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Update On NRA Annual Meeting

September 15, 2021 by 1 Comment

The NRA has finally provided official notice today of the time and place for the Meeting of Members in Charlotte. It will be at the Sheraton-La Meridian Hotel Complex. Having stayed there for a business meeting myself, it is a nice location.

From the American Rifleman site:

The National Rifle Association of America announces that the 2021 Annual Members’ Meeting has been rescheduled. The meeting was originally to have been held Sept. 4 in conjunction with the 2021 NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits, but was rescheduled due to the cancellation of the 2021 convention.

The meeting will now be held Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021, at 9:00 a.m. in Charlotte, North Carolina in the Symphony Ballroom at the Sheraton & Le Meridien Charlotte Hotel Complex located at 555 South McDowell Street. Please join us and participate in the business of your Association.

The Voter Verification room, where eligible members can pick up their voting credentials will be located in the Executive Boardroom and will open on Friday, October 1, 2021, at 9:00am. The results of the 2021 mail ballot election for the NRA Board of Directors will be announced at the Annual Meeting of Members. For additional information, please visit nraam.org.

This notice is also on the NRA’s Annual Meeting website. It is not on the American Hunter website, the NRA homepage, or the America’s 1st Freedom website.

As for me, I think I can do more for advancing gun rights by setting up the Grass Roots North Carolina booth at the Asheville Gun Show that morning than by going to Charlotte. I also won’t have to see the makeup artist leaving after prepping Wayne for the cameras like I did in Tucson. Ugh!

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NRA Annual Meeting Moved To Charlotte

September 12, 2021 by 4 Comments

According to an email sent out to the NRA Board of Directors, the NRA Annual Meeting and fall board meeting will now be held on October 2nd in Charlotte, NC.

I don’t have any more details at this time but will post when I do.

I used to joke that Charlotte was full of charlatans. Actually, it is Charlotteans. But in this case, the joke becomes reality given Wayne, Brewer, and the majority of the board.

I don’t know why October 2nd was chosen or why Charlotte other than it is a hub for American Airlines. I do know that the USCCA Concealed Carry and Home Defense Expo is scheduled for that same weekend in Fort Worth, Texas.

While Charlotte is an easy drive for me, I’m just not sure it is worth it. I have a local gun show that weekend. I also have a dear friend and relative whom I haven’t seen since her husband’s funeral coming through town for dinner. Against this is the Annual Meeting where I will have the chance to beat my head agains the wall in a futile attempt to change the status quo. I think I just may have made my choice.

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Schrödinger’s NRA

September 10, 2021 by 1 Comment

Normally I would call this post “Tweet of the Day”. However, I found the title in Rob Romano’s tweet too good not to use.

Rob is the creator of the invaluable Gun Case Tracker which follows virtually every 2A related case at the Federal and state level. He is also the Community Communications Director for the Firearms Policy Coalition.

For those of us in the gun rights community, the acronym NRA means the National Rifle Association. For anti-gun politicians and the media, it is shorthand for both the National Rifle Association and every other gun rights group. Given their top-down approach, it is hard for them to conceive that the largest organization doesn’t control everything. It is also hard for them to conceive that the grassroots can actually make their voice heard without a lot of prodding from the folks in Fairfax.

Here are the pair of great tweets from Rob:

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Motion To Intervene Denied

September 9, 2021 by 2 Comments

As I said earlier today, there was the hearing on the Motion to Intervene this afternoon.

After hearing the arguments for and against, Judge Joel Cohen denied the Motion.

The basis for his decision as I can understand it is that having only two member representing the interests of the members was not enough. He kept referring to a 5% of the membership rule as the minimum needed to intervene. Even though the attorneys for the intervenors said they were representing a class of members, the judge disagreed. He kept coming back to the argument that if you let one group intervene then you have to let others intervene.

While it was assumed a sitting director would be joining the Motion to Intervene today, Judge Cohen said he could only rule on the motion in front of him. He did not rule out a revised Motion to Intervene with a sitting director as one of the intervenors.

It is a hell of thing when you have a group on one side that wants to do away with the NRA and a group on the other side that wants to keep looting it with no one allowed in the middle representing the millions of dues paying members.

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Chipman Nomination Formally Withdrawn

September 9, 2021 by

While speculation earlier today was that the White House would announce the withdrawal of the nomination of David Chipman to be the director of BATFE next week, it came to an end much quicker. The White House formally withdrew the nomination this afternoon.

The formal announcement by the White House:

David Chipman spent 25 years in distinguished service to our country as an ATF agent. He’s a gun owner himself, and someone who has the backing of law enforcement groups. And, he’s spent most of last decade as a leading voice for commonsense gun violence prevention legislation that will save lives. He would have been an exemplary Director of the ATF and would have redoubled its efforts to crack down on illegal firearms traffickers and help keep our communities safe from gun violence.

Unfortunately, Republicans in Congress have made clear that they intend to use gun crime as a political talking point instead of taking serious steps to address it. That’s why they’ve moved in lockstep to block David Chipman’s confirmation, and it’s why they side with gun manufacturers over the overwhelming majority of the American people in opposing commonsense measures like universal background checks.

They even unanimously opposed the Rescue Plan, which has given cities and states $350 billion that they can use to put more cops on the beat so that they can really know the neighborhoods they patrol, and invest in proven community anti-violence programs – among other uses. While my administration has worked to strengthen law enforcement and crack down on gun crime, Republicans have opposed us at every turn.

We knew this wouldn’t be easy – there’s only been one Senate-confirmed ATF Director in the Bureau’s history – but I have spent my entire career working to combat the scourge of gun violence, and I remain deeply committed to that work. Since taking office, my Administration has taken numerous steps to combat gun violence, and we’ll continue to use every tool at our disposal to fight gun violence and keep Americans safe. I am grateful for Mr. Chipman’s service and for his work.  

I find it interesting that they are blaming firearms manufacturers and Republicans for the defeat. The reality is that David Chipman was a bad nominee, had plenty of baggage, and represented an extreme viewpoint. He was so extreme that you could not come up with enough Democrats to back his nomination.

On a snarky note, I think the person most upset by the failed nomination has to be Gabby Giffords. She thought she was finally going to be rid of Waco Dave and finds she is stuck with him.

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Chipman Nomination Being Withdrawn?

September 9, 2021 by 2 Comments

In breaking news, the Daily Caller and Politico are reporting that the White House plan to withdraw the nomination of David Chipman to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

From the Daily Caller:

Senate Republicans across the board opposed Chipman, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell calling him an “anti-gun extremist” and Independent Maine Sen. Angus King previously noting he was not okay with the nomination, Politico reported. While Democrats like Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana didn’t openly oppose Chipman, they wouldn’t give a definitive answer on where they stood, the report added.

The White House may withdraw Chipman’s nomination in the coming days, although an official date remains unclear, according to Politico.

Politico is attributing this to three sources “close to the process.”

They went on to add:

The White House declined to comment on the imminent yanking of the nomination. It’s unclear when the formal withdrawal of Chipman’s nomination will take place, though it could happen as soon as this week…

Nonetheless, the decision to pull the nomination sparked frustration from gun control advocate Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter was killed in the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Fla. “I am truly upset,” tweeted Guttenberg, a Biden ally. “We have weak people serving the Senate such as @SenAngusKing who chose to listen to ‘regulated industry.’ Sadly the White House failed to put up a fight on this.”

While I say good riddance, I am fearful that the White House will nominate a stealth candidate who will be just as bad but without the baggage of David Chipman.

UPDATE: The Washington Post also is reporting on this story. They are putting the timeline as this week.

They added this:

The White House declined to comment. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak freely about Chipman, who currently is a senior adviser to the Giffords gun control group. White House officials are trying to find another role in the administration for Chipman, said the people familiar with the matter.

Perhaps they can send him to Afghanistan to urge the Taliban to register all their confiscated M4s with the BATFE under the NFA. Yeah, right.

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Motion To Intervene Hearing Today

September 9, 2021 by

The hearing on the Motion to Intervene on behalf of the members of the NRA in the dissolution lawsuit will be held this afternoon. Judge Joel Cohen issued a notice on Tuesday that the hearing will proceed as scheduled. It is set for 2:30pm in Manhattan.

In his letter to the court on announcing a sitting director of the NRA would be joining the Motion to Intervene, attorney Taylor Bartlett gave the court the option of postponing it as he expected both the NRA and the NY Attorney General’s Office would ask for time. Bartlett did note that they were ready to go.

We will know the name of the director or directors who will be joining the suit later today. Given a sitting director has the absolute right to intervene and thus has standing, it will be interesting to hear the arguments against allowing it.

If I can find an audio link to the hearing, I will post it.

Stay tuned!

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Tweet Of The Day

September 9, 2021 by

The tweet of the day comes from the Firearms Policy Coalition with the reminder that tonight is the last time to make your voice heard on pistol braces.

Make sure to turn up your volume.