Month: April 2026

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WNC Friends Of The NRA Event

April 12, 2026 by 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.

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NRA Annual Meeting, New Patches, Etc.

April 10, 2026 by 2 Comments

The NRA Annual Meeting is just around the corner. It opens next Friday, April 17th, in Houston at the George R. Brown Convention Center. I know it is coming because I’ve been getting multiple press releases from various companies in the firearms industry saying they will be exhibiting there. I think there will be over 500 exhibitors this year.

This Annual Meeting marks the return to Texas after being in Atlanta last year. A lot has changed since that meeting in Dallas. The reform wing of the NRA is solidly in charge of the organization. we have a balanced budget, and many of the Old Guard have deserted the NRA for the NRA Foundation. As Jeff Knox points out in an Ammoland article published yesterday, 72% of the Board including the recently elected newcomers are new since 2019. He goes on to add that the vast majority have been elected since 2022.

A couple of other changes from the past will include no vote for the 76th Director and no big Friday political event with state and national politicians. The reason is that there won’t be a 76th Director election is that there were only two candidates not seated and Isaac Demerest withdrew his name from consideration. Thus, Lynn Gipson will be elected by default. I’m not sure why there won’t be the political event but I’m sure cost was a factor. Frankly, I don’t miss it.

Even without the Friday political event there are a number of events planned ranging from the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund Annual National Firearms Law Seminar to the National Friends of the NRA Dinner to the NRA Women’s New Energy Brunch. There will be over 50 seminars held that on topics ranging from hunting whitetails to self-defense and everything in between. Most importantly, there will be the Meeting of Members on Saturday morning at 10am. I do know there will be some resolutions introduced and the officers will be reporting on some proposed bylaw changes. This is a chance to have your voice heard.

The Complementary Spouse and I will be flying in on Wednesday evening. I have committee meetings on both Thursday and Friday. The Board meeting will be on Monday starting at 9am. If you are still in Houston on Monday, I’d encourage you to attend.

This will mark my first anniversary on the Board of Directors. To commemorate this, I had a new blog patch made specifically for this Annual Meeting. They were made for me by A-B Emblem which is a local company which has made the custom NASA patches for every flight from Apollo 11 through Artemis II.

I will have a limited number to give away. If you see me in Houston, stop me and ask for one. I’ll be glad to give you a patch. Regardless, if you are in Houston and you see me, I’d love to chat on ways to make your NRA even more effective.

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Don’t Hang Out With The Wrong Crowd

April 9, 2026 by 2 Comments

Growing up, kids are warned by their moms and their teachers about hanging out with the wrong crowd. They are also told to choose your friends wisely.

The crowd you hang out with will often say more about you than what you say yourself. So it is with politicians. They may say they support the Second Amendment but do they really. They will often say, “I’m a hunter, I support the Second Amendment.” As the old saying goes, the 2A isn’t abut duck hunting.

This is one of the reasons that I make sure that I’m on the mailing lists for the gun prohibitionist organizations. They will really tell you who is on our side and who wants to suppress your God-given rights.

I got this from the Cult of Personality known as Giffords a couple of days ago.

There are three Democrats running for the U.S. Senate in the most competitive seats that GIFFORDS has already endorsed, and the outcome of these three races will help decide which party holds the Senate majority.

We’re officially endorsing Democrats Jon Ossoff in Georgia, Roy Cooper in North Carolina, and Sherrod Brown in Ohio.

Being a North Carolinian, I had no doubts about where ol’ Roy stood. Nor could I say I was really surprised where Ossoff and Brown stood. However, it was good to get confirmation on it.

So if you live in Georgia, North Carolina, or Ohio, choose wisely when you go to the polls this coming November. You may also want to toss a few bucks towards their opponents. All these races will be expensive.

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WNC Friends Event

April 3, 2026 by

If you are in Western North Carolina next Friday, April 10th, I’d encourage to join us at the WNC Friends of the NRA Dinner. It will be held at the Crown Plaza Resort in Asheville in their Expo Center starting at 6pm. The Complementary Spouse and I attended last year and had a wonderful time. The food was good and the company was even better. We even won a raffle prize!

The event was originally scheduled for early February and the organizers postponed it until April 10th so that they could be sure the proceeds did not go to the NRA Foundation but rather the NRA Freedom Action Foundation. As a reminder, half of the profits remain in North Carolina for local and state activities related to training, youth education, and firearms safety.

If like last year, there will be a steak dinner, a cash bar, games, raffles, and auctions galore. Tyrone Phillips who has headed the event for many years puts on a good time!

Ticket prices start at $70 for an individual.

For more information and to buy your tickets, use this link.

You can find the Friends of the NRA event in your area through this link. As a reminder, the monies no longer go to the Old Guard dominated NRA Foundation but rather to the Freedom Action Foundation and the new NRA Patriots Fund. Half the monies raised remain within the state and the other half goes to support the 501c3 activities of the NRA such as competition, training, education, and firearms safety.

UPDATE: Tickets need to be purchased in advance. I learned today that there will be no tickets sold at the door.

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2026 NRA Board Election Results (Update)

April 2, 2026 by 6 Comments

The results from the 2026 NRA board election are in and the draft results have been released. The final results will be announced at the Meeting of the Members at the Annual Meeting in Houston.

As Secretary John Frazer notes in his statement accompanying the results, both the final results as well as the need to elect the 76th Director could change if someone declines a seat.

From John Frazer:

Dear Board and Executive Council members:

The draft tabulation of the NRA mail ballot election results has been received. Notices have been sent by e-mail to each candidate.  The overall results are below, in rank order of votes received.  The final vote tallies will be released in Houston.

Finally, as you know, there is a chance that no 76th Director election will be necessary.  If any candidate declines a seat, or chooses not to run for 76th Director, or if any other vacancy occurs before the Annual Meeting, the partial-term directors will up accordingly.  If that happens, we’ll send a revised list.

Please join us in congratulating these newly elected or reelected directors.

ELECTED FOR THREE-YEAR TERMS ENDING IN 2029

  1. Leroy Sisco
  2. Megan Hilbish
  3. Amanda Suffecool
  4. Ted Carter
  5. Linda Walker
  6. James D’Cruz
  7. Kenneth Bowra
  8. David Raney
  9. James W. Porter II
  10. Jacqueline Janes
  11. Jay Wallace
  12. William Bailey
  13. Eric Mettauer
  14. Bruce Widener
  15. Rob Beckman
  16. Mark Vaughan
  17. Robert Mansell
  18. Charles Brown
  19. Charles Hiltunen III
  20. Mark Robinson
  21. Jerry Kraus
  22. Amy Heath-Lovato
  23. Randy Luth
  24. Eb Wilkinson
  25. Richard Fairburn

ELECTED FOR TWO-YEAR TERMS ENDING IN 2028

  1. Regis Synan
  2. Todd Figard
  3. Deborah Lyman
  4. Kyle Hupfer
  5. Robert K. Brown
  6. Steve Schreiner

ELECTED FOR ONE-YEAR TERMS ENDING IN 2027

  1. Jim Wallace
  2. Alex Carroll
  3. Huey Laugesen
  4. Todd Vandermyde

NOT ELECTED — ELIGIBLE TO RUN FOR 76TH DIRECTOR

  1. Isaac Demarest (Withdrew)
  2. Lynn Gipson

WITHDREW

  1. Ernest Myer

I have bolded those candidates whom I endorsed. Eleven won full three-year terms, one got a two-year term, and the other two got one-year terms.

I have also put the names of the candidates that I nominated for the Board in italics. Three – James D’Cruz, Jaci Janes, and Rob Beckman – were nominated by the Nominating Committee and all three won three year terms. The four, Todd Vandermyde, was on the ballot by petition. I am disappointed that he only won a one year term as he has brought a lot of street experience and wisdom from the trenches to the Legislative Policy Committee.

Sometimes there is no rhyme nor reason to where candidates end up on this list. Sometimes it is name recognition, sometimes it is the candidate’s private network of friends and associates, and sometimes it seems to be just plain chance.

Nonetheless, congratulations to all on this list. I look forward to working with you for the betterment of the NRA in the year or years to come.

UPDATE: From John Frazer:

Isaac Demarest has withdrawn from the 76th Director race.  That leaves Lynn Gipson as the only remaining runner-up who would be eligible for the 76th Director ballot, and he can therefore be deemed elected without the need to conduct balloting.

The revised results are below; please join us in congratulating Mr. Gipson on his election to the NRA Board.