Month: October 2019

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Who Is The Real Enemy?

October 30, 2019 by 6 Comments

When you are in a war you always have to keep the end objective in mind. Is it merely to win the battle or ultimately to win the war? That seems to be the issue right now for the National Rifle Association.

The question for the NRA is who is the real enemy. Is it Ackerman McQueen or anti-rights groups like Brady United Against Gun Violence? It seems that this focus has eluded the outside attorneys for the NRA in their efforts to win the Federal lawsuit against AckMc.

The reply by the NRA filed with the US District Court in Dallas has given the anti-rights forces such as Brady, Media Matters, and others plenty of ammunition.

For example from a Brady email sent out night:

In more bad news for the NRA, newly uncovered court filings show that NRA executives themselves thought NRATV was blatantly racist. Yet they continued to let it air.

The timing is convenient: It’s been unearthed that the NRA opposed its own racist content only now that it’s in court against its longtime PR firm, Ackerman McQueen. 

This proves what we have long known: that the NRA will peddle any lie in order to protect its own interest — which is to sell more guns, no matter what the cost. But we’re calling them out. We won’t let them pretend they didn’t condone outright racism. They knew what they were selling.

And there is this from Media Matters:

The National Rifle Associated admitted in a legal filing that its former media operation NRATV was viewed by NRA leadership as racist and that the project’s programming “often became viewed as a dystopian cultural rant.” That is true, but the messaging at NRATV was largely indistinguishable from the racist paranoid rantings of NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre.

Michael Collins of Brewer, Attorneys and Counselors, may have thought including that inflammatory condemnation of NRATV in his court filings was wise. His goal after all is to savage AckMac so as to win this case.

I disagree.

Our blood enemies are those who would deprive us of our God-given rights to an armed self-defense. They will use anything and everything against us. Since much of their strategy involves using propaganda, the use of ill-chosen words that can come back to haunt us is self-defeating. We need to be smarter and we should demand that attorneys for Second Amendment organizations likewise be smarter.

The NRA and outside counsel Michael Collins should have remembered Napoleon’s advice – “when the enemy is making a false movement we must take good care not to interrupt him.” They have just given our blood enemies that “false movement”.

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AckMac’s Counter-claim Makes Interesting Reading

October 29, 2019 by 1 Comment

I don’t know which side is telling the truth in the divorce between the NRA and AckMac. It could be neither of them. It could be both sides depending upon their perception of the issues.

I will note that the AckMac description of the influence on Wayne LaPierre by William Brewer III does strongly correlate with what insiders have told me. Brewer was described to have isolated LaPierre from long time friends and associates and fed his paranoia.

That said, the narrative in Ackerman McQueen’s reply and counter-claim filed on October 1st makes for interesting reading. Of particular interest are pages 19 through 42. The rest is mostly legalese. I have embedded it below. If you click on the heading, you can also download it to read later.

Ackerman McQueen Texas Coun… by Stephen Gutowski on Scribd

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The Divorce Gets Uglier

October 29, 2019 by

The divorce between the NRA and Ackerman McQueen is ugly and is getting uglier. The NRA’s reply to Ackerman McQueen’s reply and counter-claim was filed with the US District Court on Friday. There were a number of news stories yesterday that excerpted parts of the reply with regard to NRATV and its characterization by the NRA as “distasteful” and “racist“.

The reply brought attention to an episode of NRATV featuring Dana Loesch in which she portrayed Thomas the Tank Engine in a KKK hooded robe.

From page 3 of the reply:

As AMc’s bills grew ever larger, NRATV’s messaging strayed from the Second Amendment to themes which some NRA leaders found distasteful and racist. One particularly damaging segment featured children’s cartoon characters adorned in Ku Klux Klan hoods. Unfortunately, attempts by the NRA to “rein in” AMc and its messaging were met with responses from AMc that ranged from evasive to hostile. At the same time, when NRA executives sought performance metrics for NRATV, AMc contrived a pretext to demand that each interlocutor be sidelined or fired. Simultaneously, in closed-door meetings with Mr. LaPierre (which AMc insisted remain “confidential”), the agency presented fabricated and inflated sponsorship and viewership claims. The simple request for the number of “unique visitors” to the site was not answered, despite multiple attempts by Mr. LaPierre and other NRA executives. In fact, AMc’s representations to the NRA leadership regarding the viewership for the digital platform it created, presented, and administered were, by 2017, intentionally (and wildly) misleading. Tellingly, when NRATV finally shut down in June 2019, no one missed it: not a single sponsor or viewer even called, confirming what at least some NRA executives suspected—the site had limited visibility and was failing the accomplish any of its goals.

Ackerman McQueen fired back today on the “distasteful” and “racist” claims in the NRA’s court filing. Like yesterday’s press release, the gloves are off and AckMac is taking no prisoners.

Ackerman McQueen recognized and handled the offensive imagery on the show, “Relentless”, in a proper fashion, like any media company would. We identified those responsible and put new processes and oversight in place. NRA executives acknowledged the corrective action taken by Ackerman McQueen, were satisfied with the response and a couple months later, renewed NRATV for 2019.

However, if the NRA wants to conduct a public conversation about distasteful and racist, they should consider their systematic behavior. This is the same executive leadership team and Board of Directors that refused to address the Philandro Castile tragedy. This the executive leadership team that put their heads in the sand every time a board member said something the could be perceived as distasteful or racist. This is the same executive team and Board of Directors that ignored, and didn’t even watch, the impactful programming that the NOIR team produced, telling important stories on minority issues. There are countless more examples, decisions and comments that plague the organization and will be a part of AMc’s defense.

As AMc said in its latest filing, Wayne LaPierre defrauded Ackerman McQueen. When AMc representatives discovered what he, his executive team as well as the Board of Directors were really doing, and AMc refused to have any part of it, the cabal that is left at the NRA retaliated. Now they want to blame anyone else for the people they actually are.

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NRA Statement On AckMac Suit

October 29, 2019 by 1 Comment

As I said earlier, the NRA filed an amended complaint in their lawsuit against Ackerman McQueen on Friday. This lawsuit is before the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Official Picture from Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors

Michael Collins, a partner in Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors and the NRA’s attorney in the case, released this statement regarding the amended complaint. It was released, I believe, on Friday.

“The NRA believes Ackerman McQueen breached its fiduciary duties, engaged in fraudulent billing, and failed to maintain adequate books and records – all in an effort to enrich itself at the expense of the NRA and its members, ” says Michael J. Collins, partner at Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors and counsel to the NRA. “The allegations reveal a pattern of corruption that included NRATV, a failed media enterprise the agency proposed, managed and sustained through misleading accounts of viewership and promised commercial viability. In the end, the NRA believes NRATV became all ‘smoke and mirrors’ – a vehicle touted by Ackerman for the sole purpose of continuing the flow of millions of dollars of fees which the agency needed to sustain itself.”

Collins continued, “At the same time, when questions began to arise about Ackerman’s billing practices and whether it was taking advantage of the considerable discretion it possessed in such matters, the agency stonewalled the inquiry and embarked upon a scorched-earth campaign against all of its perceived adversaries. Ultimately, this included the CEO of the Association, executives, and outside professionals charged with obtaining answers to legitimate concerns about the agency’s practices. The NRA and its members are determined to ferret out what now appears to have been a considerable amount of corruption.”

Again, thanks to Stephen Gutowski of the Free Beacon for posting the statement from Michael Collins.

Amanda Suffecool of Eye on the Target Radio made a comment about this case tonight as we were recording the Polite Society Podcast which I thought was insightful. Watching the NRA/Wayne LaPierre and AckMac go after one another is like watching a bitter divorce in action. You have both parents fighting over the marital assets, you have both parents fighting for custody of the kids (the NRA members), and both parents are slinging mud for all they are worth. In the end no one wins and the kids are the victims.

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AckMac Goes Nuclear On NRA

October 28, 2019 by 1 Comment

The NRA filed suit against Ackerman McQueen and some of their employees in US District Court for the Northern District of Texas at the end of August. Ackerman McQueen responded to the lawsuit on October 1st with a counter-claim and added a third party complaint naming Wayne LaPierre. On Friday, the NRA filed an amended complaint. I will get to each of these in a separate post.

Thanks to Stephen Gutowski of the Free Beacon, we have the press release sent out by AckMac in response to the amended complaint. It takes no prisoners. After saying that Wayne LaPierre defrauded AckMac many times as they declared in their court filing, they go on to say, in part:

LaPierre controlled every aspect of NRATV for which he recruited talent, approved every budget, audited every metric and required ultimate confidentiality. Ackerman McQueen routinely offered and toward the end of the relationship demanded an outside firm audit NRATV performance but LaPierre refused. Unlike the NRA, AMc welcomes full transparency. LaPierre’s apparent paranoia and lust for secrecy fed his justification for private air travel, luxury hotels and countless other expenses for himself, his family and friends that were all paid by member dues.

The membership is being misled. The NRA is pouring tens of millions of non-profit funds into lawyers and lawsuits to cover up the abject failure of executive and board leadership. They continue to contrive allegations that they are not currently proving and will continue to not be able to prove in any legal setting. Instead they grovel at the feet of the media they used to decry, hoping to create some spin for Wayne LaPierre.

The latest NRA legal filing is another cynical attempt to distract from Wayne LaPierre’s documented mismanagement of the organization and the captive board’s complicit behavior. These collective failures are the only reason the NRA faces multiple state attorneys general investigations, a US Senate Finance Committee investigation, calls for the IRS and FBI to investigate, a class-action lawsuit and countless legal disputes filed by the NRA intended to intimidate anyone who opposes LaPierre’s reported misuse of NRA resources.

Damn!

Given that AckMac helped build the image of Wayne LaPierre from the 1990s onwards, I suspect they know more about Wayne than most do or want to know. If we needed any more proof that the symbiotic relationship between Wayne and AckMac is over, we now have it.

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Movement On School Safety In Illinois

October 27, 2019 by 3 Comments

The Illinois Association of School Boards’ Resolution Committee is recommending passage of a school safety resolution backing voluntary armed school staff. The measure will be voted on at the Joint Annual Conference to be held November 22nd through 24th in Chicago. IASB represents 98% of the school districts in the state of Illinois.

The resolution entitled Student Safety states:

BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Illinois Association of School Boards shall support and advocate for legislation which provides local school boards the option of developing Student Safety and Protection Plans which allow voluntary district employees, in any capacity, the ability to carry a concealed firearm on district property, provided the employee has a valid Illinois FOID card, holds a certified Illinois Concealed Carry License, has completed all additional trainings and certifications set forth by the respective school board, one of which MUST include yearly certified Active Shooter Training. Only district employees who fulfill all requirements listed and receive Superintendent and Board approval would be eligible as an active and armed part of the Student Safety and Protection Plan.

The resolution was submitted by Mercer County School District 404. As part of their rationale for passage of this resolution, they pointed out that their district has 5 school building in three different towns spread out over 378 square miles. They go on to add:

The districts in our state should be allowed to determine what is best for them, rather than leaving the determination to those in Springfield who do not know or understand communities outside their own.

The Resolutions Committee agreed and noted that rural school districts do not have “the fast response times of emergency responders in urban and suburban areas.” They went on to point out the lag times can be substantial due to both geography and resources. This plus the fact that the decision on armed school staff would be left to local discretion were the primary reasons that they urged passage.

The Daily Northwestern reported that the IASB delegate for the Evanston/Skokie School District 65, Joseph Halipern, opposes firearms in schools but did recognize it is as a concern for rural school districts.

“The district and Resolution Committee’s rationale for putting (the resolution) in speaks to the diversity of school districts in Illinois, and it makes a lot of sense,” Hailpern said. “Districts in rural communities have a very different lived experience regarding access to police, proximity to police and response times.”

Halipern serves on the District 65 Board of Education and is principal of Braeside Elementary School in Highland Park located in District 112.

A similar resolution was voted down last year by the IASB delegates.

The issue really comes down to the fact that rural school districts are different that large urban and suburban school districts. They generally have a smaller tax base, less resources, have slower emergency response times, and are less anti-gun. They are miles – not mere blocks – away from police or sheriff’s departments.

The sad thing is that even if the IASB passes this Student Safety resolution at their Joint Annual Conference it won’t get through the Illinois General Assembly. Even if that unlikely event were to happen, Gov. J. B. Pritzker (D-IL), would veto the bill and school safety be damned if it means armed school staff.

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Lott’s Mexico

October 25, 2019 by 1 Comment

Dr. John Lott had a new piece in the Wall Street Journal this week about Mexico’s extremely high murder rate despite its strict gun control laws.  

Photo Credit: The Wall Street Journal

The figures Lott quotes are staggering:  with almost six times as many murders per 100,000 people as in the U.S., Mexico has a serious problem.

By all accounts the problem may be of their own making.  As highlighted in the Wall Street Journal opinion piece, Mexico’s strict gun control measures began in 1972 ostensibly to control violence.  Presently only 1% of Mexicans possess a license to own a firearm, obtaining a permit to legally carry a pistol is unheard of and private sales are for all practical purposes forbidden yet since 1972 the murder rate has doubled! 

While addressing how many of Mexico’s crime guns come from the U.S., Dr. Lott explains why the 70% figure cited by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is grossly exaggerated. He points out that number is a select subset of a select subset and the actual number may be closer to 17%.

Furthermore, it appears evident the bulk of Mexico’s crime guns, often fully-automatic, are cartel supplied and originate in Central and South America or other international locations.  Once again, it is evidenced that when strict gun control laws leave the general population unarmed, vulnerable, and powerless, criminals will feel emboldened.  Layer onto this a history of military and police corruption along with a powerful cartel presence and you have the perfect recipe for out of control criminal violence.  

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Bill Ruger Designed A Machine Gun?

October 24, 2019 by

Years before he co-founded Sturm, Ruger & Co., Bill Ruger worked for Auto-Ordnance. When the Army’s Ordnance Department was seeking a replacement for the M1919A4 light machine gun, he designed and submitted a prototype. Unfortunately for Ruger, it failed the endurance test as did the other submissions. Ultimately, the Army went with an updated version of the Browning design.

Ian McCollum goes on to add this about the prototype which now is part of the Cody Firearms Museum’s collection.

As it turns out – and as Ruger would later write – it could be quite hard to create a ground-up new design to beat John Browning’s work in just 4 or 5 months (shocking!). When Ruger’s gun was tested, it was found to have a few good aspects, but was generally unreliable and failed to complete the scheduled 10,000-round endurance test. All of the other guns in that trial failed for various reasons, though, and a second trial was scheduled, giving the manufacturers time to improve their designs. Ruger and Auto-Ordnance were unable to substantially correct the problems with the gun, however, and it did as badly in the second trial as it had in the first. Ultimately, a separate procurement process by the Infantry Department would result in the M1919A6 Browning, which was adopted for the role of light machine gun.


This experience would serve Ruger well, as he would go on to do quite a lot more work with Auto-Ordnance before forming his own tremendously successful company.

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Kudos To The NRA On Adaptive Shooter Database

October 23, 2019 by

If you have read this blog over the years, you know I am both a Endowment Life Member of the NRA and a critic of some of the stupid things they have done. Here is one thing that they are doing that is commendable and needs more publicity.

The NRA has created a database of the best products, services, and training meant for disabled shooters. It is part of the NRA’s Adaptive Shooter Program.

From the NRA:

“People of all ability levels are heading into the outdoors to take part in the shooting sports at impressive levels,” said Dr. Joe Logar, national manager of NRA’s Adaptive Shooting Programs. “This database provides a one-stop resource to ensure they can make the most out of those experiences.”


The Adaptive Product Providers database is available on the NRA Adaptive Shooting Programs website under the Resources tab. There users will find organizations with products and services that make the outdoors and the shooting sports more accessible to people with disabilities. Featured outfits range from companies selling devices that make loading pistol magazines easier to all-terrain wheelchairs to take hunters anywhere wild game may go.


“Helping people find their way back to the outdoors is incredibly rewarding,” Dr. Logar said. “Hopefully this database will make that journey a little bit easier.”

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Hodgdon Recalls ALL IMR 4007 SSC Powder

October 22, 2019 by 3 Comments

If you are a reloader and you have some IMR 4007 SSC smokeless powder, you need to pay attention to this announcement from Hodgdon.

IMR Legendary Powders is officially announcing a product safety warning and recall notice for IMR 4007SSC smokeless powder. All lots of powder are included in the recall. IMR has received reports that this particular powder, sold in 1 pound and 8 pound containers, could become unstable due to possible rapid deterioration. Use of this product may result in combustion, fire damage and/or possible serious injury.

What to do:

1. If you are in possession of IMR 4007SSC, STOP USING THE PRODUCT IMMEDIATELY! Fill the powder container with water, which will render the product inert and safe for disposal.

2. Mail, email or fax a copy of the powder label with the lot number to the contact information below, and include your name, address, phone and email.

3. You may select a replacement IMR smokeless powder product of your choice, which will be shipped to you at no charge.

4. If you have loaded the powder subject to this recall into ammunition, we recommend that you pull the bullets, remove the powder and wet the powder with water for safe disposal.

IMR deeply regrets any inconvenience this may cause, but we believe in safety first.

Contact information: Hodgdon Powder Company, Inc., 6430 Vista Drive, Shawnee, KS 66218, email help@imrpowder.com, imprpowder.com, call 1-800-622-4366 or 913-362-9455 and fax 913-362-1307.

Hodgdon Powder Company has discontinued this powder for safety reasons and is now is doing right by the customer. They are replacing your powder and shipping it to you at no charge. They are eating the HazMat fee as well.