[ED: We asked readers to give us their thoughts on the the current controversies swirling around the National Rifle Association and we’ve received a number of thoughtful responses. Click the link above if you’d like to contribute, too. Here are a few more and we’ll continue to run them over the coming days as we receive them.]
Dave S. from Ohio writes:
The current controversies surrounding the National Rifle Association should not be a surprise, nor should they be feared. The NRA is a tremendously large organization that handles billions of dollars in cash and property. The membership is as diverse as any population could be. It is made up of people from every educational, economic, and social stratum drawn from every corner of the nation and even some international members.
That there are expenditures that some consider excessive and others deem necessary is a reflection of the different fiscal priorities of such a broad group. That a business relationship is regarded as necessary by some and seen as incestuous by others is
not odd; it is a function of the diverse backgrounds, experiences, and opinions of millions of people.What is a surprise is that so many are so concerned that the inner workings of an organization whose members have always had the right to review financial and policy
documents should be made “public.” What is more surprising, and what we ought to concern ourselves with, is why so many believe this will weaken the organization.The detractors of the NRA are correct: we are in crisis. But it is not a crisis at the executive level. It is a crisis of leadership by the members. These struggles must serve to strengthen the organization by energizing a far too lethargic body of members into real action. Action that focuses on our core mission of promoting accurate and safe marksmanship AND the work of ensuring the freedoms required to participate in those activities at times and places of our choosing.
Finances, salaries, and the inter-woven relationships among leadership and external organizations ought not be surprises to anyone. These facts were and are openly available to anyone and everyone with a membership number. The notion that this information now provides detractors much needed ammunition is political grandstanding.
It is ludicrous to believe that those who are philosophically at odds with the NRA are just now getting a “peek behind the curtain.” Organizations as well-funded as those that oppose the NRA can spare $25 a year to obtain a membership for an “operative” who can then merrily go about the business of obtaining information as a member and passing it on.
That is not to say that some of the issues raised should not be investigated. Quite the contrary. Members have a duty to seek out facts and satisfy themselves that their money is being spent as they expect it should be in accordance with the organization’s by-laws.
This current dilemma we face is not about the cost of the CEO’s suits or travel destinations. We are having a personality crisis. Right now, the vast majority of us (yes, us – I am quite guilty of this) pay our dues, assume that the organization will fly itself while it does our bidding, and then we head off to the range to shoot and lament the erosion of our freedoms.
What bidding? That depends on whom you ask, and therein lies part of the problem. Is the NRA, at its core, a firearms safety training organization? A 2A rights “hardliner”, give-no-quarter, make-no-compromise organization? A 2A rights some-constraints-are-necessary-and-acceptable organization? A competitive rules, standards, policy, and event tracking organization? A hunting and field shooting advocate and training organization?
Right now it is trying to be everything to everyone. The old adage, “You can please some of the people some of the time…” has never rung more true than it does in describing the NRA of 2019. While there is a need for all of the advocacy mentioned above, it is far too complex a set of issues to be handled by one single organization. There is no way to develop a strategy for success in the face of such varied lines of effort.
I am a Patriot Benefactor Life Member. So, what? In this organization, all that really says is that I paid more money for a membership. I am an NRA certified RSO and instructor. I regularly teach Hunter Safety. I have gone to a few Friends of the NRA banquets, but never worked at one.
I write to my legislators now and then, but I have never, not once, written to the NRA. I wanted to. I just never took the time. Now, smacked in the face with the results of my own inaction and failure, I put pen to paper.
We must define who we are. To begin, we must define, or perhaps simply remember, the strategic goals of the organization, and we must be specific about them.
Lofty, vaporous goals like “defend the Second Amendment” are outdated and useless. Moreover, that is not not actually a stated purpose of the organization. Defend a particular paragraph of words contained in a larger document? Nonsense.
The strategic goals of the NRA should be broad, I agree. But they must be specific. They must be measurable. They must be widely known and understood. The membership must drive the organization to adhere to them.
Currently, if you go to the NRA’s public facing website, NRA.org, and scroll to the bottom you find “About the NRA.” Click that, and you are given 14 paragraphs about the history of the NRA. In only one paragraph, the last one, are the NRA’s political efforts mentioned. Yet, I assure you that if you ask ten people what the NRA’s purpose is, you will be met with ten answers involving politics, law, or firearms-related policy.
I doubt that you could find many, even members, who could articulate co-founder Colonel William C. Church’s statement that the association existed to “…promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis.”
The lack of known strategic goals and stated organizational values is an epic failure. I worked for over an hour to find a link on NRA.org to the charter, the by-laws, or any strategy document. I finally logged onto “member services” and still could not
find anything. I ended up on a “chat” with a membership representative who could not provide the documents but directed me to NRA-ILA.NRA-ILA? That is supposed to be our lobbying group, not the keepers of our core documents! I emailed them and am awaiting a response. This vignette is indicative of the current culture of the NRA and its members.
These documents are not available because, well, no one cares. If we, the members, did care, they would be out in front and available. Again, the crisis is not in how the leadership operates. The crisis is in how we as members fail to operate.
Yes, we must ask ourselves how much the leadership should be compensated and what we are getting for that compensation. That is a fair question to ask about any “corporate” leadership in any organization. That cannot be our focus.
We must get back to the core of the organization. I believe that there is a need for many aspects previously mentioned, and I think that the creation of the NRA-ILA is a good start, but it is not the end.
The NRA should focus on the promotion of accurate and safe marksmanship with the core lines of effort being education, training, and competition. These are apolitical lines of effort focused on activities, events, research, and execution.
The NRA-ILA should continue the lobbying effort and take the forefront of the political activities. Truthfully, it is they who should be drawing the ire of those who oppose the current NRA. NRA TV has its merits and should continue in some measure.
Somehow, we must find a way to “re-brand” the political, non-lobbying efforts of the NRA. Either those efforts are rolled into NRA-ILA or another co-branded organization takes root. We can start by focusing the public-facing NRA.org website on the core lines of effort as described above.
Finally, membership levels should be defined by how much you do, not how much you contribute. Those who are active as instructors, trainers, club officers, match directors and workers, Range Safety Officers, etc. Those are the people who have earned and deserve special recognition.
I accept the need for “presidents’ level” individual benefactors and corporate sponsors. Certainly, they have their place as well, but we must recognize, reward, and encourage those who do the “work” of the organization.
We must better articulate the purpose of the organization as it was first conceived. We must make that our rally cry, and our members must be able to echo that mantra to any and all.
This from Michael Robitaille:
In regards to recent events regarding the NRA, in my personal opinion, things do need to change. Fresh blood is needed to head the organization.
I am a life member of “Freedom’s Safest Place” (AKA the National Rifle Association of America) and am in the process of becoming an Endowment Life Member. I am also an NRA Recruiter, so I do get asked about my thoughts/feelings about the current state of affairs.
At last report, there are over 6 million members of the NRA, but only about 2% attend NRA Annual Meetings and it would not surprise if less than that write to the NRA Board of Directors expressing their thoughts/feelings.
To everyone that is displeased with recent events, make your voices heard. Offer up suggestions on how things can be better. Stop being armchair quarterbacks and become more active.
And this from John Woods:
I’m a lifetime NRA member and ardent supporter of the second amendment. The recent controversy has caused me to look at the leadership of the NRA and ask a question. Is the NRA a good steward of the resources we give it?
Before getting to the specific accusations let’s look at the public financials. Wayne gets paid a lot. That would be ok if he is providing value in excess of his cost.
According to charity watch he is the 8th highest paid charity executive. However looking at his salary as a percentage of total contributions and you see he is putting about 5 cents of every dollar donated into his pocket. That’s high both subjectively and objectively compared to other to other charities. Then you notice that the expenses are also well in excess of the contributions. More out than in is not a recipe for fiscal stability.
As to the specific accusations the letter from the board did not address the Brewer legal bills. The rest of the accusations were small potatoes. As the saying goes follow the money.
In the most innocent of interpretations the NRA became fiscally loose as the money rolled in during the Obama years and now a power struggle is going on over the money that’s left. In of itself this leads me to believe the NRA is no longer a good steward or our resources. Visibility and change is needed. Stonewalling and asking the troops to circle the wagons will not work this time.
“In the most innocent of interpretations the NRA became fiscally loose as the money rolled in during the Obama years and now a power struggle is going on over the money that’s left.”
Can you really call something that can be confirmed or denied with the simple question of “What was LaPierre’s salary in 2007?” an “interpretation”?
all of these people who are “life members” may seriously need to re-think that…
There are those annual members, such as myself, who have written to the NRA BoD for years and been completely ignored. The only response I ever received was when I complained about receiving a ball cap from the NRA with an American Flag on it, and it was MADE IN CHINA. I complained specifically about the NRA spending my money to support a Communist, enemy nation. That was it, that was my complaint.
The response I received was from the Membership office where my letter was apparently shifted off to. The short and sweet of it being “we do not refund membership fees”.
I did not ask for any sort of refund. Not one word of my letter talked about a refund.
But of course that is the “small potatoes”. What concerns me far more is the corruptio0n at the top. By this I mean the extreme pay, the “incestuous” relationship with a vendor to the tune of many millions of dollars. The failures to support all aspects of the NRA’s mission(s), including an uncompromising position on the Second Amendment.
My position is one of NO CONFIDENCE in current leadership from the top down.
Not even if they had the sense to switch to MADE IN USA ball caps.
It’s too late to placate me with trinkets, thank you very much.
Yup, treat the non kool-aid drinking members like dirt.
I’ve never been a member but I knew it would be that way because of the attitude of members I talked to; self-righteous, entitled, rationalizing, whiney…
If you do your research, you will see the NRA has backed every major gun bill in American history!
Personally, the NRA makes me sad. Because of what I think it could be versus what it has become. I was a member years ago but tired of the incessant money-begging, nagging phone calls and letters. It got so I would just automatically through any NRA identifiable mail in the trash and any time I got a fund raising call I would just hang up. I eventually did not re-up for membership; even with the lifetime triple very good golden diamond crusted made in china ball cap offer. I just got sick of them. I suspect many others did the same but are not reporting that fact. I’m sure they haven’t missed me at all and that is fine.
There are some very good, thoughtful comments here that I wish the NRA shot-callers would see and heed. I won’t hold my breath since I think they just really don’t care. If they did care, they would do things differently and show more effort and results. That’s how you measure success; results. Effort is nice but I want a winner. As someone once constantly barked into my ear when I wanted to quit, “It pays to be a winner”.
Regarding Wayne LaPierre, who a while back offered the following, “background checks for everyone”, I have since then, found the gentleman questionable. I am a Life Member of NRA, and have been since one since 1975 or so.
I don’t really care what they do with the money. If they didn’t release videos like https://youtu.be/7sNiklO506A
I was trying to debate who ever manages their comments on another video and they called it mis characterization and asked if I watched the video.
They sent me this https://www.nraila.org/get-the-facts/emergency-risk-protection-orders-erpos/
I don’t understand why they would even pretend to support this. If you have proof someone is going to hurt someone or do something bad. You don’t need an erpo. The only purpose of an erpo is to abuse.
The NRA needs to be hardliner or many people will not support it. That was fudd talk I got. Maybe someone else can clarify to me how this could be good in any way for them to support? Both links are as much of their information on it as I could get and none of it is pleasing to me.
Maybe I misunderstood something. Seems like playing both sides and endorsing gun control to me but pretending not too.
As a fairly recent NRA member, the relentless emails suggesting that if I don’t contribute over my initial membership fees, the organization is collapsing and the gun-grabbers will be at my door imminently. Whatever modest contribution I can afford will do very little to assure the continued existence of this organization. My impression is WOLF is being cried too often, and I have decided to “tune out’. It appears there is a shitload of politics and questions about salaries and money being spent wisely to support 2nd amendment issues. Until I feel this is untrue, I think I will take a back seat.
Agreed. Completely.
You can defend Wayne LaPierre and the BOD all you want, but the end game is how much money is enough for one individuals salary whether it be Wayne Lapierre. Donald Trump. Vladimir Putin. Wayne and the BOD are just like the Congress of the USA, Paid well, do nothing, Fuck the people. You really need to think this shit over!
“thinking” is good…and “blind trust” is bad…more need to come to that conclusion….
I may be wrong, but I don not think Trump is taking a salary. I believe he is supportive of the second.
You are not wrong Connie. Trump donates his quarterly salary checks to various entities. First quarter 2019 $100K went to Dept. of Homeland Security.
And yet today he puts up a long-time bloomberg minion to head the ATF.
https://freedomoutpost.com/first-an-anti-gun-ag-now-an-anti-gun-atf-director-set-up-for-full-blown-gun-confiscation/
And yet you regard him as gun friendly? What is up with that? No knowledge of anything other than CNN reports?
Connie if he is supportive of the 2A then explain what happened on bumpstocks please. He and the NRA made an agreement and took them away in an illegal manner. I don’t even own one but a sellout is a sellout
I thought the 2016 rifleman article about Hillary was gold. What the NRA stands for now is sickening. A full termination of all leaders is required, otherwise the NRA is dead to me. I know it will not happen, and the winners are the socialist parties.
I am a Benefactor Life Member, Golden Eagle, disabled Veteran, NRA Instructor, and a member of every pro 2a organization at the National level there is. I feel most the complainers about the NRA don’t give a nickel, or just use the complaints as an excuse to not give. I don’t agree with everything the NRA does, but I know they are the only organization strong enough to fight the liberal gun grabbers. We all need to support the NRA and make sure it stays strong enough to defend themselves and us from the Libtards.. This board sounds like the liberal snowflakes have taken this thread over.
Well said. I suspect many commenters here are among Bloomberg’s “community organized” troops, aiming to employ the age old “divide and conquer” strategy. Each of us among the true 2nd amendment believers needs to figure out the best course of action, rather than offer a knee-jerk reaction.
Accusing NRA members, who are critical of the current NRA leadership and who want change within the NRA to avoid its collapse, of not ever having contributed to the NRA or being a Bloomberg stooge does not help your arguments in any way! Unfortunately, it is the argument of the current NRA leadership. Soon, the NRA leadership will be without its members, because they simply refused to listen to their members.
You want an NRA that is strong enough to fight the gun grabbers? Look around! The NRA is already not strong enough today! It caved on the bump stock issue, which sets a legal precedent to ban pretty much every semi-auto firearm by executive fiat. It caved on red flag laws, as there is no such thing as a red flag law with strong due process. The whole point of red flag laws is to circumvent due process.
In 2016 and 2017, the NRA spent $60M more than it was making in dues and donations (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5300476-NRA-2017-990.html). It raided the employee pension fund to compensate for that. That was before the NRA Carry Guard disaster in NYC and WA, which did cost the NRA tens of millions of Dollars.
The NRA alienated members of the USCCA by throwing the USCCA out of the 2017 NRA Annual Meeting TWO WEEKS before the meeting. We know now that the NRA actively planned to take over the USCCA’s business model of providing self defense insurance and training (that is significantly better than the NRA’s training).
The list of issues within the NRA is long and was already long before the recent fight with Ackerman McQueen and Oliver North. The NRA’s income from member’s dues has been going down for a while, despite the NRA’s unverifiable statements about membership numbers.
I am an NRA Endowment Life Member, by the way, and I refuse to pretend that there is nothing going on when the NRA is being burned down by its leadership.
Strong enough? It’s blind adoration like yours that prevents the NRA from becoming even stronger. Ignore the problem, dance around the problem, deny the problem, none of that fixes the problem. I can appreciate the attitude of people that want to improve the situation as opposed to those that don’t want to rock the boat and accept the status quo. Nobody is trying to rock the boat, they’re tying to patch a big damn hole in it.
There is no way to tell if you are an ardent NRA supporter or a Bloomberg shill, especially on a forum where anyone can make comments relatively anonymously.
If you’re the former, I deeply respect your passion. Keep up the good fight, and get the NRA leadership cleaned up.
If you’re the latter, I wish you’d stop blindly following the talking points they give you and work on developing critical thinking skills instead.
Ironically, it was the NRA leadership that did not want a closed discussion forum for NRA members only, where each member is identifiable by their member number. This concept was brought up multiple times several years ago and dismissed by the NRA leadership.
Let’s face it, the NRA leadership follows a top-down communication model. Bottom-up communication to NRA Directors is hampered and outright sabotaged by the NRA leadership’s antiquated methods. You have to write a physical letter, address it to a specific Director and include your member number. Otherwise, it will get tossed in the trash. Broadcast e-mails to NRA Directors are not forwarded. NRA Directors do not have individual public e-mail addresses. The NRA and NRA Directors regularly censor Facebook comments made by NRA members.
Actually your comment is EXACTLY what a snowflake would say.
Whatever you say Greg.
If the members of the NRA are unhappy on how the NRA has become pretty much useless in 2A matters but spend OUR donations on their personal interests then I have a problem with that. Wayne LaPierre an friends have to go, plain and simple. The NRA needs to stop laying down like those fainting goats every time there is a challenge to our Second Amendment Rights. The NRA at this stage couldn’t take on the girl scouts if they became an anti 2A lobby. Stay in Ohio and let the people who fight for your 2A rights do the hard work. One things for sure, it isn’t the NRA. “I know they are the only organization strong enough to fight the liberal gun grabbers.” Are you on dope?
I’ll give my money to whomever I choose, specifically the organizations that actually fight for my 2A rights.
I am a NRA Triple Distinguished Expert and that’s a title you cannot buy.
I am a 10 year member of the NRA, and a member of SAF. I have supported both beyond membership dues and other local organizations previously and within the last six months. I am also an NRA certified pistol instructor for what that’s worth. I support the stated goals the NRA but that does not include carrying water for Wayne and his cronies. The membership is getting wise to this, and the board better get wise to it as well.
Dave S. from Ohio – Are you suggesting that the NRA should revert its goals and purpose to the pre mid-70s revolt and that only the ILA should be concerned with advancing and protecting the rights of gun owners?
I agree that many critics refer to NRA actions prior to the revolt as reasons not to trust the NRA because they have not bothered to get all the facts before opining. The NRA, in fact, was primarily a safety, training, and competition supervisor prior to the revolt. They did, in fact, support gun control. All of that was suppose to change with the revolt.
The problem as I see it is that most of the competitive shooters and people running the safety and training programs are generally less passionate about advancing gun rights that many of the “newer” members. They normally won’t put in the time or money that the NRA members who are in it for the political victories often do.
Honestly, I support Friends of the NRA as a way to fund bringing new shooters into the sport. I support and push Eddie Eagle and other safety programs, in part to prevent tragedies, but also in part to “burnish” the NRA to help make them more effective legislatively. My wife took the required NRA training to get her Illinois Concealed Carry Permit.
However, if all the NRA represented was safety, training, and shooting events, I would likely still be an on again, off again annual member. I am not interested in competitive shooting anymore and I shoot well enough after more than 60 years to accomplish anything I want to accomplish.
On the other hand, I am motivated because of the gun rights advancement and protection issues. That is why I have a Patron Life Membership and regularly give money to both the NRA and ILA as well as Friends of the NRA.
BTW – I do understand your suggestion: ” Finally, membership levels should be defined by how much you do, not how much you contribute. Those who are active as instructors, trainers, club officers, match directors and workers, Range Safety Officers, etc. Those are the people who have earned and deserve special recognition.
I accept the need for “presidents’ level” individual benefactors and corporate sponsors. Certainly, they have their place as well, but we must recognize, reward, and encourage those who do the “work” of the organization.”
but many of us are more financially able to contribute money than time. Personally, I could care less about my level in the NRA but if it were to gain me more access to paid staff, it would be worth it. (It doesn’t seem to however.)
Please accept my thanks for a well-written submission. Your comments are more well thought out than many others that have been appearing all over the internet since Indy. I especially agree with you that we, as members, have been guilty of taking things for granted and that all NRA members need to step up and get more involved.
“My wife took the required NRA training to get her Illinois Concealed Carry Permit.”
The whole 4 hour online NRA Basic Pistol Course course?
Big hint: My neighbor was exempt from the first 8 hour day because he was a Marine. Instead he took the whole 16 hours, two 8 hour days.
He said it really helped him with his situational awareness, something you aren’t going to learn by taking quizzes on the internet.
I’m not sure what your point is.
My wife took the two day course as required, part of which included a NRA course delivered by stand up and a power point. She had no law enforcement or military experience, but had both training and experience prior.
I was only referring to it to illustrate the benefit of the NRA’s reputation regarding their training programs.
My point is that 4 hours of the NRA Basic Pistol Course is online and 4 hours is classroom. Depending on what school you go to the 16 hour class is about the laws of IL regarding a SD situation, situational awareness, what to do if are involved in a SD situation and so on. The class I took was taught by two active Police Officers. The same with my neighbor. I recommended my class to him. The requirements to waive the first 8 hours are either former military service or the NRA Basic Pistol Course. The problem is NRA Basic Pistol is the same as trying to learning to drive a car online. It contains a lot of useless information, as an example cleaning your handgun. The cops that taught my class said “This is a class to teach you on how to defend yourself when you get your Illinois Concealed Carry Permit, if you need to learn on how to clean your handgun you can watch YouTube.” You are not going to recognize a situation when you actually need to draw online, you need to learn that with actual hands on situations.
For the people who needed help as they were new to handguns, the school rented out a range for 4 hours the second day so you literally have a 20 hour class if you needed it. Once a month they rent out an entire range on a Friday night, you have to sign a waiver but you learn how to draw from a holster and shoot. These are not things that can be learned from eLearning and honestly I think that IL should drop that as qualifier for the first day of class. Former military? I think that’s fine because you will learn a lot more in boot camp then you will ever learn online or in a classroom. If you have combat experience then you should only have to take a 3 hour class on the laws IMO.
That’s my point.
In today’s day and age, perception IS reality. As an annual member, there are too many issues for me ro continue my support until there is wholesale changes at the executive level. Until then, my $$ will go to other 2A protecting groups.
I’m an NRA member and will remain one. I am also a member of the Gun Owners of America (GOA), a Front Line Defender of the National Association of Gun Rights, and a member of my state gun rights organization (VCDL). I vote every election, answer every call from each of my organizations to contact legislators at the state and Federal level, and stay very informed on all 2A rights issues.
The issue with the NRA isn’t so much that we as members have been betrayed because they’re living high on our dues as it is that they have given the anti’s fodder for their attacks on us as a culture that they don;t agree with. The NRA still does a lot of good work, but they need to clean their own house and pur a good face forward so we can all get past this drama and back to work on what matters.
I am a NRA life member and have been since 2013. I do not like some of the stances the National Rifle Association has come out with. When the NRA sends out the ballots for us to vote for various people to serve in leadership positions I am at a loss as to who to vote for to best represent my beliefs. Instead of giving just a list of names and a biographical sketch I would like to know where they stand on the issues. What do they think about red flag laws; bump stock restrictions; background checks etc.? I want to be an informed voter and I do not want to have to spend time searching on the internet trying to find something on the position of the various candidates.
You are just asking to be lied to! If the candidates for the NRA Board of Directors were forced to take a stand they would not hesitate to do so. Some did and we now know they lied to us just to get on the Board. The problem is not a lack of communication. The problem is a lack of accountability and transparency.
No other nonprofit organization has a Board of Directors with 76 members. The typical size range is 7-12 for the Board, with 9 being a common size. Getting 2/3 (or 51) Directors to agree on firing an NRA officer for cause is pretty much impossible. There is a reason why the NRA is structured the way it is. It is to keep the current leadership in power until they voluntarily relinquish it or die.
If you want change, plan on attending next year’s NRA Annual Meeting in Nashville. The Members Meeting on Saturday is the right place to voice your opinion, plus you can vote for the 76th Board seat as well.
How about instead of 76 members (where several are from one state), how about having a BoD where there is one from each state?? This way all states have a voice & all state organizations have equal footing??
That’s an even worse idea. The Board of Directors is the governing body of a nonprofit organization and is providing oversight. The more members it has, the more dysfunctional it gets, just like Congress. Right now, the NRA Board of Directors doesn’t do much governing and does very little oversight. Wayne LaPierre does the governing and the NRA Board of Directors is a bunch of yes men/women. The large number of NRA Directors is by design, so that Wayne LaPierre can do what he wants without much resistance and without ever getting fired.
To provide some comparison. The NRA’s annual revenue in 2017 was $312M and its Board size is 76. The AARP’s annual revenue in 2016 was $1.6B (5 times as much as the NRA’s) and its Board size is 12 (1/6th of the NRA’s). The Wounded Warrior Project’s annual revenue in 2015 was $321M (close to the NRA’s) and its Board size is 10 (1/7th of the NRA’s). No other nonprofit has such a ridiculous Board size like the NRA.
Im Good for maybe three paragraphs on the net ,then I’m on to the Chive or sports .
While you obviously have put some effort into this, you should end it. Nobody really cares anymore, the NRA has strayed so far from it’s core values that it’s perceived as as a useless organization. A bunch of over payed businessmen who treat the members money as personal income. People who are older are kicking themselves for falling for the whole pyramid scheme of raising money. “For $200 more you can be a lifetime benefactor”. If the NRA gets back to it’s core values about getting people into all sorts of shooting then great. If they are going to ignore or run away from 2A rights issues then good riddance, there are plenty of smaller organizations that actually do something with your donation. Does Wayne LaPierre even know what end of the gun the bullets come out of? While that seems like heavy sarcasm to many NRA members it is actually believable. The NRA needs to stand tall, get rid of the waste, regain the trust of it’s members and then maybe the people who have been members since the OLD days will believe in the NRA again.
This is my morning: leaving a bunch of messages on my states rep voice mail in IL to vote against a horribly unconstitutional bill. I am taking a proactive approach as the NRA sent ONE lobbyist that is in charge of 6 or 7 states to speak at 9AM.
I have calls to make.
BTW: If you print one more article on the the NRA I wont be reading it. This is beginning to seem like one big ad for the NRA.
This won’t settle down until Wayne is gone. If he was truly dedicated to the organization he would step down.
Wayne is all about Wayne.
Guy probably cant show his face in public.. gets tons of death threats on line. One of the most hated men in america.. but yeah. Hes all about him
I’ve been a member for 51 years and have had it. I have been treated better by some of my lifelong enemies. To be a member of an Organization that has been taking my money for so long and refuses to respond to my questions is no longer acceptable. I’m just embarrassed I was such a fool for so long. To my fellow firearms and freedom lovers, ” Don’t be a Me ” Life’s too short.
Lapierre wears $2000+ suits to make his image more positive. The best way he could improve his image is put a warm, engaging smile on his face….cheaper and more effective than $2000+ suits. He needs to ditch the ever present scowl, and Socialist wire rims and comb over. For $1,500,000 plus allowances annually, you would at least think he could smile at how he is squandering the Little NRA Peeps’ dues money.
He could put on sack cloth and ashes and he’d still look like an old crook. He needs to go somewhere and enjoy retirement.
The NRA feels like a church you used to go to as a kid that hits you up non-stop for donations to pay it’s new lesbian pastor and all the lawsuits from people who were molested in the past. All this to protect your way to heaven. Gtfoh.
When I began getting back into firearms about 6 years ago I joined the NRA and immediately noticed the Fudd atmosphere. Don’t criticize the church! There are a lot of old timers that are still living in the Heston years and can’t see that anything has changed. At this rate, when those guys are gone the NRA will be too.
Compare all the current defenders of the NRA against even the most modest criticism with every true believer of every too big to fail organization in the past two decades. Notice anything similar? These people have no ground to stand on. From a PR perspective even the appearance of impropriety in a non-profit dependant on donations is a killer. There’s no shortage of people qualified to replace Wayne yet it hasn’t happened.
Forget the NRA. Build up GOA or other associations that defend your rights with integrity.
I think we need to break-up the NRA to more clearly isolate the shooting sports mission from the political mission (to protect the shooting sports mission).
The NRA (shooting sports) and NRA-ILA/PVF (political mission) should be legally separate entities.
They are
as a disabled viet nam vet I am on a fixed income. No million dollar salary or expense account. When buying clothes I try to shop the internet for the best buys. Still every week I receive 2-6 letters from the NRA, and now “personal” letters from WLP crying for more money. Sorry Wayne but I support the NRA, NRA_ILA, GOA USCCA and a few others plus local friends of the NRA events.. No more money for you until the NRA cleans this mess up.America needs the NRA, an organization of peers, not this huge board of directors run by and dictated to by a few executive lampreys. dave life member 138372673
Wayne LaPierre has to go. He is on a perpetual gravy train that will break the NRA. I am a Lifetime Member and have watched the sad decline of the NRA over the past few years. We need to get back to our grass roots on what we stand for. Modernize leadership and grow our membership.
“In the most innocent of interpretations the NRA became fiscally loose as the money rolled in during the Obama years and now a power struggle is going on over the money that’s left.”
The internal fighting, financial maleficence and the incestuous relationship with Ackerman goes back to the mid 80’s when the internal PR folks at NRA were ousted and Ackerman took over. This isn’t anything new. And each time someone has tried to bring the problems to light…LaPierre and company have run the people complaining about them out of the NRA.
Marion Hammer has proudly talked about putting down what she referred to as a “coup” by “dissident malcontents,” in 1997.
The “coup” in 1997 was actually the duly elected Officers and Directors attempting, unsuccessfully, to exercise their fiduciary responsibility against actions by paid staff and key contractors with multimillion-dollar contracts. (sound familiar?)
Jeff Knox has detailed extensively the behind the scenes deceit and back stabbing going all the way back to 1997. His dad Neal was involved in all of it…including the events of 1997 when the rules were changed to allow Charlton Heston to contest for the first VP position against the senior Knox. Which Heston won by four votes.
Knox and the board members supporting him were purged from the NRA and the financial problems were swept under the rug…until Oliver North brought them up again in 2019 and told LaPierre he needed to step down.
Once again it was the person trying to do that right thing that got shown the door. The swamp once again avoided being drained. History again repeated itself.
Wash…rinse…repeat.
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