but a deeply embedded cancer that has metastasized, putting the NRA itself in serious jeopardy.

During WWII, people held up two fingers and declared “V for Victory!” I have to admit that when I heard the news about the suit against Ack-Mac, I smiled. The thought of NRA brass and Ack-Mac executives going at each other in a cage match really tickled me. In celebration, I figuratively raised the familiar one-finger salute that has long represented our seemingly futile struggle with the NRA leadership, and transitioned it into the two-finger sign of the “V,” not for Victory, but for Vindication.

The upshot of that battle was that Wayne won, Dad lost, and the fast-and-loose money games continued and just got worse. Charlton Heston was brought in to bump Dad from the leadership, and Wayne’s compensation rose rapidly from about $250,000 a year to almost $1,000,000.00. In the latest available IRS report from 2017, LaPierre’s total compensation was reported at $1.4 million, or about $117,000 per month, and a couple of years before that, he also got a distribution from his retirement fund of about $4 million, for a total compensation of more than $5 million that year. It’s worth noting that he’s receiving this at a time when the NRA is over $30 million in the red, and the retirement fund is in negative numbers to the tune of almost $60 million. Ack-Mack’s take from the NRA in 2017 was over $40 million.

For nearly a quarter of a century, we – Dad, my brother Chris, and I – have returned to this topic again and again.

Our goal has never been vengeance or retribution, but to alert NRA members and rouse the members of the NRA Board of Directors to fulfill their moral and legal obligations to the members, and put a stop to the chicanery.

Those efforts have, to a great extent, fallen on deaf ears. We have been vilified, belittled, and ignored by the majority of the board, and we’ve been publicly attacked by NRA leaders accusing us of trying to tear down the organization that we have been working so hard to save.

That’s why the lawsuit against Ackerman McQueen gave me a smile of vindication. It confirms many of the things that we have been saying for so long. But the celebration was tinged with concern about the harm the whole debacle would cause our historic organization. Then all of that turned to anger and a sense of doom as I read the exposé in The New Yorker.

Reporter Mike Spies works for Bloomberg’s anti-rights propaganda outlet The Trace and has collaborated with reporters and editors from a variety of mostly anti-rights newspapers and magazines like Mother Jones and the New York Times. Those connections and affiliations will cause many to dismiss this latest article as just more anti-gun propaganda. That would be a mistake. Spies did a thorough job of digging up sources [he clearly has a someone leaking him info at NRA or maybe Ackerman] and documentation to back up the critical points in his article, and he presents them with little spin or distortion. Calling on NRA members to ignore the message and focus on the messenger, won’t work this time. The article and its sources are too well documented and credible for that, and enemies of the NRA will undoubtedly pursue these leads with bulldog tenacity.

NRA members should be furious, and the Board of Directors should be terrified.

Even with my 40-year history in the NRA, I never imagined the abuses and neglect were so outrageous and rampant. The most significant revelation is that NRA employees and attorneys brought many of these issues to the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors, and the members of that committee did nothing to correct the problems. They didn’t alert fellow directors about the issues. They didn’t call executives and contractors out on the carpet for the abuses. They didn’t call for contract reviews, investigations, or disciplinary actions. Instead, they retroactively approved past actions that should only have been taken with their prior approval and did their best to contain the damaging information, helping to drive away dedicated NRA employees who did nothing other than try to inform them of problems.

“The emperor has no clothes!” – “Someone slap that kid!”

To get an idea of the depth and breadth of the theft, corruption, and abuse that has been going on at the NRA for the past 25-plus years, you need to read the entire article in The New Yorker, but here are some highlights:

• Remember that 1.4 million dollars being paid to Wayne LaPierre? At some point, a clause was added to his employment contract guaranteeing him payment as a speaker and consultant after he retires from NRA, at the full base salary he is being paid as Executive Vice President.
• Multiple NRA executives have left the organization and walked into $600,000 and $700,000 dollars a year consulting contracts for NRA.
• Wives, children, and other relatives of NRA executives and NRA contractors have routinely crisscrossed between the NRA and various vendors, drawing exorbitant salaries.
• Key vendors – like Ackerman McQueen – have been routinely paid on invoices that were incomplete or unspecific, and NRA employees questioning such payments were retaliated against.

The dollar figures involved are in the hundreds of millions, but the most critical paragraph in the article is this one:

“The memos urged the audit committee to ‘step up + fulfill its duties!,’ but it’s not clear what the board has done to root out malfeasance. James Fishman, a co-author of ‘New York Nonprofit Law and Practice: With Tax Analysis,’ a leading text on nonprofit law, told me, ‘There is no such thing as a director who doesn’t direct. You’re responsible to make yourself aware of what’s going on. If the board doesn’t know, they’ve breached their duty of care, which is against the law in New York,’ where the N.R.A. is chartered. According to Owens, the former I.R.S. official, New York State ‘could sanction board members, remove board members, disband the board, or close down the organization entirely.’” (Emphasis added – JK)

The memos mentioned were prepared by NRA’s director of tax and risk management, Emily Cummins, for an NRA Audit Committee emergency meeting last July. I’ve known Emily for years, and know that she was very loyal and committed to the NRA. I say “was” because Emily no longer works for NRA. I don’t know the circumstances of her departure but could venture a pretty good guess.

This is a collection of specific concerns raised to a committee of the NRA Board of Directors by a loyal NRA employee. It was acquired by the reporter and analyzed by an expert on New York nonprofit law and an expert on nonprofit tax regulations. Their assessment is that the Board of Directors’ failure to have weeded out these issues and addressed them, is – potentially criminal – dereliction of duty that could result in personal sanctions and the dissolution of the organization.

Are you listening now, NRA Directors? Personal sanctions. Removal from the Board. Dissolution of the NRA. All because you have refused to step up and fulfill your duties.

Ignoring warnings, blaming critics, covering for friends, and going along to get along, could bring the world’s most powerful organization for defending the right to arms, crashing to the ground. Continuing to deny and circling the wagons to protect against outside assaults, will not save the NRA, because the destroyer is inside the circle. Only decisive action to root out the corruption and return to the core values and principles of the organization can save it.

There’s no way to fix the problems without sustaining some pretty severe damage. I don’t know what kind of legal issues would be involved in dissolving existing contracts with vendors and employees, but drastic measures must be taken immediately. Those directors carrying the greatest culpability – members of the Audit Committee, the Finance Committee, and the Executive Committee – should resign. Had the Board not recently made recalls of directors and officers virtually impossible, I would start a recall drive against many of them.

What makes this whole situation even worse, is the fact that the NRA is chartered in New York. That means that New York law applies, and that means that the rabidly anti-NRA and anti-gun NY Attorney General Letitia James, working under the rabidly anti-NRA and anti-gun Governor Andrew Cuomo, will be in charge of the investigation and any “corrective” action. Does anyone think the benefit of the doubt for “good intentions” will play a significant role?

This is a case of greed, hubris, and blind loyalty leading to calamity. I honestly don’t know if the NRA will be able to survive.

There are some very good people on the NRA Board of Directors, and they need to step up now and get to the bottom of all of this. It’s going to be a mess, no matter how it’s handled, but taking aggressive action to cut out the cancer is the only way to save the organization.

Presidents or past-presidents of state associations might need to step up to help out. LaPierre needs to walk away without the golden parachute, and much of the executive staff needs to go with him. Virtually all outside NRA contracts beyond electric service and internet access, need to be canceled in the most cost-effective way possible.

I don’t expect to be in Indianapolis for the Members’ Meeting; I just can’t afford it, so I urge those who are going to be there, to demand answers from your board and staff in that open, formal setting. A motion should be made right at the outset to set a time certain on the official order of business for discussion of the corruption and mismanagement allegations. They will point to the press and try to say that discussing those matters shouldn’t be done in public, then they’ll dodge questions by saying that they can’t talk about ongoing litigation, or they’ll try to use parliamentary tricks to shut down the motion, but it’s your Association, and you have the right to be heard and get answers.

I don’t relish this situation. Yes, I’m glad to see Dad get his vindication, but not at such a high cost. I have been a Life Member of the NRA for 40 years. I paid full price for that membership, beginning with my first check from the Army after graduating from Basic Training, and I’ve dedicated countless hours over the years, trying to make the organization better and more effective. This is not a victory for Dad or me. Like the Notre Dame cathedral, I just hope we can save what’s left and rebuild.

But take heart. As I said in February during a speech at a rights rally in Phoenix, “the gun lobby is not a bunch of overpaid suits in Washington DC. If the NRA disappeared tomorrow, the gun lobby would still be just as powerful, because the gun lobby isn’t the NRA, it's the NRA members and tens of millions of dedicated patriots just like you, scattered throughout this wide land.”

While the NRA is a powerful communication tool between rights supporters and their elected servants and losing that central conduit would be a significant blow, it would only be a temporary setback. With that fact in mind, I encourage readers to take steps now to be sure that you and your fellow rights supporters are in the loop for important rights-related news by subscribing to AmmoLand News email list. If you are already subscribed, get five more people to sign up. Be sure that you’re a member of a competent, state grassroots organization, and join and subscribe to email alerts from groups like The Firearms Coalition and GOA. Then take action when we ask you to make a call or send an email to your elected servants.

Let’s hope we can save the NRA. Contact the Directors and demand that they take responsibility and correct the problems. (They are listed in your magazine.) But more than anything else, be sure to keep contacting your politicians and letting them know that with or without the NRA, you are the gun lobby, and the gun lobby isn’t going away.

[MuscleScience]

Interesting,

They do contact you none stop. They need a major change in leadership to right the ship. I don’t think they will I’m afraid. P

[Beetlegeuse]

Interesting,

They do contact you none stop. They need a major change in leadership to right the ship. I don’t think they will I’m afraid. P

I'm an Endowment member (which I figure gives me standing to bitch). I got more solicitations after I bought my life membership than I ever did before. I didn't buy the higher the levels to stop the solicitations but I ASSuMEd that buying life-plus memberships would give them a clue that I had joined to support the cause and them endlessly harassing me won't cause me to think I need to give one red cent more than my conscience already directs. Instead it only give them to know I had discretionary monies I was willing to spend on something as non-fungible as an NRA life membership.

Silly me. I got flooded.

I sent several letters asking them nicely to stop. They ignored me.

Which pissed me off because they were wasting WASTING a portion of my donations in order to send me these solicitations, so I'd have sooner kept that money and spent it on MY OWN needs than see them piss it away.

When I bought the Endowment membership they sent me a new lapel pin and a cheap-shit 12" highly-polished Bowie knife with the NRA logo as my "member rewards." I sent back the knife and asked them what the fuck they thought I was going to do with a knife I wouldn't trust to open a can of beans. But they kept sending more solicitations to upgrade to Patron. I finally sent them a VERY VULGAR registered letter and told them if they ever sent me another piece of mail OF ANY SORT, solicitation, Christmas card wishes, ANYTHING, I would cancel my membership, insist that they purge all my information from their databases, then I would make digital copies of all my levels of life member certificates, photoshop my name off of them and distribute them freely on the Internet. Then anybody who only wanted to be an NRA member for the bragging rights could pretend they were merely for the cost of printing their name on my certificate.

The solicitations stopped.

It's been obvious for a couple of decades to anyone who hasn't been blinded by the lead content in the Kool-Aid they're drinking that the NRA has lost the scent. And the bump-fire stock debacle was the equivalent of running up the white flag of surrender. That was an inexcusable strategic mistake that will continue to haunt 2A/RKBA for decades. Without question, the NRA is broken.

Broken.

The nattering nabobs will cry that there's no replacement for the NRA, that its end also would be TEOTWAWKI, but it's closer to the truth to say that the reason organizations like SAF, GOA, JPFO, etc. etc. etc. can't get any traction is because the NRA is sucking up so much of the available contributor funding from the 2A/RKBA ecosystem. Too many people think they're the only game in town. But the only reason those smaller fish have any contributing membership at all is that some of the more discerning gun owners have recognized that those groups are still combative where the NRA is conciliatory, and they still have something the NRA lost long ago: the fire in their belly for the fight.

In time, any organization that comes to dominate the market for no other reason than people think they're too big to fail will become bloated and lethargic and take their client base for granted. The NRA passed that juncture long, long ago. At the very least they need to be brought down a peg or three. If it collapses under its own weight I won't shed a tear, and I'm confident there are plenty of firebrands waiting in the wings who are more than capable of filling the NRA's shoes. With the difference that these new guys are .still hungry.

[almostgone]

I did the life membership thinking hey, maybe it will help a bit. Boy, did they bite me in the ass. It's all about the green instead of the cause.

Whole situation reeks. Would love be to see an effective, mission driven pro-2nd amendment group.

[Obs]

Subd to read when I can

[Beetlegeuse]

NRA’s Wayne LaPierre Says He Is Being Extorted, Pressured to Resign
Group’s longtime leader says Oliver North, president of the NRA, wants him out

The fish rots from the head. Give 'im hell, Ollie!

Full story at The Wall Street Journal



This guy has an interesting take on it. He calls them VNRA, the "Vichy" NRA. Vichy, if you didn't know, was where the Nazi puppet government of occupied France was HQ'ed during WWII. The Vichy were corroborating with the Nazis, sleeping with the enemy. You get the idea.

Rehabilitating the NRA?

April 25, 2019 Bear

Since I have previously made my opinion on the Vichy NRA pretty clear, I was reluctant to weigh in on the latest controversy. Two columns finally prompted me to speak up.

The starting point for all this — just in case you haven’t kept up — was Mike Spies’ report on the NRA’s financial woes. It appears to confirm many things people have warned of for decades.

Jeff Knox spoke up on the matter.

NRA’s Dirty Laundry Exposed as Pro-Gun Group Cleans House
While the NRA is a powerful communication tool between rights supporters and their elected servants and losing that central conduit would be a significant blow, it would only be a temporary setback.

Mr. Knox focuses on the apparent corruption. He’s overlooking a major point which Mark Walters touches on.

To NRA or Not to NRA
I have disagreed with the NRA many, many times over the years over many issues and no doubt I will in the future. In fact, I nearly tossed my membership a few years back when the NRA here in the state of GA refused to support the GeorgiaCarry.org effort to remove the 140-year-old ban on carrying firearms at a “public gathering.”
[…]
I’ve seen far too many posts on social media, which to me is a joke anyway, from chatroom warriors that are calling for the destruction of the NRA.

Both columns are worth reading in full, but the snippets I quoted are my point of contention.

If the VNRA BOD finally gets off its collective ass and cleans up the financial corruption, it is entirely possible to save the organization. They should not save it.

Yes, I am one of those calling for the end of the VNRA, because financial fraud is the least of the problems. That can be fixed by firing the appropriate people, suing to recover funds, and — I strongly suspect — criminally charging a few.

The real problem is how that “powerful communication tool” and money have been used.

Mr. Walters finally noticed the problem when the NRA wouldn’t help with Georgia SB308. For him, that wasn’t quite enough to make him quit, possibly because it was largely passive inaction by the organization. OK, sometimes one must pick and choose where to dedicate one’s resources. Judgement call; I’d be with Walters on this one. But what Walters didn’t notice until nine years ago is something I’ve been about for decades.

The real issue with the VNRA isn’t corruption or not doing enough to push rights. The problem is what the group actively does to violate rights. NFA ’34, GCA ’68, FOPA ’86. Everyone knows those. It shows how long the rot has existed.

They tried to keep HELLER from going to SCOTUS. They actively killed constitutional carry legislation in New Hampshire. They wrote an “assault weapon” ban in Ohio. They sabotaged an RKBA/free speech case in NH.

I could go on, but let’s skip ahead to 2017, when the VNRA called for the ATF to regulate bump-fire stocks as NFA items because they make semi-autos work like machineguns. (And despite their weasel-worded defense, I haven’t seen a single court challenge from them.)

Then there’s the VNRA’s support for no-due process ex parte protective orders.

Yes, the VNRA is politically powerful. But they aren’t using that power to advance rights. They push gun control. And then they fundraise for cash to “fight” what they imposed on us.

Arguably, the last thing the VNRA did for gun owners was sunsetting the national waiting period… by saddling us with an ineffective NICS which violates the rights of millions of innocent people while still passing thousands of prohibited persons. And making us pay for the “privilege.”

The Vichy National Rifle Association is inherently anti-gun. It sacrificed rights for political power and money a long time ago. That’s what it does. Forcing it to transparently and honestly spend gun owners’ money to violate their rights isn’t “fixing” anything.

For decades, I called on the group to change its ways, and really work for our rights. I made very specific suggestions (and never, ever once received any reply from anyone at any level). Quite a few election cycles later, it hasn’t improved. It got worse.

If reformers haven’t managed to “repair” the VNRA by now, after decades of trying, they aren’t going to succeed now. Many gun owners have an emotional attachment to the idea of the NRA, but it’s time to admit that ideal is gone.

It’s time to pull the plug.

[almostgone]

So, now North won't be endorsed for re-election?

https://www.foxnews.com/us/nra-presi...n-rights-group

[almostgone]

^^^^ That tells you how stinky the cesspool is. No telling how many $$ have been "misappropriated" and when someone calls them on it, they get the boot.

So fvcked up. They chose $$ over democracy.

[Beetlegeuse]

If you plot to kill the king, you damn well better get it done before he gets wind of it.

Oliver North out as NRA president after leadership dispute
By LISA MARIE PANE

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Oliver North announced Saturday that he would not serve a second term as National Rifle Association president, making it clear he had been forced out by the gun lobby’s leadership after his own failed attempt to remove the NRA’s longtime CEO in a burgeoning divide over the group’s finances and media operations.

“Please know I hoped to be with you today as NRA president endorsed for reelection. I’m now informed that will not happen,” North said in a statement that was read by Richard Childress, the NRA’s first vice president, to members at the group’s annual convention.

North, whose one-year term ends Monday, did not show up for the meeting, and his spot on the stage was left empty, his nameplate still in its place. His statement was largely met with silence. Wayne LaPierre, whom North had tried to push out, later received two standing ovations.

It was a stunning conclusion to a battle between two conservative and Second Amendment titans — North, the retired Marine lieutenant colonel with a ramrod demeanor who was at the center of the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s, and LaPierre, who has been battle-tested in the decades since he took up the mantle of gun rights. He has fought back challenges that have arisen over the decades, seemingly emerging unscathed each time. In this latest effort, he pushed back against North, telling members of the NRA’s board of directors that North had threatened to release “damaging” information about him to them and saying it amounted to an “extortion” attempt.

Hundreds of the NRA’s estimated 5 million members packed into the convention center in Indianapolis where the group’s annual meetings were being held. Near the end of the two-hour meeting, some members challenged efforts to adjourn and pushed to question the board about controversies involving its financial management, the relationship with its longtime public relations firm and details of what North sought to raise about alleged misspending, sexual harassment and other mismanagement.

But those cries were drowned out as some board members urged such conversations not to be held at such a large public forum, even if the media were eventually discharged from the room.

“We don’t want to give the other side any more information than they already have,” said Tom King, a board member from New York for more than a decade.

Offered Marion Hammer, a former NRA president and longtime lobbyist from Florida: “The life’s blood of this organization is on the line. We are under fire from without. We do not need to be under attack from within.”

The internal dispute first spilled out in public after the NRA in recent weeks filed a lawsuit against Ackerman McQueen, the Oklahoma-based public relations firm that has earned tens of millions of dollars in the decades since it began shaping the gun lobby’s fierce talking points. The NRA’s lawsuit accuses Ackerman McQueen of refusing to hand over financial records to account for its billings.

North has a $1 million contract with Ackerman McQueen, raising alarm bells among some in the NRA about conflicts of interest. He has a show called “American Heroes” on NRATV, the online TV station created and operated by Ackerman McQueen. NRATV and Ackerman McQueen’s billings are at the center of the turmoil, with some members and board members questioning whether they were getting any value for the money devoted to that part of the operation. In 2017 alone, the NRA paid the firm $40 million.

NRATV’s programming is provocative, often taking on topics far afield from gun rights, leading some members to wonder if it was damaging its efforts to further gun rights and bring in new members.

The NRA also has faced some financial and regulator struggles in recent years, and there remain concerns that New York authorities in particular — the state where the NRA created its charter — are looking to strip it of its nonprofit status.

An outside lawyer for the NRA, William A. Brewer, said Saturday that New York’s attorney general has opened an investigation into the organization.

In his statement, North said a committee should be set up to review the NRA’s finances and operations.

“There is a clear crisis and it needs to be dealt with” if the NRA is to survive, he said.

Childress, who read North’s statement, said he only found out the night before that he would be asked to read it. A message left with the Freedom Alliance, a nonprofit group founded by North in the 1990s, seeking to contact North, was not immediately returned.

In his speech later Saturday, LaPierre stuck to standard NRA talking points, going after the mainstream media and lawmakers who seek to restrict gun rights. He told the crowd that efforts to strip away gun rights will fail.

“We won’t accept it. We will resist it. We won’t give an inch,” he said.

North, 75, was a military aide to the National Security Council during the Reagan administration in the 1980s when he entered the spotlight for his role in arranging the secret sale of weapons to Iran and the diversion of the proceeds to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

He was convicted in 1989 of obstructing Congress during its investigation, destroying government documents and accepting an illegal gratuity. Those convictions were overturned in 1991. Embraced by many on the right, he went on to run for office, write several books and serve as a commentator on Fox News.

[Beetlegeuse]

The Reign of Terror has begun and Wayne LaPierre thinks he's Louis the Fucking 16th. Let the random beheadings begin.

NRA Suspends Top Lawyer as Infighting Roils Group

Ousted President Oliver North warned board the NRA could lose its nonprofit status

Betsy Woodruff 04.27.19 12:13 PM ET

Steve Hart, the longtime lawyer for the National Rifle Association board, has been suspended from that role, two people with knowledge of the move told The Daily Beast.

In addition, Col. Oliver North–who announced his departure from the powerful gun rights group this morning–has warned board members that the organization could lose its nonprofit status.

A spokesperson for the NRA’s outside law firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and neither did Hart. A lawyer for North declined to comment.

Hart represented the board for years, and his suspension came before North announced that he is stepping away from his leadership role at the organization after only six months on the job.

The lawyer’s ouster represents the departure of another senior, long-time NRA insider with detailed knowledge of the organization’s troubles. And it comes as internal turmoil and sniping rocks the gun-rights group.

On Friday, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times reported that NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre wrote a letter to the board claiming that North tried to blackmail him into leaving the organization. The NRA also claimed in an update to a lawsuit against its long-time advertising vendor, Ackerman McQueen, that North double-dipped by simultaneously taking a salary from the firm and being on contract with it to make a documentary series for NRATV.

North, meanwhile, told the board recently that he fears serious financial mismanagement by the NRA’s leadership. He recently wrote a letter to board members raising concerns and announcing the start of a crisis management committee. “I did this because I am deeply concerned that these allegations could threaten our nonprofit status,” North wrote, per a copy of the memo reviewed by The Daily Beast.

North also told board members he’d tasked the committee with investigating “allegations of financial misconduct related to Mr. LaPierre, which have been made in response to the NRA’s recently filed lawsuit against Ackerman McQueen.”

“We are facing a serious crisis,” North continued. “To date, my repeated efforts to inquire about the propriety of management’s financial decisions have consistently been rebuffed.”

“We need responsible leadership and advice from outside professionals to appropriately deal with this crisis,” he added.

[Beetlegeuse]

Just came across this and the NRA immediately came to mind.

“Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”

― Eric Hoffer, The Temper of Our Time

[Beetlegeuse]

I seems Wayne LaPierre has been on some Imelda Marcos shopping sprees and billing it to the NRA.

Time to get a rope.

Leaked Letters Reveal Details of NRA Chief’s Alleged Spending
Wayne LaPierre expensed $39,000 in clothes in one day, $18,300 for car and driver, ad agency says; NRA says board has ‘full confidence’ in him

By Mark Maremont
May 11, 2019 2:00 p.m. ET

National Rifle Association Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre billed the group’s ad agency $39,000 for one day of shopping at a Beverly Hills clothing boutique, $18,300 for a car and driver in Europe and had the agency cover $13,800 in rent for a summer intern, according to newly revealed NRA internal documents.

The documents, posted anonymously on the internet, provide new details of the clothing, travel and other expenses totaling more than $542,000 that Ackerman McQueen Inc. alleges Mr. LaPierre billed to it.

The travel expenses allegedly include more than $200,000 in “Air Transportation” costs during a one-month period in late 2012 and early 2013, in part related to a two-week trip over Christmas to the Bahamas by Mr. LaPierre.

The additional details behind the ad agency’s claims comes as Mr. LaPierre faces internal scrutiny at the NRA over his expenses amid an extraordinary falling-out between the NRA and Ackerman McQueen.

The NRA released a statement from Carolyn Meadows, its new president, who said the “entire board is fully aware of these issues. We have full confidence in Wayne LaPierre.” She added that “it is troubling and pathetic that some people would resort to leaking information to advance their agendas.”

Mr. LaPierre didn’t respond to a request for comment sent through the NRA.

The LaPierre expense documents posted on the internet appeared to be genuine, a person familiar with the originals told The Wall Street Journal.

The allegations come as the nonprofit gun-rights group is grappling with a new investigation into its financial dealings with insiders and other matters by the New York attorney general.

“It’s time for a change in leadership” at the NRA, said Shawn Herrin, an NRA member who runs a gun-oriented podcast company and aired some of the allegations about Mr. LaPierre’s spending last week.

The documents consist of letters and attachments sent last month to the NRA’s board by the organization’s then-President Oliver North. Mr. North wrote that the allegations “suggest financial impropriety” and he was forming a crisis management committee to examine those and other matters.

Mr. North was forced out after Mr. LaPierre accused him of trying to use the allegations to extort him into resigning. Those defending Mr. North have said he was doing his fiduciary duty as an officer of a nonprofit. Mr. North hasn’t commented.

An NRA attorney, William A. Brewer III, previously has said the vast majority of Mr. LaPierre’s travel expenses charged to the ad firm were for “donor outreach, fundraising and stakeholder engagement” and were being reviewed by the board. The NRA also has said Mr. LaPierre’s clothing expenses were justified due to his many public appearances.

Attached to Mr. North’s correspondence were two letters dated April 22 to Mr. LaPierre from Ackerman McQueen, the NRA’s longtime ad agency. Despite a decadeslong relationship, the NRA sued Ackerman last month, accusing it of failing to justify its billing.

The Journal previously reported on the Ackerman McQueen letters and their allegations about Mr. LaPierre’s clothing and travel expenses, but the documents provide fresh details.

In the letters, Ackerman McQueen wrote Mr. LaPierre that it couldn’t provide detail on clothing and travel expenses it incurred for the NRA chief without more information from him.

“We need to address your wardrobe you required us to provide, specifically purchases at the Zegna store in Beverly Hills, CA,” one letter from Ackerman said. It attached a list of purchases between 2004 and 2017 that totaled $274,695.03. On two dates, Mr. LaPierre’s purchases exceeded $39,000.

The other letter asked Mr. LaPierre for detailed records backing up $267,460.53 of travel and rent expenses that Mr. LaPierre billed to Ackerman, which said it in turn billed to the NRA.

They included a trip to Italy and Budapest in 2014, where the listed expenses included $6,500 for lodging at the Four Seasons hotel; $2,400 for a stay at the luxury Castadiva Resort on Italy’s Lake Como; $17,550 for “Air Charter” between Budapest and the Italian city of Brescia; and nearly $18,300 for a car and driver in both countries.

There was also a charge of $1,096 for “Frankfurt Airport Assistance.”

The letter also listed air transportation charges of almost $40,000 from Washington to the Bahamas on Dec. 17, 2012, and $29,000 from the Bahamas to Dallas on Jan. 3, 2013.

As for the summer intern, Ackerman wrote that Mr. LaPierre “required we rent” her an apartment and requested that Mr. LaPierre provide details about his business relationship to the young woman.

Nonprofits are supposed to be run in the best interests of the organization, not for the benefit of board members or executives, legal experts said. Under New York’s nonprofit law, among the toughest in the U.S., the attorney general could seek to remove directors or officers, and claw back as much as double any improperly obtained benefit.

[Beetlegeuse]

Pete Brownell (CEO of Brownell's) has resigned from the board of the NRA. And the Internet magpies are speculating it's because of the NRA's fall from grace, and not (as he stated) because of future business commitments.

[almostgone]

Pete Brownell (CEO of Brownell's) has resigned from the board of the NRA. And the Internet magpies are speculating it's because of the NRA's fall from grace, and not (as he stated) because of future business commitments.

Wonder how Larry Potterfield will handle the situation? I would imagine Midway's Roundup program had garnered tons of $$ for the NRA over the decades.

[Beetlegeuse]

Brownell's has bought the most pugnacious gun forum in existence, AR15.com. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear so I have no idea what they intend doing with the site, unless it's to burn it down for the good of mankind. Or maybe hire adults without mental impairment to be Mods.

[kelkel]

Beetle, you are a wealth of knowledge about firearms, etc. Always enjoy your posts!

[Beetlegeuse]

Wahl this is intersting. From The Shooting Wire:

When Brownell announced he was leaving the board due to “business obligations” the speculation was rampant that there was something amiss with that explanation.

There wasn’t anything wrong, but there were some things coming.

Having been privvy to some of the behind the scenes activity, we’ve maintained our distance from the resignation, the speculation and the entire NRA situation. And we still believe when you have nothing to add to a story, your audience is better served without speculation.

That having been said....2nd Adventure Group, a holding company wholly owned by Pete and Frank Brownell, has purchased the website AR15.com, adding it to their holdings which include Brownells, Inc., and other industry brands.

Pete Brownell tells The Outdoor Wire Digital Network it will become the “backbone” of what he envisions as a communications outlet for the Second Amendment.

Well hell, another perfectly good internet myth shot to shit.

Beetle, you are a wealth of knowledge about firearms, etc....

Not really, I just make it up as I go.

[Beetlegeuse]

Whhooaaaa!! Busy day at the NRA.


N.R.A. Suspends Second-in-Command, Implicating Him in Coup Attempt

NRA’s Unpaid Bills Could Shutter NRATV

Is Anyone Running NRA?

NRA’s Longtime CFO Embezzled From His Previous Company

NRA sues ex-president Oliver North

[Beetlegeuse]

NRA-ILA's Chris Cox resigns. In the pen they have an expression, "Suicide with help." It's like that.

Wayne (Smithers) LaPierre tries to put a smiley face on the collapse of NRATV.

[Beetlegeuse]

I think this is what you call a "tripwire."

NRA’s Big Dollar Donors Holding Onto Their Cash, Rebelling Against LaPierre and Cronies

Reports say that a handful of donors with pledged future donations of $134 million have paused those giving agreements. In short, they are demanding that the now “radioactive” LaPierre resign along with his corrupt cronies who make up the current NRA leadership.

David Dell’Aquila, the restive donor, said the N.R.A.’s internal warfare “has become a daily soap opera and it’s decaying and destroying the N.R.A. from within, and it needs to stop.” He added, “Even if these allegations regarding Mr. LaPierre and his leadership are false, he has become radioactive and must step down.”"]David Dell’Aquila, the restive donor, said the N.R.A.’s internal warfare “has become a daily soap opera and it’s decaying and destroying the N.R.A. from within, and it needs to stop.” He added, “Even if these allegations regarding Mr. LaPierre and his leadership are false, he has become radioactive and must step down.”

[Beetlegeuse]

Tom Gresham begins skewering the NRA at about 2:00.

[Beetlegeuse]

[Obs]

Hey beetle, you ever think maybe this was all just a big plan by the left to infiltrate and turn people away from the nra? Maybe trump is just a poser set to gain the right vote and enact left policy that will be permanent?

I.e. a democrat would have never got away with this shit.

So here we are.
A poser progressive as fuck president and no nra.

Hmmmmm.....

Yet the stupid ass right wingers just keep cheering for daddy trump. The same dumb shits that think someday someone will be stupid enough to door to door confinscate their guns.
The same dumb shits that think the government might possibly do something that causes a revolution.

Lmao!

The libs are retarded but they are standing level with many on the right supporting trump.

People are so stupid soft and lazy as a whole they will walk right into slaughter. God bless them they are getting exactly what they deserve.

[MuscleScience]

If Wayne really cared about the NRA and 2A he would resign.

[Beetlegeuse]

A leaked internal email shows the NRA is punishing board members who sided with LTC North in the coup attempt.

This proves the NRA is incapable of any acts of self-reformation because they see their primary mission the same as was stated by the estimable Governor Lepetomane ...

We've Got to Protect Our Phony Baloney Jobs, Gentlemen!

Which concurrently also proves that all the kool-aid drinkers who have spent the last decades opposing any sorts of sanctions against the NRA on the basis that no other organization could pull off what they do are fucking retards.

The fish rots from the head. All the leadership needs to go. Every swinging dick of 'em.


“Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”

― Eric Hoffer, The Temper of Our Time

[Beetlegeuse]

Shit's starting to get real.

Firearms News Investigates the NRA: Part 1

Nedd Scott - July 18, 2019

Firearms News has not turned a blind eye to the controversy surrounding the NRA. Rather, the opposite. We launched an investigation to delve into just what is going on behind the scenes within this important gun rights organization. This is the first article in a multi-part series. The genesis of this initial piece came while looking into how one could determine if bureaucracies, especially governmental, had become corrupted and were no longer serving the interests of the public. An internet search came across an analysis from the Mises Institute published on March 23, 2012 by Harry E. Teasley Jr.. The Institute is a think tank regarding policies involving economics and freedoms. The main “rules” described provoked a surprising insight that this could also apply to private organizations as well. The NRA has been a serious topic of discussion in the 2nd Amendment community and yet there is little solid analysis being done. The purpose of this article is to begin a structured discussion about their situation. It will be the first of many investigative reports about the NRA by Firearms News. This discussion by the gun rights community is unavoidable. Many people within our community actively call out government cronyism, and we must do the same when it appears within our midst. Any human endeavor is only as honorable as the people who are involved. This goes back to an old statement about power and those who wield it.

Rules of Bureaucracy

Rule #1: Maintain the problem at all costs! The problem is the basis of power, perks, privileges, and security.

By their very nature bureaucracies exist to either promote, manage or prevent an issue. The bureaucracies which are advocacy groups have two options. Either be involved in a issue so large that it will never end or simply prevent an existing issue from only getting worse. This gives the bureaucracy a reason for its continued existence. Take the March of Dimes as an example. It was founded to combat the polio pandemic focusing on child victims, once that was accomplished the organization shifted to fight all severe childhood ailments. This is an example of how an advocacy group should operate. Most other organizations operate in small, controlled measures in order to maintain their existence and power, rather than completing their underlying mission.

Rule #2: Use crisis and perceived crisis to increase your power and control.

This point is very simple. In the Wayne LaPierre era, the NRA has always made itself the ‘center’ of the gun rights community. Whenever an incident takes place, the NRA brazenly makes its view known as quickly as possible in the media. The NRA aggressively seeks the spotlight with the tone of its rhetoric, deliberately making itself a target by the opposition. This increases its influence and perceived position within the 2nd Amendment community. This is absolutely by their own design. In comparison, if one were to ask the general populace who the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) was, most have no idea. (NSSF represents gun manufacturers and dealers as their primary focus.) This organization has been around for decades and has just as much of a stake in gun rights as the NRA and yet they maintain a very low profile.

Rule #3: If there are not enough crises, manufacture them, even from nature, where none exist.

The NRA doesn’t need to manufacture any crisis for their gain. The opposition willingly does all that by itself. The NRA uses this to their advantage in order to collect more money and publicity for itself. Just think about how many calls you receive soliciting for money after any major negative news story, or even just during the normal election cycle.

Rule #4: Control the flow and release of information while feigning openness.

This is currently one of the biggest issues the NRA has created between itself and its members. For many years, the general membership simply relinquished proper oversight to the organization itself. The NRA only publishes information it wants to be made public through its own media channels and carefully controls its inner workings. Simply try and find out what business the leadership does for the organization, or an actual disclosure of its finances, and see what the response will be.

Rule #5: Maximize public-relations exposure by creating a cover story that appeals to the universal need to help people.

It doesn’t create cover stories, but as previously stated, the NRA actively forces itself on to the center stage when defending gun rights. It wants to be perceived as the bane of the gun control movement. By being their bogeyman, the NRA gets more publicity and support. There is no way that Ackerman McQueen, and the personalities they employed, would be conducting themselves as they did without at least tacit approval from the NRA leadership. Until the recent lawsuits, the NRA had print, internet and television outlets under its control to deliver its message.

Rule #6: Create vested support groups by distributing concentrated benefits and/or entitlements to these special interests, while distributing the costs broadly to one's political opponents.

This has been clearly done in the case of creating vested groups, as the NRA has expanded its lobbying efforts into all areas of the firearms community. They make the claim to speak not only for the general community, but also subgroups like hunters. There is a multitude of dedicated conservation organizations in the USA, and yet the NRA has personnel dedicated to wildlife conservation and hunting policies. The NRA uses independent state pistol and rifle associations to create an image of controlling a broad front for its opposition to fight.

Rule #7: Demonize the truth tellers who have the temerity to say, "The emperor has no clothes."

This is a serious note and is part of the very dynamic situation that is currently unfolding before us. The narrative being supplied by the NRA and its opposition groups are at complete odds with each other. There is no way to tell with a superficial glance as to who is being more truthful. That is why the gun community must perform its own inquiry.

Now again, this is only an opening statement. In future articles there will be specific examples and explanations to flush out the argument being made. The 2nd Amendment must be protected from all antagonists, both from within, and outside of, the firearms community. All of the information contained in future articles will be from publicly available sources and directly from the NRA itself. It's the goal of this, and subsequent articles, to provide each of you with accurate information about the current state of the NRA. Unfortunately you will not like everything you read here, but it’s time all these issues come to light. The firearms community must be made aware of what is happening behind the scenes within the National Rifle Association.

[Beetlegeuse]

Ex-NRA Ad Firm: Um, Wayne LaPierre is Lying

In a new court filing, Ackerman McQueen says the long time gun group header has misrepresented key circumstances about the organization’s recent shakeup.

Betsy Woodruff -- Political Reporter -- Updated 07.19.19 3:19PM ET

In a new filing against the National Rifle Association, lawyers for ad agency Ackerman McQueen suggest that longtime NRA executive Wayne LaPierre is lying about a critical moment in the gun rights group’s recent leadership shake up.

At issue is multi-million-dollar litigation between the NRA and its ex-ad firm. In court filings of its own, the NRA has alleged that Oliver North, the groups's former president, was ousted in part because he withheld information from the NRA about payments he took from Ackerman McQueen, which had served as the gun rights group’s primary ad contractor until just months ago. The NRA claims North kept the nature of his deal with Ackerman McQueen a secret from LaPierre and the gun group’s leadership.

But in a July 16 filing that was reviewed by The Daily Beast, Ackerman McQueen alleges that LaPierre himself helped negotiate the deal between their firm and North. And they hint that they have documentation to prove it....

[Beetlegeuse]

The originating page (hotlinked to in the headline) had further links to other discussions of the possible "fixes" for the NRA but I am too technically challenged to replicate those links here. Follow the link in the headline if you'd like to see them.

Gun Rights & Fixing the NRA: Where Do You Stand?

Eve Flanigan
22 hours ago

It’s been said that rights cannot be granted; they can only be taken away. For many gun owners, the National Rifle Association is their proxy for protecting those rights. As for myself, I thought the NRA would always be there as a sort of embodiment of the 2nd Amendment. After all, the NRA is the whipping boy of anti-gun radicals and politicians, often named as a scapegoat in situations the organization has nothing to do with. I assumed the NRA’s strident counter-advertising and well-funded status meant all was well and good, while I went about life in my little corner of the gun world silently supporting a different national organization that I feel does a better job representing me.

My assumptions were only quasi-correct. NRA is still tied to the Left’s whipping post—whether a gun owner supports the NRA or not, those who would take our guns conflate our identities with this organization. And now the NRA is in trouble, the sort that’s not uncommon for a charitable organization that gets too big for its britches—but in this case, those britches are blowing billions. Expensive Alaskan junket for the “it” boys and girls of its 72-member board of directors, as well as Director Wayne LaPierre’s shameful indulgences, i.e., $18,000+ in car and driver expenses for one week during a luxurious European getaway, and over $13,000 in rent for a summer intern, are not what my fixed-income friends and relatives thought they were supporting when they wrote that last check.

The until-now secret disdain I had for the NRA had to do with its over-the-top, life-disrupting fundraising tactics and the general feeling that the organization copped a leader’s stance while remaining behind the state of the art in the training arena, among other grievances large and petty. I have great respect for the work of the stalwarts of my statewide NRA-associated organization and those of some other states too. But even those loyalties waned when I watched LaPierre support bump stock regulation (sic), and my stomach churned when the organization’s recently-departed director of its Institute for Legislative Action, Chris Cox, recorded a video expressing support for red flag gun confiscation. The mere concept is a violation of multiple items on the Bill of Rights.

Through all these events, I remained passively, perhaps lazily, supportive of gun rights in my own way—teaching responsible ownership and safety to local students, and exercising my right to bear arms daily. But the last straw of my tolerance broke when the newsletter of gun patent attorney Ben Langlotz explained that NRA employs Bickell & Brewer, a law firm that according to its own description, “is exclusively dedicated to high-stakes advocacy – matters that involve substantial financial or business exposure, cutting-edge legal issues, or significant public policy questions.”

Sounds like a suitable area of expertise for a public relations entity serving the NRA, even if the firm is quite proud of its “offshore operation” in India. NRA has spent a lot of money at Bickell & Brewer. By “a lot,” think in excess of $97,000 per day—for 13 months! LaPierre surely knows that Bickell & Brewer’s founding partner, William Bickell III, is a longtime, generous political donor to some major enemies of gun rights, including one Hilary Rodham Clinton and, more recently, Robert “Beto” O’Rourke.

Even if Bickell and his minions did that cold-blood trick lawyers have a special talent for, and produced content for NRA that was and is effective despite Bickell’s obvious taste for non-Constitutional politics, how many NRA members would continue funding the organization and LaPierre’s seven-digit salary if they knew some of their money is funding the enemy?

Griping is easy. Fixing is hard. A now-public letter from April 2019, co-signed by ousted NRA President Oliver North cites numerous instances in which details about transactions with the law firm were requested from NRA brass, and never delivered. The sudden departures of North and Cox are symptoms of an ailing organization; the discovery that members’ dollars are supporting Deep State candidates is a terrible betrayal. Something must change.

Proposals are many. As I peruse gun blogs and social media, I encounter three main themes for solving the NRA’s ailments. They are as follows:

Shutter the Windows

Some who tired of NRA’s political compromises and intrusive fundraising years ago are eager to throw in the towel in support of a sort of anarchistic or do-it-yourself take on legislative advocacy, or in favor of other pro-gun groups like Gun Owners of America and the Second Amendment Foundation.

Trim and Revamp the Board

Ben Langlotz made reference to herding cats in his assessment of NRA’s 72-member board, and observed that over-representation by active industry folk, intent on building their own businesses, is probably unfocused and ineffective in comparison to the leadership that a smaller, more senior group could be.

Many who have run unsuccessfully for a post on the NRA Board bemoan its outdated, monolithic leadership. With the organization’s ugly secrets now available for public perusal, at least one former candidate, Rob Pincus of Personal Defense Network, has added his voice to a serious reform effort called Save the Second. Three of this ad hoc organization’s five goals for NRA is to reduce the Board to a trim figure, require genuine engagement and attendance by all board members, and implementation of term limits.

Get an Outside Audit/Investigation

Both Save the Second and other board members like Owen “Buz” Mills of Gunsite Academy have requested the commissioning of an independent audit of NRA finances and other practices. Of course, those findings would have to be analyzed by committees that will, due to the nature of the board and the NRA’s business dealings, will encounter numerous conflicts of interest that will require careful navigation to avoid repetition of the organization’s initial mistakes.

[Missing Links Here]

What do you think should happen?

NRA occupies a unique place in the hearts and minds of people on all sides of the spectrum where guns are concerned. Would gun rights be easier or more difficult to preserve without constant hate focused on the NRA from gun control advocates? Would gun owners be more or less involved in education and legislation without the NRA? What if an independent audit failed to identify key issues and nothing changed inside the NRA? What other comparable organizations have navigated rough waters of post-growth leadership and management, and how? Which of their efforts succeeded and why? Should the NRA’s roles as an educator, sports incubator, and lobbying organization continue under one umbrella?

These are tough questions that don’t become easier with time. Those interested in preservation of gun rights and education should contact any and all NRA Board members they can, make their expectations known, and volunteer to help in any way they can.

[Beetlegeuse]

Three top-ranked NRA board members have resigned because their calls for an independent external audit were ignored.

As reported in the WaPo:

Three National Rifle Association board members who raised concerns about reports of reckless spending and mismanagement by the group’s leadership resigned Thursday, another sign of mounting dissent within the nation’s most powerful gun-rights group.

The three board members – Esther Schneider of Texas, Sean Maloney of Ohio and Timothy Knight of Tennessee – said they were stripped of their committee assignments after they asked questions about allegations of lavish spending by NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre and other financial excesses. …

In their letter, Schneider, Maloney and Knight said they have sought information from NRA leaders as part of their oversight responsibilities as board members, “only to be rebuffed at every turn.”

“We had expected – or at least hoped – that the executive leadership team would recognize the seriousness of these allegations and work with us in a constructive and transparent manner to address our concerns and minimize any further harm to the Association,” they wrote. “Instead, we have been stonewalled, accused of disloyalty, stripped of committee assignments and denied effective counsel necessary to properly discharge our responsibilities as Board members.”

The NRA talking heads are claiming this is just more of the same, a clever, multi-pronged attack by anti-gun forces intended to bring down the organization.

[almostgone]

It's so fvcked up that a good organization has been overrun by thieves and the few decent people are a tiny minority. One of the few childhood memories I recall is sitting on the floor looking through backissues of American Rifleman. It would have been in the late '60s. My uncle was an avid shooter/ plinker.

Think the first time I recall squeezing a trigger was on his M1 carbine. He held the rifle and talked me through operating the trigger. I was probably 8 or 9 when I got to fire his old Garand.

Sounds like this could keep several forensic accountants very busy if they ever have the opportunity to dig into it.

[Beetlegeuse]

Wayne LaPierre et al. are effectively rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. The longer they continue to resist efforts to reform the organization, the more likely it becomes that he will soon be the Veep over an ash heap.

[Beetlegeuse]

Now a six-figure donor has filed suit against the NRA for fraud.

Soon to follow: Death by a thousand cuts.

[MuscleScience]

- GAL -->

[Beetlegeuse]

[Obs]

I hope all of you understand what trump is about to do.
With the red flags and coming restrictions the right will be silenced on aocial media for fear of inability to purchase firearms.

He is a democrat playing on the ideals of the Repubs all over, to pull off things no democrat could get away with.

A PROGRESSIVE

YET I STILL SEE JUST AS MANY PARTY CLINGING REPUBS STILL KISSING HIS FEET

It is disgusting.

All the dumb good ol boys fell right into it.
"Aww Trumps a good ol boy..."

Everything I said is coming to be. I just never expected it to happen so fast.

For Christ sake.... Get a damn Democrat in there so we can stop signing our lives away to the government.
At least a Democrat is a known Commie.
We all know to expect them to try stuff like this.

Time you all woke up and saw that the "(R)" next to Trumps name is a joke. Its just a political vehicle to run your butts over.

[Obs]

This will also ram the gov intervention into your online life like you cannot imagine.

Yeay trump.... Make america great again.

Attachment 177028


Sorry guys... Your neighbor feels threatened by you and reported an old post you made on fb.

No guns for you.
You should have thought about it before you decided you wanted to speak your mind.

[Obs]

About 2:00 minutes in he starts on gun...

But don't worry!
The NRA is gonna help! They are great patriots and love our country!

Better toss your depression meds and tell everyone you are just great with everythining.

[Beetlegeuse]

From TTAG:

Spiraling Scandals Have Made the NRA’s LaPierre Ineffective as Leader

...The reality is that — outside of a majority of current NRA board members — almost no one else has faith in LaPierre. That undermines his effectiveness as a leader, both publicly and privately.

That lack of confidence is corrosive and diminishes the NRA’s influence at a critical time. It’s difficult to see how even the most staunch LaPierre allies on the board can continue to argue that his presence at the top of the Association is a positive thing for the NRA or gun rights.

Really, Wayne…it’s time to go.

From Yahoo news:

NRA Spent Tens of Thousands on Hair and Makeup for CEO’s Wife

can fault them for is allowing the impression that nepotism might be behind her being hired to that position owing entirely to the fact that she is the significant other of the highest-profile NRA executive of them all.


As they used to say in ancient Rome, "Caesar’s wife should not only be pure, but above suspicion of impurity.”

[Beetlegeuse]

If It Wants To Survive, The NRA Needs To Change

Why should gun owners fund an organization that is most effective at keeping a few people rich?

By David Harsanyi
August 14, 2019

In the mid-1970s the NRA had to make a choice. As crime continued to spike across the nation, and politicians increasingly embraced gun control measures, an internal debate broke out about the future of the organization.

Initially, the NRA’s more passionate Second Amendment advocates were purged. NRA leadership would fire more than 70 activists during the early part of the decade. By 1976, the organization’s board decided to relocate its headquarters from Washington to Colorado to extract itself from political debate altogether. It wasn’t until a 1977 NRA convention in Cincinnati that politically minded members pulled off something of a coup, wresting the organization from the nonpolitical wing.

Many of today’s gun control advocates like to claim the “Cincinnati revolt” was the moment extremists took over the organization, undermining average gun owners who were merely interested in hunting and skeet shooting — which is, needless to say, a simplistic understanding of both the NRA’s history and gun owners. The reality is that the shift was an organic one, reflecting the mounting anxieties among members who felt increasingly under political attack. The NRA was best positioned to take the lead. If it hadn’t, another advocacy group would have emerged to take its place.

The gun control debate had changed, and the NRA changed with it. And the more gun controllers pushed, the more popular the NRA became, doubling its membership from 1977 to 1983. With every concerted effort to enact gun restrictions, the organization grew.

What is the point of the NRA now? Is it to be one of the thousand partisan outfits in D.C. helping elect Republicans, or is it to make compelling and effective arguments about the virtues and necessity of the Second Amendment? For someone looking in from the outside, it seems the past few years have been mostly about the former.

Of course, we shouldn’t forget the NRA runs an array of programs around the country that cultivate responsible gun owners. (I should also mention that the NRA’s National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, Virginia, is a quite fascinating place.) And it isn’t the group’s fault, as a policy matter, that firearms have become predominately a partisan issue. Young voters might not be aware that the NRA once regularly supported pro-gun Democrats such as Harry Reid and Bernie Sanders. It’s the left’s embrace of confiscatory policies and intrusions that often makes bipartisan support untenable. The NRA is compelled to back Republicans because Republicans — and the judges they nominate and confirm — are far more prone to protect gun rights.

The problem with being a partisan outfit, however, is that you soon start working for the party, rather than asking the party to help you. After the Las Vegas mass shooting that killed 58 people, the deadliest in U.S. history, the Trump administration unilaterally banned bump stocks through executive action. “As a matter of both law and physics,” my colleague Sean Davis pointed out at the time, the move was an “abomination.”

You can imagine that had the Obama administration engaged in a precedent-setting intrusion into gun rights, banning an accessory by fiat rather than legislatively, the NRA would rightly have raised hell about the dictatorial powers of the presidency. In this case, the best pushback the organization could muster was that it had been “disappointed.”

Today, Republicans talk about universal background checks and red-flag laws that could strip gun owners of their due process rights, and the NRA isn’t offering persuasive arguments about why they’re bad ideas. Are they even part of the conversation in any meaningful way? It’s difficult to tell. These days, the NRA, it seems, is just a convenient punching bag for Democrats who are too cowardly to go after tens of millions of gun owners.

Today, “taking on the NRA” has become one of the most common acts of faux bravery in Democratic Party politics. If the NRA were as powerful as its critics contended, the civil and constitutional rights of gun owners would never be challenged. If the NRA spent the kind of money its critics claimed, it would be the most powerful organization in American life.

In reality, the group’s expenditures are minuscule in comparison to other major lobbying. Its entire 2019 lobbying efforts have amounted to under $2 million. The NRA is only influential because it represents — either through direct membership or through ideological kinship — a lot of American voters.

If the NRA were as extremist as Democrats claim, Americans would be walking into supermarkets and buying fully automatic real-life assault rifles. The NRA, in fact, has always been cautious on policy. (It’s worth remembering, for example, that the NRA had opposed bringing the Heller case forward, believing taking it to a higher court could backfire and enshrine the collective rights theory. It was an idealistic libertarian contingent that can be thanked for the protections of both Heller and McDonald. If it had been up to the NRA, the Second Amendment would not have been codified as the individual right.)


Over the past few years, I appeared on a number of shows on the now-defunct NRATV network — the streaming channel run by Ackerman McQueen. Many personalities on the network were excellent spokespeople for gun rights and for conservative ideas. But should the NRA strive to involve itself in every contemporary debate, creating antagonism on issues that have absolutely nothing to do with gun rights? Though I’m certainly no public relations expert, it seems to me that the mission of any issue-oriented organization should be to proselytize rather than alienate.

On top of all of this, a nasty and convoluted internal fight has broken out among the board members and NRA head Wayne LaPierre, none of which has anything to do with the future of gun rights, as it had in 1977, but rather personal animosity and greed.

It’s unlikely that most members are very interested in the disputed specifics of the kerfuffle, but it all spilled into public view when then-president Oliver North alleged that the NRA was spending — or rather, wasting — nearly $100,000 a day on lawyers. The NRA’s top lobbyist, Christopher Cox, would also resign after being accused of plotting to push out LaPierre. Apparently, the NRA head had spent about $540,000 on clothing and travel expenses that had been laundered through Ackerman. The NRA claimed the costs were justified for business reasons — a contention I imagine a gun owner in Bozeman, Montana, or Aurora, Colorado, might dispute.

This week, we learned via the Wall Street Journal that the NRA had signed a document agreeing to purchase 99% of a company that was formed for the sole purpose of buying LaPierre a $6 million mansion in Dallas. For whatever reason, the deal was never consummated.

Why should any gun owner or Second Amendment advocate send money to an organization that is increasingly ineffective on policy, though highly effective at keeping a few people rich? Perhaps longtime members keep re-upping with the NRA, but how many younger Americans are becoming members? If the NRA wants to be as powerful as Democrats claim it is, it’s going to have to change again.



https://thefederalist.com/2019/08/14/nra-must-change/

[Obs]

Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.- Eric Hoffer

Was it you that posted that beetleguese?