-

Uncategorized

NRA Annual Meeting Report, Part 3

April 24, 2026

by John Richardson 5 Comments

One of the biggest portions of the Board meeting held after the Annual Meeting is devoted to elections of officers, trustees, and members of the Audit, Executive, and Nominating Committees. Unlike my first meeting in April 2025 where there were many contested elections with multiple rounds of voting, this year it mostly went smoothly with only a few multiple rounds of voting.

First up was the election of the officers with the following elected by unanimously by acclamation.

President – Bill Bachenberg
First VP – Mark Vaughan
Second VP – Rocky Marshall
Exec VP – Doug Hamlin
Secretary – John Frazer (Was on the ballot because the intended replacement backed out. John will remain in the Secretary’s position with the intention that a replacement found within the next 6 months)
Treasurer – Mike Erstling

After Doug Hamlin was elected, he appointed John Commerford as the Executive Director of ILA and Josh Savani as the Executive Director of General Operations. These appointments were confirmed unanimously.

Surprisingly, there was a contested election for the Chief Compliance Officer. It was between the incumbent Matthew Boyden and Emory “Jack” Hagan who is on the Board of Directors. The winner had to receive 3/4th’s of the vote under New York Not for Profit Corporation Law. Prior to the vote, board counsel Alex Reid informed the Board that under the Final Judgment that two years of severance would have to be paid to Mr. Boyden as he would have been replaced without cause. Both men were given time to make campaign speeches and members could argue for or against a candidate. The vote was 56 for Boyden, 6 for Hagan, and 2 voting present. There were a total of 64 votes cast.

The next election was for the Audit Committee. Nominees are announced by the President and then each is voted on separately. Given it is a committee of the board under NY NPCL, candidates must receive a 3/4th’s vote of those present. This election was held before the Executive Committee because as I will explain in a future post the Executive Committee was restructured and the Audit Committee chair is automatically a member of the committee.

Regis Synan – 55 yea, 0 no, 55 present
Theresa Inacker – 55 yea, 0 no, 55 present
Charlie Beers – 55 yea, 3 no, 64 present
John Richardson – 59 yea, 0 no, 64 present
Jonathan Goldstein – 59 yea, 0 no, 64 present

After this vote, the Audit Committee briefly met. We re-elected Charlie Beers as chair and Regis Synan as vice-chair. We reported this back to the meeting.

Next up was the restructured Executive Committee in which four at-large members were elected. The at-large members were expected to bring strong financial, managerial, legal, or other relevant experience to the committee. Like the Audit Committee, they required a 3/4th’s affirmative vote. The Nominating Committee had nominated Alex Carroll and Anthony Colandro. I nominated Randy Luth who is the CEO of Luth-AR and was the founder of DPMS/Panther Arms prior to its sale to the former Freedom Group. The other nominees were Charlie Hiltunen, Judge Phil Journey, Janet Nyce, and Prof. David Raney. Candidates needed 48 votes to win.

No one was elected in the first round of voting. In the second round of voting, Anthony Colandro with 55 votes and Charlie Hiltunen with 48 votes were elected while David Raney withdrew. For the third round of voting, both Phil Journey and Janet Nyce withdrew giving Alex Carroll and Randy Luth 57 votes by acclamation.

Next up was the NRA Special Conservation Fund aka the Whittington Center board of trustees. Nominated for three-year terms ending in 2029 were Pete Brownell, Philip Gray, Jerry Kraus, Randy Luth, Andrew McEntire, Janet Nyce, and James-Scott Wong. Nominated for a one-year term ending in 2027 was Nick Krallis. The entire slate was elected by acclamation.

There were six nominees for the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund board of trustees. From academia were Prof. F. Lee Francis of Widener University Commonwealth Law School, Prof. Robert Cottrol of George Washington University Law School, Prof. Raymond Diamond of LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center, and Prof. Nick Johnson of Fordham University School of Law. Also nominated for reappointment were James (Jim) Porter II and Graham Hill. All six were elected as trustees of the CRDF by acclamation.

The final election was for the Nominating Committee. The committee is composed of six board members and three non-board members. No board member may serve on the Nominating Committee more than once in a three-year period nor if their term expires in the ensuing year.

Nominees from the board were Jason Wilson, Howard Massingill, Jerry Kraus, Larry Finder, Amanda Suffecool, Linda Walker, Knox Williams, Scott Emslie, and Jim Porter. The non-board nominees were Ed Hope, Rick Figueroa, James-Scott Wong, and Jackie Emslie. There were 59 valid ballots which meant a winner had to have at least 30 votes to win.

The six board members of the 2026-2027 Nominating Committee are Amanda Suffecool (40), Howard Massingill (39), Jason Wilson (39), Linda Walker (34), Jerry Kraus (32), and Knox Williams (32). The three non-board members are James-Scott Wong (46), Rick Figueroa (41), and Jackie Emslie (31).

Congratulations to all who won. It is expected that the major committee assignments will be done by this end of this week and the rest soon after. The days of waiting until June or July are over.

Uncategorized

NRA Annual Meeting Report, Part 2

April 23, 2026

by John Richardson 5 Comments

The Annual Compliance Report to Members was released and made available at the Meeting of Members on Saturday, April 18th. It covers activities from January 1 to December 31 of 2025. The report covering 2024 is available in the member’s only section on the NRA website. Just look under “Governance Information.” The 2025 report should be up there sooner than later.

I should add that if you have not registered for access to this, you should. I had one director complaining to me about not being able to print the Bylaws out from within BoardVantage which is the Board’s court-mandated secure portal. He wasn’t aware he could access this information and print the Bylaws from the Governance Information section. It looks like I need to do more to make members (and directors) aware of their ability to access this information which was posted as a result of my transparency resolution that passed at the 2025 Meeting of Members.

The compliance report covers five areas: travel and entertainment expenses; contract negotiations, exceptions, and subsequent payments; related party transactions; whistleblower reports; and independent audit. Rather than rehashing both the reports covering 2024 and 2025, I will just highlight some of the year over year changes.

Travel and entertainment expenses were down by $800,000 in 2025 from the previous year. Two major factors were the locations of the Fall and Winter board meetings and the reduction in number of days of each. The officers elected in 2025 made the decision that the Fall and Winter board meetings would be held in northern Virginia exclusively. This cut down on both lodging and travel expenses for staff. Additionally, starting with the Winter board meeting, the number of days for committee meeting were cut from three to two. Authorization for lodging only began with the day of your first committee meeting. For example, at our Winter meeting, I did not have a Thursday committee meeting but still arrived on Wednesday night as I wanted to attend the Legal Affairs Committee meeting on Thursday. As I’m not on Legal Affairs, I paid for that night’s lodging out of my own pocket.

I would like to point out that there were no charter flights in 2025, no first class flights, and only four pre-authorized exceptions to fly business class due to documented medical conditions.

Looking at vendor payments especially for legal expenses they were significantly lower in 2025 than in 2024. Of course, the New York trial had been finished. In 2024, Brewer, Attorneys and Counselors, was paid $32,273,602. In 2025, they were paid 6,885,582 for prior legal services and their engagement was ended. By contrast, the NRA’s other law firm, Baker Hostetler was paid zero in 2024 and $2,416,051 in 2025. They provide our board counsel and cover most of our outside, non-2A, litigation needs. The biggest vendor in 2024 was, of course, Brewer while the largest in 2025 was Fidelity Investments. The payments to Fidelity include both employee and employer contributions to the NRA’s 401(k) plan.

The total number of whistleblower reports were similar – 58 versus 57 – but varied distinctly. For 2025, while there were a total of 57 reports, only 48 actually related to the NRA. Of these, only 12% were substantiated as opposed to 52% from the previous year. Indeed, the great majority (63%) were unsubstantiated.

In addition to the reduction in travel costs, what makes me happiest is seeing that our auditors gave the NRA a clean audit for 2025. Aprio did special tests on 21 areas and found zero non-compliance. This contrasts with six instances of non-compliance in 2024. As our Chief Compliance Officer Matthew Boyden wrote about these results, “they reflect a culture of accountability that has taken root across the organization.” The NRA is digging ourselves out of the mess we put ourselves in but we are doing it the right way and without cutting corners.

The Annual Compliance report is embedded below.

2026 Annual Compliance Report Download

Uncategorized

NRA Annual Meeting Report, Part 1

April 22, 2026

by John Richardson 4 Comments

Over the coming days I will be doing a series of reports about the NRA Annual Meeting including the Board meeting and Meeting of Members. They will cover a number of topics. These topics will include the Elections Committee report, the Annual Compliance Report to Members, changes to the Executive Committee, and much more.

I am starting with the Elections Committee report which is embedded at the end of this post. Sadly, voting numbers were down again. Out of approximately 2.5 million ballots sent out, only a total of 59,781 were return for a voting turnout of a mere 2.43%. The total number of valid ballots was 56,850. This will mean that petition candidates will only need a total of 285 valid signatures to make the ballot.

One reason for the low turnout could have been that virtually all the candidates on the ballot were going to be elected. This was due to resignations of Board members which opened up a total of 10 slots in addition to the regular 25 3-year terms and the 76th Director. We may never know.

As I reported earlier in April when I gave out the draft election results, Isaac Demerest decided not to run for 76th Director which only left Lynn Gipson. Then Eb Wilkinson declined the seat he won. Thus, Regis Synan moved up to take a 3-year term, Jim Wallace moved up to take a 2-year term, and Isaac Demerest won a 1-year term as he had placed ahead of Lynn Gipson. As the Elections Committee report makes clear under Robert’s Rules of Order, Mr. Gipson was declared the winner by acclamation of the 76th Director seat.

All was well and good until Sunday afternoon.

We learned then that both longtime director Wayne Anthony Ross of Alaska and Lynn Gipson had passed away on Saturday, April 18th. My condolences to both the Gipson and Ross familes.

We took up the issue in Monday’s Board meeting regarding whether they would or could be replaced on the Board. It resolved around the meaning of Article VIII, Section 4 of the NRA Bylaws stating that the 76th Director “shall be chosen only from those persons who were nominated as candidates for election for Director in the mail ballot…” The debate was whether write-in candidates could be considered “nominated” within the meaning of this bylaw. It was ultimately decided that “nominated” only applied to those candidates who appeared on the ballot by a nomination from the Nominating Committee or by a nomination by petition. There were a number of arguments regarding this. One strong argument was that write-in’s had not been vetted to see if they were even eligible under the Bylaws unlike the other candidates.

Jeff Knox corrected me on the relevant section of the bylaws were in play. He said:

There was no question about write-ins being eligible to run for 76th. The question was on Article IV, Section 2, Bold Italic, filling vacancies occurring between regular elections: “…shall be filled by persons who ran and lost on the most recent mail ballot in rank order…” The question was whether write-ins “ran” on the “ballot.” They would have to be “otherwise qualified to serve,” but would receiving write-in votes be enough to consider them to have “run?”

By a vote of 27 yes to 33 no, it was decided as there remained no ~~nominated~~ candidates on the ballot those two positions will go unfilled. Thus, the 2026-27 Board of Directors will only number 74.

My vote was not to seat a write-in candidate and that vote had nothing to do with the candidates themselves. Indeed, I had urged voters to write-in Chuck Rowe’s name on their ballots as I thought he would make a great Director. Rather it went back to what I considered the letter and the spirit of the Bylaw itself.

One thing I might point out is if you are considering running for the Board of Directors now is the time to request a petition package from the NRA Office of the Secretary. As a reminder, potential petition candidates can now gather signatures electronically from eligible NRA voters.

The report of the Committee on Elections is below:

2026 NRA Election Report Download

Uncategorized

The Shot Heard ‘Round The World + 251 Years

April 19, 2026

by John Richardson 2 Comments

The Shot Heard ‘Round the World aka the Battle of Lexington and Concord was 251 years ago today. It marked the armed struggle for American independence from Great Britain. I always like to acknowledge this date on the blog along with other historical dates.

The video below is an excellent overview of what led up to the battles and the battles themselves.

Sad to say but the current government of Massachusetts from Gov. Maura Healey (D-MA) on down have done more for gun control in the Bay State than General Gage sending the regulars forth to confiscate the gun powder in Concord. They still proclaim “Patriots Day” but I doubt they live it.

Uncategorized

2026 NRA Meeting Of Members

April 18, 2026

by John Richardson 0 Comments

The NRA Meeting of Members will be tomorrow (Saturday, April 18th) at 10am in Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center. I would encourage everyone attending the NRA Annual Meeting to take some time and attend this meeting.

I won’t be introducing any resolutions this year but I do think there will be one concerning conflicts of interest. I will be interested to see it

While we are speaking of compliance, I would encourage every member attending to pick up the Annual Compliance Report to Members. There will be copies outside the meeting room. It is compiled by Chief Compliance Officer Matthew Boyden. The report discusses items including travel and entertainment expenses, contract negotiations and payments, related party transactions, whistleblower reports, and the independent audit. As a member of the Audit Committee, I have seen the draft version and it does contain a lot of good news that should please NRA members. Without going into detail until the final version is handed out tomorrow, the bottom line is the NRA has cleaned up its act.

The Annual Compliance Report to Members will be available soon on the NRA’s website under “Governance Information”. This is where other member-only information concerning finances, tax filings, bylaws, and board minutes can be found.

President Bill Bachenberg will be presenting a bylaw change to members that would reduce the size of the 20-member Executive Committee and reframing it as a governance committee. As the proposal now stands, the committee will consist of the three officers, the chairs of the Audit, Finance, Legal Affairs, and Members, and two at-large board members. The NRA leadership has heard member calls for reduction in the size of the Board. This reduction in size of the Executive Committee along with a potential proposal to gradually reduce the size of the Board will be part of President Bachenberg’s presentation as I understand it.

While there will be much more discussed at the Meeting of Members, I wanted to get these two highlights out there.

See you there!

Uncategorized

The Horrors Of Being Called Out

April 17, 2026

by John Richardson 2 Comments

The other day I wrote about a complaint filed with the Federal Elections Commission against Giffords PAC. They are accused of violating FEC joint fundraising rules in their efforts to raise money for their PAC and certain anti-gun Democrats in combined solicitations.

Today’s email brings a response from Giffords.

It is so utterly typical. Rather than accepting that they crossed the line, they are claiming victimhood saying they are being attacked by the “gun lobby”.

The gun lobby is coming after us.

This week, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) — one of the largest gun lobbies in the country — filed a complaint with the FEC against GIFFORDS….

We cannot let their attacks go unanswered. What GIFFORDS needs right now is our most dedicated supporters stepping up to help fight back.

Will you please rush a donation to help us beat back the gun lobby and defeat their extremist candidates everywhere?

Let me simplify this argument.

How dare that evil gun lobby insist we adhere to the rules! We are the victims here. We only did it for the “greater good”. Oh, and we need you rubes to send us more money.

Give me a break.

Uncategorized

April 21st At NC General Assembly

April 15, 2026

by John Richardson 0 Comments

Grass Roots North Carolina is calling on 2A activists to show up at the NC General Assembly on April 21st to show support for the override of SB 50 – Freedom to Carry NC – which is our permitless concealed carry bill.

I will still be traveling back from the NRA Annual Meeting on the 21st so I can’t be there but I hope that if you live in the Piedmont you will take time to be there.

From GRNC:

Fellow Patriots —

The anti-gun crowd is sounding the alarm. Good. Let them.

Moms Demand Action just blasted out an urgent plea to flood the NC Legislature on Tuesday, April 28 — their goal is to kill Senate Bill 50, the Freedom to Carry NC Act, once and for all. They’re calling it “dangerous.” They’re calling YOU dangerous.

They have their day. We will have ours.

⚔️ GRASSROOTS NC IS MOBILIZING — AND WE NEED YOU IN RALEIGH ON APRIL 21st ⚔️

Here’s where we stand SB 50 has passed both chambers. Governor Stein vetoed it. The Senate overrode that veto 30-19. The House vote is calendared for April 21 — and after that, the battle moves to the hallways, the offices, and the faces of every lawmaker who is still on the fence.

That’s where YOU come in.Help make our presence known at the General Assembly
2A Friends and Supporters, Governor Josh Stein continues to trample on your Second Amendment rights, vetoing SB 50 (Freedom to Carry NC) But next Tuesday, we have a shot to OVERRIDE these vetoes—and we need YOU there.Join us at 8:30 AM on Tuesday , April 21st We Need You There We will be walking the halls, meeting with legislators face to face, and making crystal clear that the law-abiding gun owners of North Carolina are WATCHING every vote.

While Moms Demand Action tells lawmakers that YOUR constitutional rights are “harmful legislation,” we will be there to deliver the truth: SB 50 affirms what the Second Amendment already guarantees — that law-abiding North Carolinians do not need government permission to exercise a God-given right.

29 other states already recognize this. North Carolina is next — but only if we hold the line.

⚠️ THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

The anti-rights lobby has money, media, and a slick email list. What we have is YOU — real North Carolinians willing to show up, stand up, and speak up.

Don’t let them be the only voices in those hallways on April 21st.

👉 RSVP HERE: Email DirectorOfDevelopment@GRNC.org

Wear your Grass Roots NC gear if you have it. Bring your energy. Bring a friend. Leave your firearms secured at home per Legislative Building rules — your PRESENCE is the weapon that matters today.

See you on the line,

📍 NC General Assembly – Legislative Building
📍 16 W. Jones St., Raleigh, NC 27601
📍 Meet in front of the “Printed Bills” office see map belowLet us know you’re coming:
📧 Email DirectorOfDevelopment@GRNC.org Bring friends. Show your support.Let’s finish the job and DEFEND our gun rights.

Uncategorized

Final NRA Board Election Results

April 15, 2026

by John Richardson 0 Comments

As somewhat expected Eb Wilkinson declined his seat on the NRA Board of Directors. Why he even kept is name on the ballot is open to speculation. Thus, Regis Synan moved up to a 3-year term (really good!) and Jim Wallace to a 2-year term. Additionally, Isaac Demerest who declined to run for the 76th Director will now have a 1-year term.

Here are the final results that came out this morning from NRA Secretary John Frazer. One note, the vote count will not be released until the Elections Committee gives its report on Saturday at the Meeting of Members.

ELECTED FOR THREE-YEAR TERMS ENDING IN 2029

Leroy Sisco
Megan Hilbish
Amanda Suffecool
Ted Carter
Linda Walker
James D’Cruz
Kenneth Bowra
David Raney
James W. Porter II
Jacqueline Janes
Jay Wallace
William Bailey
Eric Mettauer
Bruce Widener
Rob Beckman
Mark Vaughan
Robert Mansell
Charles Brown
Charles Hiltunen III
Mark Robinson
Jerry Kraus
Amy Heath-Lovato
Randy Luth
Richard Fairburn
Regis Synan

ELECTED FOR TWO-YEAR TERMS ENDING IN 2028

Todd Figard
Deborah Lyman
Kyle Hupfer
Robert K. Brown
Steve Schreiner
Jim Wallace

ELECTED FOR ONE-YEAR TERMS ENDING IN 2027

Alex Carroll
Huey Laugesen
Todd Vandermyde
Isaac Demarest
Lynn Gipson (by acclamation to 76th Director seat)

Uncategorized

Two Can Play This Game

April 14, 2026

by John Richardson 1 Comment

The gun control industry and their assorted organizations have long targeted pro-rights firearms-related organizations and their political activities on behalf of pro-rights candidates. For example, the Cult of Personality known as Giffords filed a complaint in 2019 with the Federal Elections Commission against the NRA alleging illegal campaign coordination and excessive contributions. They later sued the NRA directly in a case that is still pending. That case was filed in 2025 and they were represented by the Campaign Legal Center Action. If the board and their activities are any indication, they are your typical leftist group that targets conservatives and non-RINO Republicans despite the claim of being non-partisan.

Thus, it was with great pleasure that I read today that the National Shooting Sports Foundation has filed a complaint against Giffords PAC with the Federal Elections Commission. Their complaint alleges Giffords PAC and their allies have been skirting the FEC’s joint fundraising rules. The campaigns involved are all anti-rights Democrats including U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Gov. Roy Cooper (D-N.C.) and Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-Ariz.).

From the NSSF press release:

“Giffords PAC has been playing fast and loose with how they are soliciting funds to support themselves and their preferred gun control candidates for elected office,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF’s Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “The FEC’s joint fundraising rules are clear but Giffords ignores them because they believe they are above accountability. Their fundraising misleads consumers by falsely claiming these joint fundraising solicitations are not authorized by any candidates or their campaign committees. Giffords PAC and these candidates are knowingly ignoring mandatory FEC disclosure requirements.”

Giffords PAC sent fundraising emails in partnership with preferred federal and gubernatorial candidates for office that ask potential donors to “split a donation between my campaign and Giffords PAC…” yet it has failed to properly follow the required FEC joint fundraising procedures. FEC regulations require the appointment of a joint fundraising representative or formation of a joint fundraising committee with the associated campaigns, yet Giffords PAC’s most recent FEC Statement of Organization does not reflect its involvement in any joint fundraising efforts.

Further, these emails soliciting donations stated they were “Paid For By Giffords PAC” and “not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.” However, the joint fundraising emails are obviously authorized by candidates. In fact, the emails are signed by candidates and jointly solicit contributions for the campaigns. Those email solicitations sent donors to an ActBlue website that asked donors to support candidates and Giffords antigun agenda. FEC regulations require that mass mailings of 500 or more substantially similar communications include appropriate disclosures, however Giffords PAC has not included appropriate joint fundraising disclosures in either their emails or ActBlue contribution pages, and falsely claim that these communications are not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

Turnabout is fair play. I’m pleased to see the pro-rights side finally taking action about the dubious activities of the gun control industry and their allies.

You can read the full complaint here. It does give an item by item accounting of their illegal joint fundraising activities.

As a final aside, I remember when Mark Kelly was running for the US Senate. Out of the blue I started getting campaign solicitations asking for donations for his campaign. Strangely enough they were all sent to me using a nickname I never use but had used to sign up on the Giffords website. I’m sure there was no coordination between the organization named for Kelly’s wife of which he was a co-founder and his campaign (wink-wink). Right.

Uncategorized

WNC Friends Of The NRA Event

April 12, 2026

by John Richardson 3 Comments

On Friday night, the Complementary Spouse and I attended the WNC Friends of the NRA event held in Asheville. This event has been held annually for the past 28 years and is a testament to the hard work of Tyrone Phillips and his committee.

This was our second year attending the event. The attendance was down a bit due to the rescheduling of the dinner from its traditional February time frame. This was done to make sure the monies raised did not go to the NRA Foundation but rather to the NRA Freedom Action Foundation. Still, there were well over 100 attendees.

Beside a very good steak dinner, the event featured games, raffles, and an auction. We played the table raffle and a couple of other games. We didn’t win anything this year but that was OK as we knew the money was going for many good causes. Last year, our table did win the table raffle and we each went home with Ruger RXM pistols.

The auction bidding was very spirited. One interesting feature was the ability to “bump” your winning bid by $100 for a chance to win a S&W 1854 .45-70 lever gun. Additionally, if you won the bid on a “key item”, you were in the running to win a safe with 3 additional firearms. What I found really sweet about the whole live auction was that the auctioneer allowed a nice young lady with Down’s Syndrome to announce “sold” every time. Without sounding maudlin, it was just heart warming to see.

Joe Puleo is the NRA Field Representative who helped run the event. Currently, he covers all of North Carolina and South Carolina. He and I had a nice conversation on how the Friends dinners are going. It seems like they are back on track to raise a good deal of the money that should be coming from the NRA Foundation but isn’t.

If you get a chance to attend one of these events in your area, please do. It helps support the 501c3 activities of the NRA at the national level such as training, education, women and youth events, hunter safety, and much more. Just as importantly, half the monies raised remain in the state. Attending this Western North Carolina event were youth from shooting and hunter safety groups in Henderson and Polk Counties which are supported by grant money raised at this event and other like events.

We, of course, will be attending again next year.