nra wayne lapierre
Dan Z for TTAG

A lot has happened at the NRA in the past month. NRA-Institute for Legislative Action Executive Director Chris Cox was suspended then resigned. NRA-TV was shut down as part of the NRA formally divorcing itself from its long-time marketing and public relations firm, Ackerman McQueen.

Furthermore, the NRA continues to spend almost $2 million per month it doesn’t have on the Brewer law firm. Add to that the Washington D.C. Attorney General poking around in the NRA Foundation’s financial records. It surely looks like there will be plenty to find as the NRA Foundation made a number of unreported big dollar donations to a non-profit tied to Wayne LaPierre’s wife.

Oh yes, and a small group of large donors are urging other contributors to suspend their giving until Wayne LaPierre and his cronies resign. Supposedly they represent commitments of $134 million in planned donations but are holding onto their cash until WLP & Co are gone.

Meanwhile, the NRA’s “Baghdad Bobette”, president Carolyn Meadows, released a statement saying, “We are disappointed whenever donors choose to suspend their support of the N.R.A., but we hope to win them back.” Uh huh.

But what can we, as regular NRA members, do to pressure the organization to help push Mr. LaPierre and his cadre out of the door a little more quickly? That’s actually a pretty good question.

Image via NRA Tactical

Plenty of folks have done nothing. They’re taking a wait-and-see approach and are watching from the sidelines. Heck, some people still believe Wayne LaPierre walks on water and want to see him stay right where he is.

Some across America, and right here in Illinois, have suggested significantly reducing the amount of gifts to the NRA along with a note explaining why.

At the same time, writing emails [edit:  since been told privately that board members will never see those emails] and old-fashioned dead tree letters to board members urging them to fire LaPierre and his cronies might help. Make sure you include your membership number and status when writing, if you do.

TTAG recently published an editorial urging folks to de-fund the NRA entirely, including the NRA Foundation’s Friends of NRA dinners.

Others have suggested burning down the NRA completely and starting over. Frankly, while advocating that might feel good, it’s foolish and short-sighted. The NRA with its 5+ million members (who vote) has a lot of clout and name recognition. That political influence has been hard-earned over the past thirty to forty years. What’s more, the NRA’s favorability rating still stands nearly three times higher than that of Congress.

We need to work within the NRA to fix it, not blow it up.

Pick the course of action you feel is best and implement it. Just be sure to do something to make your opinion known.

Because the sooner Wayne LaPierre and his cronies exit stage left, the sooner we can start the process of putting the NRA back together again.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

139 COMMENTS

  1. Cut them off.
    I haven’t donated a cent in the last few years. Until Wayne is gone. So is my money.

      • Ya know, none a y’all be having this conversation if ya just voted for Hillary in the first place. Being such insecure wimps, the NRA played you as fools. True gun owning patriots will never lose their constitutional rights and only get stronger under threat.

        • Or at least just sat on your frick’n hands instead of voting for a obvious amoral con man.

        • You know, if Hillary didn’t rig the primary, and you elitist democrats would’ve voted for a real man of equality like Bernie, then Bernie would’ve been the nominee and would’ve won the election. If Bernie won, we’d be halfway to our socialist utopia by now. On his glorious coat tails there’d be a wave of young socialists in Congress. Imagine the house with 50 more AOCs in them. It would be glorious and unending Revolution. But no, you oligarch Democrats just had to put Hillary in. Now Literally Hitler is on office spawning a new generation of fascism that will engulf the planet in global War and genocide for decades.

        • Oh blow me lib war. If the Bern won then both houses would be solid R by now and we wouldn’t be in such a rudderless mess.

      • Common sense if you want to waste your money. As far as I can tell the only thing that the GOA does is keep the Pratt family employed.

        If you want to donate the money sent it to state level organizations or the Second Amendment Foundation.

    • I did not renew for the first time in 5 years because of the ousting of Chris Cox… will not get any more of my dollars till they fix this problem.

      • Well Bob, the NRA problem is only going to get worse until it is described with facts rather than some nebulous “this” as you have done.

        That is why the “burn it down” strategy is the best option.

    • I recommend you take some of that money you would have donated, buy some stamps and envelopes, and as John Boch, the writer suggests, write to the different board members and tell them that you are withholding donations and why.

    • Spent this years NRA money on local state groups that accomplished more here in Maine then the NRA.

      Won’t renew until Wayne is gone.

  2. The NRA has made it clear that they are sticking with WLP, so I have switched my donations to the 2AF.

    I’d rather help grow an already successful group into something as large as the NRA than sit on the sidelines while the NRA fudds my gun rights away with WLP at the helm.

  3. Could write a book, here is very short. We 110% support THE NRA which is us true real Citizens and Wayne LaPierre, who called the feds atf fbi etc BOOT JACK THUGS, which they are. We have never had any trust in cox or north. cox was run out of many states 20 years and recently him and his cohorts Texas and Arkansas. The national concealed carry bs bill is a traitor TROJAN horse nazis bill. Those that want to destroy the NRA and Wayne are traitors non citizens no better than omar plus 3, Wayne is far far more a Patriot than any we know. Again we support Wayne La Pierre 110% , we are the NRA.

  4. The NRA seems to support FUDDs and the old “guns for me, but not for thee” crowd, just like it has in the past. They play lip service to people of color, but do they really believe that blacks not in LE or the military can be trusted with firearms?
    They seem to cater to the Right and then to the 2nd amendment. If you are pro 2nd, you should be pro 1st thru 10th at least.
    How many supporters of the NRA actually believe that every legal resident in the U.S. should have a firearm?

    • A lot of NRA members think you shouldn’t be allowed to have a gun if you are on a watch list, been convicted of a crime, are not a citizen or don’t follow their political/religious ideology precisely.

      • You can be on a watch list if you have the same name as an IRA member. I worked with a woman who’s husband couldn’t get on a plane because of that. Lots of red tape to prove that he wasn’t a terrorist. He was 70yrs old at the time.

  5. Let it burn down. Negotiating Rights was pretty good at negotiating the exercise of rights into privileges while getting people to somehow think it was fighting for actual rights. It’s no surprise that John Boch wants to keep it around.

    • Yup, the NRA is contaminated with compromise. Anyone who touches it is sending a mesage to the political class that they can be dealt with high-handedly with no consequences, nothing more.

      There are enough hardcore fudds and tools that it can never be gutted and re-imaged completely. Even if it could be done, we’re talking about steering a difficult course for probably over ten years, when the members have never been at the wheel before. As if.

      But that’s OK, let it be fudd storage. Fudds are people too. Once isolated they can either toe a line set by some a sincere gun rights org, keep fudding-out, whiz away money or whatever.

    • The NRA and its membership compromise the American principles they claim to have when they create or support infringements on liberties. It’s like when the founding generations of the U.S. pretended to support liberty and justice for all whilst they pretended that black people were property and the first American peoples don’t have human rights because they are not U.S. citizens.

  6. “Plenty of folks have done nothing. They’re taking a wait-and-see approach and are watching from the sidelines.”

    *****
    Umm…I disagree. I know that I for one have not sent another dime to them over the past year, and recently allowed my multi-year membership to lapse. All those mailers I get offering a chance to “win a big honkin’ customized truck filled with tons of guns” (many of which aren’t legal in CA anyway) are tossed into the trash.

    Money talks the loudest. I’m not abandoning the NRA, but they get no more greenbacks from me until they get their act together and start actually REPRESENTING me and my no-compromise support for every American’s natural right to self-defense, which includes the 2A’s explicit mandate to government to “not infringe”.

    It’s not rocket surgery.

    • Do they know you haven’t just changed addresses, died or gotten po’? They’re paying some lip service to discontent members but not much and on like year 20 of a power/money gravy train like WLP is on, it’s only rational to be optimistic. Hear hoofbeats – think horses not zebras.

  7. We are Life members of SAF and GOA and CCRKBA and several states. We are Benefactor members of the NRA. north and bush sr did the drug gun money deals in central american and iran not Reagan, and Reagan took the heat. All state and national orgs combined are not as large as the NRA by itself. Change your web site to be liesaboutthenra.com

      • Nor his racism and attack on black Californians for exercising their human and civil rights.

      • He was told by the NRA it’s all right to sign it, including the ‘end of full auto’ amendment.

    • I am the NRA too, in fact an Endowment member and have given a fair amount to the ILA over the years- until the last 18mos or so. The Bump stock issue pissed me off and this non-sense with WLP is the final straw. I will not donate another cent until he is gone. I am of the opinion the NRA desperately needs to be fixed not destroyed, but am losing some confidence that will happen.

    • David, they may not be as large but my local organizations are who defeated bloombergs gun bill here in Maine. NRA was a no show. As far as I can tell they don’t have a wardrobe budget either nor have any local executives been caught squirreling away a bimbo or two in a pied a terre.

  8. I’m taking the approach of reforming from within – I stood up at the NRAAM and put my name on the petition to reform leadership and the board. I’m running for the Board on the agenda outlined by Save the Second. I need 706 Life or NRA voting members to support my candidacy.
    Petition here https://tinyurl.com/TaitNRA

    NRA only accepts hardcopies with original signatures – email me and I will send you my mailing address if you sign the petition.

    • Frank, I’m a Benefactor Member and glad to sign your petition and stick it in the mail. Point of fact, I only vote for Board candidates that ARE on the ballot by petition, which is only one or two a year lately. If all eligible NRA members actually voted and did this, we’d have fixed things already. Not sure how to send you an email though

      • NRA Life Member here. Would love to sign Frank’s petition (along with several buddies at work) too, but don’t know where to send it. Frank, please help us help you!

  9. I’ve kept my membership but have made it clear in all appeals for funds that I won’t give a dime until Wayne & his cronies (including Meadows) are history.

  10. cox pushed the nazis permit system for 20 plus years and screwed over state citizens everytime and by far most of those nazis laws are still on the books including i.e. montana texas carolinas.
    north said anyone who wants an AR15 should join the military period this was before north was president of nra … north was picked by cox and board … big name on fox news former marine etc etc bs bs … which is why cox and north tried to push Wayne LaPierre out the NRA. As far who should have guns of any sort etc etc . Carry whatever whenever where ever a Citizen wants too is what shall not be infringed means except when in jail period. Repeal 1986 1968 1938 1934 and …. 1926 and all fed regs by i.e. post office and army corps of enginners bs nazis feds laws and regs now.

  11. Seriously that is the million dollar question. Now would be the best time to shit can Wayne because the pressure is on because of the upcoming elections but if he does not thrown in the towel he will take down the organization with him and during the upcoming election year its goodbye to all of your guns.

    This is one time no one can really predict the future and the Second Amendment hangs in the balance because the Supreme Court whether it is conservative or liberal, all of them never met a gun ban law that did not love because it enhances their corrupt power over the people.

    • Eating our own and the deliberate, systematic destruction of all that sustains us is the province, of those of us on the left, who have perfected self-loathing. For the past 50 years, the NRA has been a most imperfect defender of our Second Amendment rights. Corruption will be an issue for any national organization with millions of dues paying members. Reacting to the deficiencies of the leadership of the NRA, by “tearing it all down” in a childish tantrum, that is a tactic, we on the left have mastered. The destruction or collapse of the NRA will only embolden those of us who seek power we should not have.
      Smaller gun rights organizations are experiencing increases in membership and donations at the expense of the NRA. They are proving to be more effective at expanding our rights. Send them your donations, but maintain your NRA memberships. In this current politically and culturally polarized environment, where everyone agrees on the corruption of NRA leadership, if the NRA survives, it will drive those of us on the left crazy, or crazier.

      • “those of us on the left, who have perfected self-loathing” You should loathe yourself, recognizing you have a problem is the first step in recovery. Being on the “left” is despicable and vial so change your heart and mind to join the good guys.

  12. Wayne and his friends are waiting the storm out, they have nothing else to pay them. I’m hopeful a way materializes to remove them but that still only come with legal charges against them. That is the final solution to WLP.

  13. There’s not much members can do at this point. As a group you’ve either looked the other way or liked the opaque, fudd, RNC-groupie product the NRA has given you for decades. It doesn’t matter what you say, your actions speak louder. The message the NRA leaders have recieved from you is that you want them to do as they please. You don’t have the resolve or the attention span to cut the NRA off for long enough to get their attention. Might as well stop kidding yourselves.

    To the individual NRA member; don’t whine to me about what will happen in politics or act like I owe you a functioning alternative. Santa Clause isn’t real, this isn’t a Disney movie and you may well have fudded your way into a corner where RKBA recognition will not be advanced in your remaining lifetime. Congratulations. You can stop being a tool now if you want. If I have to explain to you why that’s rewarding, don’t worry about it.

  14. Anyone against Wayne LaPierre including those on chat web is very most likely can be nothing else … a democrat , a left wing establishment republican, a nazis, a commie, or some other form a traitor . Not one word against cox or north by anyone. Only against Wayne LaPierre or the NRA which is 5 million members. No specific support for the 2A either. No call for repealing nazis laws regs etc. No call to follow the 2A and abolish the nazis permit system. So that sums it up. All traitors to God, the words in the Bible, the Declaration of Independence , the Constitution, the Republic, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness, Founding Fathers, Veterans of all Wars from 1775 to today.

    • People forget that Chris Cox is on video endorsing red flag laws. I’m glad the NRA is rid of him. WLP needs to go next, and hopefully then, they will finally get their act together.

      • There are a number of other people that need to go, otherwise the NRA will continue to be a racket for the enrichment of those well-connected.

    • I got a list and Cox is on it. The list is growing by the month. They get on the list by outing themselves every time they defend Wayne and co.’s scam.

      Just because you don’t pay attention doesn’t mean others aren’t. There are a lot of BoDs that are not on the side of America nor the people.

      • “There are a lot of BoDs that are not on the side of America nor the people (guns).

        Indeed. Back in the mid-80s, GM bought EDS, the computer sales and consulting company built by Ross Perot (using $1000 seed money from his wife). Perot was paid $600million cash, and given a place on the BoD of GM. After a few years of Perot questioning the mis-management at GM, the BoD decided that the best use of shareholder equity was to spend $600 million buying-off Perot, and striping him of the seat on the BoD. Some years later, the CEO of the time was retired on $1 million+/yr. In an interview with Forbes magazine, the CEO declared that he had no idea what caused GM to fall from the marketplace leader, to a mere player.

        Oh, yeah….guns.

      • Indeed. David is pounding a strawman.

        End of the day there’s the short list of problems with the NRA and the long list. It’s pointles giving the long list because most don’t have the attention span or open mindedness to hear it, they’ll turn to ignorance or nitpicking as a defense mechanism. But focus on one prominent fudd and they complain about the ones you left out. Pfft.

    • “Meanwhile, the NRA’s “Baghdad Bobette”, president Carolyn Meadows, released a statement saying…”

      This sentence is pretty clear. Baghdad Bobette is this author’s nickname for NRA president Carolyn Meadows.

      As for what the reference is, Baghdad Bob was the nickname given to Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, Iraq’s Information Minister in 2003, who would repeatedly give press conferences about the US’s invasion of Iraq falsely stating that US forces were not quickly plowing through Saddam’s Revolutionary Guard. His statements became increasingly absurd when intercut with embedded US media’s reports from the front lines.

      He’s the living embodiment of the “nothing to see here” trope.

  17. Scatter the NRA to the winds and give your support to whoever you think deserves it. ‘Name recognition’ is not a good reason to throw your money at the NRA, and there’s nothing special about it. Don’t believe me? When’s the last time you voted for a Whig?

    • The mere fact that every time a gun grabber or confiscation politician even thinks about guns they mention the NRA as the devil that needs to be destroyed before anything “good” can be accomplished is proof enough that name recognition is something that needs to be preserved.

      I am no fan of the NRA leadership and have not donated for decades because of their willingness to toss bones to the antis in order to get a few crumbs back. Every last one of them needs to read and memorize “The Art of the Deal” and take lessons from Trump on how to negotiate. You NEVER give away something you want to get something THEY want in return.

      And I have written about this before – if you agree that the government can infringe “just a little bit, here and there”, then you have agreed that the government CAN infringe.

      THAT was the NRA policy that turned me away.

      Best possible move right now, IMO – Elect Colion Noir president of the NRA and start over from there.

      • It’s theater. You pound your chest and stomp your feetsies about libruls, they do the same in return. The elite on both sides keep you fired up. The NRA is a sparring partner for the US left, they don’t hate each other. The relationship is like coworkers.

        The real loser, if you can wrap your mind around this, is not the wealthy, politicians or lobbyists on either side, nor is it the voters on just one side.

      • Trump signed an order to ban bump fire stocks and he signed the Fix NICS bill. At the same time he told Republicans not to put up any pro 2A bills (while he is around). Afterward he setup up a group to study what gun control we need to protect the children. Then they had meetings with governors against gun violence and a press conference announcing the gun control and other agendas to help prevent school shootings.

        After all the anti 2A stuff he did, he goes to the NRA members meeting and proclaims himself the best defender of gun rights and signs a piece of paper to prove it.

        There was also back room deals made with Cox and Wayne…

      • Colion Noir defended and supports the NRA’s past actions. He kisses their butts hoping to retain a high paying job connected to the NRA. How else is he going to afford his expensive lifestyle? Google no longer allows gun channels to make money.

  18. It’s time for WLP to apologize to the members for billing them for his custom tailored suits he bought on NRA’s money. Then pay the money back. I haven’t heard who the new PR company is yet. Hope they do a good job. I thought the NRA_ILA was doing a first class job and was the only thing holding the association together … then Cox gets the boot? What the…? By all means, it’s letter writing time. And hold the donations until WLP gets the message and quits. Can’t the BofD take him out with a no confidence vote?

    • “Can’t the BofD take him out with a no confidence vote?”

      Yes, but they are mostly Wayne LaPierre loyalists, so they won’t! The problem is much larger that a single person. By the way, the NRA-ILA has been lending money to the NRA for years now, so don’t think your NRA-ILA donations are safe. Chis Cox had no problem with that, the bump stock ban or red flag laws. There are no good guys in this story, except for the few Board members that want the NRA fixed and have been punished by the NRA leadership accordingly: Timothy Knight, Allen West, Esther Q. Schneider, Duane Liptak, Sean Maloney, and Robert K. Brown.

  19. It’s been a long time since I’ve given the NRA anything more than my annual membership dues and I’ve now dropped them entirely. My state has an active gun rights organization. Its officers always represent us before state or local governments when legislation affecting guns is proposed. Although there is a paid NRA employee who is supposed to do the same, that person makes no attempt to work with the state organization. Some of the few times the NRA representative has appeared at a hearing, he has testified in opposition to the state organization’s carefully considered position. The old saying, “with friends like this, you don’t need enemies”, applies to the NRA.

  21. Take a multi-tiered approach.

    Turn off the gravy-spigot of donations. Starve it to death.

    Immediately set about running new members for the board. The only problem with that approach is, only members vote. Kind of a ‘Catch-22’ situation with that one.

    Up the pressure on the NRA ‘heavies’ with the most personal harassment legally possible. Let them know they have to go…

  22. “Baghdad Bobette”

    I read this and laughed. If only she would run around and slice off some tallywhackers, or threaten to, maybe things would move in the right direction.

    Re: Lorena Bobbitt

  23. I waffle about my membership in the NRA. On the one hand, I do not want to give them any money. On the other, I love telling my liberal family and friends that I am a card-carrying member of both the NRA and GOA. The expressions on their faces are so cute.

    • Well, you can now add pro-gun people to that list too and see the expressions on their faces when you tell them that you are still a member of the NRA and still pay money for that racket.

    • There are other ways to be an edgelord. Unless you’re the kind of guy who eats pizza with a knife and fork, in which case, yeah, I guess the NRA could be it.

    • If your membership status is LIFE or higher; you do not need to contribute to maintain your position as a NRA member, and can continue to tell those who hate it, that you are an NRA member. However if you are an ANNUAL, you are screwed, because without renewing your membership each year, you lose your status by omission.

  24. I honestly don’t know what to think. I had let my NRA membership lapse for years. Then I read about New York trying to screw them over on the banking/insurance thing. I then renewed with a five year membership. Now this.

    • With you on that, Gadsden Flag. Have decided that most of my defense of 2A will be at the market level: buying munitions, gear, arms, training, and range membership. It will also be at the street level: talking with family, friends, and people at work and setting the best example I can.

      I will purchase memberships in national and state orgs because they do that which few of us can do on our own. Maybe I will make some mistakes: I am pretty good at that.

      • Life. I always did that too, but we have to have someone to represent us at the federal, state and local level. It’s just the world works.

    • Congrats, you got conned. The NYS AG investigation is entirely due to the NRA leadership’s mismanagement and corruption.

      Ironically, the NRA Carry Guard Insurance doesn’t exist anymore as of yesterday. It was a scam from the beginning and only created financial and legal liabilities for the NRA and for other organizations, like the USCCA.

      • How so? I agree that Carry Guard was a poorly designed program. It wouldn’t help you when you defended yourself with anything other than a gun and you had to raise the cost of your legal defense yourself, which is very difficult for most people, and apply for reimbursement if you won in court. Otherwise, it was like the other self defense “insurance” programs. In return for a premium, it was supposed to pay for competent legal representation when you needed it. Were there cases of Carry Guard’s administrators weaseling out of legitimate claims?

        Also, how would defects in Carry Guard adversely affect good programs like USCCA, ACLDN and CCW Safe? That is, beyond New York State’s whining about “murder insurance” which it clearly isn’t. I guess they are fine with a multimillionaire’s being able to afford a good lawyer but not the average person.

        • The NRA Carry Guard Insurance was a piss-poor product to begin with that paid only 20% of the insured liability upfront and 80% only after a successful defense. All other “insurances” pay 100% upfront. NRA Carry Guard was sold as an actual insurance product, subject to insurance regulations. All other “insurances” do this differently using membership associations.

          There were a number of legal problems with the NRA Carry Guard Insurance itself and the NY and WA regulators declared it illegal. Some of the legal problems were in the insurance terms themselves, apparently paying out the 20% to convicted persons too. Other legal problems included the fact that the NRA and Ackerman McQueen were not licensed to sell insurance in ANY state, but did so through the NRA Carry Guard Web site.

          This mess created legal blowback for all other “insurances”. USCCA is currently not available in NY and WA because of that. The NRA not only booted the USCCA from the 2017 Annual Meeting two weeks before the meeting, tried to take away the USCCA’s business by replicating it, but also created a huge financial and legal mess.

          Then the NRA sends out e-mail alerts telling everyone that the State of NY is trying to destroy the NRA through legal actions against the NRA Carry Guard Insurance.

          PS: I am an Endowment Life Member of the NRA and have self defense insurance through the USCCA. I have followed this mess closely.

  25. I think that the best course of action for members is to always remember the destruction of the NRA only benefits the socialist left. With a national election coming shortly only a unified national organization can protect us. The more gasoline poured onto the smoldering fire the more the Democrat party will gain. Or is that what the whole endeavor is meant to do, help Democrats? A neutralized NRA makes life a lot easer for the Bolsheviks.

    • The liberal left is neither Socialist nor Bolshevik. They are just liberals. There’s a world of difference between American Liberalism and the theories and implementations of Marx and Lenin and other evil men.

    • “always remember the destruction of the NRA only benefits the socialist left.”

      The destruction of the NRA benefits me and I’m not part of the socialist left. I’m nowhere even near leftist. I’m farther right than many conservatives. The NRA has never represented me or my interests. I support the unalienable individual right to keep and bear arms. Negotiating Rights Away has steadfastly promoted and supported privileges in the place of exercising rights. Whenever someone mainstream wants to gauge if some position is acceptable to “gun people,” they often rely on the NRA and its stance. That sucks for me and other liberty loving individuals because the NRA was, is, and probably always will be weak as water regarding true rights. Get the damned bullhorn away from these Fudds.

    • Right, it is important to donate to the NRA, where a quarter of a cent goes into the fight for every Dollar you spent. The NRA is a racket to enrich a few. Out of its $400 million annual revenue, only $1 million goes to fight gun laws in the courts. Less than $10 million was spent by the NRA in last year’s midterms. What did the NRA do with the other $389 million?

  26. Not one more cent in donations until the NRA’s house is in order. WLP resigned or forced out with all his cronies. Chris Cox back at NRA-ILA.

    I am contemplating my membership. If Cabelas or Bass Pro run an event where they give a gift card for member sign-up/renewals, I may do that to maintain voting rights. That way I still have my tiny little ignored voice at the NRA without giving them more than $10 or so to maintain it all.

    I have time, until end of year anyway.

    Meanwhile I am writing to the NRA. Got one out today explaining why I will not be buying tickets to attend yet another Friends of NRA Dinner. Not this time, not ever again under current leadership.

  27. “Oh yes, and a small group of large donors are urging other contributors to suspend their giving until Wayne LaPierre and his cronies resign. Supposedly they represent commitments of $134 million in planned donations but are holding onto their cash until WLP & Co are gone.”

    Defund Wayne and sycophants. It won’t take long once the slush fund dries up and they will be at each others throats. If you think much has been gleamed on how mismanaged the organization is currently,just wait till the paychecks dry up.

    • Whenever the NRA is financially in trouble, they themselves sell life memberships at a huge discount. The last I heard today was $250 to upgrade an annual member to a life member. That’s the biggest discount ever. The NRA must be really in trouble.

  30. “We need to work within the NRA to fix it, not blow it up.”

    Wow. Yeah. Like wow. What an idea. Whuddathunk? Why hasn’t that been tried before.

  31. Get rid of the $3k suit,
    then stay the course,
    wait and see how board acts before needing to remove many.

  33. I’m a life member for 50yrs and to be honest I don’t give a Rats ass because the NRA will not get another dime from me as long as WLP is long gone. For them to oust Oliver North, for instituting a possible coup is BS. WLP is insecure and paranoid and should be place under mental care and put in a straight jacket not a Giorgio Armani.

  34. From the days When I really liked Wayne LaPierre. I know many didn’t like him even back then. But he was speaking the truth just like President Trump. Now both have disappointed me.

    1987: Bernie Goetz is a political prisoner. As head of the NRA’s lobbying arm, LaPierre sent a letter to New York Gov. Cuomo demanding a pardon for “Subway Vigilante” Bernie Goetz, who was convicted of possessing an unlicensed handgun but acquitted of attempted murder in the shooting of shooting four black teenagers. The case was very controversial, as Goetz told police that after wounding three men, he said to a seated one, “You don’t look too bad, here’s another” and then shot him. LaPierre wrote, “Mr. Goetz has suffered three long years as a political prisoner, exonerated of real crime by a jury, yet ultimately condemned to jail by a New York judge inflicting his own outrageous, personal biases against this victim.”

    1994: American reporters are worse than Nazi and Stalinist propagandists. The New York Times reported September 11, 1994:

    Much of the annual convention in Minneapolis was devoted to attacks on the press. “Our media has become the master over the very Constitution that created it,” said Wayne LaPierre, the N.R.A. leader. “Forget Stalin’s Russia. Forget Hitler’s Germany. The mightiest propaganda machine the world has ever known is right here in 1994 America.” …

    But when LaPierre addresses his constituency, he preaches nonaccommodation on guns. “The Final War Has Begun” was the message he delivered in The Rifleman after the House passage of the weapons ban.

    1995: The government is full of jack-booted thugs in bucket helmets. “It doesn’t matter to them that the semi-auto ban gives jack-booted government thugs more power to take away our constitutional rights, break in our doors, seize our guns, destroy our property, and even injure or kill us,” LaPierre wrote in an NRA fundraising letter, according to the April 28, 1995 Washington Post. “Not too long ago, it was unthinkable for federal agents wearing Nazi bucket helmets and black storm trooper uniforms to attack law-abiding citizens… In Clinton’s administration, if you have a badge, you have the government’s go-ahead to harass, intimidate, even murder law-abiding citizens,” he wrote. “Even murder” was underlined. A rival, more radical NRA official suggested LaPierre respond, “If the jackboot fits, wear it.” He later tried and failed to oust LaPierre, according to the May 1997 American Spectator.

    1999: Bill Clinton is encouraging criminals to commit crimes to build support for new gun laws. “By not prosecuting and enforcing the laws that are there — we’re talking about felons and possession of guns, violent juveniles, gang members in possession of guns, drug dealers in possession of guns — they’re making a decision to let the blood flow on the streets… and they’re getting people killed every day,” LaPierre said on Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes on November 15, 1999.

    2000: No, really, Clinton is letting criminals kill people to get the public to support gun control. “I’ve come to believe he needs a certain level of violence in this country,” LaPierre told ABC News on the March 15, 2000 episode of Nightline. “He’s willing to accept a certain level of killing to further his political agenda. And the vice president, too. I mean, how else can you explain this dishonesty we get out of the administration?”

    “Wayne LaPierre will say some controversial things”
    https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/01/two-decades-wayne-lapierre-saying-hyperbolic-things-about-guns/318915/

  35. As a practical matter when I tried to use the “Contact” link of the NRA it would not allow any email to process that mentioned withdrawal from membership, discontent with leadership decisions, etc related to Wayne LaPierre. There is no contact list for current Board members. In short, there is no way to give feedback to Board members or NRA leadership. There is, however, a letter on the website from current and past presidents of the NRA doubling-down on support for LaPierre. Any organization that touts transparency of leadership should have an easy way for its membership to contact its governors or board. I agree members should contact leadership — does anyone know where to find contact information?

    • That lack of any way to contact Chris Cox by email is the reason why my contributions to the NRA & NRA/ILA ended almost 5 years ago. I think it is utterly ridiculous that members cannot easily contact someone when there is a problem.

      As a Benefactor member, it always pissed me off when I would call them in regards to something they were offering in form of a reward for a contribution, and they couldn’t find me in the system. They never got any contribution from me.

  36. Hold on, hold on to yourself, cause this is going to hurt like hell.

    • Well, I’ll be!

      Possum is a Sarah McLachlan fan!

      (‘Surfacing’ was her best album, by far…)

  37. Wayne’s dug himself a hell of a trench, therefore the only option is trench warfare. Dig in, wait him out as you stop paying, and hope a legal artillery strike takes him out by chance.

    • “Dig in, wait him out as you stop paying, and hope a legal artillery strike takes him out by chance.”

      There’s a fair chance of that happening if NY state has the goods on corruption evidence…

  38. A letter writing campaign by members. Wayne should be even if only to get major donors back. If he can’t understand that he verges on being truly egomaniacal.

  39. Send a check for $0.01, with “The last penny you will get from me until LaPierre is gone” in the comment field.

  40. “We need to work within the NRA to fix it, not blow it up.”

    Exactly. It’s good to hear some common sense in an article about the current situation. The NRA has tremendous lobbying power and the Liberals are terrified of it. They would like nothing more than for the NRA to go away because it lost all its grassroots support. Yes, WLP has to go and I have told the NRA board as much in emails, but after reading this article I will be sending a stack of snail mail letters as well.

    We need the NRA. We . . . all American gun owners. Otherwise the Libs will win a major battle by dividing us and setting us against each other. Divide and conquer, and if we start eating our own, they will succeed. Gun owners need to stop blowing off hot air about how they hate the NRA and get off their butts and do something.

    • Wayne LaPierre isn’t leaving anytime soon! Now what?

      The NRA spends a very small amount of money on lobbying and 2A lawsuits. Out of the $400 million the NRA had last year, $1 million was spent on 2A lawsuits and less than $10 million was spent on the midterms. Wayne LaPierre alone get’s paid more in salary than the NRA spends on 2A lawsuits.

      The current NRA is a scam that focuses on only one thing, making certain people rich by using a propaganda war to empty your pockets. It is your choice to participate in this scam. Just don’t tell anyone that you fought for your rights by sending money to the NRA.

    • “and if we start eating our own,”

      The NRA is not my own. They never represented me. They represent privileges and not the exercise of rights. They are damaging to liberty. With Negotiating Rights Away in the room, most of the oxygen is sucked out.

      Burn, baby, burn!

  41. I don’t know how much the NRA rakes in annually in donations. I know that I have personally donated considerably more than my dues have been every year – but they will not get another dime in donations from me as long as Wayne LaPierre remains a part of the organization in any capacity. It has become painfully apparent that the nation’s oldest and largest gun rights organization is now run by a cabal of self-seeking, corrupt miscreants under LaPierre’s direction.

    I, for one, do not want to see the collapse of the NRA. Just the fact that it is the favorite target of the gun-grabbers to demonize makes it worthwhile to me. However, it needs to be fixed, something which will not happen under LaPierre and his hand-picked coterie.

    There are two things I’ve always heeded. One is Lord Acton’s admonition of “Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The other is “Money talks; bullshit walks.” If the donations dry up, so will the support for LaPierre.

  42. Is Liberal Warrior a blooming idiot? I guess if you like to go to a resteraunt for rich forigniers and see 12 and 13 year old girls selling theirselves as prostitutes to put food on the table for the family socialism is a good thing. By the way, how much is Bernie paying his staff? I heard they had an uproar because he didn’t want to pay them $15.00 an hour. Typical communist, take take take. Go to Moscow, to the apartment like buildings where everyone lives, smell the puke, urine and crap in the elevator on the way up to your contact and see if you would want to live their. I garantee you he doesn’t or he wouldn;t be talking to you. Know what you are talking about before you open your stupid mouth.

  43. I love the 5 mill + voting comment, yeah the same FUDDS who sat and did NOTHING while the Assault Weapon Ban was put into place while the GOP kept telling everyone to be nice and play by the rules. THAT is why the GOP loses elections and the NRA continues to do NOTHING while raking in millions. I gave up on the old rules of losing and pretending you are virtuous approach in the 90s. But then you cant tell fools how foolish they are.

    • Yup, people who will vote R every chance they get. Most of this tough talk in here is a joke because they can’t imagine changing their behavior where it matters to those in power.

      Say it doesn’t work and it’s like telling an 8 year old that a trip to Disney World is not happening; they whine, accuse and demand. I don’t know if I should be disgusted or jealous that people have managed to reach adulthood in this mental state. Must take a charmed life.

      • “Yup, people who will vote R every chance they get.”

        Voting D would put an end to all the problems.

        • It must be one or the other right? Because there couldn’t possibly be a situation where one choice or another isn’t a treat for you. That just wouldn’t be fair.

          • “Did you know there are other parties in America to vote for that are not called Democrat or Republican?”

            The problem with “other” parties is the lack of downstream support. My favorite case of failure is Jesse Ventura winning the governorship in Minn. He had not “coattails”, no support from incumbents in the legislature. The main two parties just waited Jesse out (like the two parties today trying to wait Trump out). Yes, if “everybody” would just vote for one of the “other” party candidates, that “other” party could win. The likelihood of that is below zero. The only real hope for a different party to succeed is for Ds or Rs to disintegrate, as did the Whigs, making room for a different label to be the number two national party.

        • The “Republicans” voted for McCain! That leftist, John McCain. You saw how much love the left had for McCain after he died. You can watch a lot of videos of leftists honoring him.

          • “You saw how much love the left had for McCain after he died.”

            McCain sucker-punched himself. He identified the MSM as his base, and when he was the nominee, the MSM savaged him. Not sure he ever understood what happened.

  44. My money has not gone to the NRA for years, instead I donate to GOA and SAF. Once LaPierre is gone I will re-up my NRA membership.

  45. The Best Rep POTNRA was Chuck Hesston,, Rest in Peace in heaven with Jesus and Moses.who famously Quoted ” From My Cold Dead Hands while Warning us of Gun control to strict laws and downright mind washing turn them in Confiscatin in our Allies Countries. England, CANADA, Australia, and Brazil.Mexico etc.

    • Facepalm! The irony of this statement is just superseded by its ignorance. Charlton Heston was brought in during a time when the NRA faced exactly the same accusations of corruption and mismanagement with exactly the same players, LaPierre, Hammer and Ackerman McQueen. Charlton Heston became the NRA President through a number of shady (some say illegal) moves by this cabal. Charlton Heston became famous for his “cold dead hands” words in 2000, after he was famous for saying “private possession of AK-47’s is entirely inappropriate” on a radio show in 1997.

      Here is the transcript of that statement: http://www.predatormastersforums.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=190596

      Stop wanting professional celebrities to lead you! You are only asking to be betrayed!

      • Didn’t Ackerman write the script/comments “From my cold dead hands” and “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun”? That’s what I heard.

        • Yes, Ackerman McQueen came up with the “from my cold dead hands” line and so many other NRA slogans.

      • “Stop wanting professional celebrities to lead you! You are only asking to be betrayed!”

        IIRC, Heston raised a flintlock long rifle over his head when he made the famous statement.

  46. Remember when Penn State was “rocked” by the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal…..wow ..that was 7 years ago…..the first thing Penn State did was to fire everyone from the president on down….Spanier, Schultz, Curley and even legendary football coach Paterno was let go……many of the fore mentioned were also charged with criminal offenses as well as losing their jobs…..The NRA is no different as if any healing of a fractured organization is to occur it must be held accountable and many of it’s perpetrators must also be held accountable in a criminal court as well……LePierre has not made any public appearances or statements since last April at the NRA annual convention, he basically went into hiding for all intents and purposes so we are nothing more than a ship without a rudder…….I have 2 more years remaining on my membership…..whether or not I re-join in 2 years remains to be seen, but I will continue to vote for pro gun candidates as I am sure the 5 millions plus NRA members will continue to do so as well…..all I can do is hope for the best….stay safe out there.

  48. NRA needs to be saved somehow, GOA is not muscular enough to stop gun control the way the NRA can.

    • That’s right. Legislators are concerned about VOTES. Even if only 1/2 of the NRA members are eligible voters, that’s 2 1/2 MILLION. I doubt that all the other pro-gun organizations combined can muster that many. And I think that most legislators are aware of what influence the NRA wields to it’s members when they recommend who to vote for or not; with their A-F ratings of how those legislators have supported gun rights and the 2nd amendment.

  50. I’ve posted the following comment previously. Strange to note, it seems to disappear every time. I will make one more attempt. Regarding WLP, playing the alphabet game, his Background Checks For Everyone permanently soured me on him. By the way, I have been a Life Member of NRA for quite a few years.

  52. Big question: why did the NRA do away with the very successful Field Representative program? The program worked, it brought the NRA to the membership level and it produced new members at gun shows as well as speaking engagements. There was no legitimate reason to destroy the Filed Rep program other than inside BS, and the NRA has not been the same since.

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