Month: April 2021

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Ridicule Is Man’s Most Potent Weapon

April 28, 2021 by 5 Comments

Saul Alinsky‘s Rule Number 5 states, “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. There is no defense. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage.”

Mike Spies of The Trace understands this very well and just unleased a torrent of ridicule upon Wayne LaPierre. Somehow – and I have my suspicions – he obtained the lost and unaired footage from a 2013 African safari that Wayne and Susan LaPierre took that was to have aired on Under Wild Skies. That show was hosted by Wayne’s former BFF Tony Makris and was sponsored by the NRA. I have been told that Makris and Wayne used the show to reward LaPierre loyalists with a paid-for safari in Africa.

The footage is part of an article that is running in both The Trace and The New Yorker.

The footage of LaPierre in Botswana first shows him walking through the bush dressed in loose-fitting safari attire and an NRA Sports baseball cap. He is accompanied by several professional guides and his longtime adviser, Tony Makris, a top executive at the N.R.A.’s former public-relations firm, Ackerman McQueen, and the host of “Under Wild Skies.” The heat, at times, causes LaPierre to sweat. As he walks, his wire-framed glasses slide down his nose. After a guide spots an elephant standing behind a tree, LaPierre takes aim with a rifle. As LaPierre peers through the weapon’s scope, the guide repeatedly tells him to wait before firing. LaPierre is wearing earplugs, doesn’t hear the instructions, and pulls the trigger. The elephant drops. “Did we get him?” LaPierre asks.

The guide at first says yes, but then, as he approaches the elephant, it appears that the animal is still breathing. The guide brings LaPierre within a few strides of the elephant, which lays motionless on the ground. He tells LaPierre that another bullet is needed. “I’m going to show you where to shoot,” the guide says. “Listen, hold your rifle—I’m going to tell you when. Just hold it up.” The guide pushes the rifle’s barrel skyward as other men involved in the expedition move around in the distance. “I’m going to point for you where to shoot. Just waiting for these guys.”

Needless to say, Bwana Wayne botches this and two more shots. Tony Makris is the one who has to deliver the final shot.

It appears that both Wayne and Susan are using custom Blaser rifles with engraved actions and beautiful wood that I was told a while back were billed to the NRA. I wonder what ever happened to them.

As the video makes clear, Susan is the better hunter and much better shot than Wayne. She is also much more excited by her trophy than is Wayne who looks kind of befuddled. You wonder if he isn’t just looking for a place to go and throw up.

The whole episode brings to mind that classic Hemingway short story The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber. While Wayne didn’t run in the face of the elephant like Macomber did in the face of the lion, it took someone else to finish the job. Moreover, Wayne comes off as a bumbling incompetent and not the great white hunter in charge of an organization dedicated to preserving hunting and the Second Amendment.

I know this is coming from the Bloomberg supported The Trace. As I’ve said in the past, just because you don’t like the source doesn’t mean it isn’t accurate. Spies gets his information right because he knows he will be sued every which way if he doesn’t.

I hope to go to Africa in a couple of years to hunt plains game. Unlike Wayne, I will be paying for the trip myself. Also, unlike Wayne, I plan to get in a lot of shooting practice in advance especially from sticks. It appears that Wayne was not that familiar with his rifle and it shows. When you are given the chance for the hunt of a lifetime, you damn well ought to be ready.

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SCOTUS Accepts Carry Case

April 26, 2021 by 2 Comments

In Orders of the Court released this morning, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in NY State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Corlett et al. This is a case that challenges New York’s requirement to show cause for issuance of a carry permit.

20-843 NEW YORK STATE RIFLE, ET AL. V. CORLETT, KEITH M., ET AL.


The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted limited to
the following question: Whether the State’s denial of
petitioners’ applications for concealed-carry licenses for
self-defense violated the Second Amendment.

From the Washington Post:

The court will hear the challenge to a century-old New York gun control law in the term that begins in October. It is considering a law that requires those who seek a permit to carry a concealed weapon show a special need for self-defense. It is similar to laws in Maryland, Massachusetts and elsewhere that the court in the past has declined to review.

The individual plaintiffs in the case – Robert Nash and Brandon Koch – have permits to carry outside the home for hunting and target practice purposes. However, they were turned down when they requested carry permits for self-defense.

It takes four justices to agree to take a case. Last year, the court turned down a number of Second Amendment cases. The operating consensus was that the conservatives on the court were unsure of where Chief Justice John Roberts would come down. Now, however, with the addition of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, that has changed and there are five potentially reliable Second Amendment votes.

Assuming that the court agrees that there carry outside the home for self-defense is a key component of the Second Amendment, Chief Justice Roberts will have a hard decision. If he goes along with the majority, he gets to assign the opinion or reserve it for himself. If he is in the minority, then the assignment choice goes to the longest serving Associate Justice in the majority. In this case that would be Justice Clarence Thomas who has telegraphed many times his frustration with the court’s refusal to treat the Second Amendment as any thing other than a second-class right. Part of me hopes that Roberts is in the minority because that means a stronger decision in favor of the Second Amendment.

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NC’s Pistol Purchase Permit May Be Eliminated

April 21, 2021 by 4 Comments

That 1919 remnant of the Jim Crow era, North Carolina’s pistol purchase permit, may finally be on its way out. The North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association has finally endorsed its elimination and the House Judiciary 4 Committee voted out a bill that would do away with it.

Research published in the North Carolina Law Review showed that African-Americans were three times as likely to be denied than whites. This comes from a study of permits issued in Wake County where Sheriff Gerald Baker (D-Wake) is facing lawsuits for refusing to issue permits “due to COVID”.

This is not a done deal and I fully expect Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC) to veto it. The law was intended to deny constitutional rights to African-Americans and its practice still does. Let him veto it and then try and defend that!

Since this is not a done deal, Grass Roots North Carolina is calling people to contact first Republicans and then later Democrats to pass this bill.

House Committee Passes Purchase Permit Repeal
Thanks to Reps. Jay Adams, Hugh Blackwell, Keith Kidwell, and George Cleveland, today the NC House Judiciary 4 Committee passed H398, a full repeal of North Carolina’s Jim Crow-era pistol purchase permit (PPP) law – a law which not only allows some urban sheriffs to obstruct people from buying handguns for self-protection, but to this day also disproportionally denies minorities the ability to buy handguns for self-defense.

Not only are Republicans on board with repealing the racist law, but now the NC Sheriffs’ Association has joined them in supporting repeal. And who does that leave still supporting racist gun control? Democrats.
Said GRNC president Paul Valone:
“We are encouraged to see that the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association now agrees to bring gun purchases in North Carolina into the 21st Century by eliminating our Jim Crow-era permit system and requiring background checks at the point of sale. Given that a recent UNC School of Law paper found that in Wake County, black applicants are being denied permits three times more often than whites, it is clear that racism in issuing permits continues to this day. Consequently, we are calling upon Democrat legislators to join in repealing this racist law.”

Presuming the PPP repeal passes the General Assembly, anti-gun Democrat Governor Roy Cooper will certainly veto it. Because Republicans don’t have the 6/10 majority in either chamber that is required to over-ride Cooper’s veto, at least some Democrats will have to vote to over-ride.

Will Democrats do the right thing, or will they be the only ones left clinging to racist gun control? Please note that this message goes to Republicans.

Very soon, we will issue another alert with a message for Democrats.

EMAIL ALL NC HOUSE REPUBLICANS:  Please note that the large number of Republican recipients may require you to break up your message into multiple groups.   
CALL YOUR NC HOUSE REP:  You can find your NC House rep by going to: 

https://ncleg.gov/FindYourLegislators

PLEASE CONTRIBUTE TO GRNC: Help us fight gun control while we promote Second Amendment principles. Please CLICK HERE to contribute. Bear in mind that GRNC is an all-volunteer organization, so you can be sure your donations are put to the best possible use. Any amount helps, and any amount is appreciated.

CONTACT INFO
 
Copy each block of address and paste into an email

 
Edward.Goodwin@ncleg.gov; Larry.Yarborough@ncleg.gov; Steve.Tyson@ncleg.gov;   Jimmy.Dixon@ncleg.gov;  Bobby.Hanig@ncleg.gov; Matthew.Winslow@ncleg.gov;  John.Bell@ncleg.gov;  Chris.Humphrey@ncleg.gov; Pat.McElraft@ncleg.gov;  Phil.Shepard@ncleg.gov; Carson.Smith@ncleg.gov; Frank.Iler@ncleg.gov;  Charles.Miller@ncleg.gov; Ted.Davis@ncleg.gov;  William.Brisson@ncleg.gov;   Donna.White@ncleg.gov;  Larry.Strickland@ncleg.gov; 

Erin.Pare@ncleg.gov;                           Diane.Wheatley@ncleg.gov;  John.Szoka@ncleg.gov;  Brenden.Jones@ncleg.gov;  Graig.Meyer@ncleg.gov;                              John.Sauls@ncleg.gov;  Jamie.Boles@ncleg.gov;                        Howard.Penny@ncleg.gov;  Mark.Brody@ncleg.gov;                            Jon.Hardister@ncleg.gov; 
 
John.Faircloth@ncleg.gov;  Dennis.Riddell@ncleg.gov; Jerry.Carter@ncleg.gov; Ben.Moss@ncleg.gov; Wayne.Sasser@ncleg.gov; David.Willis@ncleg.gov; Dean.Arp@ncleg.gov; Pat.Hurley@ncleg.gov;  Lee.Zachary@ncleg.gov; Jeff.Zenger@ncleg.gov; Donny.Lambeth@ncleg.gov; Harry.Warren@ncleg.gov; Julia.Howard@ncleg.gov; Allen.McNeill@ncleg.gov; Sam.Watford@ncleg.gov; Larry.Potts@ncleg.gov; Kristin.Baker@ncleg.gov;  Dudley.Greene@ncleg.gov; Hugh.Blackwell@ncleg.gov; Destin.Hall@ncleg.gov;  Mitchell.Setzer@ncleg.gov; Sarah.Stevens@ncleg.gov
 
Kyle.Hall@ncleg.gov;  Ray.Pickett@ncleg.gov; Jeffrey.Elmore@ncleg.gov; Grey.Mills@ncleg.gov;  Jason.Saine@ncleg.gov; John.Bradford@ncleg.gov;  John.Torbett@ncleg.gov; Dana.Bumgardner@ncleg.gov; Kelly.Hastings@ncleg.gov; Tim.Moore@ncleg.gov; David.Rogers@ncleg.gov; Jake.Johnson@ncleg.gov;  Tim.Moffitt@ncleg.gov; Mark.Pless@ncleg.gov; Mike.Clampitt@ncleg.gov; Karl.Gillespie@ncleg.govsomebody@ncleg.net
 
DELIVER THIS MESSAGE

Suggested Subject: “Repeal our racist pistol purchase permit law”  
 
Dear NC House Representative:
 
As stated by NC Sheriffs’ Association Executive Director Eddie Caldwell in the Judiciary 4 Committee, the association now supports the repeal of our Jim-Crow era pistol purchase permit system. Describing recent improvements to North Carolina reporting to the computerized National Instant Background Check System (NICS), Caldwell described the archaic and racist permit law as “duplicative.”

A recent UNC Law School paper noted that in Wake County alone, from 2015 to 2020, black applicants were denied permits at a rate three times that of whites, demonstrating that racism in the permit law continues to this day. In early 2020, Wake County Sheriff Gerald Baker decided to stop issuing permits altogether in violation of G.S. 14-404(f), which requires permits to be issued to qualified applicants within 14 days. In other urban North Carolina counties, permits are still being delayed by weeks, even months.

Finally, purchase permits remain valid for 5 years, raising the possibility that an individual could obtain a permit, commit a crime and then, once disqualified from buying a firearm, use the 5-year-old permit to bypass NICS.

I strongly urge you to support the repeal of our archaic, racist, and obstructionist pistol purchase permit law. I will be monitoring this issue through Grass Roots North Carolina legislative alerts.


Respectfully,
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Another NRA Board Special Meeting

April 19, 2021 by 2 Comments

Stephen Gutowski of The Reload is reporting that a special meeting of the Board of Directors has been called for May 1st in Dallas. The purpose of this meeting is to approve a reorganization plan that the NRA plans to present to the US Bankruptcy Court.

They plan to have a regular Board meeting on Sunday, May 2nd.

This meeting comes after two weeks of testimony before Judge Hale in the US Bankruptcy Court. As Gutowski, myself, and others have noted, this testimony has brought out many questionable financial practices involving Wayne LaPierre, his executive assistant Millie Hallow, and former CFO Woody Phillips.

As Gutowski notes regarding the meeting:

The NRA did not respond to a request for comment on the special board meeting, but there is a possibility the meeting won’t even take place. The current portion of the bankruptcy trial is set to end on April 23, and the judge is supposed to issue an order in the case by April 30. If the judge decides to appoint a trustee or dismiss the case, it is possible the group won’t have an opportunity to present the restructuring plan the board is set to review on May 1. A trustee could also fire current leadership and the board of directors before the meeting occurs.

The US Trustee has objected to the appointment of a Chief Restructuring Officer as proposed by the NRA. The US Trustee noted that the CRO would report to Wayne and the Special Litigation Committee composed of Meadows, Cotton, and Lee. Thus, the CRO would not be independent and could not be independent without bylaw changes by the NRA.

As the blog NRA In Danger points out:

The US Trustee did a better job of reading NRA’s Bylaws than did NRA’s attorneys. He points out that the CRO might be an NRA officer and the Bylaws say only the members can create a new NRA officer,

“It is not clear whether the NRA’s bylaws permit the creation of a chief restructuring officer position. The NRA’s most recent Bylaws incorporate input from the NRA’s membership and confer limited authority to officers and committees. The NRA’s Bylaws state that certain “AMENDMENTS IN BOLD FACE ITALICS SHALL NOT BE REPEALED OR AMENDED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS.” Instead, Article XV, Section 4, reserves authority to amend bylaws in bold and italics to the NRA’s membership. Article V, Section 1(b), describes the specific officer positions, and in bold italics, states “The Board may not abolish said offices nor create any other offices.” 

There is another hearing scheduled before Judge Hale this afternoon at 4pm CDT. It will be interesting to hear what comes out of that meeting.

You will note that I did not say that Stephen Gutowski is with the Free Beacon. He left them on Friday and is now out on his own with The Reload. I would urge you to check it out and subscribe if you think it worthwhile. I did and I’m looking forward to his continued reporting on all things gun-related.

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They Can’t Claim Ignorance Any More

April 18, 2021 by 3 Comments

The NRA Board of Directors has long relied upon the word of EVP Wayne LaPierre for virtually everything. If a disturbing matter was brought up to them, they, for the most part, would say something like, “Well, I talked to Wayne and he said blah, blah, blah.” They considered this as doing their duty of care as a Board member.

As I pointed out in my post on fiduciary duties, duty of care means to give “reasonable attention and care to providing oversight.” Under New York public charities law, that includes knowledge of the organization’s finances.

Over the last few days, I have listened intermittently to the hearings held on the NRA’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy. I have also read synopses of these hearings on other sites. Some of the things I heard had me shaking my head while shouting at the computer, “How could you not know?”

For example, Wayne LaPierre testified before the court that he had no knowledge of the consulting contract awarded to former CFO Woody Phillips and that he had only recently learned of it. The contract in question was for $30,000 monthly to run for four full years. The total value of the contract would then be worth $1,440,00. How can a CEO not know that his recently retired CFO just got a contract worth over $1.4 million?

The one thing I do believe that came out of Wayne’s rambling testimony is his acknowledgement that he didn’t inform the Board of his intention to seek bankruptcy before filing it. If he had, I believe more Board members would have reacted at the time like Judge Phil Journey saying “we didn’t authorize that.” Their ex post facto motion saying they authorized filing bankruptcy then and now is frankly nothing more than a cover garment.

On Friday I listened to live testimony from Wayne’s former BFF Tony Makris as well as AckMac CFO Bill Winkler. A deposition of former NRA CFO Woody Phillips was also read into the record with one NYAG attorney reading the questions and another reading Phillips’ response. The key thing that was continually pointed out by Makris and Winkler is that the vague invoices sent by AckMac were at the direct request of Wayne. This continued even after a new agreement was reached that stated the only deviations had to be in writing from Wayne as EVP. Wayne, of course, still continued with his way of not putting his wishes in writing. Greg Garman, one of the NRA’s attorney, pounded on AckMac’s Bill Winkler about ignoring the letter of the contract and going along with how things had been done in the past. I think this was a strategic mistake on his part as it opens the door to questioning similar vague invoices from Brewer, Attorneys and Counselors.

I should note here that Woody Phillips’ testimony primarily consisted of him saying, “I decline to answer based on the privilege accorded me by 5thamendment of the US Constitution.” The one thing I can say about that is that you can’t be accused of perjury if you always take the Fifth.

As I said in the headline, the NRA Board of Directors cannot claim ignorance any longer. The beauty of WebEx is that it does a good job of capturing who is participating or listening in to an event. In this case, I saw reporters such as Danny Hakim of the NY Times, Mark Maremont of the Wall Street Journal, and Stephen Gutowski of the Free Beacon. I also counted at least six Board members listening in. They included Carrie Lightfoot, Anthony Colandro, Joel Friedman, Linda Walker, Howard “Walt” Walters, and Judge Phil Journey (who I expected to listen in). There may have been more as there were people who logged on by phone and not by computer.

My point is that after multiple days of testimony and over 600 documents, pleadings, exhibits, motions, and replies, it is impossible for anyone on the Board to say they don’t know what is going on. If they do, then they need to resign.

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Admiral In Charge Of Army Armor School?

April 16, 2021 by 3 Comments

They put a Navy admiral in charge of the US Army’s Armor School?

What does the Navy know about tanks?!

No, no, no.

The US Army’s Commandant of the US Army Armor School is a Brigadier General named Kevin Admiral.

Brigadier General Kevin D. Admiral assumed duties as the Armor School Commandant on 27 September 2019.

Commissioned in Armor from the University of Kansas in 1994, Brigadier General Admiral holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Cellular Biology and a Master of Science in Campaign Planning & Strategy from the Joint Advanced Warfighting School. He is also a graduate of the Royal College of Defence Studies, London where he was a Senior Service College fellow.

Brigadier General Admiral has served in Armor, Cavalry, Mechanized Infantry and Stryker formations during his career. He served as an OC/T at the National Training Center, Small Group Instructor for the Armor Captain Career Course at Fort Knox, KY and Aide-de-Camp to the 36th Army Chief of Staff. His command assignments at every echelon from Company through Regiment includes two commands in combat; 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry (SBCT) and 3d U.S. Cavalry Regiment (SBCT) in Afghanistan. Following command of the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen at Fort Hood, TX, Brigadier General Admiral served as Executive Officer to the Commanding General of United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command, US Forces Korea (UNC/CFC/USFK). Prior to assuming his current duties at Fort Benning, he most recently served as the Deputy Commanding General for Maneuver, 4th Infantry Division and Fort Carson and Commander, Task Force Southeast in Paktiya, Afghanistan.

It’s Friday and I just found this kind of funny. The plays on his name just write themselves.

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A New Must Read Blog

April 15, 2021 by 6 Comments

A friend sent me a link to a new blog called, “NRA in Danger.”

Having read all of their postings, I’d say it is a must-read blog especially for any NRA member who is concerned about the bankruptcy filing, the organization’s future, and the shenanigans played by Wayne and company. I don’t know who is writing this blog but I have found their reporting on the NRA’s bankruptcy hearings astute and incisive.

Here is how they describe themselves:

We are a group of NRA members, all life or above, who are concerned about where our organization is being taken. In 2019, the 150 year-old NRA, the oldest civil rights organization in the country, was rocked by financial scandals. The New York Attorney General (It’s a New York corporation) sued to dissolve its corporate charter, to kill it as a corporation. Since then its leadership and Board of Directors has consistently made the worst possible decisions, feeding her ammunition. A good move would have been to announce it was concerned about the allegations, was going to seriously investigate, and remove or otherwise punish those responsible. She’d have had no case then, yes there were problems, and NRA’s board is curing them.

Instead, the choice was to purge those who supported an investigation, threaten any who might join them, cover up everything, keep those responsible, and hand them big bonuses. Members were told that nothing was wrong, her case was all lies and posed no danger. Then the Board filed for bankruptcy, spending millions to escape from that supposedly harmless suit.

The members deserve truth, and we will do our imperfect best to give it to them.

We can be contacted at: NRAlifer -at- protonmail.com

I have only listened to some of the bankruptcy hearings. However, this one part from Day Five which included testimony from Judge Phil Journey just infuriated me.

At board special meeting in March, he was told his motion made him an enemy of NRA’s position. Charles Cotton asked that anyone adverse to NRA not attend executive session, while staring at him. He attended anyway. Got up to speak at microphone, chair ignored him, refused to call on him and he eventually sat down. When they went back into open session he asked to speak on a point of personal privilege, his honor had been impugned, and people shouted him down and Willis Lee, 2nd VP and chair, ruled him out of order. So he was prevented from speaking to the rest of the board about the issues and why he had filed.

A majority of the Board and especially the leadership are acting like petulant children. Their actions are more reminiscent of the behavior of members of the Soviet Politburo towards someone who had fallen out of Stalin’s favor.

I will freely admit that I was taken in by Willes Lee. I endorsed him not once but twice. I regret ever urging anyone to vote for that snake in the grass. The best I can say in my defense is that Willes was very good at cozying up to and playing members of the Second Amendment new media. That is, until he got what he wanted. Now we are yesterday’s news and treated like untermensch.

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RemArms Reopens Ilion Plant

April 12, 2021 by 1 Comment

The former Remington plant in Ilion, New York has finally reopened under the Roundhill Group’s ownership. It opened last week with 45 workers plus management.

From the Herkimer Times Telegram:

“We have called back approximately 45 employees as of this week that along with the 20 management people that have been back for several weeks now,” Richmond Italia, a managing partner for the Roundhill Group Inc., owner of RemArms, the plant’s new operator, said in an email. “And we expect to round that number off to over 200 before the end of the month.” 

It appears that the sticking point to the plant reopening was the contract with United Mine Workers Local 717. Most of the plant’s workers are members of that Local. It will formalize the recall process of furloughed workers and sets a 60-day window for starting negotiations on a new collective bargaining contract.

UMWA International President Cecil Roberts had this to say:

“This letter of agreement was a long time in the making,” said UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts. “It is the first step toward re-establishing a normal relationship between the union and the operators of that plant, one that will allow the professional craftspeople who have built firearms in Ilion to return to doing what they do better than anyone.” 

He added: “There is more to do here. The company needs product to sell, and we fully understand and support that. We are pleased that UMWA members will soon be going back to work at the plant, if the company holds to its expected timetable. The next step is to negotiate a full collective bargaining agreement that the members can ratify and then get operations fully back to normal.”

As I reported earlier, the initial product coming from the plant will be the 870 line of shotguns.

The negotiations with the union delayed reopening by approximately a month. The initial restart was to have begun in early March and actually didn’t begin until April.