The 2019 annual NRA Conference opens tomorrow, Friday, in Indianapolis. There is much controversy in the air.
The New Yorker wrote this hit piece on the NRA a few days ago.
As soon as I saw that it was informed by The Trace, an organ funded by the vehemently anti-gun Michael Bloomberg, I realized it needed to be taken with more than a grain of salt. That seemed a little like someone doing a criminal investigation on a sitting President based on a file provided by a bitterly hateful political party that wanted to destroy him…ah, but when could that ever happen? With Bloomberg dollars behind it, I figured it would be about as impartial and unbiased as me writing about the NRA from the supporting side.
However, there are a lot of strong NRA supporters whom I respect, and who have more inside knowledge of the organization than I. One of them is Jeff Knox, son of the late NRA firebrand Neal Knox. It is quoted here by a pro-2A source I respect.
Looks like it’ll be an interesting three days. I’ll keep you posted.
Your comments are invited as always.
Thanks Mas!
Since moving from NJ to NC I’ve heard more and more grumbling from members who are displeased with the NRA’s leadership. So, although Anthony Colandro didn’t earn the votes he needed to be on the BOD, I’m praying he’ll get the support he needs to be the 76th Director of the NRA!
Blessings from Race City USA!
It’s easy to write off the New Yorker article as being informed by The Trace and therefore suspect (as it should be), but it would seem there’s a lot of real meat there.
Or, as John Richardson put it:
My initial thought involved blind pigs and acorns, but the gist is the same: New Yorker writer Mike Spies might have an anti-NRA agenda, and The Trace certainly does, but that doesn’t automatically mean everything they publish is completely non-factual.
The NRA leadership is going to have to step very carefully in the near future if the organization is to weather this attack, and honestly, I’m not 100% sure they can.
Here is an article on TTAG by Adam Kraut about some of the drama –
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2019/04/ttag-contributor/existential-threat-the-crisis-at-the-nra/
See you tomorrow at the meeting!
And here’s the latest as published in The NY Times on 04/26/19:
In N.R.A. Power Struggle, Insurgents Seek to Oust Wayne LaPierre
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/26/business/nra-wayne-lapierre-oliver-north.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
Given the limitless funds being funneled gleefully by former Mayor Bloomberg to hysterical, rabid opponents of private gun ownership, street level NRA members need to remain resolute and steadfast by not heading for the exits upon learning of political jousting occurring at the top of the NRA pyramid.
The NRA may be imperfect, but its existence and effectiveness are not in doubt. In fact, the off the charts degree of pathological hatred for the NRA demonstrated by every single one of the declared Democrat Socialist Presidential candidates reveals just how effective the NRA is in an era when the Second Amendment needs all the protection it can get. Fellow NRA members, stay strong!
It’s time for the BoD to step up and replace LaPierre and whoever else needs to go. NOW!
The madness must stop now before more harm is done to the organization
Correct..The administration of the NRA is destroying the organization with their radical ways. When I was young I had no money to join. 40 years and a good income I was offer a free lifetime member ship from an occasion I belonged to. I said no thank you and have since dropped the organization.
We don’t need these radial wack jobs running our country.
I have nothing to hide…. Why can’t the Senate & Congress or the AMERICAN people look at Trumps background and history?? . What is he hiding. What are his cabinet member’s hiding.
Just what is the core issue of this controversy. Is it straying from the focus on the second or is it the way or methods used to get the message out it seems the grassroots understands the message but media lies have twisted things plus commie money is backing gun. Hater outfits. Is it that new approach may be needed to teach the basic principles of the second since events have been turned against it’s true meaning.
Greed and power are intoxicants magnitudes of order more powerful than any know physical (chemical) substance. Even the best can be led astray from the high road.
Regardless, tolerance of such is unacceptable. The difficulties are multiple. In this situation it would appear that greed (compensation & contracts, etc) have over taken the core missions.
What remains in question is what, if anything, can be done to correct this situation. And at what cost?
I offended (again, as I have been offended in the past) when, with the introduction of NRA Carry Guard, some other providers were told they could not participate in the Annual Meeting event. Strong arm tactics and bullying should have no place in the NRA. Nor should compensation and contracts that don’t put the best interests of the NRA’s primary objectives first. Making a living working at the NRA is one thing. Making it your own personal business is another.
It would seem that LaPierre and members of the Audit Committee, the Finance Committee, and the Executive Committee need to go. One way or another. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
The biggest question is, will they manage to stay until the death of the NRA forces the out? That would look good in the history books. Right?
The honourable … oh wait. Scratch that line of thinking. We don’t seem to have many leaders in this country that go there much anymore, if we ever did. Cought with your hand in the cookie jar? Just hire a good attorney and fight for your right to those cookies. Even if they are not yours.
JMHO, Paul S
Life & Benefactor Member
Parent of 3 Life Members
Son of a deceased WWII Marine Veteran of the Pacific Theater who quit his NRA membership some 15 years ago due to intrusive fundraising phone calls & mailings.
I have to remember to stop using the phone to post (long) comments …
Sounds like several of these comments are from anti gun advocates posing as pro gunners.
Just because someone can see the problems within the NRA and acknowledge them does not make them an anti-gunner. Your attitude more reflects a worship of the organization and a belief that anyone who does not bow down before it is a heretic. And no, I am not an anti-gun advocate. I have several guns, my carry permit and carry wherever it is legal.
Let’s see what the board does. But the NRA has strayed far afield from gun safety, training and defense of Second Amendment with reasonable intelligence.
I just read an armed citizen account about a concealed carry citizen at a bank during a robbery. Bad guys had fired no shots. Tellers gave them the money. They were leaving when a would-be cop pulls his gun and shoots one, who then fires back on way out door. Thankfully, no one else was hurt. I am sure Mr. Ayoob would say the citizen was in the wrong and actually made the situation more deadly. He is just the kind of guy Ayoob talks about in one of his videos who is eager to shoot his way into the armed citizen column. Ayood is right. But why in hell would the NRA want to PROMOTE such behavior by publishing it?
I was an NRA member at one time but left as it shifted much of the focus to non-gun politics and unreasonable rejection of any discussion of how to stop massacres in our nation by fellow Americans. When it opposed gun sales to those on the no-fly list, that was the final straw.
Glenn N, I was with you right up to the no fly list thing.
To consider my perspective for a bit, skip the gun aspect for a moment and play ‘what if’.
What if you were planning to attend you daughter’s destination wedding. And you show up with ticket in hand to find out you cannot walk your daughter down the isle because, in secret, without notification, you were put on the list by mistake. Even if you find out months in advance, you will be more than hard pressed to resolve the issue. Maybe you can catch a boat? (Does being on the list blocks that mode of transport? IDK).
The good news is, if you reallywere a bad guy/terrorist, you wouldn’t be allowed on a plane to possibly kill hundreds.
The other bad news is, if you really were bad guy, is there are plenty of other ways to kill hundreds or more And you are still walking around free to try (inspite of the probable surveillance).
Why can’t we have nice laws? Because we always seem to end up with poor and ineffectual laws.
This reminds me of why I quit the NRA when in college. I was NRA rifle, pistol & shotgun instructor, a collegiate competition shooter, helped coach a junior rifle team, etc. And I quit the NRA because, while i was swamped in school & life, I drank the koolaid and bought into the “cop killer’ bullets frenzy (I think that was the one that caused the warm fuzzy brain fog).
Sure, if they are bad actors, let us deal with them. But due process is important. Not because it protects the bad guys. It is important because it protects the good guys.
In my example, maybe you pissed off a sworn individual or an ex in a position to use the system against you …. it may not have been an accident. And then we have red flag laws. At least you get notification (via the gun in your face at 5am dark And a hearing (however farcical it may be in some jurisdictions …
Not so much with the no fly list.
Apologies for any issues in this post. Time is pressing & I am on the cell again with small screen, etc, etc.
Are you concerned with comments here on this blog? Today’s blog comments?
If so, I would suggest that some very pro gun people are frustrated at hearing that some in the NRA may be less than fiscally responsible. Or, possibly even abusing their positions and ignoring their responsibilities. Contracts in question? Potential financial conflicts of interest? Inadequate oversight? Potential failure to comply with legal requirements?
It is easy to start seeing patterns. Follow the money becomes relevant. These potential issues & problems are not unique to any group, pro or anti gun, Democrat or Republican, capitalist or communist or any other group.
Consider: Reasonable compensation for highly competent individuals is understandable. We might all draw the lines different. Differing opinions on those lines doesn’t mean someone wants to destroy the organization or is anti gun any more than it means highly competent individuals would all demand, expect or even accept the current levels of compensation. If Ollie is truly making millions through contract with a certain vendor and then asks for compensation as President, a previously uncompensated position, it raises questions. As does The level of Exec VP’s compensation and benefits. If the job is getting done (and it seems that may no be the case), and the finances are strong, we can argue the lines. If not, reality will settle the issues for us. This is true for any organization.
ILooks as if media got it right. As they do more often than many like to admit.
Sadly, they may have far to much correct. Although they still put their spin and hype on what they do get correct. Gotta work the masses into a frenzy.
The Attorney General of NY, Letitia James, is under pressure herself to force dissolution of the NRA. Late Friday she fired the first salvo in a subpoena that issued a document preservation notice to the NRA and affiliates. These are not issued if further legal action is not anticipated.
As someone said to me tonight, it is better to get all of this out there now 18 months before the next election instead of 6 months before the 2020 election. We will at least be able to remedy some of the problems. I hope.
I have been a Life Member of the NRA for about 40 years now. Yet, I don’t know much about the internal discussions and politics that play out inside the NRA. All large organizations have internal politics. That is in the nature of all organized human activities.
I do know that the NRA has been pretty effective over the years in protecting the 2nd Amendment. I have read comments where people either (A) say that the NRA does not do enough or, (B) that the NRA is too radical and does too much. In general, I disagree with both of the above views.
I disagree with the claim that the NRA does not do enough because I see the pure, extreme hatred that is poured (daily) upon the NRA by the American Left, by Leftist politicians and by their propagandists in the Anti-American Media. The goal of the American Left is to disarm the American People so that armed citizens will not be able to stand in their way when they seize total political power in the USA.
Call me paranoid if you wish, say that I am a Right-Wing nut, but I stand by the above statement. A cold, objective study of the world history of Left-Wing ideologies supports the idea that Left-wing political thought trends toward totalitarianism and is fundamentally opposed to the concept of a representative Republic such has we have here in the USA. President Obama was not just engaging in hyperbole when he talked about “Transforming America”. Many people want to believe that he meant transforming it into a better, fairer democracy. He did not. He was speaking of transforming America from a representative Republic into a totalitarian, socialist State.
If the NRA was just a bunch of inept “Keystone Cops”, the American Left would just laugh at them. They would not hate them with such utter venom! I, therefore, conclude that the best evidence of the effectiveness of the NRA is the fact that they remain “Target No. 1” for the Left. When Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton said that a prime goal of her administration would be to fight the NRA, she provided all the evidence that I will ever need that the NRA must be doing something right.
As for the other view, that the NRA is too radical, I can only pity those who hold this view. They (clearly) do not understand the dangers posed to America by the Left. The Left floods the airwaves with their propaganda hourly and many are deceived by the poison that they publish. Many truly believe that guns are the problem and that their restriction will bring us a better, less violent world. The Left, like all totalitarian movements, loves to sell utopia as cover to hide their true goals. They tell people that they only want fairness, diversity, ecological stability, peace and love! What they really want is ABSOLUTE POLITICAL POWER AND WEALTH for themselves. The propaganda is just part of their “bread and circuses” act to get the power. Those who believe that the NRA is “too radical” have bought into the BIG LEFT-WING LIE.
All the Left understands is POWER. How to get it. How to keep it. How to use it to reward their friends and to punish their enemies. They do not either believe in or understand true democracy. The NRA is still a democratic organization (at least I hope so!) and I have faith that they will work out their internal problems and emerge stronger than ever.
That is what we are facing in America today. A struggle between democracy and totalitarianism. We know, in world history, that left-wing totalitarianism sometimes wins. However, if our Democracy is strong enough, both the NRA and America will prevail in the end. If Democracy fails, we (The American People) will only have ourselves to blame because the Founding Fathers gave us the tools to prevail. We just need the Will to use them.
Comments are closed.