The annual membership meeting of the National Rifle Association was held today here in the Indiana Convention Center. It began with an introduction of all of the organization’s top officers…with one notable exception.
That empty spot to the right of Wayne LaPierreĀ (above) was where NRA President Oliver North would have been, had he not announced that he’s done at the end of his term (which is Monday). When he was not able to engineer the removal of LaPierre, he decided he couldn’t continue in his position.
NRA first vice president Richard Childress read a letter to the members from North, in which he expressed displeasure with the law firm that has sued Ackerman McQueen (North is actually an Ackerman employee) and reiterated his desire for a special committee to investigate the allegations against LaPierre.
The large crowd then witnessed all of the usual formalities — the pledge of allegiance, national anthem, calling of the roll — with the addition of the presentation of the inaugural Roy Innis Liberty Award to the family of the late Otis McDonald. McDonald was the named plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court case, McDonald v. City of Chicago which incorporated the individual right to keep and bear arms under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
While that was well deserved and certainly inspiring (McDonald’s daughter spoke from the heart for her family as to how meaningful the award was for her and her family), the invisible 800-pound gorilla in the room was the very public allegations of rampant over-spending, lack of controls and double-dealing involving Ackerman and LaPierre’s management of the organization.
But first, the speeches.
LaPierre gave one of his patented stem-winders, inveighing against all of the usual enemies (Andrew Cuomo, Michael Bloomberg, the media, etc.) of the NRA and Second Amendment rights. He repeatedly credited the NRA’s 5.5 million members for their success in fending off efforts to limit the RKBA.
It was over 20 minutes of good old fashioned red meat, guaranteed to please the membership. But any mention of the very public reports of conflicts of interest, rampant cost overruns or board members’ demands that he resign were conspicuous by their absence.
After a similarly typical speech by NRA-ILA’s Chris Cox (his operation has been excluded from reports of mismanagement…it has a general reputation for being well run and efficient) it was time for resolutions from the floor.
And that’s when the temperature was turned up in the room. After an anodyne resolution praising President Trump’s move to withdraw from the UN arms trade treaty, a motion was then made — apparently by someone in support of NRA leadership to adjourn the meeting. That was promptly voted down.
And that’s when a motion was made to express no confidence in Wayne LaPierre’s leadership. That set off a cascade of subsequent motions and points of order by members on both sides of the issue.Ā
Some in opposition argued that the organization shouldn’t air its dirty laundry in such a public forum. The ostensible argument was that the discussion and infighting would only help the NRA’s foes and opponents in pending litigation. A motion was then made to eject members of the press, taking the meeting into executive session. The point was made that with so many people involved, that wouldn’t keep news of what happened from getting out. After much debate on both sides, that motion was defeated.
Ultimately, a motion to take the no confidence resolution before the board — cutting off debate before the full membership — passed. With that, any discussion of the NRA’s pending difficulties, controversies, leadership issues and direction was cut off. After a final motherhood and apple pie resolution in support of Dana Loesch passed, a motion to adjourn the meeting carried and the entire show ended.
The process, however, continues. The question of any impropriety on behalf of LaPierre will now be the province of the full board of directors, which meets tomorrow. In the end, however, as we said earlier, this is something that the NRA will either resolve itself or will be resolved for them by outside actors who don’t have the organization’s interests — or those of gun owners in general — at heart.
All those parliamentary procedures being made use of to shut down discussion or debate about LaPierre’s continued employment is just one big loud screaming reason why he deserves to be booted out on his money wasting, money grubbing, overly compensated big fat ego.
Betch’a thought I was headed for “ass”, didn’t ya?
I limit my donations to the NRA-ILA specifically. Plus the GOA and SAF get the same.
But with the right leadership at the NRA, I’d go back to just supporting them. That cannot happen with current leadership.
Got a call less than 20 minutes ago for a donation,…. whoever it was on the other end had no idea what was going on. As a Life Member I feel I have some skin in the game and I want the NRA to clean house, do what’s right and stop spending our future. I also $ support the GOA fo o the solid reason that they protect my rights more than their money.
Hate to break it to the NRA haters but Kraut’s folk got to air their arguments in front of the entire quorum and lost in their attempts to continue it further. The Board members kept the discussion going quite some time before anyone made a real attempt to adjourn. Face it- membership in general is not all that disappointed with NRA leadership- if they were we’d still be in session debating this at 4:30 pm Indy time.
Those who’ll complain about the fair usage of Robert’s Rules of Order obviously would take anarchy over reason and organization. It was disappointing in that sense to observe that the majority of the vocal objectors couldn’t even keep track of what was being voted on or debated at the time. Their own confusion and lack of understanding of order and protocol contributed quite a bit to their sound defeat, IMO. It is also an obvious source of a lot of their frustration as well. In any event- if this is the best they can do I’d hate to have them any where near the actual controls of NRA.
And the system chugs on.
Too bad you will be dead when the next generation gets to say, “I told you so!” But that is probably your plan.
You are derelict in your duties to the youth. You refuse to keep the status quo for your benefit at the expense of the future. You refuse to handle business and educate. Instead you laugh and belittle the young ones trying to fix what is broke. At least their idealistic attitude is more in line with the founders and the progression of human kind within the borders of America.
It’s a disgrace. It’s shameful. This is why the youth (both Democrat and Republican) does not like the older generations. They don’t respect the elders and their silly system that is destroying the future.
*You keep the status quo for your benefit at the expense of the future.*
“You are derelict in your duties to the youth.”
Possibly. We should’ve all pulled down your pants and spanked your bare asses when you were 4 years old rather than coddle you and give you way more than you ever deserved.
Yep- you made a great point there…
User1 – as you undertake your assignment here, who is paying you. Soros Inc, Bloomberg.
ClowardāPiven are no longer unknown to Conservatives. Go back to DemUnderground
“Face it- membership in general is not all that disappointed with NRA leadership- if they were weād still be in session debating this at 4:30 pm Indy time.”
They will be when the coffers dry up,,they will have La Pieere,his miscreants and Ack Mac to thank.
“They will be when the coffers dry up”
Placing any bets on when that will happen?
You’re right, the NRA cannot be fixed, they have proven themselves incapable of functioning as an advocacy group, and there is nothing more to say. I was willing to give it one more year as things have rapidly accelerated downward to see if the BoD was capable of recognizing was what happening and interested in actually correcting it. They are not.
GOA/FPC/SAF it is, then, I suppose. The NRA can get back to its Fuddy roots running gun ranges and acting as RMGO-style shills for gun control efforts if that’s what the membership really want to do from here on out. Or they can totally abandon the mission and become yet another lucrative GOP superPAC, which is what LaPierre is gunning for.
Without saying what organization it was, when I was in high school I attended a state gathering where people were very good at parliamentary games with Roberts Rules of Order. But people didn’t get lost in all the maneuvering because the organization’s parliamentarian had a monster display on one wall showing the current topic, how we got there, and where in terms of Roberts’ Rules things stood. It made things clear enough that no one in the parliamentary maneuvering could hope to pull a fast one.
It did teach me one thing, by comparison to another organization I was in: Roberts’ Rules may seem tedious and obscure, but without them the ability to get anything done tends to rely on out-yelling the opposition and having large numbers of people ready to yell and shout on cue.
I have heard that the NRA-ILA has its problems too. They are not as high on the priority list because the ILA are not as brash at stuffing all the money in their pockets. They don’t cause as much trouble to get the attention they also need.
You protest/whine too much troll. Readily apparent that it is phony.
There are complaints about Ackerman McQueen’s media efforts (NTA TV) being “too aggressive”. Follow the trail down that rabbit hole and you’ll find a bunch of fudds who would much rather get along with the gun-controllers so they can feel good about themselves. Like it or not, the NRA is all that stands between POTG and the loss of our constitutional rights. Period.
“Like it or not, the NRA is all that stands between POTG and the loss of our constitutional rights. Period.”
If that were true, and it’s not, then we’d all be screwed. The NRA has been dangerous to liberty in its steadfast support of privileges to the detriment of the exercise of the right to keep and bear arms. It’s worse than a placebo. The quicker it gets off the stage, the sooner real restoration can happen.
“….Like it or not, the NRA is all that stands between POTG and the loss of our constitutional rights. Period….”
Not even close.
Ackerman-McQueen has one goal” maximize the money flow. If that means winning some issues, they’ll aim at winning; if it means dragging some issues out forever, they’ll drag them out. The absolutely last thing they want is a flat-out victory where the Supreme Court affirms that the Second Amendment is even stronger than the First and must be treated so against all opponents — that would leave them without much of a job since it’s a lot easier to whip up donations when it’s “war” than when it’s about training kids from sixth grade through college.
OK, here it is; “Richard Childress announced….”
Look no further than NASCAR’s current dilemma. Watch a race on TV. They are not filling the stands. The last 3 races saw about half occupancy or less. How did they get there?
They set up protectionist policies that allowed for about 5 super teams that have farm teams supported by them. Richard Childress Racing being one of them. This started a long time back.
Way back in the 80’s or 90’s, NASCAR made rules that allowed for NASCAR point leaders and previous race winners to be granted a place on the starting grids no matter if they were fast enough to qualify. This eventually morphed into more fascist control such as, spec engines, restrictor plates, spec bodies, etc. Eventually, those teams with money could circumvent the rules enough that they rose to the top. Things were good. Sponsors were plentiful, etc. Then, they went too far with the spec engine notion and passed it down the line, until there were very few builders in the US, and they started farming drivers. It truly killed the Friday/Saturday night local tracks.
Basically, it is a distillation of the good ole boys deciding who and when they will race, and the same is happening in the NRA…Except they are applying it to a “Right that shall not be Infringed.”
Kill the disease now, or it will metastasize beyond our control; in favor of theirs.
“This eventually morphed into more fascist control such as, spec engines, restrictor plates, spec bodies, etc.”
*sigh*
Restrictor plate racing came about because cars started getting airborne at the super-speedways, like Talladega. The potential for killing scores of your fans in one crash like at Le Mans in 1955 was something that wasn’t going to be good for racing or NASCAR.
83 dead from a flying car. The reason for restrictor plate racing at 1:01 into this clip :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0cDquUjZVE
Agreed, hell I was there…they had to do it. Here’s the rub; they then went to bodies and other items to make the cars clump together for racing excitement. Unfortunately they became the WWF of racing at the Super Tracks, problem is, that wasn’t the point of my comment. Read Again?
*sigh*
You’re the one who equated restrictor plate racing with fascism, not me.
And yet you admit restrictor pates were necessary. So, what is it? Is it necessary, or is it fascism? Fascist rules are rules just because they can, not because of a logical, valid reason.
The confusion seems to be on *your* end, not mine… š
Forget it, he’s rolling.
No, Geoff, once these people started making insular rules, the people involved started accepting them for their own “SAFETY (detriment).” In a similar fashion the NRA has in fact, made insular rules for the board members, and allowed, via no fight “OUR RIGHTS” to be thrown out the window. Again people have accepted the NRA’s habitual stepping back on OUR RIGHTS, that we pay them to fight for. Get off the restrictor plate, that’s just where stuff started—> “It Morphed,” as it always does.
Short version the Little guys paying the bills, didn’t get a say in either case, and isn’t it interesting that a leader from both bodies is a spokesperson for both. Even more telling is the dying of both bodies, very simple stuff, if you allow it to be…
Silly analogy. NASCAR fad got worn/old by 1992.
Amen,.. get back to the grass roots.
That’ll be all that’s left after the coming brush fire, I suppose. We all laughed off the corruption allegations & muh Russia nonsense involving the NRA, but goddam if it isn’t starting to look plausible if not likely (if not obvious)
Russia and the NRA?
Does anyone want to discuss the charge that Ackerman, the agency employing Olliver North supposedly was not submitting mandated, appropriate billing for an upcoming court case? That seems more reasonable than a stroll through paranoia about NRA/Russia plots.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Fire is a damn close second…
The best way to handle this is through our Board of Directors.
We elect them to represent us.
They need to boot the press out, lock the doors and get serious about saving our NRA.
If they don’t do what we want, WE need to get serious about electing Directors who will.
The NRA is a single part organization (the hive mind). Look at how hard it is to return America to its principles with two parties.
It was all designed that way on purpose. The people didn’t want it but they got it regardless.
They rigged last year’s election…was this year’s any different? Were a host of new-blood figures with proven experience in the advocacy & lawfare gun rights realms swept into office? Or was it a bunch of ancient Fudds with industry, NRA, or GOP connections that haven’t done dick for us in at least decades?
The problem with the NRA lies with the NRA. We always complain about ‘low information voters’ and lament an ignorant & detached electorate; that’s what the NRA clearly is composed almost entirely of. The VP fired the president for trying to blackmail him with proof of corruption the day before, the board publicly agreed not to talk about it, and not one person in the room could be bothered to shout “THIS IS BULLCRAP!” and kick off a riot.
There’s no fixing this level of corruption & apathy.
Wow. No honor among thieves.
Wayne brings Ackerman McQueen to the NRA and uses them to transfer NRA money to his pockets for decades.
Wayne brings in North as a figurehead president who will pull in the donations without screwing up his gravy train.
North and Ackerman McQueen team up because they believe that there is more money to be made by using the NRA to push a wide range of conservative causes instead of sticking to 2A issues only. (See Dana Loesch’s social commentary videos)
Now that Wayne’s lost his Ackerman McQueen kick backs, he sues to cut them off from NRA funds.
North and other Ackerman McQueen employees on the board now see Wayne as a impediment to their new fleecing scheme and make a move to oust Wayne through blackmail. Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
Wayne shows that his decades spent virtually hand picking the board of directors gives him protection from anything North or Ackerman McQueen can come up with.
North is forced to back down. Wayne wins this round. Ackerman McQueen is … well who knows….
Can you document any of that slander? Do so.
I’m not the only one that can read between the scripted lines
https://www.ammoland.com/2019/04/nra-leadership-metltdown-cut-out-lapierre-ackerman-mcqueen-cancer/
enuf, I didn’t think you were headed for the “A’ word because my thoughts are the same, especially with that monster photo. We do not need egos but smart efforts. One thing I ask some people but haven’t seen elsewhere is for the left to give me a philosophical reason to disarm law-abiding people. If they can’t give a philosophical reason then there is no logical practical reason either.
Wow. What a mess.
Dammit, have you seen the color scheme in Waynes new Gulfstream? Who the hell OKed “Shimmer Mauve” for the seats?
Get Chuck Norris on the phone stat! And somebody wake up that Hogg kid over at Harvard! We need a complete re do on this Gulfstream before Wayne sees it, and that means FUNDRAISER!
MEMBERSHIP? LOL LOL LOL
Open your wallets fools. It’s all you’re really good for. Corrupt so called leadership must be expunged!
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