nra josh powell
Joshua Powell Courtesy NRA

A new court filing in Letitia James’ case against the NRA reveals that she has flipped the former chief of staff of the NRA. In exchange for limiting his personal liability, he has agreed to testify against his former employer in court.

The Settlement

In a settlement (download a copy here), Joshua Powell agrees that he was guilty of misusing funds and not being true to his duty as an officer of the NRA. His damages in the case, or money that he officially owes the NRA, are limited to $100,000, which will be held in trust by the New York Attorney General’s office. In exchange for this, Powell has agreed to not dispute his guilt or the guilt of the organization, and agrees to testify against the NRA at trial.

This is very likely why the NRA held an emergency meeting today, with Wayne LaPierre resigning.

It’s worth noting that after being fired from the NRA, Powell started shilling for gun control. Whether this was a sincere view on his part or an attempt to get on Letitia James’ good side to limit his own personal exposure to the case is unknown and probably unknowable. But, we do know that he advocates for moving the whole organization more toward training and away from politics, and he may be influential in the outcome of the trial through his testimony.

What This Means For The Trial

With this flipping, the NRA has basically no chance at winning the trial. Between existing evidence and Powell’s testimony, the judge is extremely likely to award damages, meaning that existing corrupt NRA leadership will owe the NRA money. They are also very likely to be removed and barred from ever serving on the board of a New York non-profit organization in the future.

The court has already denied a motion to dissolve the NRA, so the organization will continue to exist. But, with the NRA decapitated, the court will have to appoint a special master to run the organization and rebuild its leadership.

The Big Question: What Does The NRA Become?

While it’s basically a foregone conclusion that the existing leadership is gone, what we don’t know is what kind of an organization will emerge from the process. Who chooses the new leadership, how the members will be involved, and what continuing oversight the new NRA will have to live with are all going to be decided during and after the trial.

At this point, there’s not a lot that members and instructors can do to influence the outcome, unfortunately. But, we do need to keep an eye on the trial and see what happens. When a special master is appointed and when a new board is selected, NRA members need to make sure to be as involved in the process as possible and push for a better organization to come out of this.

The NRA might not be allowed to continue engaging in legislative efforts, but the possibility of a vastly improved training and education department could end up being a very good thing.

 

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92 COMMENTS

  1. the court will have to appoint a special master to run the organization and rebuild its leadership

    WTF? A NEW YORK court appointed (no doubt James recommended) “Special Master” to REBUILD the leadership? WTF could POSSIBLY go wrong… The NRA is officially dead (thanks Wayne you fucking scumbag)… I hate a fucking rat bastard coward,
    (Powell) what a POS…

    • Typically special masters have to be very impartial and neutral (see our more recent redistricting decision that flipped Congress because the Democrats went hog wild with trying to gerrymander all of upstate NY). With that said I expect every dirty trick to delay the NRA from having competent let alone representative of the membership leadership for as long as possible. You know like how we are slow walking every post Bruen gun law challenge and still slow walking Covid related court cases.

    • This goes out to the turncoat POS who sold his soul to the communists

      https://youtu.be/lk_ny1POmFU?t=49

      Snitches get stitches and wind up in ditches…

      Even though WLP and his cronies badly needed to go, you do not accomplish that by helping all our enemies.

    • “I hate a fucking rat bastard coward,
      (Powell) what a POS… “

      So Powell has turned state’s evidence and is going to reveal how corrupt WLP has been robbing the NRA, and you think he is a POS.

      How interesting that you are upset that Wayne’s grift and theft of funds from the NRA is going to be revealed.

    • Of course, someone had to get “the deal” to squeal like a pig.

      But the NRA executive in their arrogance did themselves in.

    • MADD, For the life of me, I don’t see who a New York Supreme Court can place the NRA under a Special Master. IT seems that the NRA is NOT a NY corporation.

      • You are wrong. The NRA is incorporated under the provisions of the New York State Not-For-Profit Corporation Law.

    • When Heston took over, lots of folks said they were resigning membership – “Moses is too radical!” “gonna spark a backlash, we will lose our double barrels, let them ban semi autos, maybe they will be satisfied”…

      Same crap the skippies, flacks and trolls are blathering now.

      • Except now semi autos are being banned, along with many other types of firearms, depending if you live behind enemy lines or not.

        • Well with all the NRA bashing some folks here have a lot in common with the tattletail that’s helping james. Wayne should have resigned years ago and by now the NRA would perhaps be something and the NRA-ILA would be making Gun Control look like the sewage it is. One thing is for sure…the days of blind trust are over and that sauce applies to all the recommended run to orgs.

          As a voting life member who has donated enough to purchase a top shelf Barrett .50 below is an example of what I expect to see again from my NRA…Obviously no designer attire was used in the making of this film…
          https://youtube.com/watch?v=m-l7TO01-Sg&feature=shared

        • Debbie, Negotiating Rights Away has supported every federal gun control law that has ever passed. They only show up on state issues to take credit for things they had nothing to do with. In 2006 Not Real Activists supported turning PA into NJ. Locals and state level gun orgs stopped it. F them.

          I wish NY had just disbanded them. No doubt now they will become a complete puppet of the anti gun crowd.

        • “Except now semi autos are being banned, along with many other types of firearms, depending if you live behind enemy lines or not.”

          It would be unconstitutional to ban an entire class of firearms.

          To do that, they would have to ban all semi-auto handguns, and that just isn’t gonna be happening, as much as they want it…

  3. I joined the NRA soon after buying my first gun back in the 1990s. They were supposed to be fighting for gun owner rights and leading the effort of gun education and training. Even then, their ability to argue was as weak as their poorly written, 95% advertisement magazine. I bought a life membership on the easy pay plan and got cheesy elf-monkey knives in return. I turned down the gawdy hats and leather jacket. Even after fully paying for the lifetime membership, they kept hitting me up for more money and “better” memberships.

    I joined the USCCA as soon as they started. Their magazine is also heavy on ads, but with lots of intelligent content too. They also offer legal insurance and training. They seemed to be everything that I was missing with the NRA membership to the point that I wondered what it was that the NRA actually did.

    US Lawshield is another org like USCCA with insurance and training opportunities.

    It doesn’t surprise me to learn that La Pierre and his leadership team was just pissing the money away on themselves. Two NYPD friends of mine confirm that getting a concealed carry permit in NYC is essentially impossible for anyone other than a cop. Is that because the left is so strong or because the NRA is so hollow?

    The NRA needs to get back to its roots and focus on its purpose. They should have done that decades ago. I won’t miss them.

      • Lol. Advertising wasn’t really my intent, but yeah, sorta. My point was that the NRA was the only game in town for almost a century. Now they are obsolete. How did the NRA not see the value in legal defense insurance, CCH training, and defender advocacy?

        This is almost like Sears dying. The leaders of Sears weren’t grifters, but they got way too comfortable. Sears invented catalog shopping and dominated that sector for almost a century, but somehow they didn’t understand that the Internet replaced the outhouse catalog and left the door wide open for Amazon.

        • At the end of Sears the ownership absolutely was gutting the company for personal gain. Knew a finance guy there. NRA doesn’t seem much different.

        • NRA/ILA, they have it and do the two step shuffle when the bullet bites the bone.
          Gunm insurance doesn’t mean you have a lawyer on retainer.
          It’s not going to pay for your arrant bullet that killed Old McDonald’s cow either.

        • Even during the time when they were the only “pro gun” organization they still supported the federal gun control in 34, 39, 68, 86, and 94. They published supporting articles in their own damn magazines.

    • Well for that matter, I regularly get emails from GOA, and in every one of them they are wanting money, while they have no idea of how much I have or haven’t already given.🤷‍♂️g

    • USCCA has all kinds of provisions in their contract that can leave you in the lurch and responsible for all legal bills if things go south. Would never trust them.

  5. if New York gets to appoint a new Chairman, the NRA is fully a gun control organization now. (as opposed to before, when they were a gun control organization that claimed to be a gun rights org.)

    there will be no recovering from this. Inform your grandfathers so they will finally give up their memberships and stop funding these funds.

  6. “Honestly, the grifters are a snake with many heads and this is just one.”
    – Phillip Journey, former NRA board member

  7. If I was a younger man I would see this as an opportunity to build a better, stronger organization, an NRA 2.0 if you will. I would make it my mission to make James rue the day she ever filed charges by building a non-profit that would dwarf the NRA and champion all rights of all Americans.

    • And I guess your head guy will buy all his clothes at Goodwill and hitch-hike to meetings with DC politicos – or will he be allowed to talk to politicians?

  8. “The NRA might not be allowed to continue engaging in legislative efforts, but the possibility of a vastly improved training and education department could end up being a very good thing.”

    A castrated version that can’t or won’t proactively engage in legislative and lobbying efforts is far from a “good thing”.

    Wayne La Pierre, the NRA’s “Bernie Madoff”.
    Josh Powell, the NRA’s “Sammy Gravano”.

    • ““The NRA might not be allowed to continue engaging in legislative efforts,”

      They can’t do that, period, for free speech constitutional reasons…

  9. I don’t think bringing back the NRA to it’s roots with training and education is necessarily a bad idea. It’s not like they have been doing any of the heavy lifting with all of these court cases. Let the pros (FPC, SAF, etc.) do the work, as they are very successful. If the NRA no longer does politics, then they can’t be the bogeyman anymore…

    • If the NRA is completely castrated by these tactics. It won’t be long before FPS, SAD, AFA and the GOA, among others will be the next target. Because the Liberal/Progressive leadership will never be satisfied with just the NRA. If the NRA is to die, it must do so because the membership sees no way clear to resurrect it from the dumper fire it has now become.

      • You’re kinda suggesting that all those organizations are also corrupt? I don’t think so. I hope not.

        On the other hand, any that might be half as corrupt as WLP and his cronies need to be taken down.

        • Not suggesting anything of the sort. Simply pointing out that any victory achieved by James. Will only embolden her and those like her to attack the rest of the Pro 2nd Amendment organizations. Guilt in the eyes of these people, often has less to do with facts and more to do with the perception of their emotionally driven acolytes. that is why their attacks have been so successful in the court of public opinion. This one not withstanding.

      • I see where you are coming from but I disagree. She went after the NRA because the leadership thought they were above the law and opening flaunted it. She did the digging to uncover it. Also when was the last time that the NRA legal team won a significant court battle? They couldn’t even muster the courage to get into the shallow end of the Rittenhouse trial. Compare that to some of the other groups you have mentioned. Harder to argue misappropriation when their leader’s salary isn’t offsetting 50,000+ annual membership dues a year and legal teams with significant wins recently. They will use the NRA as a talking point for the next decade plus. They aren’t going to risk a loss to an experienced and well versed legal team only to make that group the next NRA by giving them free press. IMO

      • “It won’t be long before FPS, SAD, AFA and the GOA, among others will be the next target.”

        For that to happen, they have to prove people in those organizations were breaking the law. I seriously doubt they can pull that rabbit out of their proverbial hat…

    • @Dr. J.D. I really believe where the NRA failed was believing that legislation is where their power lied. Their power was always in their ability to turn out their members on key topics and to a lesser extent on Election Day. Most of these legislators don’t know anything about guns except they hate them or they want the people to that have them to vote for them. So when NRA educated their members about current topics and had members call their reps or senators 20 years ago they took note. The NRA dropped the education part and we dropped the NRA. So I agree with you, I don’t think it is all bad, let the NRA lean toward education and add in education about current issues and let the members take it from there. If that is the direction they go I nominate “world famous gun bunny, tony Simon”!!!

  10. What about the protective layer that LaPierre (WLP) built within the NRA to keep him from being ousted? When are those people leaving?

    You can tell those people, along with WLP, are/were in it for themselves because they allowed WLP to stay despite donations falling and lawsuits increasing due to WLP’s presence and actions.

  11. Not defending Lapierre, but here is what we know: Joshua Powel was either lying when he worked for NRA or he is lying now shilling for gun controllers and New York.
    Anyone know Powell’s role in the Ackerman sexual harassment case?

    • Josh Powell is slime. Has left unpaid bills everywhere he’s been (Chicago, New Buffalo, MI for certain). He’s now in favor of gun control? Shows what a weasel he is.

    • I’m kind of wondering if that’s the angle the NRA will try to take. I mean I’d point out that him having limited liability alone gives him huge incentive to say what he thinks they’ll want him to.

      If he gets out of being barred from not for profits it also wouldn’t surprise me if he is looking for a gun control teat to suck on as a “reformed” NRA exec.

  12. I’d love to see the NRA return to what it was in the 1950s. I’m sure it won’t happen though. The leadership isn’t there, and any court appointed master will have his/her own ideas.

    Who wants to bet the new master will be a gun control shill from one of Bloomberg’s organizations?

    As far as recovering any money? Pfft. That money is spent, and gone. Only way to get any of that is to seize assets, and auction them off. Planes, cars, homes, overseas holdings, bank accounts. But, I’m sure it’s almost all hidden from government. Money laundering is for real, and if it’s been laundered properly, Letitia ain’t gonna see any of it.

  13. What are the odds that with the resignation of Wayne at the end of this that we see a plea deal with him cut? Or do you all think that they’ll offer no quarter?

    • He will pay a bunch of money and then go on his way.
      Possibly becoming a mayor in some Blue city.
      It’s all about money.

  14. Shilling for gun control means bloomies boys paid him off for testimony. I guess that explains the $100K that Letitia is holding in escrow.

  16. Me and a friend were walking down the railroad tracks, we came to a battery box that housed batteries that ran the stop signals.
    He opened the boxes lid and it was full of snakes.
    N ine
    R attlesnakes
    A ltogether

    • “full of snakes”

      Consider yourself lucky to get an early preview of UP’s new organic security system, renewable , supports biodiversity and its biodegradable.

  17. The court is going to appoint a special master to run the NRA and rebuild the membership? Really? Letitia James is now running the NRA.

    • If the NRA reverses its gun rights platform due to the chairman selected by the court/Letitia/ whatever, the membership will disappear and the organization will die.

  18. I used informants to make cases many times. I had nothing but contempt for them. Always left me feeling I needed a hot shower.

      • And here is was thinking the cop’s rank order of trustworthiness:

        – Cops
        – Friends and family of cops (included criminals, especially informants)
        – Lowlifes (includes law-abiding citizens as they are not in the above category)

  19. “The NRA might not be allowed to continue engaging in legislative efforts,…”

    It’s all about this and nothing more. Libs attacking any/all “right wing” lobbyists while controlling pretty much all the financial, big tech and energy lobbying. It’s always a no holds barred lol out assault on the opposition when they are in power, maybe conservatives can learn a lesson from it.

  22. I need to figure out how I can get all my information out of the NRA, soon the DNC will have a full membership roster. because as soon as the New York DA has that data you can bet it will be leaked to the DNC before the ink is dry.

    • That data has already been gleaned from multiple other sources and forwarded to the proper reeducation programs.

  23. Negotiating Rights Away. The NRA has had its fingers in every single major gun law going all the way bact to the creation of the NFA. Wayne is NOT the disease but simply a symptom of the deep rot at the root of the NRA organi going back nearly 100 years. This has been a group more interested in “enforcing the gun laws already on the books” than overturning them.

    The NRA needs to go and the best way is to just dump the entire dumpster fire into the ocean at its deepest point. Getting rid of Wayne doesn’t cure this zombie. you can’t stop a Zombie by giving it a heart transplant. you’ve got to chop off the head and burn the body.

    • Nothing to add except the NRA hasn’t done squat for ILLANNOY gun owner’s! ISRA is pathetic. Life’s ruff & then you have a real revolution🙄

  24. I’m glad WLP is gone, and I haven’t donated to NRA in decades, but I will keep my $40 regular membership for now, for the magazine and whatever else they provide. Occasionally they send me emails where I send messages to my elected officials about some issue. Yes, I know I can send them messages on my own, but I don’t bother. It seems my elected officials don’t care what I think.

    Same with my state association, even though they seem to be unable to manage a website, or send me a renewal form when my membership is expiring.

    I’m not bailing like a rat off a sinking ship!

    • The representatives care more about a message that you send than a form letter with your name attached. It takes a couple seconds and maybe a little donation to do the form letter (and usually it’s just a fund raising effort for the org), but a unique letter takes real effort and thought. That means you are invested, care about the results, and you will remember at election time. You might even be motivated to work for or against the candidate, based on those results.

  25. The good side is regardless of the fate of NRA, WLP. will likely do no further harm. (ie bad bump stock advice given to Trump).

    I wonder what organization will take up the slot of the NRA annual meeting exhibition! This is one of the real profit centers. I also wonder who will stroke Larry Potterfield’s ego!

  26. “The NRA might not be allowed to continue engaging in legislative efforts, but the possibility of a vastly improved training and education department could end up being a very good thing.”

    Yes the very last part that is a great and wonderful thing. The NRA pretty much gave up on this critical part of the Second Amendment.
    They could have used their resources to connect with local gun clubs. All across the country and promoted events for the public to attend.

    I say let the cleansing of the NRA leadership continue. Send these criminals to prison. They have completely failed in their responsibilities to the membership.

    And they have failed to keep the faith to the Second Amendment.

  27. The NRA has over the last few years become irrelevant in the gun rights fight anyway.

    I haven’t given to them since I became a life member 20 years ago.
    I have however given a fair amount to groups actually making a difference like the SAF and NAGR.

  29. Typical of any organization that starts out with a real life mission to provide a service to its people. It first exists to serve the people, and then spirals out of control to serve itself at others expense to keep its power, and position in placed while milking the contributions that continue to flow in. Nothing new here. Just look at what churches have done for the last two thousand years. The DC crowd have become the Masters of the Universe at this.

  31. A return to true Democracy where the NRA members actually vote to elect their leaders in the NRA is a must if the organization is to not only be cleansed of corruption but also survive as a viable political body to fight unfair gun legislation.

    The NRA must never again be permitted to become a dictatorship run by a Demagogue backed by a board of lackey, kowtowing , sycophants.

  32. I am a life member of the NRA long before this group of thieves took over and ruined a great organization. I believe Wayne La Pierre and others stole money and enriched themselves at the expense of members and the NRA. Wayne leaves rather than stay and defend himself says a lot about his character or perhaps the evidence against him. The first person to talk always gets the best deal. Are the officials of New York heroes, of course not. We must now hope the Supreme Court continues to uphold our 2nd Amendment rights.

  34. “Training and Education” was what the NRA used to be about before it became necessary to spend most of their time and money defending the second amendment.

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