by There are good people on the Board running for re-election and there are newcomers who need to be on the Board. This set of endorsements features two of each. The incumbents are Charlie Hiltuenen and Amanda Suffecool while the two newcomers are Huey Laugesen and Randy Luth.
Given the recent resignations from the Board, I have no doubt that they will be elected but I think it is important that they get three year terms. This will assure some continuity on the Board as we go forward with the necessary reforms.
Charlie Hiltunen
Charlie won the 76th Director spot in 2025 and most certainly needs to win a 3-year term. He is the chair of the Legislative Policy Committee and you could not ask for a better chair for that committee. His experience as a lawyer, lobbyist, and legislative counsel for over 40 years brings a lot to the table in that committee and serves as a valuable counterpoint to staff. More importantly, he is committed to reform. He provides answers to a lot of top questions on his campaign’s FAQ page. In addition to the NRA Board, Charlie is the president of the Indiana State Rifle & Pistol Association.
Charlie is a Hoosier by both education and upbringing. He brings that midwestern sensibility to what he does on the Board and in his professional life. I am proud to endorse him for a 3-year term on the Board of Directors.
Huey Laugesen
Huey is the Executive Director of the Colorado Shooting Sports Association. He is on the ballot by petition and I was happy to support his petition drive.
I serve on the Membership Committee with Huey and I am convinced he is someone who needs to be on the Board for a variety of reasons. First, he has successfully increased the membership of the CSSA by 170% in the last two years. His use of targeted mailings in that state should be used as a guide by the NRA.
Second, Huey is on the frontlines in the battle for the Second Amendment in Colorado. That state is a prime example of how a state can go from good to bad in a short time. His organization along with the Mountain States Legal Foundation is fighting back against Colorado’s permit to purchase scheme with a lawsuit in Federal court.
Finally, Huey brings youth to the Board and will help us find ways to attract Millennials and Gen Z’ers to the NRA. That said, Colorado State Representative Ava Flanell who I met at the Gun Rights Policy Conference said of Huey that he was “an old soul.” By that, she meant he was wise beyond his years.
Randy Luth
Randy has been in the firearms industry for a long time. He founded and then sold DPMS Panther Arms. He later started Luth-AR which is the current company he heads. The Nominating Committee set their priorities which included those from the firearms industry, those involved in competition, and those with financial experience. Randy brings those to the table in spades!
More importantly, Randy has been committed to NRA reform for a long time. He was one of the first in the firearms industry to call out publicly the grifting of Wayne and his cronies. He also called for new leadership and urged the firearms industry to withhold financial contributions until such time as it came about.
The bottom line is that Randy stood up when few in his position would. For that and many other reasons, Randy has my vote.
Amanda Suffecool
I was first introduced to Amanda at the SHOT Show in the mid 20-teens and we have been friends ever since. She and I were for a long time co-hosts of the Polite Society Podcast until Paul Lathrop decided to bring it to a close. I have appeared on her nationally syndicated Eye on the Target Radio show a number of times.
Amanda is currently chair of the NRA Media Committee which was the merger of the former Publications and Public Affairs Committee. However, she is much more than that. She is an engineer, a trainer, an activist, a shooter, and a fashionista. She worked as a manufacturing and quality engineer with multiple industrial companies until her retirement. Amanda is certified in multiple NRA training areas. As an activist, she has been a leader in Women for Gun Rights aka The DC Project as well as chair of the Portage County (Ohio) GOP party. She was a delegate to the 2024 RNC Convention. Oh, and that fashionista thing, if you haven’t been to one of her concealed carry fashion shows, you are missing out.
In 2023 when Amanda first ran and was elected to the NRA Board of Directors, I did not endorse her. It was a strategic thing as I felt an endorsement would hurt her chances of being elected given my outspoken criticism of the NRA. Indeed, I made no endorsements that year but I did vote for her. This year I am very happy to give Amanda my endorsement for another 3-year term. She, like Rob Beckman, is double nominated and that is a credit to her for seeking nomination both ways.
This is off topic, and I’m sure requires a separate post; but I’m interested on your thoughts about the NRA Foundation lawsuit. I’m not sure how much you know and what you can publicly say, but I would appreciate what comment you can give.
I have read the complaint and I know a bit of the backstory. However, we have been asked not to comment on this ongoing litigation.
For a good overview and some of the backstory, I would send you to Jeff Knox’s article in Ammoland on this. He did clear this with the officers before he posted it.
https://www.ammoland.com/2026/01/nra-sues-the-nra-foundation-as-internal-power-struggle-freezes-program-funding/
Thank you John. The suspicious of my brain expects the Foundation to hire Brewer and Associates to represent them. And we’ve seen how that movie plays out.
My last issue of Shooting Illustrated claimed to be my last one ever, any idea how I will be receiving my NRA ballot going forward? It always came in my NRA magazine.
Finally, an easy question! You will now be getting either American Rifleman or American Hunter as your magazine. The ballot will be in the February issue.
If you have not selected which magazine to switch to, go to https://www.nramemberservices.org/. I did that for my wife yesterday who also was receiving Shooting Illustrated. I think the default is going to be the American Rifleman.
Anyone who only gets the magazines digitally will get their ballot in a mailed copy of the American Rifleman. Last year the NRA saved over $100,000 in postage by mailing the ballots in the magazine to digital subscribers as opposed to mailing it to them First Class.
BTW Ed Friedman is coming over from Shooting Illustrated to be the new Editor-in-Chief of American Rifleman. I know some of the other writers like Richard Mann will now have columns there as well.
I’m helping the NRA save even more because while I waited to see if there would be any effort to learn more about the interests & demographics of the nearly million of us members who opted for SI or AFF to see what we prefer, I ultimately gave up and decided to go to no magazine at all.
Honestly, neither of the remaining are my interests, and Amanda confirmed it was based on raw numbers only and not strategic analysis of messaging and demographic targets. Even among the limited demographic data they had in the EOY 2024 ad sales documents, it’s clear that neither remaining serves “my people” in NRA. I’m assuming I’ll get a mailed ballot.
Nearly 1,000,000 members could have helped kickstart those internal marketing opportunities with just a few questions to start learning a little more.