U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- Insisting the National Rifle Association is “strong financially,” embattled Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre told Newsmax talk host Grant Stinchfield in a televised interview the organization is growing by “about 1,000 (members) a day” and intimated that the current legal and financial troubles are politically motivated and not just about him.
“So much of this is about the hatred of some politicians toward our constitutional freedoms and the organization,” LaPierre said during a 6 ½-minute interview, “the Number One organization that defends it, the National Rifle Association, and all we are people all over the country that believe in their freedom.”
Stinchfield, an award-winning broadcast journalist who was a lead reporter for NRA TV, opened the interview by asking LaPierre if NRA is “still in a position to be successful.”
“Is the NRA as strong as it’s ever been,” he inquired.
LaPierre responded by ticking off a list of achievements NRA has racked up over the years.
“Y’know this organization has had an historical record of achievement,” he said. “Right to carry in 41 states. We saved the American firearms industry from certain bankruptcy by these predatory lawsuits. Emergency power bills where they can’t come into your house and confiscate your firearms and leave you defenseless in a time of emergency.
“And then those historic Heller and McDonald decisions that said the Second Amendment is your individual right,” he added. “It’s not about the government’s right.”
While the NRA submitted a brief supporting Heller, it was not the association’s case, however. And, while NRA had a companion case challenging the Chicago gun ban, McDonald v. City of Chicago was actually a Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) case. Both McDonald and NRA’s cases were argued at the same time before the U.S. Supreme Court, allowing both organizations to claim victory when the high court nullified Chicago’s gun law.
LaPierre recalled to viewers that early in 2018, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Department of Financial Services “went after every bank and insurance company doing business in New York State, and that’s the most powerful financial center in the country, and said ‘Hey, if you do business with the NRA, we’re going to punish you; there will be retribution. You’ll pay a price.’ I mean, the awesome power of the state.
“And then.,” LaPierre continued, “his hand-picked candidate for Attorney General, Letitia James, before she ever (served) a day in office, during her campaign said that because the NRA supported the Second Amendment, she considered (us) a terrorist criminal organization and when she won she was going to open up an investigation.”
Last August, James filed a lawsuit against the organization, seeking to dissolve it. The lawsuit alleges LaPierre “exploited the organization for his financial benefit, and the benefit of a close circle of NRA staff, board members and vendors.”
NRA counter-sued James, getting support from several states’ attorneys general. As reported by the Washington Post, their brief stated, “The New York Attorney General cannot be allowed to wield the power of her office to discriminate against the NRA simply because she does not like its members’ political views, advocacy or defense of a constitutional right.”
NRA also sued Gov. Cuomo and Maria Vullo, superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services, and the agency. Even the ACLU sided with NRA in a brief to the court. This lawsuit alleges that Cuomo, Vullo and the DFS had mounted a “campaign to chill the political speech of the NRA and other so-called ‘gun promotion’ organizations by leveraging state power to punish financial institutions which maintain business arrangements with the NRA.”
NRA recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a move to pull out of New York State and restructure in Texas.
More than once, Stinchfield accused NRA’s opponents of “weaponizing” government to take down the 150-year-old NRA, which was founded and incorporated in 1871, in New York State.
In reaction to the suggestion, LaPierre observed, “This is a constitutional fight. It’s bigger than the NRA. It’s for all Americans because if they can do it to the NRA today, they can do it to any organization on the right or left tomorrow.”
When Stinchfield noted the past two-plus years have been “tough,” LaPierre responded, “Well, y’know it’s not really me. This is about all Americans. This is a question of whether we’re going to live in a country where, and I really mean it, where if you have a different political point of view than the politicians that control the government at any given time. Whether those politicians can use their power to silence and destroy you.
“It’s about whether we have constitutional freedom like the right to keep and bear arms to protect yourself and your family if the glass breaks at 2 a.m.,” he continued. “I mean that’s what this fight’s about. That’s what NRA does every day. That’s what the people around the country want this organization to do and what I love about it is that NRA stands on principle and fight(s).
“It’s not here to be popular in this town It’s here to represent people all over the country who want their freedoms defended,” he said.
While some 33,000 people joined NRA last month, according to LaPierre, gun owners are also reportedly throwing considerable support to SAF, which has become a legal powerhouse in the Second Amendment litigation arena. That group, based in Bellevue, Washington, has filed dozens of lawsuits challenging state and local gun control laws in the aftermath of the McDonald ruling, which incorporated the Second Amendment to the states via the 14th Amendment in June 2010.
SAF, as Ammoland News has reported, is now entering its seventh week of advertising and promoting a grassroots effort called “2nd Amendment First Responders.” According to SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb, SAF has attracted tens of thousands of new members and supporters with the “First Responders” campaign. About 25 percent of these new “recruits” were first-time gun buyers in 2020 and roughly 40 percent of those supporters are women.
“It’s important to remember,” Gottlieb recently observed, “that despite the NRA’s financial and legal troubles, American gun owners remain fully engaged.”
That’s not likely to change, as Joe Biden has a gun control agenda that amounts to a “wish list” for anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety gun prohibition lobbying group. Some are already suggesting he could accomplish much of his scheme via executive order.
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
Agreed,life member nothing I can do about that but not one more penny to the scumbag and his enablers of Negotiating Rights Away since 1934.
LaPierre is flying the NRA straight into the ground at the worst possible time in this nation’s history. His continued employment has destroyed the effectiveness of the NRA. Just resign, you contemptible ass.
Typical of Wayne (NRA) trying to take all the credit for anything positive that has occurred with the defense of the 2nd Amendment by others. A list of compromises and out and out abandonment of the 2nd Amendment by the NRA, not to mention the millions wasted on personal gratification, since Wayne took over, would be nice to have to compare to Wayne’s bullshit.
I’m sure the NRA is financially strong, at least as Wayne LaPierre defines it, which is to say that the NRA is able to cover his lavish salary and perks. Other than that, I have not seen the NRA accomplish a single damn thing in decades.
Endowment Life Member, don’t tell me what you’ve done that’s history. Tell me what and how you’re going to do what’s needed now. No donations now till new executive leadership.
The NRA is DEAD to me: Wayne L. and the rest of that .org can kiss my azz FOREVER.
GOA and SAF do all the hard dirty work and NRA tries to take the credit.
Over the past 30 years, the NRA has led from behind. Almost half of the important advances in gun rights were achieved without the cooperation of the NRA, many of them (like constitutional carry) achieved despite the NRA’s active interference! NRA deliberately attempted to sabotage Heller (when it was Parker), then (as usual) assumed credit for it when it was won. (And although we always understood that, we let them, because it kept the MSM fearing “the NRA” as an unstoppable Sherman Tank.) Some of our most important victories were won DESPITE NRA luminaries like Charlton “AK-47’s are inappropriate for… Read more »
Tom Gresham has been taking NRA board members to task for basically sitting on their hands, on his weekly national radio show, ‘Gun Talk’.
Past episodes are available for download or podcast.
https://www.guntalk.com/gun-talk-radio
To All NRA Board Members: In comments to this article and to other articles on this site (other sites contain additional evidence of the same) there is much frustration among past and current “members” (a dubious term perhaps “subscribers” is more appropriate). The NRA of which you are fiduciaries of has and continues to fail in its communication of purpose, and now current “strategic decision” to file for protection pursuant to Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. As these comments cogently identify (contrary to the talking points that WLaP and Board Members who are using “state” and other affiliate groups… Read more »
The only thing the NRA is strong at is getting arms control passed.
The NRA’s financial disclosure regarding the bankruptcy is public: https://freebeacon.com/guns/nra-reveals-assets-from-charlton-heston-statue-to-range-rover-in-latest-bankruptcy-filing/
Sounds to me like ol’ Wayne has spent too much time Under Wild Skies.
LaPierre is under investigation by the IRS, plus now the NRA is under investigation for cooking the books and filling faults financial statements.
I will answer that. You are neither. You are ignorant Ignorance is easily curable. Bankruptcy is most oftenused when the wolves are at the door, circling and snarling and drooling, the target can file for a reorganisation….. the court will determine who does/does not get paid and in what order, it can demand time to delay seizures etc, until the target can rearrange some things and survive. Situations like NRA find themselves in now, a serious and ungrounded attack by some entity with lots of perceived power, like this Letitia creature bent upon dismantling the organisatioin “cuz Ah doan lahk… Read more »
In all fairness, “ignorance” really has two meanings. One is lacking knowledge of a particular thing , as in “I’m ignorant of quantum mathematics”. No insult intended.
The other is being, lacking in knowledge or sense in general. Such as “that boy is so ignorant he’ll never survive in life”.
It seems like Tionico was using it as in the first example, not the second.
Stinchfield is essentially LaPierre’s meat-puppet.
To all of those who make charges that LaPierre is guilty of something, I have a question. Has he been convicted of anything, or is it just a case of haters hating? All you hear is Knox this and Knox that. Knox is just pissed and wants his 15 minutes of fame because daddy had a falling out with the NRA. As Clara Peller used to say, “Where’s the beef?” Until someone is charged and convicted of a crime he or she is presumed innocent in America. James is, as the article stated out to destroy the NRA and people… Read more »
By your logic Chev, all those German officials at Nuremburg in 1945 were totally innocent until they were charged and convicted, as was Charlie Manson and Jeffry Dahmer and none of them should never have been locked up and should have been allowed to continue their “behavior” until convicted.
WE NRA members have a RIGHT to not only criticize your employer – Mr.. La Pierre- but TO PUBLICLY question his mismanagement that has resulted in the lawsuits against the NRA over him using it as his personal piggy bank!
Your Pathetic deflection does not change that no matter how much you are paid to post!
Tom Gresham has been reporting on this for many months now, and taking NRA board members to task for basically sitting on their hands, on his weekly national radio show, ‘Gun Talk’.
Past episodes are available for download or podcast.
https://www.guntalk.com/gun-talk-radio
By the way, if LaPierre is so innocent, all he has to do is publically show the NRA’s financial dealings for the last 20 years.
Simple stuff.
Chev. Let’s assume for a moment that Wayne had done nothing wrong. Wouldn’t a man of integrity look at what is happening within the organization and step aside for the benefit of the NRA anyway? Doesn’t his lack of concern about the big picture bother you? He can’t possibly be ignorant of what is happening. As has been pointed out elsewhere here, there has never been a time when the influence of the NRA was more important and there has never been a time in the NRA when they have been more impotent and irrespective of what else Wayne has… Read more »
Not yet being convicted of a crime should not be the only qualification for the NRA’s CEO.
If the NRA was a functioning company, its CEO would have been fired years ago, given all the scandals, the mismanagement, the lawsuits costing huge amounts of money and the organization being on the verge of getting dissolved or becoming insolvent.
If the NRA were a publicly traded company, the strategy would have been presented to the BOD and the BOD would either approve the strategy or work with management until an agreed upon strategy was developed. If the NRA were a publicly traded company, the management would present the results of their efforts at least quarterly to the BOD. If the NRA were a publicly traded company, it would be much easier for the primary stakeholders (shareholders for the company; members for the NRA) to make changes in the BOD. If the NRA were a publicly traded company, it would… Read more »
The same applies to nonprofit companies, just not to the NRA! The Board was given “something” for approval at the last meeting. As it turned out, the fine print of that “something” gave LaPierre full authority to restructure the organization, including filing for bankruptcy and moving the NRA’s charter. Many NRA Board members were not aware that they green-lighted that. The NRA has regular Board meetings, but they tend to be a total clown show run by the LaPierre cronies. In one Board meeting, LaPierre announced a major personnel decision and it was celebrated, until someone pointed out that LaPierre… Read more »
I was agreeing with you.
I don’t see it getting fixed and I question the reason for the effort.
I was agreeing with you as well and was just providing more details.
Gotcha.
It will be interesting to see how much of the Examiner’s report will be made available, starting with information about the team that did the investigation, how many hours each functional discipline spent, the extent to which they had access to records and systems, and the amount of cooperation they received from outside service providers (e.g., did they cooperate in providing detailed support for invoices?).
If you check closely, you will notice that almost all of the major ‘charitable organizations’ are run the same as the NRA.
The American Cancer Society, Unicef, March of Dimes, the Red Cross, etc. All ran in the same dysfunctional manner as the NRA.
It isn’t just the NRA that’s corrupt, it is the entire western world.
Not exactly, but a number of large nonprofits have problems. I don’t think there is another nonprofit with 76 Board members, for example. I also don’t think that other nonprofits are so blatant in self-dealing and keeping the rest of the Board and members in the dark. The Wounded Warrior Project had a huge scandal in the past that they are still suffering from today, after they cleaned up. The SPLC has $570M in net assets, $117M in revenue and $88M in expenses. This looks to me like a retirement fund. The AARP has $1.19B in net assets, $1.8B in… Read more »
Nice use of #13 of the 25 rules of disinformation:
“13. Alice in Wonderland Logic. Avoid discussion of the issues by reasoning backwards with an apparent deductive logic in a way that forbears any actual material fact.” -https://vigilantcitizen.com/latestnews/the-25-rules-of-disinformation/
Like the number of board members matters. Quite a bit easier to buy, blackmail, or otherwise control a 5 member board than a 78 member one, don’t you think? 🙂
Or perhaps you think that if the NRA had just a single member board, with that single member firmly in LaTrine’s pocket that would somehow be a step upward? LULZ ;-D
Chev, you certainly have a permanent hair up your *ss on this subject. Neal Knox was a fighter for the common gun owner. He was the leader responsible for pulling the NRA out of the dead hands of the Fudds and back into the hands of the membership, and turning it into a proper constitutional rights organization instead of a rubber stamp for gun control laws. Following that, he served the NRA faithfully for years… until he was next in line for the president’s chair. LaPierre couldn’t have a strong leader willing to call him out on his errors and… Read more »