NRA’s Dirty Laundry Exposed as Pro-Gun Group Cleans House

Opinion

Red Wave of the National Rifle Association, some smell blood in the water.
NRA’s Dirty Laundry Exposed as Pro-Gun Group Cleans House

USA – -(AmmoLand.com)- On April 12, the National Rifle Association filed suit in a Virginia court, accusing their long-time PR company, Ackerman McQueen, of failing to provide detailed billing, and failure to disclose contracts with NRA staff and officers that might demonstrate a conflict of interest, including an Ack-Mac contract with NRA President Ollie North.

As the news of the shocking lawsuit made the rounds of mainstream media and was just sinking in – especially to most of the members of the NRA Board of Directors, who had no advance warning about the suit – a new exposé on the shady dealings of NRA insiders was published by The New Yorker (www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/secrecy-self-dealing-and-greed-at-the-nra/). That article, shedding new light on lousy business, showed that this isn’t just NRA leaders in a nasty mess of their own making, but a deeply embedded cancer that has metastasized, putting the NRA itself in serious jeopardy.

During WWII, people held up two fingers and declared “V for Victory!” I have to admit that when I heard the news about the suit against Ack-Mac, I smiled. The thought of NRA brass and Ack-Mac executives going at each other in a cage match really tickled me. In celebration, I figuratively raised the familiar one-finger salute that has long represented our seemingly futile struggle with the NRA leadership, and transitioned it into the two-finger sign of the “V,” not for Victory, but for Vindication.

Over 20 years ago, my father, Neal Knox, as First Vice President of the NRA and just one year away from taking the reins as President, threw a red flag on the practices of Ack-Mac and Wayne LaPierre. He questioned the expensive, intrusive, and heavy-handed fundraising tactics, such as constant, over-hyped letters, phone calls, and fundraising letters sent by registered mail, and the exorbitant sums being paid to the PR company. He demanded reforms in the association’s fundraising methods and specifics on contracts and billing details involving Ack-Mac and other vendors. Both he and Second Vice President Albert Ross refused to sign the hefty, monthly checks being cut to Ack-Mac, and a major battle for control of the NRA ensued. It wasn’t like the 1977 Cincinnati fight for the soul and destiny of the organization. The new dust-up was between the Board and the staff for control of the organization’s checkbook.

The upshot of that battle was that Wayne won, Dad lost, and the fast-and-loose money games continued and just got worse. Charlton Heston was brought in to bump Dad from the leadership, and Wayne’s compensation rose rapidly from about $250,000 a year to almost $1,000,000.00. In the latest available IRS report from 2017, LaPierre’s total compensation was reported at $1.4 million, or about $117,000 per month, and a couple of years before that, he also got a distribution from his retirement fund of about $4 million, for a total compensation of more than $5 million that year. It’s worth noting that he’s receiving this at a time when the NRA is over $30 million in the red, and the retirement fund is in negative numbers to the tune of almost $60 million. Ack-Mack’s take from the NRA in 2017 was over $40 million.

For nearly a quarter of a century, we – Dad, my brother Chris, and I – have returned to this topic again and again.

Our goal has never been vengeance or retribution, but to alert NRA members and rouse the members of the NRA Board of Directors to fulfill their moral and legal obligations to the members, and put a stop to the chicanery.

Those efforts have, to a great extent, fallen on deaf ears. We have been vilified, belittled, and ignored by the majority of the board, and we’ve been publicly attacked by NRA leaders accusing us of trying to tear down the organization that we have been working so hard to save.

That’s why the lawsuit against Ackerman McQueen gave me a smile of vindication. It confirms many of the things that we have been saying for so long. But the celebration was tinged with concern about the harm the whole debacle would cause our historic organization. Then all of that turned to anger and a sense of doom as I read the exposé in The New Yorker.

Reporter Mike Spies works for Bloomberg’s anti-rights propaganda outlet The Trace and has collaborated with reporters and editors from a variety of mostly anti-rights newspapers and magazines like Mother Jones and the New York Times. Those connections and affiliations will cause many to dismiss this latest article as just more anti-gun propaganda. That would be a mistake. Spies did a thorough job of digging up sources [he clearly has a someone leaking him info at NRA or maybe Ackerman] and documentation to back up the critical points in his article, and he presents them with little spin or distortion. Calling on NRA members to ignore the message and focus on the messenger, won’t work this time. The article and its sources are too well documented and credible for that, and enemies of the NRA will undoubtedly pursue these leads with bulldog tenacity.

NRA members should be furious, and the Board of Directors should be terrified.

Even with my 40-year history in the NRA, I never imagined the abuses and neglect were so outrageous and rampant. The most significant revelation is that NRA employees and attorneys brought many of these issues to the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors, and the members of that committee did nothing to correct the problems. They didn’t alert fellow directors about the issues. They didn’t call executives and contractors out on the carpet for the abuses. They didn’t call for contract reviews, investigations, or disciplinary actions. Instead, they retroactively approved past actions that should only have been taken with their prior approval and did their best to contain the damaging information, helping to drive away dedicated NRA employees who did nothing other than try to inform them of problems.

“The emperor has no clothes!” – “Someone slap that kid!”

To get an idea of the depth and breadth of the theft, corruption, and abuse that has been going on at the NRA for the past 25-plus years, you need to read the entire article in The New Yorker, but here are some highlights:

  • Remember that 1.4 million dollars being paid to Wayne LaPierre? At some point, a clause was added to his employment contract guaranteeing him payment as a speaker and consultant after he retires from NRA, at the full base salary he is being paid as Executive Vice President.
  • Multiple NRA executives have left the organization and walked into $600,000 and $700,000 dollars a year consulting contracts for NRA.
  • Wives, children, and other relatives of NRA executives and NRA contractors have routinely crisscrossed between the NRA and various vendors, drawing exorbitant salaries.
  • Key vendors – like Ackerman McQueen – have been routinely paid on invoices that were incomplete or unspecific, and NRA employees questioning such payments were retaliated against.

The dollar figures involved are in the hundreds of millions, but the most critical paragraph in the article is this one:

“The memos urged the audit committee to ‘step up + fulfill its duties!,’ but it’s not clear what the board has done to root out malfeasance. James Fishman, a co-author of ‘New York Nonprofit Law and Practice: With Tax Analysis,’ a leading text on nonprofit law, told me, ‘There is no such thing as a director who doesn’t direct. You’re responsible to make yourself aware of what’s going on. If the board doesn’t know, they’ve breached their duty of care, which is against the law in New York,’ where the N.R.A. is chartered. According to Owens, the former I.R.S. official, New York State ‘could sanction board members, remove board members, disband the board, or close down the organization entirely.’” (Emphasis added – JK)

The memos mentioned were prepared by NRA’s director of tax and risk management, Emily Cummins, for an NRA Audit Committee emergency meeting last July. I’ve known Emily for years, and know that she was very loyal and committed to the NRA. I say “was” because Emily no longer works for NRA. I don’t know the circumstances of her departure but could venture a pretty good guess.

This is a collection of specific concerns raised to a committee of the NRA Board of Directors by a loyal NRA employee. It was acquired by the reporter and analyzed by an expert on New York nonprofit law and an expert on nonprofit tax regulations. Their assessment is that the Board of Directors’ failure to have weeded out these issues and addressed them, is – potentially criminal – dereliction of duty that could result in personal sanctions and the dissolution of the organization.

Are you listening now, NRA Directors? Personal sanctions. Removal from the Board. Dissolution of the NRA. All because you have refused to step up and fulfill your duties.

Ignoring warnings, blaming critics, covering for friends, and going along to get along, could bring the world’s most powerful organization for defending the right to arms, crashing to the ground. Continuing to deny and circling the wagons to protect against outside assaults, will not save the NRA, because the destroyer is inside the circle. Only decisive action to root out the corruption and return to the core values and principles of the organization can save it.

There’s no way to fix the problems without sustaining some pretty severe damage. I don’t know what kind of legal issues would be involved in dissolving existing contracts with vendors and employees, but drastic measures must be taken immediately. Those directors carrying the greatest culpability – members of the Audit Committee, the Finance Committee, and the Executive Committee – should resign. Had the Board not recently made recalls of directors and officers virtually impossible, I would start a recall drive against many of them.

What makes this whole situation even worse, is the fact that the NRA is chartered in New York. That means that New York law applies, and that means that the rabidly anti-NRA and anti-gun NY Attorney General Letitia James, working under the rabidly anti-NRA and anti-gun Governor Andrew Cuomo, will be in charge of the investigation and any “corrective” action. Does anyone think the benefit of the doubt for “good intentions” will play a significant role?

This is a case of greed, hubris, and blind loyalty leading to calamity. I honestly don’t know if the NRA will be able to survive.

There are some very good people on the NRA Board of Directors, and they need to step up now and get to the bottom of all of this. It’s going to be a mess, no matter how it’s handled, but taking aggressive action to cut out the cancer is the only way to save the organization.

Presidents or past-presidents of state associations might need to step up to help out. LaPierre needs to walk away without the golden parachute, and much of the executive staff needs to go with him. Virtually all outside NRA contracts beyond electric service and internet access, need to be canceled in the most cost-effective way possible.

I don’t expect to be in Indianapolis for the Members’ Meeting; I just can’t afford it, so I urge those who are going to be there, to demand answers from your board and staff in that open, formal setting. A motion should be made right at the outset to set a time certain on the official order of business for discussion of the corruption and mismanagement allegations. They will point to the press and try to say that discussing those matters shouldn’t be done in public, then they’ll dodge questions by saying that they can’t talk about ongoing litigation, or they’ll try to use parliamentary tricks to shut down the motion, but it’s your Association, and you have the right to be heard and get answers.

I don’t relish this situation. Yes, I’m glad to see Dad get his vindication, but not at such a high cost. I have been a Life Member of the NRA for 40 years. I paid full price for that membership, beginning with my first check from the Army after graduating from Basic Training, and I’ve dedicated countless hours over the years, trying to make the organization better and more effective. This is not a victory for Dad or me. Like the Notre Dame cathedral, I just hope we can save what’s left and rebuild.

But take heart. As I said in February during a speech at a rights rally in Phoenix, “the gun lobby is not a bunch of overpaid suits in Washington DC. If the NRA disappeared tomorrow, the gun lobby would still be just as powerful, because the gun lobby isn’t the NRA, it’s the NRA members and tens of millions of dedicated patriots just like you, scattered throughout this wide land.”

While the NRA is a powerful communication tool between rights supporters and their elected servants and losing that central conduit would be a significant blow, it would only be a temporary setback. With that fact in mind, I encourage readers to take steps now to be sure that you and your fellow rights supporters are in the loop for important rights-related news by subscribing to AmmoLand News email list. If you are already subscribed, get five more people to sign up. Be sure that you’re a member of a competent, state grassroots organization, and join and subscribe to email alerts from groups like The Firearms Coalition and GOA. Then take action when we ask you to make a call or send an email to your elected servants.

Let’s hope we can save the NRA. Contact the Directors and demand that they take responsibility and correct the problems. (They are listed in your magazine.) But more than anything else, be sure to keep contacting your politicians and letting them know that with or without the NRA, you are the gun lobby, and the gun lobby isn’t going away.


Jeff Knox
Jeff Knox

About Jeff Knox:

Jeff Knox is a second-generation political activist and director of The Firearms Coalition. His father Neal Knox led many of the early gun rights battles for your right to keep and bear arms. Read Neal Knox – The Gun Rights War.

The Firearms Coalition is a loose-knit coalition of individual Second Amendment activists, clubs and civil rights organizations. Founded by Neal Knox in 1984, the organization provides support to grassroots activists in the form of education, analysis of current issues, and with a historical perspective of the gun rights movement. The Firearms Coalition has offices in Buckeye, Arizona and Manassas, VA. Visit: www.FirearmsCoalition.org.

Jeff KnoxNRA
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Butch

——————- cut ‘n pasted from MS Word —————————- June 29th, 2019 NRA Executive Offices 11250 Waples Mill Rd Fairfax, VA 22030 Attn: Board of Directors Subj: Personal opinion on the direction the NRA needs to take Good morning, as seen in the attached scanned image of my expired NRA membership card, I have voluntarily let it lapse. {scanned image of my membership card from 2012} The reason I chose to let my membership lapse, along with not displaying the NRA symbol on my Virginia license plates (I changed plates) anymore, is due to the state of affairs and financial trouble… Read more »

James Brigham (Bigg) Bunyon

My decision based on my reality is I’m no longer going to renew NRA memberships. We’re going with GOA and the 2nd Amendment Foundation for now, maybe others later. Other people need to live their lives and contribute their money, well … their way.

nobodyuknow

JBBB . . . Tha NAGR ain’t so bad either,

CJ

The NRA: “Give us a whole lot of money so we can protect your rights!”
Also the NRA: “Somebody did something really bad with a bump stock, so, hey, ATF, you should ban them.”
I don’t care about this fiasco they’re embattled in right now. I decided to never send them another penny after they asked the ATF to illegally change a written law with no congressional input, meaning not authorized by the people of this nation.

Poshboy

I would hope that loyal NRA staff, especially the few non-LaPierre cronies, would be thinking and planning about what happens if the worst happens. A phoenix can arise from these ashes, and we all know this organization can be better than it has been since the 1990s. 1. How does the NRA reconstitute itself after the collapse? What legal means are available for acquiring its property, its membership lists, its personnel, its media complex, and most importantly in the short-term, the ILA lobbying shop? 2. What should be the details be of the phased series of steps that go from:… Read more »

Robert W Martin

Everything you just posted makes perfect sense, I would nominate you for the Executive Vice President of the National Rifle Association job. Problem is we do not get to make these decisions…the NRA does e.g. all the boards….and I am sure you will say “but we are the NRA” as am I, Live Timer. First, I am not sure all of these issues are true, “innocent until proven guilty” but IF true, you can be the NY AG will launch an investigation soon in an attempt to sway the outcome of the 2020 Presidential Election and they will attack the… Read more »

nobodyuknow

RWM . . . GOOD POST!! And I love your tag line. It is mine also!

nobodyuknow

Poshboy . . . . Good post tand good thinking. However, DO NOT INCORPORATE IN VIRGINIA!!! They are as bad as New York!

The Revelator

Ok Everyone, here’s the lie. “If the NRA goes under, so does the 2nd amendment!” Now lets look at why it is a lie. 1. The 2nd Amendment existed long before the NRA 2. The 2nd Amendment is not a right. It is a restriction against government from touching a Right you already had before the constitution even existed, a right you are born with, not one that is granted by a piece of paper. 3. Do you honestly believe that any of these whiney, crybaby sycophants spreading the above lie wont flock to groups like the GOA if the… Read more »

R Pugh

Nonsense. That’s the kind of feeling that brings defeat. The NRA is crucial to defending the Second & the rest of The Constitution. Libertarian nonsense will destroy it as fast as liberalism. Time to man up & clean house& restore the NRA. And stop the fools errand of perfection in an imperfect world. Stand up, join the NRA, & be counted as a patriot instead of a complainer on the sidelines.

The Revelator

@R Pugh No, nonsense that brings defeat is the argument that something is so critical that it is better to be a part of it while it slowly kills you instead of going straight for the jugular. So let me enlighten you as to some very critical misinformation points you just made. 1. I am a patriot. Being part of an organization “just cause” doesn’t make you a patriot. I can tell you right now I am far more constitutional than you. 2. I’m not on the sidelines. I’ve been fighting to get the NRA to clean up its act… Read more »

nobodyuknow

R. Pugh . . . . I am Benefactor Life Member and have been a member of the National Rifle Association in some capacity for several decades. Time to have an open and independent investigation by an outside and impartial source. NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH AND LET THE CHIPS FALL WHERE THEY MAY! I absolutely refuse to pony up money to an organization who is under a cloud like the NRA!

warhorse_03826

if the NRA was so crucial…where have they been the last 30 years? we lose by inches, and the NRA says “look how bad it would be if we had given them the other 11 inches! give us money!” when was the last time the NRA got us something back? they caved on bumpstocks. they’ve backed red flag laws. they caved on taking supressors off the NFA. they’ve caved on taking SBR’s off the NFA. they’ve caved on national carry reciprocity. cave, cave,cave, give us more money to fight the things we’ve already caved on. join the GOA. they don’t… Read more »

Paul Wylie

Lifetime member here… totally confused… this organization is starting to look more and more like our government… it hides everything, says one thing and does another, it’s leaders get rich beyond imagination, and they keep asking (bordering on harassing) me for more… why is there a spin on everything? why can’t the NRA just come out and PUBLICLY explain this ‘situation’ between Lapierre and North? if there is something shady going on, the members deserve to know EVERYTHING about it… until yesterday, I had no idea this was going on… now is NOT the time to act foolishly and be… Read more »

T.J. PAINE

I share your pain & confusion. As members, we must hold leaders feet to the fire. The quickest way to get their attention: withhold any further contribution until they clean house.

nobodyuknow

TJP . . . YUP!

Foe Pa

All we have seen from the NRA is a major attempt to portray LaPierre as indispensable to the protection of our 2nd Amendment. He and his cronies have placed the NRA in the crosshairs of the state of New York and have given them ammo. He and his cronies have placed our Charter in danger. He and his cabal need to go….not the NRA. Send your dollars to the Second Amendment Foundation. As a Life Member I want to see a change in how we elect board members. I want grass roots control, not some list of people handed to… Read more »

Irate

I would not tell anybody NOT to join the NRA, but I am not a member any more, and some comments I overheard at a regional PRS match were not favorable either. Tom had Chris Cox on his show to explain why the NRA was claiming credit for the Heller and McDonald cases, and the guy just weaseled out of the question. It was also obvious that Wayne LaPierre never stepped down as President – his title just changed. Add to that the heavy-handed recruitment efforts, and the hysterical rhetoric – it’s just a huge money grab. I’d rather support… Read more »

Ken

Concur. NRA leadership are the same kind of people, running pretty much the same kind of grift, as “Conservative, Inc.” (Ahoy!)

nobodyuknow

I am a Benefactor Life member of the National Rifle Association and have been a member in some capacity for a very long time (decades). I have been extremely distressed by most of the news coming out of that organization in the last few years. Until all of this mess is called into the open and wrongs made right – NO MATTER WHERE THE CHIPS FALL – I will not support them anymore! I have focused my allegiance on other Pro Second Amendment groups whom, as best I can determine, are not beset with these problems! If things are as… Read more »

Christopher Wooten

I have no plans at this time to ever renew my membership with the NRA. I’ve been a member for quite some time and it was about 4 years ago that I noticed serious issues. I believe I still have a couple of years of membership paid up but I am of the mind to start sending a couple of hundred dollars per year to Gun Owners of America or “The GOA” as they are called. I have been happy with their performance with the $30 per year I’ve sent them for a few years now. They are seriously “no… Read more »

Gator

Hard to imagine a bunch of anti-gun liberals doing a better job of wrecking that organization than its current and past leadership have done. I won’t even do the ‘NRA round-up’ on places like Midway anymore, they’ll never get another cent from me. I confess I was largely ignorant of their past betrayals until a few years ago when they started abandoning state-level fights and others. I then began to read about the AWB and other things they’ve supported in the past. Im just now getting into NFA items, which they also helped along, and irritates me to no end.… Read more »

Foe Pa

Somewhere along the line we as members have to ask why people such as “Dirty Harry” Reid have been given high ratings by the NRA while grass roots membership is pounding the table and protesting to leadership’s deaf ear. Has there been a pay-to-play policy wherein certain people get their palms greased to obtain such a rating? I could not swallow the NRA’s explanation that Harry “voted for a shooting range”. If that was true then we have leadership that is willing to exchange Senate control and SCOTUS appointments for anything and come under the classification of fools. LaPierre and… Read more »

TheGunPsychiatrist

You say they (The NRA) are ” the world’s most powerful organization for defending the right to arms”, yet for the last 100 years, they (The NRA) have had more involvement with chipping away at the unalienable right to keep and bear arms. Removing Constitutional carry in 1919 in over 9 states was a start, NFA of 1934 and 38, advising on GCA 68 to see its passage, encouraging ATF in various ammo bans in recent years. They did nothing in 2013 for Colorado. The NOCO chapter rep actually encouraged me to not fight and stand down… What and let… Read more »

Denis E Coughlin

I have been so broken hearted over the loss of bumper stocks, the end is near, be afraid, soon some peace loving tree hugger will be shaming decent caring AR-15 owners, mass killing will fall out of vogue.
As a funeral director this will undermine our investment and reduce our ability to extort thousand from the bereaved. Gun are vital to our wonderful industries like private prisons, bail condemns, foreclosures specialists, grave diggers,

Brent Barton

Screw this smart ass how did this comment get on here

Brent Barton

Here Here you said it brother no more need be said except clear out the NRA and start over

Bruce

To anyone who believes the NRA fights to preserve and defend the second amendment:

Here’s a sitting NRA board member, statist Fudd Joaquin Jackson, clearly stating his preference for a civilian magazine limit of five rounds, because only the police and military need more than that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSGySNLyACE

Any questions?

Apparently, the second amendment of the US Bill of Needs articulates a limited need for hunting… subject to any and all federal government restrictions of course. The NRA and the federal government can tell us what we need.

Michael Z. Williamson

Neal Knox warned of this in the 90s, that the finances were not properly separated and accounted for, and they they sold endorsements. The most egregious example was LaPierre, et al, using CORPORATE FUNDS to run full page ads in the magazines for their re-election, with an ad presented to look like the ballot. They did this repeatedly. “Vote for your winning team” and the list of cronies. It was hard for legitimate 2A activists to get noticed. And now they’re going to have have that gun-grabbing cockfag Trump as their headliner, endorsing him as “A+” when he’s at best… Read more »

Carlos Perdue

Among what I know from folks on the wrong end of the 1997 coup: 1. One of the big vampire vendors involved in this lawsuit gave a BMW to a key NRA officer prior to the “winning team” coup. Recently retired after pocketing at least $25 million himself in salary/benefits. Good timing, but hopefully not good enough. 2. At least one key NRA officer had a “relationship” with a realtor in charge of selling the old 1600 Rhode Island Ave headquarters building, a few blocks from the White House, and/or the buyer. The cool old building could’ve been remodeled, would… Read more »

WILLIAM K WILLLIAMS

It just seems like the more dues you submit, the more they ask you for more money and tell you it’s your duty, and try to guilt you into expanding your membership years before it even expires! I don’t have the money, I didn’t even have the money when I paid into it the first time, I can’t even afford to go to the range because I feel like I gave all my spare cash to the NRA!

Bob Orwig

What’s in my magazine I wouldn’t know I haven’t received one in 5 years!

Mikial

I have never abandoned the NRA, nor will I. But, having said that it is time we clean our own house and get the organization back on track as was originally intended. The NRA is still a powerhouse in terms of pro 2A lobbying that we do not want to lose. Clear the dead wood, give those whose actions will harm the cause of freedom the boot, and get back to business. To all who would jump ship now, you are playing into the hands of the antis . . . don’t do it. Stand and fight all enemies of… Read more »

nobodyuknow

Mikial . . . . . I understand how you feel. I am a long time Benefactor Life Member and have held membership in the National Rifle Association at one level or another for many decades now! What needs to happen is there needs to be a mocroscopic examination of the organization by an outside and impartial organization with full and unfettered access to everything! THIS INVESTIGATION SHOULD BE ON AN LET THE CHIPS FALL WHERE THEY MAY BASIS WITH ONLY THE MEMBERSHIP BEING EMPOWERED TO MAKE DECISIONS ON A WHAT COMES NEXT BASIS. SOME OF THE QUESTIONS SHOULD CENTER… Read more »

Stuart

The NRA sabotaged firearms preemption in Nebraska. The Nebraska Gun Owners Association had gotten the Omaha Police Union to promise not to oppose the bill. Then the NRA came into Nebraska and had a meeting with the Omaha Police Union, without NFOA. As a result of that meeting the OPU opposed the preemption bill. And when they did that the Omaha senators who had agreed to support the bill of the union did not oppose it, turned against the bill. And rather than let it go down in defeat the bill was pulled. All the hard work go get the… Read more »

Byron

In the last mid-term of the Obama presidency, the State of Washington had the only gun control initiative in all 50 states on the election ballot (I-594 making it illegal to transfer a gun privately without an FFL along with a host of other mandates). It was a foregone conclusion that the GOP would take the House and Senate that year. And what did the NRA do to fight I-594. They sent bumper stickers and yard signs. Meanwhile, Bloomberg and Company had a monopoly on prime-time media. Despite having a complete media monopoly, I-594 won by only 12 percentage points.… Read more »

Thomas Giboney

The NRA really dropped the ball in Washington State on I-594. It ended up being passed and is now being used as a road map in other states to push for individual transfers between non-licensed individuals. I managed an FFL licensed gun store in WA state for over 15 years and the Anti-gun crowd and legislators have now taken the ball and are running with it to enact more legislation that chips away at our 2nd Amendment rights. The NRA needs to step up and fight with tooth and nail in every state if we will ever have any chance… Read more »

TRX

Don’t forget they took their web site down right after Sandy Hook, and when they put it back up their big news was how they were using members’ money for a NASCAR sponsorship. Which they were still doing, last I looked…

Then there was Wayne demanding a Federal “mental health card” for gun owners, which would have been a socialist’s wet dream of power…

WILLIAM F BELLA

VERY MADDING & SAD TO HEAR, MAKES ME THINK DIFF. ABOUT THE “NRA”. SO MUCH CORRUPTION IN OUR FED. GOVT & NOW THIS, WOW!!!!!!!!!!!

Gina

They need to add The Well Armed Woman Carrie Lughtfoot on the board of NRA to this investigation! Bet hundreds would be shocked

JMichael

Back in the mid 90’s when Jeff’s father, Neal Knox was on the NRA Board, he tried to bribe Wayne LaPierre into resigning in exchange for a paid speaking gig. Neal would then become a paid CEO of the NRA and Ackerman McQueen would stay on as NRA’s PR firm. Neal only hated AckMak when Wayne was in charge. Back then Neal Knox and his minions circulated fake stories about how the NRA was about to go bankrupt and NRA was doing nothing for gun owners. NRA has been responsible for getting concealed carry legislation all across the country. NRA… Read more »

Richard

You need to do some actual research into the NRA’s positions over the years. The NRA supported both the NFA 1934 and GCA 1968 legislation. They also supported the Brady bill. They have well earned the nickname Negotiate Rights Away.

Michael Z Williamson

Nothing you just said is correct. You quote LaPierre’s damage control. The most egregious example was LaPierre, et al, using CORPORATE FUNDS to run full page ads in the magazines for their re-election, with an ad presented to look like the ballot. They did this repeatedly. “Vote for your winning team” and the list of cronies. It was hard for legitimate 2A activists to get noticed. Let me repeat that: He was using company funds for his own advertisements. The NRA endorsed GCA, NFA, Hughes Amendment, and they ASKED for the bumpfire stock ban, now being fought in court by… Read more »

Carlos Perdue

Hard to believe this is legal and they’ve gotten away with it for so long. The nominating committee should be illegal. Imagine if congress had a nominating committee telling us who to vote for.

Carlos Perdue

1. “Knox tried to bribe LaPierre.” I don’t know about that “bribe”. If so it would’ve been good for 2A if he’d pulled it off and gotten him out. But IMO AcMc/Merc obviously DID bribe NRA staff. e.g. Woody’s BMW which your hero Wayne “Lucky Pierre” LaPierre knew about and did nothing. 2. NRA sabotaged its own “shall issue” laws, insisting on poison pill “gun free”/no-carry zones in Virginia, Florida etc, resulting in public shootings, massacres and high body counts (VA Tech, Orlando Pulse nightclub). Virginia is NRA’s HQ state. Florida is the exalted Marion Hammer’s home state and the… Read more »

Carlos Perdue

Crickets chirping….chirp chirp chirp…

Frank

I knew when I heard Wayne LaPierre mention on TV the NRA membership doubles every time major anti-gun legislation is being proposed in congress that the bean counters at the top of the NRA seen a way to increase revenue. I’m sure they help do what ever they can to create ant-gun legislation to boost membership so as to siphon as much money into their pockets as possible! I would hate to see the NRA end but if a stronger more powerful organization that supported the interests of the shooting sports members replace it then I’m all in!

Freeillinois

Had Neal Knox been allowed to take the reins of power 40 years ago I believe our 2A rights would be a lot better off than they are today. The NRA is the reason we have the FOID card law in Illinois, they wrote the damn law. Now the Chicago democrats are wanting to use that law as a tool for door to door confiscation. The democrats want to finger print every gun owner at the gun owners expense. It will raise the cost of owning a gun and take the 2A out of the hands of the common man.… Read more »

tomcat

No one has mentioned the tricky NRA will where you endow funds to them at your death. How many people were dumb enough to fall for this? You have to give them credit for finding another way to skin the cat. I have been a member for many years and the renewal is setting right here on my desk, but I’m not sure it is going to be sent back to them. GOA seems to be doing a lot more for us than Negotiating Rights Away. NRa comes in at the end and says we fought hard to win the… Read more »

grifhunter

It is self defeating to take your financial support away from the NRA because of management abuses. The solution is to get active in the election and nominating process and oust the offending leadership. It is not to take your business to upstart groups with little to no access to the halls of Congress and state legislatures. When GOA or the Second Amendment Foundation run the country’s shooting competitions, safety training, range preservation and development, stellar shooting publications, firearms museum, Instructor training, junior development, etc. THEN stop supporting the NRA. Until then, the other groups should be supported only after… Read more »

Freebird

” It is self defeating to take your financial support away from the NRA because of management abuses ” …
L O L , that sounds just like — ” Don’t leave Honey ….. I punched you in the face 50 times because ‘ i love you ‘. ”

Only Idiots & Fudds reward bad behavior !!
How many memberships does it take to PAY a bloated management and sweetheart advertising sham deals ?
G.O.A. at last count had almost 2 MILLION Members , they WILL overtake the grifters / scammers of N.R.A.

Lou

There are other 2ed amendment organizations out there.
As a long time NRA Certified Instructor, I have stood before God knows how many people urging them to join the NRA. This mess reflects now on me.
How many folks who could barely afford to contribute to the NRA have flushed their precious dollars down this toilet, thinking that they were contributing to save the 2ed Amendment?

Michael W

There are some of us long time members who recall when merchandise began showing up at our door from NRA affiliated businesses. Unordered and unwanted it was difficult to get stopped. That practice was finally halted probably due to pressure from the USPS. They went the contest route to raise additional money. Yes, a good house cleaning within the NRA would be a very good thing. Sometimes I wonder if they aren’t complicit in the gun-control threat simply so they can use it to raise money.

KansasAU

I can promise you that they have most certainly pushed gun control issues just to scare people into renewals, donations etc. Like libtards scammers are very predictable in what they do and how they act.

JT

It’s just like everything else where money or power is involved corruption is always on the other side of the closed door. I once was a full NRA member and quickly realized my money was sent right back to me in junk mail asking for more money. I now only give them $10 associate membership fee only when the NRAAM is in Indy so I can get in.

Uno Logan

Not another fucking penny to LaPierre or the rest of those thieving assholes.

GOA and vote for reformers on NRA board.

Throw the thieves to the wolves or get them out any other way.

Zee

You can label this article as a smear tactic all you want – but as a member of NRA it is a ‘fact’ all I get from NRA is bombarded with mail for more money. I used to also receive NRA phone calls until I blocked their phone numbers. I have no reason to lie about this.

KansasAU

I am packing their prepaid envelopes with pro GOA shit, as much as I can fit with other liberal trash back to them on their dime. Spam me, I will return the favor. I dumped those scammers for a reason, sure as hell not going back when they get worse by the day. Not EVER.

Zee

The NRA has been hounding me for money since the day I became a member. Hounding me to the point I would consider it Harassment – I used to receive phone calls a couple times a week until I blocked the phone numbers. I receive at least two pieces of mail a week, some weeks more, asking for money.

CB

The government does not give us our rights, period! Why do all you people insist that some organization should fight for your rights that can’t be taken away? Are you not men? Get off your asses and fight for you and yours. We outnumber them, we are those who fight, protect, grow, build and fix everything in this country, never forget that, we outnumber them and they are scared, but only if we stand up and do something. Don’t kick the can down the road expecting someone else to fix things, man the fuck up!!

Huey’s Rule

I believe you’ve hit the nail on the head. We outnumber them by hundreds to one. The problem we face is organizing a efficient and effective system to take back what is ours. These people are our employees. We, the NRA, are 5 million strong. There’s maybe a few hundred total employees that are just making a living. The rot is much higher. Those at the very top are a cancer eating at the heart and soul of the NRA. And I don’t mean Lt Col North. He is not the problem, nor is he even part of the problem.… Read more »

Flankspeed

If the balance sheet is as bad as stated, the NRA should file for bankruptcy reorganization. This would allow for cancellation of contracts, employment agreements and pensions. If fraud can be proven, LaPierre should be sued and his assets recovered. As a lifer for over thirty years, I’d hate to see the organization disappear, but I’ve suspected the NRA had become another corrupt ‘party hearty’ outfit like the Heritage Foundation for many years.
And yes, move it OUT OF NEW YORK!

Core

Regardless the NRA is the only reason we even have shooting ranges at this point. Believe me. We wouldn’t have anything without the NRA members teaching, training, and funding this organization. It’s sad if the article is true, but it’s the members like myself that make NRA what it is: we encilturate safe gun ownership and freedoms to each new generation. NRAs top brass need to take a pay cut and get motivated to get it out of the red. I have done nothing other than donate, and spend premiums on certifications and support services, and it’s sad to think… Read more »

Patriot

Good article and Wayne has owned the short comings of the organization for much to long?
The majority of members are good honest dedicated individuals, but the current leadership needs to be changed for the good of the organization and a more productive & positive business plan put in place?
In short, the problems with the organization are not the result of it’s membership, but of the leadership?
Grassroots members need to work to make positive changes happen and not quit! The organization must be saved!

Freebird

The Left does not ” win ” if N.R.A. goes away, they do not speak for most gun owners , and they are daily exposed as fraudsters only after members MONEY.
Gun Owners of America already has almost 2 Million members — Bye , NRA.

Rattlebone

I’ve been ignoring the numerous and voluminous calls from NRA since that traitor Ollie North came on board. I’ve been supporting the numerous other organizations. If Wayne LaPierre’s salary is reduced to a salary like “WE THE PEOPLE” make, then I will reconsider after this reputation gets better. NO MORE DONATIONS FROM ME ALSO! GAO yes, indeed!

SouthernLivingRN

Col. North is a good man and a patriot. This was not his issue to make. It has been going on for years and years prior to Col. North’s arrival. He stepped into something unknowingly.

TZAZ

Just what the anti gunner want.People without the NRA all these years there would be nothing left of the 2nd amendment.

KansasAU

Learn history, they sponsored every major 2A infringement in history from the NFA to Hughs etc etc…. They were behind them all.

H.R. Carter

TZAZ I agree,without the NRA, there would be no 2nd Amendment left. I have been a member for over fifty years now,and I am very thankful to the NRA for keeping our entire nation free. I ,like everyone else,have seen a huge increase in them asking for more and more money. I have also seen an unbelievable number of gun hating freaks,coming after our firearms,from all sides.I know I cannot fight these idiots alone,and that the NRA is the biggest and strongest organization that can an will fight for me.So yes,I’ll continue to be a member and send the amount… Read more »

rich z

Just remember, If the NRA goes, the LEFT WINS. There will be NO second , no first ,NO freedom.

Nic H

Oh please!

joefoam

I have hedged my bets by joining GOA and SAF. I would encourage all to do the same while continuing to support the NRA. If the general public sees the increase in awareness of these other pro gun groups it will help minimize any damage done if the NRA should fail.

Rattlebone

AGREED!

hippybiker

From the NFA of 1934 to the NAZI GCA of 1968 the NRA has bent over for the Fed. That’s why I gave up on them years ago and belong to GOA! But do t just take my word for it. Do some Damn research for yourself!

Dave C

Common sense still reigns supreme!

Alan

Great. If there is a way for the Peoples Republic of New York to sanction the board and shut down the the NRA you can bet they will do what the can to destroy the organization.

Nic H

New York has been saying all year (2019) that they are going to put the NRA out of business! I think this is what they are planning!

Martin Wade

When you live and work in “The Swamp” you become tainted with the muck and stench of what has become the DC Arena. In DC, a lot of people believe money “grows on trees” because is flows freely like a flood across the spectrum. There is absolutely no excuse for a “Non-profit” to have an exorbitant executive payroll as the money should be going to defending whatever cause they are supporting. I have been a member (off and on) since 1955, am a Benefactor member and have heard the stories and rumors of malfeasance among the leadership for years but… Read more »

Jack B. Nimble

And the fire continues to spread. The fight is not among the ranks, it’s in those surrounding our position searching for weaknesses. The NRA has unfortunately for sometime been that weakness. We have the will. We have the organization. We have the ability. But with an organization that poses as leadership with more intent in seeking plunder, we will surely be lead to slaughter. I’ve been disgusted with the actions of the NEA for far too long. Lucky, there are several organizations that actually take the fight to the enemy—my support is with them.

Paul

This again. It’s a hit piece written by Jeff Knox a well known anti-NRA advocate and the son of Neal Knox who made a failed attempt to take over the NRA. The opinion piece is based entirely on a ‘report’ in the New Yorker, a well known anti-2A, anti-NRA publication. The New Yorker article is based entirely on the ‘facts’ posted in an article on the website ‘thetrace’, one of Michael Bloomberg’s pet anti-2a projects. Ask yourself a question, if there was validity to this, and I’m not saying there aren’t problems like with any organization, but if there was… Read more »

BobF

Nice try but no facts. Some of us were there and I was one of them, you weren’t. Ack-Mac has been a problem since the day they marched in the door and the plan, that was written for NRA, to do its own in house publishing was tossed in the trash. That NRA insider decision cost the organization untold hundreds of millions and insinuated Ack-Mac into NRA in a way that eventually gave them control no one could have foreseen. I know because I wrote the plan that was tossed in the trash.

Mark

Neal Knox was an active Board Member and one of the people behind the Cincinnati Rebellion in 1977 (that did succeed) along with Harlan Carter, former head of the Border Patrol to move the NRA from a strictly Sportsman Organization to an active participant in the fight against Gun Control. While the two individuals might be thought of as troubles makers by certain sportsman in the group. They were trying to stop gun control legislation being passed that would ban handguns, rifles (they didn’t even talk about “Assault Rifles” in those days), and shotguns. The Media (remember the TV show… Read more »

Jim Hines

I cancelled my membership when they brought in Ollie North, a known felon. North was involved in Iran Contra.

Rick

North was a scapegoat

Kurt

Really? Whining about Lt. Colonel Ollie North? The hero? SMH. What (political and unjust) law did he break? And why? The leftist-dominated Congress back then would prostitute themselves to the nth degree if they could make Reagan and North and anyone else who wasn’t a leftist look bad. Martin Luther King, Jr. said in a letter from Birmingham Jail: “One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”

Mr. Walkker

Go find GOA
as in Gun Owners of America.
Yonder over there, where there is no North over there,
they know down yonder…
Go figure…..Go GOA

MikeRoss

“A known felon” That’s a bit overly dramatic, isn’t it? He’s not a felon because his convictions were overturned.

DWEEZIL THE WEASEL

Ollie North was thrown to the wolves, who were and still are just as big of a bunch of liars as he was at the time. They offered North immunity before he testified and he shoved it up their collective backsides with his testimony. The bigger issue with North is that he does not believe us serfs have the God-given right to own AR-15/semi-auto M-16 rifles. He is a full-blown elitist and a dangerous man.

Roger Lane

and they keep asking members for more and more money, why should we give it to them

Anson E. Long

Just a reminder to those anti-NRA hoploophobes out there: Without rule of law, we will have rule of lead.

KansasAU

The NRA is far from the only alleged gun rights group, this one is infringing our rights and robbing us blind with nothing but fat pockets for their leaders to show for it. Just like the government they are already without rule of law. And lets be honest, no amount of talking have EVER done any good, only blood shed has, we have long ago passes the point where words mattered to those who has tossed aside our freedom for their power grab. Lead flying is the only option we have left they fear, hence why they don’t mind trashing… Read more »

KansasAU

The NRA has been screwing us over for nearly a century. They have footed and or sponsored every bill that hit and infringed on our 2A rights. They are nothing more than a scam that is run pretty much like the government, corrupt to the core and wasting more money than they use for anything positive and wanting more and more and more for less and less all of the time. Only a complete idiot sends them a penny at this point. The money being given to Wayne and the likes tell you EVERYTHING you need to know about that… Read more »

.Cobi

NO, you’re wrong! The NRA has not been screwing us. The membership has failed to keep our organization in line with our goals. The election of the board is a grade school joke! We vote for board members that we have never heard of. They in turn accept the position as of honor, feel that they can make a choice as to the direction that the NRA will go. Actually, that has been blocked by earlier board members who were mislead by the leadership into making changes to the NRA constitution. The changes that we should make? Limit terms in… Read more »

Gene Moe

Amazing how many people’s minds can be changed so quickly. I haven’t had time to research these charges and know it will take some time. One person’s explanation doesn’t mean a thing to me. My father always said, “listen to all” and then make up your own mind. Good thought!!

Charlie Foxtrot

Research these charges. You will find that the source of this information are current and former NRA employees and even members of the NRA Board of Directors. It is also the NRA organization itself though its own statements. Technically, the NRA admitted with their own lawsuit against Ackerman McQueen that they have no documentation for paid services rendered by Ackerman McQueen, including for paying the NRA President Oliver North under the table (Factual Background Part D in the lawsuit below). The Board of Directors was completely unaware of that. That alone could be considered federal tax fraud! Here is your… Read more »

DaveW

The IRS under the Obama and Clinton administration had every reason to investigate the NRA in order o advance gun control. Lois Learner was exposed as having used the IRS to investigate “right wing” organizations. Yet, none of the pro 2A groups was singled out for corruption or violating the rules under 501. One would think that it would have been the perfect opportunity to discredit the NRA and pro-gun people. The leftists are well know for their “divide and conquer” tactics. I suggest we remain calm and wait and see before making a rush to judgement. Not that the… Read more »

R.Krystof

YES!

JC7

EXACTLY! It’s amazing how folks can see a dramatic news headline or a posting online, and immediately go all-in without scoping out all sides. Not that every headline is false, but there are always two sides to every story. Plus, you already know that the media is biased to one side, and they are doing all they can to destroy American ideals that have made us the greatest nation. The most obvious example is the attempt by the media to get us to deny our heritage on which this nation and our government was founded. Yes, this nation and our… Read more »

Laddyboy

ABSOLUTELY GOOD ADVICE !
When a “contract”, “bill”, “new law”, “regulation” is brought forward to be signed – – – READ THE FINE PRINT !!!!!!!!!
I remember when ‘n.piloosi’ said; ” YOU HAVE TO SIGN IT TO KNOW WHAT IS IN IT “. At that very minute, America should have turned 180 degrees and SHUT OUT the DemocRATic Nationalist (communist/islamist/nwo) Committee !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MrG

Replace the upper leadership, and get the NRA rechartered in a more “gun friendly ” state. We can survive this but it will be difficult. If we dont, we will be taken down by the State of New York and the anti gunners will view it as a crowning achievement in the culture war, and image is everything.

Life member since 1999. And firearms instructor.

Kurt

Yes! That’s what I was thinking while reading this. I find it stupid that the NRA is headquartered in New York. No wonder they need more money, the state of NY is taking it all!

Hank

Just more smear techniques from the left to dismantle the NRA, so they can disarm America.

Guess what ? It won’t work.

h87111

Join the NRA!!! Support all legitimate Second Amendment rights groups!!!

Dave C

AMEN! We need all the help we can get. Keep the NRA, but it is time for housecleaning!

Charlie Foxtrot

Right, “smear techniques from the left” that are somehow backed up by quotes and handwritten notes from NRA officials, including members of the NRA Board of Directors. LOL. Keep drinking that Kool-aid.

Brian M

Get your head out of the sand. TheNRA has been doing zilch for gun owners for years.
Hard truth- the NRA helped draft the NFA ‘34 and GCA ‘68, and hasn’t lifted a finger to do anything about the egregious Hughes Amendment.

RUTH SLATER

IF YOU DONT BELIEVE IT THAN JUST GO RESEARCH AND DEFEND YOUR OPPOSITION , THIS ISNT THAT DIFFICULT , BUT UNFORTUNATELY JUST CALLING A PERSON A LIAR DOESN’T CHANGE THE FACTS GO DO THE RESEARCH THATS WHY I WOULD DO , I DON’T THINK THIS HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE LEFT AT ALL , AND THE LEFT WILL NEVER TAKE OUR GUNS BECAUSE WE WONT LET THEM.

Gray Man

In God We Trust was added to paper currency in the late 1950s in the heat of the red scare and was a political ploy. It became the national motto at that time, replacing the unofficial, yet much more meaningful e pluribus unum (out of many, one). Many of the founding fathers were deists, not Christians. Nations and their governments are manifestations of man, not god. You need to study a bit more history.