AmmoLand News has been speaking to several insiders on the condition of anonymity at the National Rifle Association (NRA) and NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) about the state of the historic gun rights organization since former Executive Vice President Wayner LaPierre and the NRA was found liable in a civil corruption case out of New York State. With the NRA Annual Meeting (NRAAM) coming up at the end of the month, many wonder about the health of the organization.
Recently, prominent figures inside the organization, like Marion Hammer, have had their pensions cut or have been forced out. Although some members see this as a possible “righting of the ship,” those on the inside claim it is a power struggle between the top brass at the NRA trying to protect themselves and former LaPierre loyalists. Since LaPierre left, insiders claim that lawyer William Brewer’s control over the NRA has grown by leaps and bounds. They claim he is pulling the strings of the organization.
Mr. Brewer is a high-priced attorney who practices out of New York and Texas. Brewer has had a long-term relationship with the NRA and has influence over the organization, which seems to have expanded over the past year, according to sources. Although Brewer represents the gun rights organization, he has also donated thousands of dollars to anti-gun candidates like Beto O’Rourke, Joe Biden, and Hillary Clinton. Insiders believe he has control over interim CEO and Executive Vice President Andrew Arulanandam.
Sources have reported that the NRA is forcing out those who do not comply. One of the first pushed out for speaking their minds was long-time board member Buz Mills, who wrote a letter to the Board of Directors in January calling the organization out for abusing the membership funds instead of being good stewards of the money given to the NRA by people concerned with protecting their gun rights.
“Again, I emphasize, it was not miscreant’s money, and it was not the facilitator’s money,” Mills wrote in his letter to the Board. “It was the MONEY OF OUR MEMBERS and the MONEY provided by the BENEVOLENCE OF OUR DONORS. There is something deeply wrong when you continually permit and encourage this serial abuse.”
Mills might have been one of the first to be pushed out, but he would not be the last to be exiled from the gun rights group. Our sources say other staff members have been fired for speaking out against alleged abuses by the organization. According to insiders, the State and local lobbying groups have been gutted, and the Southeast Director is leaving this month. AmmoLand News was told by former and current staff that anyone who questions the establishment thinking is risking their careers within the NRA.
One person who has questioned the NRA publicly was NRA Board member Willes Lee. Mr. Lee was in line to become the organization’s next President before questioning the NRA establishment. Several insiders told AmmoLand News that the NRA bylaws were changed to allow Charles Cotton to continue as President to avoid Lee from taking over the office. Many believe that the act was that of self-protection instead of protecting the NRA and Second Amendment rights of its members.
The NRA-ILA has always operated semi-autonomously from the rest of the organization, but that has changed in recent years. Insiders have told us that the National Rifle Association is calling the shots more than ever. The lack of autonomy led to Jason Ouimet’s departure from the head of the ILA. When Ouimet left, it was a sign to many lobbyists that it was time to get off “a sinking ship.”
Randy Kozuch is now running the ILA, but people on the inside complain about a lack of leadership and feel that NRA is handcuffing the lobbying wing. The ILA has also been having trouble fundraising, which has hurt lobbying efforts. Our sources inside the NRA also claim that the NRA has been filtering money away from the ILA and its lobbying efforts. Sources on Capitol Hill have also told AmmoLand News that the NRA’s influence is a shadow of what it once was, although other gun rights groups have stepped up their lobbying effort since there seems to be a power vacuum.
The leading lobbyist is a contractor named Raymond White, who is being paid as a consultant by the NRA-ILA. Mr. White and Kozuch have a long history of working together. Although acting and being paid as a consultant, we have not been able to determine the amount of money that the ILA is paying White. Morale at the ILA is at an all-time low, with many employees leaving or looking to leave the organization.
AmmoLand News has also been told that former Congressman Bob Barr will be the next President of the NRA. Mr. Barr is currently on the Board of Directors and is the only one that AmmoLand News knows of who has had a negligent discharge of a firearm. According to our sources at the NRA, Mr. Barr is a Brewer loyalist.
There have been talks about shrinking the Board, but our sources do not believe that will happen. Our sources state that at least 80% of the Board is more concerned about self-interest and self-protection rather than the overall health of the NRA. The bylaws would have to be changed to shrink the Board, and there is no will to change them. While some in the gun community think the court will appoint an overseer, and that overseer could be an anti-gun appointee, the members of the Board do not believe it will happen. Multiple sources have told AmmoLand News that many on the Board act like the NRA is there to cater to them instead of them working for the NRA membership and to further gun rights.
Not all hope is lost for the NRA. All four of the reform candidates have won seats on the Board of Directors. The only question is, will they have enough influence to change things at the historic gun rights organization, or is the NRA a lost cause?
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. Mr. Crump has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
Looking at the track record of the NRA over the last 20 years, I’m surprised that they actually have a membership. Everyone seems to want to act like this corruption is new, but it’s only the latest round. The NRA is about as trustworthy as a RINO…
That’s because the NRA leadership is full of RINOs. And Wayne was a Democrat operative before he was hired by the NRA…
Cotton is rotten!
Fire them! Draft up a petition where the members can sign it and get rid of the mfers!
On a quiet night, here in North Carolina, you can hear the sounds of the NRA continuing to flush itself down the toilet. GOA, SAF and GRNC get my donations and membership money.
NRA is a lost cause. I left them 5 years ago. It’s time for the NRA to die. Nothing lives forever. I donate to GOA and 2nd A Foundation now. You can’t reform a cancer which applies to the NRA and our government.
The former NRA is dead. That’s why I don’t understand this futile attempt to resurrect that thieving trash. They won’t be missed by the vass majority of former members who were betrayed and had their money stolen. JOIN AND SUPPORT GOA!
Well that’s grim assessment. Not saying it’s wrong, just hearing that the flash of light at the end of the tunnel was a random firefly is a lousy way to start the day.
The annual BoD ballots should include a confident/no-confidence vote for the Executive VP.
A safe assumption in today’s world is this: anything within 100 miles of the Washington Monument is corrupt. It is no wonder the current board and management team at NRA is self-interested. That perfectly fits DC culture.
Exactly my thoughts… Proximity to the Swamp eventually turns all who linger into swamp creatures. And Wayne was a Democrat operative in DC long before getting hired by the NRA.
I have been an NRA member since the early 1950s and presently am a Patron Life Member. I haven’t donated to the NRA in decades and in the recent vote for candidates for the NRA Board, I voted for 13 candidates who had never served on the NRA Board. No one else. For one thing, the NRA Board should not be composed of more than a dozen members. For another, in the absence of credible advice re which existing Board members deserve to stay in office, I’m inclined to throw out all of them. Halfway measures will not rescue the… Read more »
Too little too late. I pulled the plug in 2007 when it became abundantly clear to me that WLP and the NRA were promoting gun control language in various bills as a form of legislative back-burning (a firefighter’s tactic to control forest fires), something that the gun-grabbers no doubt found amusing. Yes, fear of gun bans & more had long influenced NRA members to donate and in my youth I too was influenced by the fear-mongering. But with age comes (hopefully) wisdom, and I see the big picture now. What I see is a zombie organization that needs to be… Read more »
The NRA has been grossly mismanaged for far too long! The vast majority of both members and the public have completely lost faith in the organization and its leadership.
The reputation of the organization lies in ruins, beyond redemption. There is no point in attempting to change course now, as the lingering remnants of the old leadership continue to infest and corrupt its core.
Some never learn.
I’m a life member who is absolutely disgusted with the LaPierre shenanigans that has evidently going on for decades. I became a life member of the North American Hunting Club and that one fizzled out a few years later. Oh well!
Most seem to recognize a sinking ship situation. What do we do in that situation ? We hope to be rescued by another ship that is not sinking.
Cut the Brewer anchor. The large membership and their assets could get on board another successful organization without corrupt management and actually push for the restoration and expansion of Second Amendment Rights.
The NRA is on the edge of becoming a zombie organization. Not entirely dead, but absolutely moribund! The WLP cancer metastasized many years ago! And since when does a ‘career’ in a nonprofit organization merit a pension from that organization’s coffers? Or a ‘golden parachute’??
This is why I renounced my Life Member status nearly 20 years ago.
We threw out the rascals once before back at the revolt at the 1977 Annual in Cincinnati, but here we are again. Other pro-RTKBA groups are doing more, engaging in more litigation, while Wayne’s NRA is seemingly AWOL. At one point we were up to 5 Million members, and I’d even signed up the wife and daughter as 5 year members: I have been LIFE since 1968. Now with the NRA on the ropes, some posit that NRA membership has shrunk to about 2-3 million. And its because they count we NRA Life members and we probably make up the majority of the current claimed membership. All… Read more »
QUIT FUNDING THEM!!!! STOP SENDING THEM YOUR MONEY!!!! DO NOT RENEW MEMBERSHIPS!!! STARVE THE BEAST. DO NOT ATTEND THE BANQUET/AUCTION 5/16 AT NRA CONVENTION. ONCE DEAD, LET NEW BLOOD RESURRECT IT.
The best thing that could have happened for American Gun Owners would have been if the NY court had forced the dissolution of the entire NRA.
Even if that dissolution cost ever cent that the bloated organization has amassed, we would still be far ahead.
Efforts to “reform” the NRA are doomed to costly failure while the corruption and in-fighting continue to pull in and waste millions of dollars that could be going to real pro-gun organizations.