Opinion by Henry Bowman
USA – -(Ammoland.com)- NRA members, Defenders of the 2nd Amendment it is time we replace high leadership within the NRA.
In the light of recent months, it has become clear that existing NRA leadership, namely that of Wayne Lapierre and Chris Cox has become a threat to rather than an asset to the protection of the 2nd Amendment.
After Sandy Hook we faced a massive push by the gun grabbers not seen in a while, in the face of the leftist, lying media (need I repeat myself three times), a Democratic Majority in Congress and a Gun Grabber In the White House, Wayne and Chris held the line on everything. They knew then that if you give these people a foot they take a mile, so we will indeed cannot give them an inch.
And such tactic of non-appeasement, of not compromising on the 2nd, 4th, 8th, Amendments worked not just in that aftermath of that act of evil, but countless more that have been allowed to happen thanks to the evil idea of “Gun Free Zones.”
Fast forward to Oct 1st, 2017…In the aftermath, Wayne and Chris decided to throw out basic logic, reason, experience and throw away a winning tactic for NOTHING.
Where I sit it seems they decided to “get in front” of this event and declared they support “Additional regulations on bump stocks.”
This has since snowballed in recent weeks with many state legislators GOP representative (WA state, FL, soon NJ etc.) voting in favor to ban the device and many other gun grabbers using the recent shooting in FL as an excuse to push for many more bans at the state/federal levels.
Now the NRA has gotten behind the push for “Extreme Risk Protection Order’ claiming;
“We need to stop dangerous people before they act, so Congress should provide funding for states to adopt risk protection orders. This can help prevent violent behavior before it turns into a tragedy. These laws allow a court to intervene and temporarily remove firearms when a person threatens violence to themselves or others”…
So we are trying to do the impossible, protecting nothing, and giving away due process and a presumption of innocent…Why again? For what gain? So people who do not want us to have any rights will back off for a while before whoring out some tragedy that their leftist policy created or exacerbated to take away what is left?
Since when has “Compromise” on our rights ever worked?
Why should we “Compromise” on our unalienable rights? Since when is self-imposed capitulation ever benefited our rights?
We have seen the results of this over the last 120 plus years, those who cannot see it or ignore the results are unfit for leadership.
The Leadership of Wayne and Chris has needlessly exacerbating internal division in the gun rights community/gun-culture. Alienating pro-gun voters, inspiring the more cowardly elements of the GOP to needlessly surrender away the rights of Americans, giving the gun grabbers propaganda and legislative victories. We now have to waste money in court fighting what could have been prevented, money that could be used in other lawsuits or for other candidates in the upcoming primaries/elections.
- Has the NRA led on so-called “Pro-Gun Democrats” to tame the rabid anti-American elements in their party or to help get the 60 votes in the Senate to pass pro-gun bills?
- Has the NRA led voter registration drives among existing or new members?
- Has the NRA dropped the rating of the traitors in FL from A to F?
- Has the NRA called so-called “Republicans” in the IL state Legislator, or told Gov Rauner that his future depends on him vetoing the moronic bills passed by the legislator?
Ask yourself, is there any reason they haven’t done those things small things? Three of them could be done for free and just take at most a few hours of time…
What has happened, if there is anything positive, is 500,000 new NRA members. This is promising for the NRA and gun ownership as a whole, but you could have 10,000,000 new members, a billion dollar slush fund, and an army of lawyers and all of those tools would be useless if you have leadership that does not know how/when/where to use them or squanders them.
Wayne and Chris have been great leaders in the past….but past accomplishments does not excuse current failures, incompetency, losses.
To the NRA members who are voting in the current election for board members elect these excellent candidates to the board Adam Kraut, Tim Knight, Duane Liptak, Jr. Support them and advocate on every firearm forum you are on, if not on a forum, join on, its free, a great place to find deals, meet members, get active.
The current tactics of only “holding the line” does not work to repeal infringements and restore our freedoms. You do not win wars (cultural, Info, legal, real) by being defensive. You win with daring, offensive actions and such actions can only happen with competent leadership.
Leadership that does not punish incompetence, betrayal, inaction. Leadership that does not take action in the face of a relentless enemy, that squanders an opportunity, that whores out the cause it claims to champion to line their own pockets while throwing pennies at patriots and candidates is not leadership. A hostile group within our ranks that must be shamed, reformed if possible and replaced if need be.
Wayne, Chris…your window of ability to repair your mistakes is closing. If you come out and just admit, your surrenders were mistakes, and work to repair that damage done I am sure we could find a way to forgive you. Like all leaders you are men, and men are imperfect, flawed, and fallible.
But if you two keep down this path of self-induced capitulation out of some wrapped sense of trying to control the concession of our rights rather than fighting existing and preventing future infringements, you will find yourself replaced by better leadership. Leaders have no right to harm the causes and people they champion nor or followers/members obligated to stand aside and let preventable harm to be committed to themselves and their goals.
Spread the word to follow NRA members voting to cast their ballots for Adam Kraut, Tim Knight, Duane Liptak, Jr.
“The worst thing that can happen to a good cause is not to be skillfully attacked, but to be ineptly defended.” – Frederic Bastiat
Am I wrong? I am looking forward to readers feedback in the comment section.
About Henry Bowman
Henry Bowman is an Entrepreneur, Nevadan, Life Long Defender of Freedom.
@Big D: Had that one all ready and primed didn’t ya? Well, it’s just too long to begin to take apart seriatim but a quick one: inalienable Rights do not include murder so we can toss your whole thought process out on that. Inalienable Rights are NEVER subject to revision or subjugation by man or government. We are endowed with them by our creator. As for the rest of your diatribe, phew, I just don’t care. 84 years of ever increasing gun control, mark that law abiding citizen control, is enough. If you don’t understand that you are part of… Read more »
@Big D: Nope, I don’t give you one ounce of credibility or credence. There is no more compromise, not one more inch. The only discussion worth having is how many gun control laws should we repeal every year. If we repealed one a DAY it would take 60 years to get rid of what has taken Liberals more than 80 years to saddle us with. I say repeal every damn one of them and give us back our freedoms. How’s that for reasonable discussions?
THE SCARLET L. Rhetorically satisfying for you. Meaningless and distracting for everyone else. Since most of the founding fathers considered themselves to be liberal thinkers (meaning they valued liberty and equality) with robust liberal educations (sometimes in addition to legal or other professional training), perhaps I should consider that a compliment. Actually, the Scarlet L is not meaningless. It’s scary. If the 2dAm is going to survive its going to need me and a bunch more 30 and 40 somethings like me, along with our time, pens, educations, law degrees, and law licenses. We shouldn’t need “conservative” bona fides if… Read more »
Sanford Levinson, I met Sanford Levinson. He signed my case book! “The Processes of Constitutional Decision Making Cases and Materials” Second Edition. You write, “… Anything I missed, that can’t be shoehorned into these intentionally broad buckets?” Yes, here is a scenario that you missed: The people vote into the Senate and the House a majority of non-party hacks. The government returns to its limited duties as outlined in the Constitution. The definition of a civil Right returns to a pre-Holmsian “shield behind on can stand and not be touched by the government” concept. The Congress passes new, strict, controls… Read more »
I haven’t heard a peep out of the NRA concerning the ERCO that Trump is pushing. That is a dangerous and unconstitutional bill that no state should have to deal with. Good old Wayne is just counting his one hundred dollar bills and chuckling to himself. Once we lose a law or amendment it will be twice as hard to get back. NRA is just a big money collecting machine.
@Mike Wilbert: AND, all gun laws in existence simply duplicate existing laws against assault, rape, robbery & murder with any weapon. They are unnecessary and only impact the law abiding. Repeal ALL gun laws.
@Big D: So you believe there should be “reasonable” restrictions and you fought this fight in 2007? Well, one more “I believe in the 2A BUT” Liberal has joined the foray. The 2A guarantees us nothing, it reaffirms our inalienable Rights as human beings. Those Rights cannot be taken away or diminished by individuals or governments, although they certainly try. Once again the old canard if yelling “fire” is brought forward to attempt to bolster your position. It does not. That originated from the opinion of Justice Holmes in Schenck v United States and, in later life, Justice Holmes stated… Read more »
Vanns: I did fight this pre-2007, though in 2007 I was not involved with Heller itself. I was beavering away as a young civil litigator. Earlier, however, wrote a long (80 page I think) article arguing that liberals needed to rethink the Standard Model if they wanted to protect speech, religion, search/siesure law and other rights protected in the Bill of Rights. I thought myself quite bold when I presented it to the National Lawyers Guild in Boston. THAT is a liberal organization. But I have to ask: If all you want to do is reaffirm your existing ideas, why… Read more »
I don’t know if you guys read these posts, but I have to inject a little reality: The 2dAmis an individual right, protected by the constitution. It was, for decades, ignored and maligned by lawyers, legislatures and judges. The single biggest threat in early 2007 was the possibility of a Supreme Court decision supporting the “Standard Rights” interpretation of the 2dAm. Those of us involved in that fight may recall arguing that part of the problem was decades of legal & judicial malfeasance/negligence. By failing to acknowledge the individual nature of the right, and developing a body of case law… Read more »
@Big, I disagree. We need to yell louder and longer. We need to demand a return to the Constitution because it is a system that worked and placed the People in proper perspective. This agency system, foisted on us by FDR, has done nothing but enslave people. We need to send a whole new Congress to Washington, Dist. of Corruption. The S. Ct. needs to get back to its job as described in the Constitution. The Congress needs to get back to its legislative duties as described in the Constitution. And our employees in the Federal government have to stop… Read more »
The 1919 quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes is…..“The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in FALSELY shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic.” Since 1969, for speech to break the law, it must directly encourage others to commit specific criminal actions of their own. To break the law, speech now had to incite “imminent lawless action.” One cannot hide behind free speech when inciting others to commit a crime. By itself, yelling fire in a crowded theater is stupid, but it’s not a violation of free speech. It’s not a limitation of one’s… Read more »
I think Tim/M.A.C. has the correct take on it and end goal of returning the NRA to No Compromise Ever.
State of the 2nd: NRA
Well now, Lew Tripp, IF you were there you also know that the Board was ready to call for Wayne’s resignation and offer Wayne a deal to just LEAVE and he turned around and stabbed Neal in the back after giving Neal his word that he would take the deal. I’ll call this exactly as it is and was, you’re a liar and have misrepresented to all here what happened behind the scenes. Go away and collect your check from Ak-Mc.
There is a lot things I might be,but a liar ain’t one of them.. Where you get your information from is suspect. Neal Knox wanted to control the NRA and the finances and put his ‘people’ in place,plain and simple. But there were many ,including Charlton Heston, that put an end to it., and now and yours want to try it again. It didn’t work then and it won’t work now. Seems like the same folks all over again.
Charlton Heston didn’t want to do squat. Moses was simply chosen, damn near at the last moment I would add, to save the day for Wayne who, after he had agreed to the package, walked downstairs and in mock surprise said “I’ve just discovered that there’s a plan to bribe me to leave this great organization. I’m shocked, shocked to discover this….blah blah blah”. Neal was a unbelievably honest man and took people at their word, something that proved to be his undoing. You and your ilk have been lying and backdoor dealing, against the true wishes of the membership,… Read more »
You can almost hear them in the smoke filled back room at DNC HQ. “Hey we got bump stocks for only 17 kids, how many do we need to get ARs banned? Where do we need another school slaughter this time? We can use the same “crisis actors as the last 5 “events”.”
Neal Knox was hated by gun grabbing George Herbert Walker Bush and by Clinton. He was a “NO COMPROMISE” NRA president that “Lippy-air” helped to push out because he was not “reasonable” and would not give the enemy an inch. I do not see anyone on the Horizon who is willing to grow the SPINE to do what needs to be done in the NRA. It’s job is to play the “fake” opposition that works WITH your enemies hand in glove. BUY MORE AMMO. Organize to do what needs to be done. Liberty1775
Neal Knox was never an NRA president. He tried to gain control of NRA finances and over through the NRA leadership.He was defeated in his attempt. I was there and saw it first hand at NRA Annual Meetings. Kind of like what you malcontents are trying to do now. The NRA is doing fine thank you very much and you will not get away with attempts to high jack again. If you don’t like the NRA,form your own gun association and all five of you can have a grand old time.
Mr. Tripp.. please note: I haave been, in the past, a paid up NRA member. Since I quite renewing, ou folks continue to send me beggings and pleadings in the post, and even phone calls, begging me to come back. WHY don’t I? Simple…. because of precisely the sort of sell out rubber spine INACTION from NRA. WHERE were you when Bloomburg invaded Washignton State and bought us a new gun grabber bill? Hunh? What HELP did we get? Not even a lawyer or two to launch a laswuit that would easily have overturned the bill as Unconstitutoinal per WA… Read more »
@Tio, Is Trippy back to do more damage to the NRA? Every word he writes makes the NRA look bad.
I’m a life member but will not donate a single penny unless I see some pro put back into a pro gun agenda.
I get “bombarded” with mail and emails asking me for contributions and renewal of my membership without regard for the fact that my renewal date is years away. I see and hear alot of “lip-service” but not much action. Like Trump, the NRA is also allowing the anti-2A groups to chip-away our rights through constant compromise and capitulation. The NRA needs to be totally reorganized with new leadership, new goals, a new mission and join with other pro-2A groups to protect our rights.
Mr. Bowman is correct. The NRA has sold gun owners on the idea that political candidates like Trump and lesser office holders actually care about their RKBA / self-defense rights– all the while advocating Mental Health databases, beefing up NICS, bump stock bans (backdoor semi-auto ban), etc… Remember that it was HW Bush that gave us “Gun Free Zones” in 1990. Yeah…look it up. (Bonus Senate Cowardly Voice Vote https://tinyurl.com/c9fcpqx) At this point, having a non-Democrat POTUS is more dangerous to gun rights than having a Democrat, because with a Dem in office, the NRA has to maintain the fiction… Read more »
500,000 new members? That’s well over $10M. The “fight” is a cash cow!
1934 NFA
1968 GCA
1986 “Hughes amendment”
1994 AWB
as well as numerous state level bills and “initiatives”
and now this BS – not exactly “fighting” for OUR 2A rights
@ Graham Along that line of thought,with links. All of these have the fingerprints of Negotiating Rights Away sine 1934. History 1791: The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified. The amendment reads: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” After That 1871: The National Rifle Association was formed by Union Army veterans Col. William C. Church and Gen. George Wingate. After that, they start going the other way 1934: https://www.atf.gov/pub/fire-explo_pub/nfa.htm 1939 https://www.atf.gov/pub/fire-explo_pub/gca.htm 1968: https://www.atf.gov/pub/fire-explo_pub/gca.htm 1986: https://www.constitution.org/2ll/2ndschol/46hard.pdf 1993 https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/5087/text… Read more »
“divide and conquer”, ever heard that one? seems to be working. stop the crying girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is not divide and conquer, it is reorganization to bring the NRA/ILA back to its original stated goals of not only no more gun laws but repeal of onerous laws that only impact the law-abiding. However, replacing Wayne & Chris is like replacing figureheads while leaving the rest of the body. The next in line is Josh, who is the mini-Wayne, but the real prize to excise from NRA, the real serpent, is Ackerman-McQween. They own & control ALL the magazines ALL the fund raising pleas you receive, the money AND the content, every single word! They have offices… Read more »
The eagerness to ban bump stocks is understandable……. It’s WRONG……. but understandable. The thinking is that a firearms accessory marketed as a novelty item to add fun to a shooting experience can be expendable. So many people I’ve spoken to in our gun rights group, Virginia Citizens Defense League, at gun shows and many I’ve spoken with in the gun store where I work are ambivalent about banning bump stocks. They say, “Hell, let ’em get banned. I don’t want one.” Politicians, even strong pro-2A politicians, have adopted that same ambivalence. To them (and the NRA) bump stocks are a… Read more »
There is also the questuon of whether the NRA in the age of Trump is shifting away from a narrow, single-issue organization to a broader agenda where the pro-gun message is merely one among several issues. Check Lapierre’s speech at CPAC.
I agree, the NRA has done nothing but barter away our rights and we have nothing to show for it except some very high salaries for these people.
This is the reason I joined the Gun Owners of America. From what I see, they are holding the line against the communistic gun grabbers / CONTROLLERS which want to CONFISCATE the weapons of LEGAL LAW ABIDING American CITIZENS. I REFUSE to become a SUBJECT of AmeriKa. I am a freeborn Citizen of America.
There is also the question of whether the NRA is moving beyond being merely a single-issue organization. See what Lapierre said in his speech at CPAC. The NRA works best when it focuses on a narrow pro-gun agenda.
I became a Life Member of the NRA in 1992, which I would not do today; I would go to JPFO or GOA. In addition, when the NRA took away our positive control in pistolcraft classes by enacting an online curriculum, I refused to renew my Certified Firearms Instructor credentials. The wolf has become a sheep.
I agree 100%. With that said, when is the change will begin?? who is running for those positions?? What are the objectives and way ahead now that the Left have the upper hand??
“I’m the NRA and I vote!” And it won’t be for quislings like LaPierre and his gang.
Thanks for your opinion. The leftist in this country really need more support. If you had started your diatribe prior to the latest push for gun elimination I’d give it attention it just may deserve. But, now it’s simply giving fuel to our collective enemies.
I stand with Henry Bowman.
There was a time when the NRA stood for the rights of the individual. That time is past. They give it away now in political expediency. There are many things waiting, Concealed carry reciprocity and hearing protection being two of them, I hear nothing from the NRA.
I will NOT vote for those men. You are unhinged.
Why
I agree with every word you said
Republicans passed gun control here in Florida!
We gave away bump stocks for nothing!
We have the Presidency and both houses of Congress and RINO’s are falling over themselves to to join with Democrats
Even President Trump is asking for bump stock bans and gun restraining orders and we get NOTHING in exchange
No silencers off NFA, no national concealed carry, nothing!
Primary out all the RINO’s and change leadership at NRA!
It’s time for Wayne Lapierre and Chris Cox and Marion Hammer to GO,thanks for your so called service,Now Get !
This!