Marion Hammer NRA Wayne LaPierre
(AP Photo/Phil Coale)

The quote of the day is presented by Guns.com

Former NRA President and current Florida lobbyist consultant Marion Hammer took to the pages of the Washington Times to torch almost everyone in the gun rights community who isn’t named Wayne LaPierre. Call us cynical, but this poison pen letter reads more as an act of desperation than a show of support.

Leaving the NRA in the hands of a bunch of novices who haven’t done 1 percent of what Wayne has helped the NRA accomplish is a pure recipe for disaster.

You may think they’re well-meaning but they likely couldn’t figure out how to run the NRA or a 50-state legislative operation, period.

From all appearances, Save the Second is just an extension of the 22-year-old failed coup attempt against Wayne by led by the late NRA board member Neal Knox, whose son is gun-rights supporter Jeff Knox of the Firearms Coalition.

It’s the NRA that has been fighting and winning against gun bans, ammo bans and gun registration schemes, and has helped pass numerous pro-self-defense and pro-gun laws.

Where would we gun-rights defenders be without the NRA and Wayne LaPierre? You really don’t have to go that far back to find that there was a supposed pro-gun group — Alan Gottleib’s Citizen’s Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms —  that agreed to Barack Obama and billionaire gun-confiscator Michael Bloomberg’s terrible scheme for a universal background check after Sandy Hook.

Universal background checks prevent common, innocent acts like a grandfather giving a family firearm to his 12-year-old grandson without the absurdity of a background check.

And, while that group put out sweeping press statements and declarations, the reality is that it can do so only because no one of consequence takes the group seriously.

– Marion Hammer in Who’s behind the attacks on the NRA leadership and why

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76 COMMENTS

  1. It looks like she’s fighting for the NRA, but she’s really fighting for her paycheck. Imagine if everyone tied to the NRA fought for 2A rights as hard as they fight for themselves.

    • Actually, Hammer is speaking the truth.

      No one ever mentions exactly who should run NRA should WLP step down. Her comment concerning “novices” is right on target- name one person who could have, or could continue to raise the roughly $1.6 million per day that Wayne has done over the past 20+ years. Certainly none of the deserters from the Board, or Cox. And you have to question the motives of people like Dell’Aquila, who is trying to buy his way into leadership or a Board spot, circumventing the standard election process by 5 yr/Life members.

      The vast majority of the “gun owning” NRA haters/detractors are using exactly the same methods as Bloomberg, Soros, Steyer and the like. They are primarily a lynch mob shouting inuendo, accusations and making charges, yet there has been no trial, no actual proof that anyone at NRA has committed any crime. Does any serious firearms advocate really believe Andrew Cuomo? Seriously?

      Really, all of this trashing by non-members or those who thought they’d be able to run NRA without having to actually do something positive to earn a spot is a bit boring. So stick with your little yapping “no compromise gun groups”, together they can’t make up a fraction of what NRA actually is, nor is capable of accomplishing as far as maintaining America’s primary right. Then add training, safety programs, outreach to communities. None of the other groups combined have even contemplated any of this. It’s too bad that NRA must battle the enemies within as well as those who are on record as seeking to overturn the Second Amendment. Keep it up- Cuomo, Bloomberg, Steyer will even toss you some money to use if you ask, or if you haven’t already gotten some. Crazy.

      • It is too bad that the NRA has to fight enemies from within.

        If we can get WLP to step down, I’m thinking the enemy will be removed.

        As to who can raise that kind of money? That question is best asked of industry insiders. My guess is that many, in fact a great many, can do far better than Wayne.

        Wayne is damaged. You can imply he’s been damaged by an orchestrated smear campaign by the left. Okay, I dont agree, but that does not change the core basic fact that he’s been damaged. I do not believe his fundraising power is going to be a reasonable fraction of what it has been.

        My guess, and thats all it can be as I’m not in that sphere, is that there will be a vast number of people who can substantially outraise WLP.

        Moreover; even if that is NOT true, and somehow hes capable of still being a fundraising monster; that does not change the fact that his already well established corrupt acts should call for him to be removed.

        Just cause a guy can raise bucks, does not mean he’s an honerable man. Bill Clinton was a money making machine for DCCC.

        …and so?

        He’s still not the kinda guy I’d want my kids to admire.

        Nope, I hear what your saying, but in my not so humble opinion….

        Wayne gotta go.

      • No matter how good a leader has been, once his presence becomes toxic to the organization, he should leave. All good leaders know that.

        To say that an individual can not be replaced is simply false and close to glorifying the individual over the institution. We are all replaceable. One person does not make an institution. The good people of the NRA will carry on and fight the good fight.

        Wayne had the opportunity to leave on a high note. Now, he will always be remembered for the damage he’s caused the NRA and all his good works will be forgotten. Not a good legacy.

        • Yep. No matter what other good he may have done, the simple fact is that Wayne LaPierre has also led the NRA into a crippling crisis.

          Half the members have no faith in his leadership, the appearance of impropriety looms over the entire organization, the board of directors has no idea what’s going on, the organization is cutting products and services while doubling its pleas for money, and the enemies we rely on the NRA to keep at bay are circling in for the kill.

          These are the conditions *right now* and WLP’s leadership — or perhaps lack of it — brought us here. Even if other people did all the really bad things, keeping the organization on track was HIS job. It’s the kind of failure that no leader can (nor should) survive.

          I can only hope the NRA itself survives it.

        • One of my first employers told me, “if your company cannot operate without one person, then it is time to fire that person”.
          All companies and corporations, should have in place, multiple people who can step up to the plate, and do each others job.
          Accidents, illness, etc. happen every day.

          • “One of my first employers told me, “if your company cannot operate without one person, then it is time to fire that person”.”

            Single-point-of-failure; unrealistic optimism.

            Once worked for a distribution center. A single, low level employee was the only person who really understood operations, and the supporting computer system (CIO was a pure techie). One afternoon, leaving work, I saw the entire senior staff in the lobby of the company, talking to the one person who understood the business, operations and IT. She made a fraction of the money represented by the senior staff. As we approached (my director was leaving at the same time) the gaggle, it became clear that if the woman did not stay late to “fix” something, the company would suffer a monetary and reputational damage. I noted to the director that there was something wrong when a single low level employee meant success or failure of the business, at a given moment. The director asked, “Why would you say that?”. I just shrugged, and kept walking.

            Similar experience with a major defense contractor at another time.

        • And how many millions did Wayne overpay for legal and marketing “services?” Do we have a total on that yet?

      • George Washington was indispensable. Abraham Lincoln was indispensable. Wayne LaPierre is NOT indispensable. There are many who can do his job better without the corruption and waste and at a lower salary too. He is replaceable. He and his cronies at the NRA headquarters and on the NRA Board must go before I will donate another cent. We have other organizations that can defend the Second Amendment: GOA, FPC, SAF, etc.

      • ALL we are asking for is TRANSPARENCY!

        An institution like the NRA depends upon it to accomplish its mission and continue to grow its membership rolls.

        I am a Life Member. I KNOW how important and strong the NRA is or was.

        They will get no more of my money until I see what is really going on.

      • Everyone is a novice because Wayne has been running a one of a kind organization for the last several decades.

        You can’t find someone else with experience doing this because they don’t exist.

        That does not however mean that Wayne should continue to head the organization after scandal after scandal has destroyed confidence within the memberbase and brought universal scorn from without.

        Give someone else a chance. They’ll figure it out. Anything is better than letting WLP and his cronies continue to run the association into the ground for their own personal gain.

      • Very few people are all good or all bad, but the fact is that if you aren’t managing money so poorly, you don’t need to raise as much, or if you do, you can put it to better use.

      • The NRA supported Red Flag laws, has done nothing about the Hughes Amendment, does nothing in CA or IL, and generally does not help state-level associations. WLP has gutted the NRA-ILA, and been balls-deep in horrid financial mismanagement. He has NOT been solely responsible for all the money brought in by the organization. The attorney firms retained by him at ludicrous expense are known DNC supporters. WLP needs to go, or the NRA will not survive. Hammer can go too if for nothing else than her anti-MG position.

      • I have seen time and again how the NRA does nothing and is nowhere to be found when we are fighting for pro gun legislation or against anti gun legislation. Until we succeed. Then the NRA is always in the photo op of the governor signing something.

        As bad as that is in itself, worse is the fact that the NRA has supported every piece of federal gun control that has ever passed, including selling out non hunters for Fudds in the 1994 AWB. In 2010 they opposed “campaign finance reform” that would for ce pro gun groups to publish lists of their members and donors. when the legislation was amended to exclude the NRA, and only the NRA, then they supported it.

        Wayne or no Wayne, the NRA has never been a pro gun organization.

      • Crazy? It certainly is. You are mistaken about Dell’Aquila. I should know. He neither wants a leadership position nor board seat. He wants to go back in to retirement as soon as the NRA becomes accountable to its members. You really don’t know what you are talking about and this proves my point.

  3. They are all scrubs. Glad I didnt pay for a lifetime. I let my membership lapse and wont renew it in the foreseeable future without major changes at the NRA. Not gonna happen. Sad to see such a grand ship burn.

    • Same. My multi-year membership lapsed a couple of months ago, and now I’m receiving renewal mailers every week (for most of 2019, actually).

      They’re just not understanding that they cannot paper over the *perception* that the NRA is being mis-managed. Even if it’s true that 90% of what they do (and have done) is positive, the horse is out of the barn on the other 10% and they cannot turn a blind eye to it. Not while the rank-and-file gun owners focus on it.

      A cleansing must happen, Marion.

  4. For Marion Hammer’s $300,000 a year, I’ll extol the virtues of Wayne LaPierre from 30 years ago too. More than once or twice a month, in fact, since I don’t have two dozen cats I have to take care of instead of doing real work.

    So how ’bout it, Wayne?

  5. The sledge hammer seems to have left out the corruption and financial mismanagement her buddy Wayne perpetrated. And the departure of several key people who did the real work and lifting as well.

    But oh we need to rally behind wayne and send even more money.

  6. “Universal background checks prevent common, innocent acts like a grandfather giving a family firearm to his 12-year-old grandson without the absurdity of a background check”

    12 year olds aren’t legally permitted to own guns, it has to go to an adult both legally and practically. But who is worrying about details when trying to scare up a few bucks.

  7. She sounds like a woman who has a great deal of $$$ to lose. She is scared. And that is a good thing. Fear can be a positive motivator. It doesn’t have to always be negative.

  9. Not another dime until Wayne LaPierre and all his cronies on the board are gone. Until then GOA gets my donations…time to do that again for me this month.

  10. If Wayne really cared about the cause he would step down. He isn’t the only man in America who can run the NRA effectively.

  11. Congratulations Comrades and denizens and decedents of the Neanderthals. With comrades like you the NRA is doomed and the 2020 elections are in the bag for the gun grabbers. Remember a Neanderthal is his own worst enemy. Save a penny today by not joining the NRA and lose your entire gun collection in 2020. Brilliant. Michael Bloomberg sends love and kisses. Besides when the gun grabbers win I will be out of a job with nothing left to do except work overtime at the smelter. By the way anyone know what scrap gun steel and recyclable plastic is worth these days? I will be getting tons of it for free soon.

    • Vlad’s fascination with neanderthals goes all the way back to our childhood. After the Beverly Hillbillies, (That’s where his obsession with hillbillies comes from) the Flintstones used to be his favorite television show. Out of the four of us, he was the only one that wanted to watch it but we always let him have his way because he was such a whiner. Not much has changed. He still whines and causes a scene if he doesn’t get his way. The old tattered and stained Ellie Mae Clampett poster he used to go to bed with has given way to an Ellie Mae Inflatable sex doll. He’s went through a half dozen of them over the years. It’s kind of sad really. He’s all alone and spends all day at his computer, with his Ellie Mae doll or dressing up like Che Guevara and admiring himself in the mirror.

  13. Ms. Hammer doth protest too much and with every poison penned letter she only makes more of a case for the other organizations she criticizes.
    It’s the NRA that has been kneeling and capitulating to further infringements of the 2 nd. amendment schemes with the guidance of the likes of WLP,Hammer and others.

    Not One Inch More. No More Gun Laws. No More Compliance. No Surrender, No Compromise,Of The Second Amendment !!!

  15. What appears to be going on is misled people trying to convince NRA members there’s problems in the organization and they hope to dismantle the strongest lobbying group for pro 2nd amendment rights. Remember this the NRA can only sustain its strength with a strong and loyal membership.

    • If the NRA was hoping to maintain memberships and keep the donations flowing in within my state, then they should have made a real effort to stop the terrible iniatives that, in part due to the NRA not putting any major effort to stop them, passed and made gun ownership much more fraught and difficult.

      The fact is, the NRA seemed to totally abandon my state… so why should I be interested in them at all?

    • Did you miss the fact that Wayne summarily fired the head of the ILA? You don’t think that Wayne was hitting up all of those politicians–other than Trump–personally , did you?

  16. We have met the enemy and they are us! But, if that isn’t bad enough, congress has also recognized us as them. Goodbye 2A!!

  17. Parasites never go down without a fight… this is just one more leach sinking their teeth in deeper as they are being pulled off the host.

    We need the NRA… just not in its current form. The faster we get these goons out, the more likely we are to be able to save it. People like Hammer would rather destroy the NRA (and take our rights with them on the way down) than step asside.

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

    I am convinced these days that ALL the supposed gun rights orgs are money scams primarily. Some how, as Hoffer said, a civil rights movement got hooked up with the gun makers and a bunch of parasites took over a juicy opportunity to rack in Billions of bucks over the last 4 decades or so. Hammer is right when she points the bony figure at the “new” crew salivating over taking over. They ain’t pure of heart me suspects. Eff em all.

  20. To answer her questions: without the NRA, we’d have lost a lot of our 2A rights long ago. Without good ol’ Wayne, we’d be a hell of a lot more effective and in a better place.

  21. She’s Pepe LePew’s Dick Cheney… go make enemies while he stays behind the curtain. Only difference is Cheney was competent and as far as I know, not a kelpto.

    On a related subject, I don’t want LePew fired… or rather not just fired. What I want is:\

    1. Fired
    2. Restitution of the all $ he embezzled
    3. Jail for embezzlement and fraud

  22. I love how everyone spergs out about Wayne. Wayne bad because he bought nice suits. Wayne bad for being corrupt. Wayne bad because he doesn’t explictly support my God given right to open carry a ma deuce 50 cal. Wayne bad because he hates Jews. Wayne bad because he didn’t pay for Dana Loesch’s augmentation surgery.

    Support the NRA! Support Wayne!

    Infighting will kill us.

  23. I’ve joined four things in my 76 years walking this earth. The military for four years and 31 days. That didn’t work well, got spit by my fellow americans, while wearing the uniform. First marriage, got two great sons, and, a divorce after 26 years. (my fault) Second marriage now going to 36 years, still working well. Joined the human race, that was my mother and fathers fault (wasn’t consulted or I would have refused). So no I haven’t joined the NRA or any other organizations. I’m pretty much of a defend myself type person. With that in mind, what difference does it make about whatever the idiots do. The only thing I care about is if and when someone tries to harm my family or myself, with again whatever, that I’ll have a weapon of equal strength in hand. One of the reasons I called them idiots is there are damned near 400 million guns out and about in a population of 308 point 5 million people. Another reason is the idiots want to delegate their responsibility for personal defense to a government official which in all likelihood is not going get there in less than ten minutes. And may present more danger than the bad person. Something else I’d like to get off my chest is according to some figures I’ve read 37.6 percent of the population of texas is gun owners, there were, as I’ve read, 3,000 shoppers in the El Paso Walmart. Where were all those bad ass bear eaters and bull riders at that Rodeo? 1128 heros and nobody showed up. I would like to know how many of the victims were armed. I would also like to know how many of the victims families wish their loved ones had been armed and able to defend themselves.

    • Wait…

      You’re 76 years old and have been married 36 years. So you entered your current marriage at age 40.

      Assuming only a single year between Wife 1 and Wife 2, your divorce from your first wife happened when you were age 39. If it lasted 26 years, you were married at only 13???

      Something’s amiss in your story, ‘ol fella.

  24. Gun rights groups fighting each other is about the stupidest thing I’ve heard of since Neville Chamberlain went to Munich.

  25. And we should believe the NRA because? They participated in the abuse of power that is the bump stock fiasco, and helped generate up to a half million fresh felons…many who are probably members or supporters. Seems like a bad way to convince people you’re looking out for their rights.

  26. I apologize for leaving out a couple things. They ain’t gonna be able to find more than two percent of all them guns. And lastly “I’d rather carry a firearm all my life, and not need it, than to need it and not have it. ” (Which I have and do)

  27. Still not going to renew my NRA membership old Marion. Or is that Old Wayne?!? You screwed ILL. Nuff sent…

  28. Maybe Marion is feeling a bit insecure in her position? Needed to write something to assure LoppyEars that she is in full support of whatever he wants?

    If you think about it, Marion sounds like a leftist; superior to all us deplorables, determined to eradicate the undeserving.

  29. I’m a lifer, and will remain as such although I won’t give as a personal protest to the current leadership. I believe that abandoning membership is like abandoning a brother. NRA still exists. It still needs people, active or not. I agree with those who stand aside until something changes, but why stand aside if you have the potential possibility to change? I’m not necessarily advocating rejoining, but to me, the NRA is still a formidable arm for the second Amendment and has the tenure and relationship history, if in name only, to have their foot in the door in the right places. Should these other smaller groups choose to help the NRA instead of competing with the NRA, and vice versa, we just might possibly have a force formidable enough to turn the gun-rights titanic.

    Just because the captain and officers suck, does that mean we abandon ship altogether?

  30. Overpaid x100 Failed old guards fighting for their paychecks like Marion Hammer, Wayne PEPELePew who have lived lavish lifestyles for decades….on the backs of millions of members making minimum wage were 40,000 members dues only go to Wayne’s suits 4 a year.

    They fail to realize how bad we hate them & will not tolerate them any longer!

    Its like….if ur in my car & i tell u to get out & u refuse and continue with excuses…guess what…I am going to kick u OUT fast and hard while driving highway speeds!

    Cat Lady & PEPE! GTFO! NOW! End of the line! And we take their Retirements too!

    https://twitter.com/rschooley/status/968156210644987904

  33. I take exception that Ms. Hammer claims unqualified successes, while ignoring the work of the Second Amendment Foundation and others.

    It’s obvious that NRA leadership is soundly behind WLP. They will go down with the ship.

    The truth is, the NRA has primarily been a cash cow for its leadership. I can’t recall any other club that encouraged you to leave your estate to it. America’s First Freedom includes a helpful “Guide” to create a “Constitutionally Centered Will”.

    I have zero problems contributing to worthwhile causes but the NRA has taken it to the next level with their fund raising arsenal. The alleged abuses by WLP need to be competently addressed ASAP. Me, I’m waiting to see what’s going to happen. If our concerns are not addressed, I’ll throw my support (money) elsewhere.

  34. Throw WLP out the door and Hammer will follow… she doesn’t have a choice since her lips are stuck to his ass.

  35. She has a virtually identical diatribe in this month’s American Rifleman, too. When the turmoil reaches the pages of their flagship glossy magazine, you know it’s reaching deep and wide.

  36. ” Alan Gottleib’s Citizen’s Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms — that agreed to Barack Obama and billionaire gun-confiscator Michael Bloomberg’s terrible scheme for a universal background check after Sandy Hook.”

    She makes a serious accusation here against the founder of the Second Amendment Foundation. Anyone know anything about this? I mean other than Ms. Hammer cannot be trusted..

    • It’s true. Gottlieb did announce support for the Manchin-Toomey bill in the Sandy Hook furor. He also withdrew it VERY quickly because it was clear that none of the people the CCRKBA or SAF represented supported it.

      And the bill didn’t pass…unlike the NRA’s successful support for an extralegal ban on bump stocks. So take that for what it’s worth.

  37. If you can’t show the millions of members where the money they donate goes in a transparent fashion, you don’t deserve their monetary support. Plain and simple. Add in some more than questionable actions, and you should be removed with prejudice.

    As it is, the NRA doesn’t even represent all of its members. If you own an NFA item or don’t like Country & Western music or like run ‘n gun shooting competitions, I get the impression they would just as soon you leave your money on the table and shut up.

    The NRA needs leadership with a positive vision. What it has isn’t close to being that.

  38. Wayne should step down if he really cares about saving the 2nd amendment.

    He is a distraction taking away from a very important fight. He is doing more harm than good. We need new leadership in the NRA focused on one thing, saving the 2nd and not just saving Wayne.

    It is time for him to go.

    Joe Wilson Patron #4875884

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