by I received a press release earlier this week from Roy Hill of Brownells. Reading through it I was struck that this was not something you would have seen in earlier times. Bear in mind that Pete Brownell served as president of the NRA from May 2017 until May 2018 and was an officer and member of the board prior to that.
The release was about a donation made by Brownells to the Firearms Policy Coalition.
Brownells is proud to announce it has become a Benefactor Member of the Firearms Policy Coalition Constitution Alliance.
Brownells joins other well-known firearms industry companies such as Daniel Defense and Silencer Shop to stand with the Firearms Policy Coalition in defense and support of constitutionally-guaranteed Second Amendment rights for all Americans.
Founded in 2015, the FPC’s main mission is to protect and defend constitutional rights—especially the right to keep and bear arms— often by filing lawsuits against egregious anti-gun-rights laws and regulations.
Recently, FPC filed a lawsuit challenging the unconstitutional New Jersey restrictions and local practices that prevent its residents from exercising their right to carry loaded handguns in public for self-defense. Additionally, FPC has recently filed lawsuits in Nevada, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Illinois, and Tennessee.
“FPC has stood in the Breach to defend our 2A rights for years. They have stacked up an impressive list of legal wins that keeps the individual right to bear arms alive in America,” said Brownells Chairman Pete Brownell. “Now is the time to double down in supporting our Second Amendment Rights by supporting FPC.”
“It is an honor to have earned the support of Pete Brownell and the Brownells family,” said FPC president Brandon Combs. “Brownells is not only a world-class supplier of constitutionally protected products, it is an institution in our culture. Because of the generous support of our individual FPC Grassroots Army members and growing family of Constitution Alliance benefactors, like our friends at Brownells, our FPC Team is able to aggressively address important issues and protect individuals’ rights, freedoms, and property without hesitation. FPC will proudly continue to Fight Forward for the People and their rights, liberty, and property.”
So far in 2021, Brownells has donated around $175,000 to the FPC.
As I see it, the move by Brownells is an indication of two things. First, it is a testimony to how far the FPC has come in a short time. Second, and what really struck me, is that Brownells which has a long history with the NRA has chosen to send their money elsewhere.
Perhaps I’m mistaken but I see this as a way for Brownells to continue their support for the Second Amendment while distancing themselves from the NRA and all of its self-inflicted problems.
I agree with this move completely. I think it’s very smart.
Even if the NRA gets past it’s current issues, at the moment, why donate money to an organization that is spending most of it’s budget on the legal fees associated with defending itself against charges related to its own mismanagement.
Much more bang for the buck donating to organizations that are still concentrating on the battle to defend the rights that Brownell’s depends upon for its survival.
Frankly, any commercial entity that is still frittering their money way on the NRA in the current environment doesn’t engender much confidence in me regarding their business acumen.
Loyalty, yes…smarts, not so much.
This is great to see! Every time I order from MidwayUSA I decline the offer to “round up” for NRA and leave a comment asking them to give me the choice for another gun rights org such as FPC.
Yep, smart move on Brownell’s part!
….and Sig has just committed to a multi-year UGE donation to SAF.
Seems more like a competitor with the 2AF than a replacement for the NRA.
I can’t speak for motivations, but in my opinion it’s not about replacing the NRA.
It’s about investing capital in the most effective manner. Right now investing capital in the NRA is not effective because they are spending a huge part of their budget on legal fees and there is no end in sight.
The law firm they’re paying these huge fees to has done nothing but blunder after blunder and loss after loss, and they’re getting rich off their failures.
Until this is over, if the NRA survives (and hopefully is under new management), the NRA is effectively hobbled as a political organization and throwing money at them is a waste if your goal is to have your money used to advocate for the Second Amendment.
From there, it’s a matter of deciding which of the other national 2A organization(s) best align(s) with your corporate interests. This could be considered competition, but is that a bad thing? Competition keeps organizations on their toes. Knowing that they could lose donors and investors to someone else if they slack off keeps them working hard to be good stewards of the donations they’re entrusted with.
It’s exactly that lack of competition that facilitated the NRA devolving into a cash cow for a few people high in the leadership.
Don’t disagree with your idea about competition. That was really the only justification for the existence of GOA. Unfortunately, they aren’t very good at it. I do worry about the future as the NRA shrinks into irrelevance or worse because there is no one else to pick up the slack politically. 2AF does a good job on litigation but that is a different niche. If NRA continues to resist reform, it is going to have to be replaced.