RE: NRA 'Transparency'

[ja308]

Point 1: Wayne has become an entity unto his own at the NRA. He has used his power to force out anyone that was disloyal to him. (Loyalty to a person is not the same as loyalty to an organization.)

Point 2: Who hired Ack-Mac? Wayne did. It was his responsibility to manage the vendor, and he failed. Management has responsibilities.

Point 3: Why have so many board members recently quit? They are privy to the details, and they abandoned ship. Why?

Point 4: What effect is WLP's tenure on current fundraising and membership activities? If his leadership is compromising these activities, then he should willingly move on for the good of the organization. However, he is not willing to move on, and he has stacked the deck to ensure that he cannot easily be removed.

The NRA is the best firearms organization around, but we need to close this chapter and move on as soon as possible.

I am Mike Bloomberg and I approve this message !
Point 1 -- the people he forced out were disloyal to RKBA !

#2 Ack mac -- so what?

#3 How many board members quit and why did they say they quit ?

#4 Wayne La Pierre has been the best fundraiser, leader and most politically savvy person the NRA has ever had !
Come on Franklin just admit you are jealous over his accomplishments, respect and admiration literate gun owners and members have for him !

[franklinarmory]

I am Mike Bloomberg and I approve this message !

Ridicule is good when you don't have a constructive response, or you can't refute the argument.

From one conservative to another, let's not try to discount our voices. Let's try to resolve the problems and move forward.

[ja308]

Ridicule is good when you don't have a constructive response, or you can't refute the argument.

From one conservative to another, let's not try to discount our voices. Let's try to resolve the problems and move forward.

I was a Neil Knox supporter over WLP, today I freely admit in retrospect I was wrong ! the Knox coalition would have the the NRA at GOA levels.

WLP has taken the NRA to nearly 6 million and somehow holds it all together with everyone from NFA guys to the Perazzi trap shooters and everyone in between.

He has further shined a light on and exposed the Soros/UN connection, to where its common knowledge the gun restriction schemes are International in scope and un-American.

Every gain in CCWs and state legislatures has occurred under his watch and I credit him for pulling all the elements together where its happened under the radar of international democrats!


Has WLP made mistakes ? I don't think so, but if he has who is always correct.

Its my belief based on how anti gunners and Communist's work, that putting every aspect of the NRA under a microscope is the work of international communist's. who's only goal is to eliminate all guns and gun rights in the USA.

I call for total and complete support of Wayne La Pierre and the NRA board. As for open audits and other so called transparency. Its a trick to use class warfare and to alienate support.

Remember anti gunners will control the narrative.

Its like a few years ago, I viewed a pic that I was in with 10 other people. I noticed that 6 were already dead. So thinking of my mortality I bought a new Cadillac!
The ex whined to everyone how stupid I was because I spent money on that when blah blah blah .

That's how it will work, the jealous and class warfare types will have ammo to use and we will fight each other over petty stuff losing track of how effective the NRA has been under Wayne LaPierre !

[IVC]

Point 3: Why have so many board members recently quit? They are privy to the details, and they abandoned ship. Why?

There are enough board members who are not part of the "core rights" group and who come from areas such as competitive shooting. They don't want drama of any kind and are not willing to put themselves anywhere near any controversy that could affect their brand or business. Julie Golob is a typical example.

Then, there are members (not necessarily on board) who are starting or joining local organizations so they can be a big fish in a small pond. It helps their profile to ride a drama and appear bigger then they are.

Finally, there is the ugly underbelly of being a part of the strongest gun rights organization - the mainstream media are rabidly against you. You will not get a fair shake in the media. The issue is not about how well you present yourself or your point, the issue is that your words will be blatantly spliced together (remember Katie Couric) to undermine your point and anything where you think you scored a good punch will simply be cut. That's the reason why NRA won't do interviews with MSM and that's the reason why none of us can ever do an interview either. The same goes for board members who are not in the fight 100% - some don't want the risk of being dragged through the mud when they can retreat to their podcasts and sponsorship deals.

[IVC]

If the OP's observations are true, then the transparency would be for the NRA to come out and say what OP just basically posted, but instead we get .... silence.
Unsat.

They did. In private.

I met with WLP on 8/24 during an invitation-only event in Anaheim on 8/24 where he talked about the details of what's been going on. Paul (Kestryll) was there too, and so were all the NRA leaders in the state, including lobbyists, board members, and even attorneys that are well known on these boards.

Messaging gets tricky when the messengers are gleefully waiting to distort the message.

[franklinarmory]

I respect your argument. I read this morning that 7% of America has a CCW. That's awesome, and I agree that WLP had a lot to do with that.

On the other hand, just that fact that there are "NFA guys" is problematic. If you look at the products Franklin Armory makes, you will see that the NFA does not make much sense any more. Yet, WLP threw bump stocks under the bus as if he worked for Brady. I realize that he did this because of Curbelo's bill, but there were other ways that the issue could have been handled.

In the end, the NRA is second only to CRPA. Kestryl and I serve on that board, and I can tell you that I became a board member with the intent of making sure it was managed correctly. After being a board member for several years now, I highly recommend Chuck's management as President and NRA counsel. The NRA is under attack and wounded now, but it can succeed with or without any one person. It IS our national 2A organization. There is no replacement.

[IVC]

Yet, WLP threw bump stocks under the bus as if he worked for Brady.

We both know it was politics and the best that could've been done at the moment.

Unlike various gun control agendas that the NRA used to support decades ago and where the only argument is "NRA has changed," bump stocks were not a willing concession.

How do you think it could have played out differently?

After being a board member for several years now, I highly recommend Chuck's management as President and NRA counsel.

The best way is to work within the organization and provide incremental change, rather than try to "shake it up." I am all for evolution of the NRA and moving forward in the best long term interest for gun rights, but it cannot be a power grab every time someone thinks they can run the show better.

It takes time to turn a large ship if you want to do it without capsizing.

[franklinarmory]

We both know it was politics and the best that could've been done at the moment.

Unlike various gun control agendas that the NRA used to support decades ago and where the only argument is "NRA has changed," bump stocks were not a willing concession.

How do you think it could have played out differently?



The best way is to work within the organization and provide incremental change, rather than try to "shake it up."

Agreed, and that IS what I have been doing at CRPA. ...constructively.

There was never anything to be gained by making ANY statement about bump stocks. Ultimately it gave fuel to the anti-gun fire. They now know where the breaking point is for the NRA. Additionally, we have a new "extra-constitutional" executive branch process that the next batch of Democrats will try to exploit.

Even after sacrificing bump stocks, nothing has truly solved the problem of security in public venues except counter snipers. ...and I realize that that sounds like an extreme measure, but there is nothing else that I can think of that would have ended that tragedy any sooner. Looking to the future, I do not think that there is any other solution to keep a similar tragedy from happening again. The NRA could have disclosed this solution, or they could have remained silent.

This has gone a bit off topic, but you asked....

[BajaJames83]

Now you do.

A few years ago during an internal audit the NRA wanted to reconcile expenses to detailed records so they asked ALL their vendors to show the details of what they've been charging the NRA.
This is a simplified explanation, basically the NRA asked for itemized receipts to match the invoices they'd been receiving.

Most of the vendors were fine with it, some grumbled but complied and Ackerman-MacQueen (Ack-Maq) said 'No'.

The NRA pressed Ack-Maq and finally felt they had no choice but to file a lawsuit to force Ack-Maq to show what they've been billing the NRA for.

Ack-Maq used Ollie North, who currently has a multi-million dollar movie deal with Ack-Maq, to try to blackmail Wayne LaPierre in to both resigning from the NRA and dropping the lawsuit.
North and Ack-Maq threatened to release 'sensitive material' that would 'ruin Wayne'.

One example is the 'Wayne spent $$$ on suits'.
Wayne did not, Ack-Maq DID as part of a public event they billed the NRA for buying several suits for Wayne as part of the wardrobe costs.
Ack-Maq conveniently neglected to mention that.

Wayne published the blackmail letter rather than capitulate to extortion.

Beyond that you should pretty much know the story; evidence entered in the lawsuit against Ollie North revealed emails showing that Chris Cox not only knew of the blackmail attempt but was in on it, etc.

Thank you for posting that Kestryll.
While most people still wont read it and still will point the finger at Wayne. The NRA is and has been the front line for any and ALL battles against the 2nd Amendment. While some cry and run off to new orgs the NRA is still there fighting for us.
One thing they have been doing much better at lately is actually getting media out there in some of these gun grabbers faces and showing us what we are up against.