U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- The National Rifle Association is moving its September Board of Directors meeting back to the Washington, D.C./Northern Virginia area, cancelling the originally-planned meeting that was scheduled in Anchorage, Alaska, AmmoLand News has confirmed.
The board will meet Sept. 11-14 2019 at a location still to be determined.
The location change comes as trouble is brewing on Capitol Hill, with the Democrat-controlled House Judiciary Committee slated to start meeting a couple of days prior to the return of Congress on Sept. 9. According to the Daily Caller, the Judiciary Committee, under anti-gun Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), will be hearing three new gun bill proposals Sept. 4. They are the:
- Disarm Hate Act, H.R. 2708, introduced in May by Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), which would disqualify anyone convicted of a misdemeanor “hate crime” from being able to purchase a firearm;
- Keep Americans Safe Act, H.R. 1186 introduced in February by Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL), which includes a ban on magazines over 10 rounds’
- Extreme Risk Protection Orders Act of 2019, H.R. 1236, introduced in February by Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA).
NRA is switching the board meeting at a time when the association is under intense media scrutiny over allegations of “lavish spending” by longtime chief executive Wayne LaPierre. Activist members have also been critical of LaPierre since the donnybrook in Indianapolis that saw the resignation of then-NRA President Ollie North, followed by the departures of six board members, the resignation of chief lobbyist Chris Cox, and the filing of dueling lawsuits between NRA and its former PR agency Ackerman McQueen. The allegations stem, at least in part, from reportedly “leaked documents” and as in any other high-profile controversy, there is the inevitable question about who did the leaking.
A copy of an email sent to NRA Directors and members of the Executive Council was obtained by AmmoLand News and other outlets, including Newsweek. In it, NRA Secretary and General Counsel John Frazer explained, “This decision was made after careful consideration. As you know, our duty to protect our Second Amendment comes above all else and the NRA is the only organization that can carry out that mission. As details of the congressional schedule were revealed today, it became apparent that a fight of historic proportions is going to begin during the time when we would have been in Alaska.
“It is imperative not only that officers and staff be fully engaged,” the message added, “but also that the full board lend its support and assistance. Being in Alaska would have made it impossible for our officers and senior staff to fulfill their duties here in the nation’s capital at this critical period in the Second Amendment’s history.”
The organization, which is incorporated as a non-profit in New York State, is also under investigation by the New York Attorney General’s office.
On the other hand, board members and many grassroots activists have been strongly supportive of LaPierre, and he reportedly spoke personally with President Donald Trump recently in the aftermath of mass shootings in California, Texas and Ohio, as anti-gun Democrats and gun prohibition lobbying groups, sensing the NRA may be vulnerable, are poised to throw all kinds of gun control schemes into the mixer. And the association has become known as the “900-pound gorilla” of lobbying organizations, often pulling off stunning victories against what seemed like insurmountable odds.
There had been criticism on social media and news outlest about the planned Anchorage board session amid all the concerns about finances, so some people may believe there are ulterior motives for the change of venue.
However, as Congress returns just two days prior to the board meetings, with committees holding their usual sessions prior to the traditional Saturday business meeting of the full board, there is no denying that the danger from Capitol Hill Democrats is genuine.
Every Democrat now running for their party’s nomination next year to challenge President Trump has offered up some gun control scheme, including “mandatory buybacks” of so-called “assault weapons,” licensing and registration of gun owners, waiting periods on the purchase of firearms, so-called “universal background checks,” and other proposals that many in the firearms community see as direct attacks on the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
Coincidentally, the relocated board meeting is happening only a week prior to the 34th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. Co-sponsored by the Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, the Sept. 20-22 weekend event is already expecting a big crowd, based on pre-registrations.
SAF and CCRKBA have been increasingly mentioned as possibly providing alternatives to beleaguered Second Amendment activists should NRA be seriously crippled by the turmoil. Also mentioned in a Politico examination of the situation were the Gun Owners of America.
But it just might be wishful thinking on the part of gun prohibitionists to believe the NRA is about to collapse. The organization has surprised its opponents before, and with fights looming not only on Capitol Hill but in state legislatures early next year, gun rights organizations are not so much competitors as they are allies against a common enemy seemingly bent on eroding the Second Amendment.
SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb was quoted by Politico noting, “There are a lot of NRA members that don’t like the infighting, don’t like all the lawsuits, don’t like some of the spending that’s been talked about in the press. A lot of them — they want to defend gun rights, they’re not going to stop defending gun rights, they’re just looking at other places to do it.”
By some estimates, there are more than 100 million gun owners in the U.S. and even combining all the reported memberships of NRA, SAF, CCRKBA and the other groups, that accounts for perhaps 7 or 8 million members and supporters. Many veteran activists have long contended that this small core of gun owners has been “carrying the water” for the majority of hunters, recreational and competitive shooters and the millions of Americans who own firearms for personal and family protection.
Regardless the NRA’s troubles, many gun rights activists have done the math and concluded that if just 25 to 50 percent of the nation’s gun owners belonged to any or all of the various rights organizations, including NRA, they would not be facing this kind of trouble from Congress or state lawmakers, and gun control groups would be spinning their well-financed wheels.
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.
“NRA is the only gun group that fights for the Second Amendment Rights of Americans”. Who says this garbage any more?? Gun Owners of America and others ARE FIGHTING the good fight FOR Americans’ Second Amendment RIGHTS! The NRA encouraged the “bump-stock” ban. The NRA enabled the “background check” hullabaloo fiasco. The NRA encouraged the “EROP / Red Flag Law” which equates to the UNLAWFUL CONFISCATION of weapons from Americans without representation – – just because SOMEONE!?!? complained to the “law”. I know of One who was murdered under the color of law in Montgomery County in Maryland. These actions… Read more »
“This decision was made after careful consideration. As you know, our duty to protect our Second Amendment comes above all else.”
If only that were true,instead of lining Whiney La PewPews and his sycophants pockets with the members dues and donations to fight further infringements of the 2 nd. amendment.
Whiney is quoted with “Stand And Fight” whiles he’s actually kneeling and capitulating
Not One More Penny !.
NRA is NO “900 lb. gorilla”!! It’s a frickin’ PAPER TIGER.
The REAL 900lb. gorilla is GOA and its membership. THEY DO THE HEAVY LIFTING that Negotiating Rights Away always takes credit for!!
Let’s not forget that NRA pulled out of Illinois altogether, leaving gun owners there high & dry!
GOA gets my money. NRA use to get “round-up” & “add-a-buck” but no more. Life membership is paid off.
Workman mentions SAF and CCRKBA, but it would seem to me that they haven’t been very successful at countering gun control in their home state of WA.
The SAF got you Heller and McDonald. They are also fighting tooth and nail I-1639 in WA state. Both, the GOA and SAF/CCRKBA need to improve their lobbying game.
Pratt just run an op-ed in USA today as a counter point, whats the others done?
The GOA does grass-roots lobbying. It lacks in-person lobbying. We need both!
Grass-roots lobbying provides the massive voter support, while in-person lobbying provides legislators with the language and strategy to fight. The GOA and SAF do not enough in-person lobbying!
A perfect example of in-person lobbying was what T.REX ARMS did to repeal the Tennessee ammunition tax.
If it is so easy to see, show me!
Gottlieb of the SAF needs to clean up his own State instead of trying to protect mine..If he would of focused more on the States universal back ground check that voters approved, it might not have passed..he’s way down in the field fighting weeds and theyre taking over his back yard!
@freewill? You best pay attention to the process and Protocols of how the Second Amendment Foundation is doing their work it doesn’t happen in your time frame it happens in theirs and so far they’re leading the packs all across the country.
But then again what have you done for either your state or your country in regards to OUR Second Amendment rights freedom and sovereignty?
GOA is leading the pack, They constantly send me emails to sign petitions, there was over two million sent two weeks ago to Senators, Our Teachers are armed now!..In Washington State, Museums had to give firearms back that was on loan due to the universal back ground check that was just passed, Ive read about people firing in self defense then arrested!..we can run an add in the classifieds selling our private property!..
GOA has several videos of firarme being confiscated in New Orleans and they have video of the Koreans during the LA riots fending off looters with their semi-auto’s, and not one building was looted and burned in the Korean community!
So, you donated to the I-1639 Legal Defense Fund?: https://www.gofundme.com/1639-legal-defense-fund
I have my own battles in Utah, We are one of the more freindly gun owning States because we take care of our own back yard first
We have our own issues in Tennessee (with a completely Republican state legislature), yet I donated $100 to the I-1639 Legal Defense Fund. I did it, because I know it is important!
Why are you not in this fight? You are sitting on the sidelines on this, so you have no right to complain (which is what you did above)!
I made the statement that Gottleib needs to clean up his own back yard instead of running around the country in our way!..Do you want to compare Utah against Washington?
What if it takes more than just WA gun owners to clean up WA state? You do know that the SAF is fighting a NY billionaire in WA state, right?
When that NY billionaire comes to your state, do you expect me to help you or complain (like you) that you should clean up your own state? It is exactly this divide and conquer attitude that the left banks on!
You have no right to complain if you don’t participate in the fight!
You’re missing the point..Washington is not making any progress as far as gun owners are concerned, SAF is being eatin from the inside out! and so far Bloomberg hasnt gained any ground here, several Mayors joined his phony crusade and was quickly voted out!..We made some gains and fought off the anti,s in our State this year, I havent seen any progress in Washington!..We can have 30 RD mags or higher, as long as a round is not chambered, its not considered loaded!..We’re fighting the good fight nationally, but were also taking care of our own State!
You are missing the point! WA is not making any progress, because progress takes time and effort. You are not part of this effort, so you have no right to complain about its lack of progress! Become part of the effort, then you have earned your right to complain. When people say that “someone should do something,” guess what? It is up to them to act. Everyone can just sit on the sidelines and complain! Yes, WA is overrun by liberals in the big cities, primarily in Seattle, and Bloomberg has poured money into the state to fund gun control.… Read more »
I have every right!..Gottleib is fighting a national battle while his home state is crumbling!..
There are those people that act and those people that sit on the sidelines and complain. It is up to you to decide to which group you belong. We would not have Heller or McDonald without the SAF fighting at the national level, yet here you are, complaining about the SAF’s fight in WA without having contributed to the fight in WA. Your attitude is the reason why progress is slow. Stop sitting on the sidelines and complaining! You have spent time to write multiple replies here, complaining about the SAF’s fight in WA, yet you have not donated $10,… Read more »
GOA and the NRA fought that battle, SAF only joined in latter and let more laws be passed in Washington State, Like I said, compare our laws in Utah against Washington, We have our own house in order and capable of taking the fight nationally!
You are getting a lot of things wrong here.
The GOA did their grass-roots effort thing before I-1639 was passed into law. The SAF filed a number a lawsuit to prevent I-1639 to get even on the ballot. The NRA didn’t fight any battle. They just claimed credit for the work by others as usual.
Watch this video by someone who lives there: https://youtu.be/slZWpO7azy8
I watched it, Thats where Gottlieb needs to be ..and am I under the impression that people signed the petition thinking it was a grocery tax?..if so, then Gottlied should have pulled his federal money and ran non stop adds exposing the fraud!..I’ve repeatedly said through the years that the NRA needs to stay at the federal level, they’ve meddled in our affair for a long time, They’ve gotten totally good bills that had the votes to pass watered down with limits, like reciprocal, there was no time limit for out of state workers doing jobs in Utah, but thanks… Read more »
TheYankeeMarshal has posted a number of other videos about the I-1639 fight, including reports from public hearings. where anti-gun people got bussed in. Bloomberg spent a lot of money to make it happen. Now, the SAF is fighting the law in the courts, which is what my original fund raiser link was about. SAF is still fighting this, like they did from day one. The NRA is a mess and has been for a while. The NRA has repeatedly lobbied for permit schemes and against permitless carry in a number of states, because the NRA makes money from training. Remember,… Read more »
I expect my rep. to vote the way my district did, not how the voters of Salt Lake voted..Missouri is a good example, Concealed carry was on the Ballot, theres 114 counties I believe, only 14 voted against it and had the popular vote, the reps of the other counties voted their constituents and passed concealed carry into law.
@KenW? You might want to do your homework and research a little bit better especially in the state of Washington to see what’s going on. Second Amendment Foundation has been kicking ass everywhere it goes.
Seattle has been taxing gun shops out of business,
@wjd Flatt? Could it be that you’re just ignorant of what the Second Amendment Foundation is and has been doing all across this country?
No, I am aware of SAF. Not a bad organization. Actually, I like EVERY gun group other than NAGR (scam) and NRA (Negotiating Rights Away).
Rumors are that the original plan for the Alaska meeting was to have a fishing cruise. Burning $100,000 to move a meeting that should not have been held at that location in the first place isn’t that big of a deal, though. After all, $100,000 is what the NRA pays its lawyer, Bill Brewer, for a single day of work. As long as big donors, like Midway USA, funnel money into this racket, they are going to burn it.
That $100,000 loss claim is disingenuous. It is not going to cost them any more for canceling the trip. The money would have been wasted on the trip anyway and is likely just money they can’t get back because the canceled nonrefundable reservations. The only thing they are loosing is the vacation experience on our dime. Really, I would like to know just how much the NRA is actually going to save now by NOT going. Quite a bit I imagine.
There are up to 71 NRA Directors that could attend this meeting. At least 25 NRA Directors must attend the meeting in person to form a quorum. There are a number of NRA Officers that must attend the Board meeting as well, such as the CEO and COO. The NRA committee meetings are held with the Board meeting as well, which means a number of NRA committee members that are not NRA Directors need to attend as well. There are also a number of NRA staffers from the various NRA organizations (NRA, NRA-ILA, NRA CRDF, NRA Foundation) that need to… Read more »
If the directors are representing the members, they should recommend dissolving the corporation, liquidate all assets, and refund all dues paid in the last five years, including lifetime memberships. If there is money left after that, refund dues going back one year at a time until the cash is exhausted. Not one penny to WLP. Turn his golden parachute into a lead ball.
I think you do not fully grasp the NRA’s financial situation. They could not even refund this year’s dues if they wanted to. The NRA mortgaged its headquarters in Virginia, froze its employee pension plan, “borrowed” money from the NRA-ILA and the NRA Foundation, fired NRA-ILA staff, and stopped financial support for three 2A lawsuits, just to not go bankrupt. In the past three years combined, the NRA has spent over $70 million more than it has. Now, that may seem small in the context of over $1 billion in revenue over those three years, but that money was spent.… Read more »
@CGGator Foxtrot, and just how is it that you know of all this precise money wrangling that has been taking place over the years?
The NRA’s 990 tax forms up to 2017 are freely available: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/530116130. The NRA’s 2018 financial statement is freely available as well: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6346025-1b-52465739-50b43e15ab7543f6aa5005c0d19e6bb5.html. Everything I posted is from the NRA’s own public disclosures.
@CGGator Foxtrot? Not that big of a deal?Each and every God blessed dime belongs to US, The MEMBERS! Not them!
When ANY group or organization start spending membership money like a bunch of drunken whores they need to be ripped to shreds dismantled and never able to operate in the United States ever again under any type of situation!
Someone doesn’t get sarcasm!
I’ve been a member for along time, when people were proud to be a member, now they are just sad. About twenty five years ago I was at a friends of the NRA dinner and Wayne was there as a celebrity speaker. Early in the evening he was walking around to tables giving autographs, when he got to our table I had him sign one of the NRA bumper stickers I had and when he handed it to me I said “who are you?” The looks I got were priceless!
I think the one and only real reason they pulled the trip to Alaska is because of all the flack they got because of the lavish use of member’s money and the fact that many people are not going to give them anymore. Plain and simple and a good excuse is that congress is going back in session but that was scheduled long before their trip was scheduled. I guess it would be too hard to negotiate our rights away if they are in Alaska.
I think that “lavish spending of members money” or even WLP’s salary, suits and car are a mischaracterization of our complaint, … certainly of my complaints, to wit and specifically:
My first accusation is that the NRA is incrementally giving away our Civil Rights through “compromise”. Second, after sending enough money to bribe every Congressperson, President, and S. Ct. Judge from 1935 to present, we are still saddled with the GCA and NFA. And finally, the NRA hires lawyer that funnel money to anti-Second Amendment politicians, insuring the survival of those politicians.
I’ve not renewed my membership, but I’m not important to the big boys. We need to contact the firearms industry companies we do business with and ask them to support us by not supporting NRA. Suggest that they spend their support money where it will do good and not just enable WLP’s “lifestyle of the rich and famous.”
… and We The PEOPLE know about all of this and we are pissed! Wee are going to be rolling the shit back up hill and start removing people from office, or places they consider to be of power and have them replaced with REAL American citizens, indictments and prosecutions to follow as necessary.
We have had it with you that think you are so high and mighty whoring out our country, our rights, our Liberties, our freedoms and our sovereignty and now you are going to suffer the consequences of your actions.
Will, you’re starting to sound like a troll for GOA. You’re going to bring out the anti-GOA people, if you keep it up. Especially in ALL CAPS!
For starters, end the voting privileges for 5 year members, restore the privilege to life time members only, it wasnt to long after the rules were changed that Hollywood infiltrated, We need people like Harlan Carter and less people like Selleck and Heston..Compromise makes a good umbrella but a poor roof! an appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last!
I almost signed up for life membership a few years ago. I can imagine your frustration. We annual renewals have something to withhold. Life members have nothing.
@BowserB? Don’t kid yourself Live members actually hold the Tipping Point of these scales!