by I need your help.
NRA membership has been dropping. One reason is that some gun clubs have dropped the requirement that you be a member of the NRA. I am trying to get a handle on how widespread this is.
If you belong to a gun club or range that has totally dropped the NRA requirement, let me know.
If your club has changed the NRA requirement to either the NRA or another 2A organization, I’d like to hear that as well.
Finally, if your club is still 100% NRA but is considering dropping that requirement, that, too, is something I’d like to know.
If your club falls into any of these categories, please give me the details in the comments. Alternatively, you can send me an email at jpr9954 AT gmail DOT com. Let me know the name of the club, its website (if any), and what actions they have taken.
Many, many thanks.
Most of ours have dropped the NRA requirement in favor of a state-level 2A groups.
Keep in mind this is in part member-driven. I would not support a club that supported the NRA
” state-level 2A groups” or one of the action shooting orgs (IDPA, ASI, etc.)
So far my club still requires NRA membership, but I’m going to be lobbying very hard to have the requirement dropped.
If I weren’t already a life member of the NRA, I wouldn’t be renewing my membership and I’d find another club.
I feel no particular compunction to help Wayne LaPierre and his sycophants on the board to continue pouring money into their lawyers pockets…lawyers who have so far demonstrated themselves to be utterly incompetent.
Once LaPierre is gone, the entire board has been replaced and I see demonstrable proof that the NRA is a legitimate civil rights organization again versus just a piggy bank and perk generator for a few people at the top, I may consider donating again.
Unfortunately, I think the NRA is going have to be dissolved by the courts before Wayne and Co. will relinquish control…if even then. The grift has just been too lucrative for them for the past couple of decades to give it up without a fight.
I personally hope everyone shifts their 2A money to other organizations so that it is actually used for its intended purpose…supporting the right to keep and bear arms. From what I can see, the NRA has been doing little of that lately.
You should campaign for Frank Tait among your members. Assuming your club doesn’t have insanely high membership turnover, that means most of your fellow club members are likely voting members. Get them to vote for Frank and only Frank.
He’s one vote against all of the others, but just getting him on the board gives more legal options than not having him on the board. He will have certain rights as a dissenting board member in the NY case so that reform has the best chance of happening without completely destroying everything.
I think at this point people fell the same about campaigning for a reformer as they feel about campaigning for a Republican in Philadelphia or Baltimore City. The people who felt that way and were most inclined have voted with their feet by now.
Honest question, not being snarky:
What “certain rights” as a dissenting board member is he going to have that existing dissenting board members do not? Frank Tait previously filed a motion to intervene in the case citing his status as a member and was denied, then Rocky Marshall filed a similar motion but as a board member; his motion was denied as well.
What legal advantage is Frank Tait going to gain with board membership that Rocky Marshall doesn’t already have?
Rocky Marshall is no longer a member of the board. Even though he was a board member when he filed his motion to intervene, he went off the board soon thereafter. Judge Cohen ruled against him as he was not currently a board member. That was the position of both the NRA and the NYAG. However, if Frank is elected, he will be a sitting board member for a minimum of one year and could then re-start his motion to intervene. The only consideration that Judge Cohen could bring to deny it is timeliness but I think that could be appealed given how the NY Non-Profit Corporation law is written. Frank could also demand access to books and records under NY law.
The only other official “dissenting” member on the board is Judge Phil Journey. I heard but I cannot remember why he chose not to go the intervention route.
For some reason (the ballot?) I received a paper copy of the Rifleman yesterday – strange, because I signed up for the e-version and haeven’t seen a printed copy for a few years.
What a disappointment. Aside from the ads for silver, wine, insurance and other marginal products, the actual magazine’s production standards have driven off a cliff. The paper is barely a cut above newsprint…
Just shameful.
#FWLP
The couple of gun clubs around here didn’t require NRA membership. Some require a level of training to be allowed on the ranges alone. I.e. a gun safety course of some sort.
My very local gun club just required you to be sponsored. If you messed up, it came back on your sponsor.
The solution to dropping NRA membership is changing NRA management.
To answer your question I don’t know. I’ve been a life member for several decades
The purpose to find out is because most people who have to maintain it for gun club memberships are likely to be people who can vote, but don’t vote. Literally 96.2% of eligible voters who received ballots even bother to cast a ballot last election. Getting even a tiny percentage of those people to vote – ideally for Frank – would be huge.
The last time that they allowed Frank Tait on the ballot* he had even 1% of the people who didn’t vote cast ballots for him, he would have gone from last place to third place. Assuming that not all of those people would have bullet voted and all candidates would see some rise, he still safely would have had a three year term if he was on all of those new ballots.
Not living in total fantasy land of what if votes, if Frank had 403 more votes last time, he would have become a member of the board and had very different legal rights on behalf of members due to all of the resignations. That’s why you should check and either put up a flyer at the club, ask for an email blast to members, or otherwise see what can be done to try and inspire just a tiny fraction of the eligible voters who aren’t casting ballots to send them in with just Frank’s name checked off.
One strategy to getting Frank over what I called the “Margin of Wayne Fraud” (because I knew they would generously interpret any excuse to not count a signature to try and keep him off the ballot) was by targeting these types of environments that had overwhelmingly 5+ year members & Life Members. And even then, only counting the lifers who signed as the baseline made it even more likely he would make it. The 5+ year folks were just gravy. That demonstrates that the same can be done in voting. If half the people in the gun community aimed for converting just 1-2% of eligible voters they have access to into Frank votes that get mailed in, then he can do so much more for members in the courts.
*I say they allowed because they unreasonably made the petition period impossible.
The NRA leadership is about as corrupt as the US Government leadership. Time for a change. I left my local club that required NRA membership even though I’m a Lifetime NRA Member. I don’t think people should be forced into joining the NRA, particularly with the current fat cat leadership. Support GOA!
Most people don’t live near enough to multiple shooting range options to have a choice. However, look at it this way – you left a higher than average gun community voting pool to support the reform candidate. He may be only 1 vote and unable to switch direct votes of the board, but his presence on the board would give members more rights and options in the case to clean up NRA before the courts. And now you can’t reach those voters…
Also, did you even try as a member to talk to the club leadership about changing the policy or even to set guidelines for when they would more openly consider a change in policy? Did you talk to them about why they maintain it? I have read that some have insurance policies through them that require a certain level of NRA membership, and they need the time to shop around. That’s not unreasonable, and the proper response there is to volunteer to help them shop around for options if needed – need someone to make phone calls to companies during business hours? That’s a chance to help!
The problem is that the NRA is run by a bunch of sell out grifters. Until they get rid of the crooks they will never get the membership numbers back up.