Expected news.
The first resolution? A dear-leader salute to Wayne:
Be it resolved that the members of the National Rifle Association of America, in convention assembled, does declare its profound support for the past, present and future leadership of its executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre.
The reading of that text was followed, in the convention hall arena, by nearly an hour of shout outs, props and praises for the embattled CEO, many of them delivered by loyalist members of NRA leadership, who queued up for a turn at the mic.
One prominent LaPierre backer, Janet Nyce, denounced Wayne’s critics as “the enemy within,” whom she blamed for taking “our beloved NRA down to her knees.” A former sheriff from Montana, who is also a board member, insisted he was “getting tired of these s*** o* b****** at every one of these meeting coming in and trashing Wayne LaPierre.”
Not every speaker was a lickspittle. An NRA member named Jerry — who touted his own second-amendment bonafides as author of the Texas “right-to-carry” law — took exception to the rhetoric calling LaPierre’s critics “enemies” of the NRA. “We have problems,” he said. “I believe that we’re whistling by the grave yard.”
“I mean look around at this forum,” he said, pointing to the two-thirds empty arena. “Would this be described as well attended?! Our problem is declining membership. Our problem is financial. Our problems are not just Letitia James,” he insisted, referring to the New York Attorney General. “Why are we not allowed to discuss substantive issues?”
When debate of the first resolution was finally capped — and the resolution passed, with a solid majority of members who held up cards in support — far-less flattering resolutions were read aloud by the clerk of the meeting.
One called on the NRA to settle its legal fight with the state of New York, including agreeing to a clean sweep of NRA leadership and appointment of an “outside overseer.” Another proposed an independent audit of 20 years of past NRA financial records, and the creation of a trust to receive payback of any misused funds. Yet another sought to place salary and travel expenditure limits on NRA executives like LaPierre.
But one-by-one these resolutions were shot down by NRA president Charles Cotton, who presided over the forum. Cotton ruled the resolutions “out of order” because, as he put it, they “invade the province of the board” and its officers to make such decisions. Cotton’s rulings prevented the the resolutions from coming up for a vote on the floor.
Robert Ryan, who had put forward many of the resolutions, lashed out in frustration. “They don’t want to hear from us,” he said. “They don’t want the truth to come out.”
(To avoid any misunderstanding: Ryan is not seeking to soften the firearms positions of the NRA. He’s a hardliner on guns, who is angry that the NRA and the Trump administration worked together to ban bump stocks — devices that make semiautomatic rifles fire more like machine guns — after the massacre at the 2017 concert in Las Vegas.)
A final resolution was brought by Jeff Knox — a prominent gun-rights activist, and Ammoland.com author, whose father helped stage a rebellion at an NRA meeting in the 1970s that turned a then-stodgy hunting organization into a hotbed of second-amendment fundamentalism.
Knox’s lengthy resolution, read aloud by the clerk, decried the recent declines of NRA membership, revenue, and assets — even as LaPierre’s pay has swelled, and the CEO enjoyed costly perks including private jet travel and lavish expense accounts. (It also — as a point of criticism — recalled LaPierre’s remarks after the Columbine massacre when the NRA executive demanded “absolutely gun-free” schools.)
The resolution concluded with a demand for LaPierre’s ouster: “We do hereby declare that we have no confidence in the ability of Wayne LaPierre to lead this organization going forward. [And] we call on him to resign his position of executive vice president.”
Yet Cotton found a way to dismiss this resolution too. Citing Robert’s Rules of Order, the parliamentary rulebook adhered to by the NRA, he insisted it was forbidden to bring up a censure motion of an officer during the same meeting where a motion to commend that person had already passed. Cotton ruled the resolution “out of order.”
I know something about Robert’s Rules of Order. I read the book. There is no such stipulation. None at all. Cotton is a liar.
Is there anyone out there who thinks there is a solution to the problems the NRA has other than ouster of Wayne (as a beginning), and if so, pray tell, what would that be?
Good riddance.
The NRA supported the NFA, the Hughes Amendment, the GCA, permitting schemes all across America, universal background checks, red flag laws, and even suggested the bump stock ban to Trump.
It is the most well funded and effective gun control organization on earth. Fortunately for us, there are still morons out there who think there is such a thing as the “gun lobby.”
With that out of the way, one of the most powerful political lobbies in the US moved swiftly on to heralding the conference as a “a freedom-filled weekend for the entire family as we celebrate Freedom, Firearms, and the Second Amendment!”. Central to the fun was “over 14 acres of the latest guns and gear” on display.
The NRA’s defiance and swagger were not misplaced.
The NRA would be more aptly characterized as an anti-gun lobby. The kids at reddit/Firearms, the boys over AR15.com, the commenters over the firearms forums, virtually all of the gun YouTubers, and virtually every significant gun rights blog, have all rejected the NRA for the gun control sellouts and the corruption they’ve embraced. The prose at reddit/Firearms and videos from the gunners on YouTube is thick with hatred for the NRA.
It is a dying organization, and short of massive renewal of focus on the 2A with no more sellouts, a much smaller and more accountable board, a much more powerful membership, a change in many of the bylaws, and reelection of all board members to start a new chapter, it cannot be salvaged. And even then maybe not.
I’m not making any of this up. Watch the gun YouTubers yourself. Read the gun rights blogs yourself. Look at the declining membership yourself.
Then prove me wrong. I’m waiting.
Gun rights aren’t for sale. The NRA isn’t our “lobby.” Gun rights are growing all across America in many states, and the NRA has had nothing whatsoever to do with it.
It’s as grass roots a movement as has been seen in recent history. That’s why the collectivists fear it. As long as they attack the “lobby” that wants to negotiate and then foist red flag laws and universal background checks on us, that’s fine by me.
2 years, 6 months ago
