Opinion
California – -(AmmoLand.com)- Dear Wayne,
After my 1st open letter, I got several calls from friend and associates who know you personally. They all spoke that you are a fine man and dedicated to defending the 2nd Amendment and gun owners’ rights.
They point out all of the excellent work that you’ve done over the years. We all recognize that it is only because of your leadership that the NRA beat back the Clinton gun bans.
All of us very much appreciate those works, wins, and your effort and dedication. You made a massive difference in the lives of American gun owners while protecting our precious Second Amendment.
Rightly or wrongly when the leader of an organization becomes the only topic of conversation; when you and not the NRA are the issue then for the good and existence of the organization, you must step aside.
The mistakes that were made happened on your watch. While we all recognize the work you’re now doing to help right the NRA; the problem, of course, is that the initial decisions were yours. Leaders must own the responsibility.
So can you weather this storm? The answer is probably yes. But, at what cost? Is it worth 500,000 members leaving? Is it worth the loss of sponsorships and donations in the millions? Is it worth the loss of our legislative team & our political influence? More important is it worth the marginalization of the whole NRA organization?
With the 2020 elections just ahead we need a strong NRA, one that can function without distractions, and that is focused on building the shooting sports and protecting gun owners’ rights.
Your continuing in the position and with no apparent succession harms the image of the NRA and makes the NRA less effective. Perception is reality.
One associate of yours rightly stated that many of the anti-gun media only want your head. For much of what we read, this is true. That to them, the truth of their acquisition is less important than the shock value of their claims.
Imagine an NRA free of the negative press brought to by your media partners? Did the NRA advance the cause of the 2nd Amendment by having children’s toy trains dressed up as KKK members in a debate over gender?
So yes Wayne, I am asking you to do the loyal and right thing. You must fall on your sword for the good of the NRA.
Announce a managed plan for you to retire to an advisory role. The membership will wholeheartedly support you during the transition. Take that time to select an inspiring replacement with input from the entire board and then use that time to help rebuild the grassroots base of the NRA. For all the right reasons, gracefully step aside. Help us to get the focus back on the NRA and off of your good name.
Thank you, sir, for your decades of service. Thank you for defending the 2A. Thank you in advance for now doing the right thing. Few men can place their pride aside for the greater good.
Faithfully yours,
Don McDougall
About Don McDougall
Don McDougall is an NRA instructor and member of the Los Padres “Friends of the NRA” committee. If he’s not at the range, you will find him setting the record straight with on gun issues and gun safety on AmmoLand Shooting Sports News.
No NRA donations until he and most of the current board are gone! Simple! I joined Gun Owners of America and will help them out. I have been an NRA member since 1979, and a Life Member close to that. I have been proud of my affiliation…until now. The NRA needs to be the leader as a GUN RIGHTS organization, in addition to being a gun safety organization. Right now, the anti-gun riff-raff is salivating and smiling over the NRA troubles. I can’t believe how many gun owners I hear say they quit the NRA because they got too many… Read more »
You sir, have lost the plot, as our cousins across the pond are wont to say. The sooner he’s’ gone the better. He has been nothing but a phony the entire time. The NRA has NEVER been the 2nd amendment defender as they claim. There hasn’t been a piece of anti gun legislation passed in 120 years that the NRA hasn’t been on board with.
Here-Here!
http://www.savethe2a.org
OUTSTANDING !!! Well said no truer words have been said
Thank you …. Now Dapper Wayne. Get the paperwork going
Greatest article yet regarding the NRA’s meltdown.
Step down dapper wayne. Your cute but your work is ugly.
Wayne be our hero(not so much) and fall on ur sword
Hi Wayne,
I’ve been a life member since the 70’s , you have done great things, but I and many others think it’s time for you to retire with grace and stop this dismantling of a great organization.Please Liston to my plea.
Thank you William Hayden Life Member
I was taken aback over 20 years ago when I discovered Mr. Wayne La Pierre’s annual salary was over $900,000.00 per year, it’s much more now.
Cutting to the chase, Mr. La Pierre, you don’t own the NRA, it is not yours, it is not your play thing, it is not your hereditary fiefdom.
Mr. La Pierre, you must resign, NOW.
Yes, I am a Life Member of the NRA.
@Pat H, It is not the ownership of a thing that is important. It is the use of a thing that is important. Wayne is using the NRA as a cash cow. He will not be giving that up. He got the rules changed to insure that he can not be gotten rid of. The only answer is to stop donating.
Don, you were way too mild in your criticism. Wayne owns the problem. As for the excesses of NRA TV, I believe it was Goldwater who said that “extremism in defense of liberty is no vice.” I fully support the mission of NRA TV and would do a GoFundMe for the channel if the snowflakes would let me. We need someone like Ollie North, and not some milk toast, soft-spoken, apologist for gun rights in the NRA leader chair. We need someone who, LIKE OUR PRESIDENT, knows how to fight and kick ass.
Message to LaPierre:
GO AND GO NOW.
Remember a guy named Neal Knox? Tried a coup and a take-over of NRA. All organizations have ‘internal politics’, So there are folks, down-stream from NRA who wish for their misfortune; There is a board that review and oversee all the expenditures and appointments; they are elected by membership; we need to trust that they will do what is best for the organization.
@Bigal. Really? Please tell me how any board or oversight group could possibly justify Mr. LaPierre’s wardrobe expenditure? And keep in mind, that is just one example. It is apparent to many that the organization is broken. Some feel it can be fixed but lot’s of us feel it is just too broken and have moved on.
What about the “intern expenditure?” That dropped out of the news awful quickly and yet was never really explained.
@Bigal
You mean the Same Neal Knox who saw some of these abuses going on back then and tried to stop it? The same one Lapierre lied about repeatedly over the years because he felt personally threatened by Knox?
Using Knox as a reference for your case is self defeating, that is just icing on the Cake. Knox wasn’t trying to “Take Over” the NRA, he was trying to clean it up. And look where we are today, Albert.
Neal Knox was trying to stop the machinations of La Pierre way back then. Know would have been a superior leader of the NRA. Attempting to depict him as something else is BS.
Hero? Are you fucking kidding? Think of our war chest if he hadnt allowed the incestuous dealings with ackmac and his over paid salary and benefits. He never met a gun ban he didn’t like a way for him to get a new suit a tv appearance or a story that made him look better than he was. No he was at the helm during the time he made it harder for the rank and file to nominate a candidate and voted in a deal so good he will get more retired than fucking all of us over from the… Read more »
I was way ahead of this way back when a POS named CCL boudler from Iowa was on the board And in the local Iowa legislature doing EVERYTHING in his power to screw Iowans by killing Every bill for gun rights that came up in Iowa. I wrote several times that I would never renew membership until that POS was gone. The only response I ever recieved was “please renew your membership”. I have been local and GOA, NAGR since. God help us clean up the NRA house and come back fighting, this country needs it. Hopefully that will happen… Read more »
Don, Good Article, @ Comrade X, You are Right On. Hope Some Changes are made before the Sinking Ship is to far down to Retrieve It.
Wayne, Do the Right Thing!
Ahhh, if only. This is Wayne’s one big shot at power and wealth. Even if he went the rules are such that the next corrupt person would emulate him.
He’s no hero for taking my money while serving only himself for several years!
WLP just needs to go. After he is made to step down, the board must have a private investigator go over WLP for a civil suit and criminal charges as they may apply..
Because they were either stupid or greedy enough take out loans they had no chance of paying off (there’s a limited number of university prof slots for social justice or feminist studies grads). Hero, my rear end. FOPA new machinegun ban, gun-free zones, background checks, bump-fire stock ban, no-due process “red flag,” assault weapon” ban… Under LaPierre, the VNRA’s preemptive capitulation and compromises that get us nothing are the real problem. I wouldn’t so much begrudge the expensive wardrobe and busty intern if we got something for it. And Cox: I recall the first VNRA lobbyist hitting NH in years… Read more »
For every NRA donation request I now receive I use their prepaid envelope to send the tear-off with my name and Life Membership number along with a sheet of the following – including my point #6:
NO MORE NRA DONATIONS UNTIL:
[The five goals of savethe2A.org (https://www.savethe2a.org/five-goals/)]
6. Get rid of Wayne LaPierre. Right or wrong he’s become an albatross.
Even if they just throw it away, paying for the return envelope they’re more likely to take note.
This is a lot deeper than just Wayne. He is only the tip of the rot.
There needs to be a house cleaning, board staff, you name it. The corruption doesn’t stop with Wayne.
I’m giving my $$ to my local state organization that is independent of the NRA until there are real changes at the NRA and not just window dressing.
Indeed, you are correct. When Oliver North, not known for his honesty, can’t deal with La Pierre’s corruption, you know the rot is deep.
The cancer that is at the core of the NRA Began when Harlon Carter made Ray Arnett the EVP of the NRA. It metastasized when Arnett brought in AckMac, and by 1991 Whiny LaPee-yew took over as EVP, and NRA’s downhill slide began in earnest. WLP is NO HERO, SPARE ME THE BULL MANURE!! A refresher for all you who missed the backstory: https://www.ammoland.com/2019/06/where-nras-next-executive-vice-president-should-come-from/ “…LaPierre is not the source of NRA’s corruption, Arnett was. However, it is entirely fair to say that LaPierre is the greatest, ugliest SYMPTOM of that corruption. A swollen, ulcerated, pussing symptom, some might say. Ack/Mac… Read more »
The cancer that is at the core of the NRA Began when Harlon Carter made Ray Arnett the EVP of the NRA. It metastasized when Arnett brought in AckMac, and by 1991 Whiny LaPee-yew took over as EVP, and NRA’s downhill slide began in earnest. WLP is NO HERO, SPARE ME THE BULL MANURE!! A refresher for all you who missed the backstory: https://www.ammoland.com/2019/06/where-nras-next-executive-vice-president-should-come-from/ “…LaPierre is not the source of NRA’s corruption, Arnett was. However, it is entirely fair to say that LaPierre is the greatest, ugliest SYMPTOM of that corruption. A swollen, ulcerated, pussing symptom, some might say. Ack/Mac… Read more »
Yes Wayne just retire period, with your dignity or whatever.. We need very strong pro gun, no compromise people to take over all open positions (like Larry Pratt).. We also need a Trump- type businessman that will make our dollars go a long way and cut all unnecessary positions and wasteful spending.. We need all of our money to start going in the right direction instead of all around PORK money just tossed around.. We need much more targeted and focused goals with our hard-earned money, not golden parachutes.. To put it point blankly, NRA members are getting tired of… Read more »
“Hero” my eye….just go away and go away quickly, Wayne…
Wayne speaks with a forked tongue and has a look of a two faced person. Why would anyone want him for a leader of any kind? He is a perfect example of rotten leadership.
@OM, Yes, I think that Wayne, realized long ago, that if the NRA prevailed, then contributions would fall off. If we won the political contest, then there would be no motivation for us to send money to the NRA. So, Wayne made sure that there would always be powerful enemies of the Second Amendment; donations would increase; cash flow would be insured; and his personal power and wealth would continue. I’m just guessing.
@ Wild Bilol
Damn good guess.
Don’t go away mad, Wayne. Just go away. Over the last few years, your tenure has been a disaster.
BTW – Where are the calls for the board to resign? They are supposed to oversee the NRA executives. Looks to me like they did a poor job of that, too.
@Jeff Pyle
LOVE LOVE LOVE the quote Jeffery! Knew it right off and did a fist pump as I laughed.
Wayne does have the personality of Webster doesn’t he though?
Heartbreak Ridge, brother.
Wayne, like Cincinnatus of old, you have done the work. It’s over. No one is inexpendable !!!
No dont let Wayne pick his successor, it will just be more of the good ole boy club.
The crook needs to go to jail and be put into general pop
So he can get poped like he did to all us NRA members over the years no more cash from me till he is gone
Good or bad, Wayne has become toxic for the organization and needs to step down gracefully.
Not a hero. He is well practiced at talking credit for the entire gun lobby’s good work though, both for himself and for the NRA. We need the NRA to become a clear voice that the right to keep and bear arms is not negotiable. That’s not Wayne’s NRA. He’s got to go.
Until old Wayney boy & his cohorts leave I will never renew my membership. The new dues cost was increased to off set his expense acct. The last couple times I renewed & paid , the people there took my money but never renewed my membership, they claimed they never recieved it & then they asked for more. I don’t need this BS in my life. No more $$$ till old Wayney & conspirators are gone.
Same with me…….? private accounts….? What the hey.
Our hard earned donations have been squandered and used to enrich cronies that run third party contractors. Wayne is not a hero and I will not donate another dime until he is gone. It is obvious that the membership has little or no control over the makeup of the Board of Directors or how the NRA is operated.
Hero????????
You must be drunk!
‘F wayne and thanks for NOTHING!!!!!!!
Bryan @ Ammoland.
I need you to contact me, several of my comments are getting eaten and I would like to know why. What’s up?
No more funding till he is gone.
What is the next strongest group to start funneling my funds?
GOA (gunowners dot org).
I’m afraid I must agree with this article. Wayne should go for the good of the organization. There are probably others on the board that should go too. In the meantime, my financial support is going to The Second Amendment Foundation until this mess is sorted out.
Wayne, I became a Life Member and an Instructor in the early Nineties. I no longer support the NRA with $$$, and I have relinquished my Instructor credentials.
Wayne, do the gun community a favor and GTFO!!!!
Why in the world do you feel the need to kiss LaPierre’s ass in order to get rid of him? He’s a criminal and the ONLY reasons he stayed on as long as he did was because he was bilking the membership of cash, amassing control and power and living the life of Riley. His record of failures and compromises offset any positive things he, or his hand-picked cronies and toadies might have done for the 2nd Amendment. Retire? An advisory Role? WTF??? Is the sky blue in your world Don? If someone in your business is caught not only… Read more »
What everyone misses hers is that once he’s gone, he’s gone and that is the desirable end. Then you can move to quickly repair the damage, including reorganization, and you have a built in scapegoat.
Promise him everything and, once he is out. slam and double lock the door.
NRA has been poorly managed for many years. Countless millions have been pissed away on causes that have zero to do with the 2A, as well as on Wayne’s cult of personality. It is time for a change now. The old must be swept away, and focus on RKBA must be made the priority again.
I am an NRA Benefactor member. Wayne, you are no hero. Step down, today.
Hero…what? Apparently only in Wayne’s world is there such a dis-connect, obviously lacking Managerial Competencies. Namely the one titled “Concern for Impact”. Look at the Contrast and Compare. I believe in the NRA. I am a LIFER and Stakeholder of sorts. . However, I recently received another Black Goo Mailer from The NRA-ILA. and I am sorry, No More Money for Wayne’s World. – Reason is: I’m NOW getting a very POOR Return for my Investment over yonder at the NRA. – G.O.A is more effective. Case in point. – The day after the Black Goo Mailer arrived, I received… Read more »
I’ll keep it simple… Wayne has to go.
I cannot support or send money to such a dysfunctional organization.
Ever.
Wayne L. needs to be unceremoniously schitt-canned and given the bum’s rush – he’s damaged goods.
Wayne is the unsung hero of the civilian disarmament movement,while he publicly states “Stand And Fight” he is on his knees Capitulating members and Americans 2 nd. amendment rights away.
Enough of Wayne La Pee Pee and his sycophants with in the organization,They All Need To GO NOW,every last one of them.
Boy I hope Ammoland didn’t just Snafu my comment while it was being Moderated.
No, no, no! Wayne and the rest of the existing VP’s and board must go! They are the ones who got the NRA into the mess it’s in, let them suffer the consequences of their actions.
Wayne lost my support for the NRA when he did the photo-op with Harry Reid and then had the gaul to tell us Harry Reid was a strong supporter of the second amendment.
Wayne was also behind the support of the NICS and telling Trump Bump-stocks are garbage and should be banned.
Wayne is not nor will ever be my hero.
My membership dues are awaiting Wayne’s departure.
Wayne must go!
Lol what? He is not even remotely close to bring my hero. Corrupt piece of shit.
I left then also. I took that monies and subscribed to Gun Test magazine. Much better investment. All the board members that let this FUBAR happen need to go also. Had this been a business it would have been gone years ago.
I smell Russians, they hacked the NRA. Actually I wouldn’t put it past them. Good Luck NRA!
LaPierre has admitted that he lied to the members to pass gun control. In ’86 he said repealing the Hughes Amendment was a “high priority” and his subordinates said that the NRA supports the right to own full-auto. In 2017 LaPierre said the NRA has “supported the existing law on automatic firearms”.
He belongs in jail for fraud. I hope New York sends him there.
LaPierre has admitted that he lied to the members to pass gun control. In ’86 he said repealing the Hughes Amendment was a “high priority” and his subordinates said that the NRA supports the right to own full-auto. In 2017 LaPierre said the NRA has “supported the existing law on automatic firearms”.
He’s no hero. He belongs on a lamppost.
No more money and support until Wayne and his cronies are gone from the NRA. They have lived off the teet of the second amendment for too long. Drain the NRA swamp!
As a Life Member I will not send another penny to the NRA-ILA until Wayne is gone