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SIG Brings In The Big Guns

May 8, 2025 by

Many in the firearms community have heard of the reported issues with the SIG Sauer P320 regarding unintended discharges. Indeed, the Washington State Police Academy has banned the pistol’s use at their classes and ranges. SIG is hitting back with a website called “The Truth about the SIG P320”.

So amid all this controversy, I found a story that was sent to me by a good friend quite timely. It is from a newsletter put out by Politico called the Politico Insider. The lead story was about SIG Sauer hiring Chris Cox and his firm Capital 6 Advisors.

HIRED GUNS: Sig Sauer has added the gun lobby’s former top lobbyist to its lineup of outside firms. The German handgun maker and defense manufacturer retained Capitol 6 Advisors, the firm started by Chris Cox after stepping down as the chief lobbyist at the National Rifle Association, back in February, according to a newly filed disclosure.

— Capitol 6 Advisors’ Phil Hoon and Stephanie Gadbois are working on the account as well on issues related to small arms manufacturing, gun regulations and foreign military sales.

— Despite spending more than two decades at the NRA, Sig Sauer is the first gun manufacturer Cox has registered to lobby for since starting his firm in 2019. Sig Sauer also retains Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.

Politico Insider is wrong on when Chris was forced out by Wayne at the NRA. That was actually in June 2019. The NRA-ILA is now on its third Executive Director since Chris was forced out. .

Regardless of the actual cause of the P320 issues, SIG Sauer was smart to hire Capital 6 Advisors as Chris Cox really does know a little something about firearms.

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For North Carolinians – Ring Bell

May 5, 2025 by 1 Comment

Rep. John Bell IV (R-Wayne) is the chairman of the House Rules Committee. It is in his committee that HB5 – NC Constitutional Carry Act – is stuck. The Senate has already passed SB50 which is their version of the bill and HB5 has passed through the House Judiciary 2 Committee. All it needs for a floor vote is a positive vote in Rules.

Grass Roots North Carolina issued an alert yesterday evening asking for people to contact Bell’s office tomorrow and ask him to move the bill. If you read between the lines it is saying that GRNC-PVF will work hard to re-elect representatives like Tricia Cotham (R-Mecklenburg). Cotham, you may recall, was the the representative who switched from the Democrats to the Republicans after all the abuse she took for being absent on the day the veto override was held on the repeal of the pistol purchase permit. That she was being treated for long Covid didn’t matter to the progressive wing of the Democrats.

So put this on your to-do list for tomorrow morning:

LET’S RING JOHN’S “BELL” 
Said GRNC president Paul Valone, “Rules Chair John Bell, when asked about both permitless carry bills currently in his committee, gave the usual politician song-and-dance about how he “needs to be sure we can get 72 votes” to override Steins inevitable veto (which is not possible), further vacillating with Who will defend our members in marginal districts?“

My direct answer to Bell was, “You won’t know whether you get 72 votes until you take the vote, and the GRNC Political Victory will give cover to any House member in a marginal district who votes for it. We need a vote in the Rules Committee on permitless carry, Rep. Bell.

“Since he is apparently not convinced, it’s time “RING” Rep. Bell  and make sure you are heard LOUD & CLEAR, not by email, but by phone. Specifically, we would like you to call Rep. Bell’s office on Tuesday (May 6) between the hours of 9 AM and 11 AM. (If you can’t call then or miss it, call whenever you can.)

Deliver the following simple message, using voicemail if necessary: “Rep. Bell and other Republican leaders need to remember the gun voters who gave them their majority by giving an immediate hearing to permitless concealed carry in House Bill 5  and Senate Bill 50. We were denied permitless carry in 2023. We expect it in 2025.”
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED
CALL REP JOHN BELL! 

CONTACT NC House Republican John Bell by phone:   Specifically, we would like you to call Rep. Bell’s office on Tuesday (May 6) between the hours of 9 AM and 11 AM. (If you can’t call then or miss it, call whenever you can!)

Deliver the message below in the “Deliver This Message” Section.

DONATE TO GRNC: We are still low on funds after our highly successful election effort. Please donate by going to: grnc.org/wp/2012/06/donate-to-or-join-grnc/  

CONTACT INFORMATION

Below,  find a the phone number for Rep Bell. Beneath that, in the Deliver This Message section, find the suggested phone message.  Be respectful, but be short and to the point with your phone message/call!

NC HOUSE  REPUBLICAN John Bell

919-715-3017
DELIVER THIS MESSAGE

USE VOICEMAIL IF NECESSARY

“Rep. Bell and other Republican leaders need to remember the gun voters who gave them their majority by giving an immediate hearing to permitless concealed carry in  House Bill 5 and  Senate Bill 50. We were denied permitless carry in 2023. We expect it in 2025.”


Respectfully, [your name]

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A 2A Coalition Of The Willing

May 4, 2025 by

This is what I would call a 2A coalition of the willing. Willing to defend the Second Amendment and our rights under it. You have state groups that are affiliated with the NRA and state groups that are independent. You have a group that represents gun dealers. You have a couple of Second Amendment legal foundations. You have a group that advocates for the right of LGBTQ individuals to protect themselves. And you have the National Rifle Association.

They have come together to file an amicus curiae brief in support of Jason Wolford and his fellow petitioners as they seek a writ of certiorari to the US Supreme Court. This is the same case that the United States has filed an amicus brief in support of the petitioners who are challenging a Hawaii law that permits carry only on private premises that are explicit in allowing it. The Hawaii law is a challenge to the Bruen decision which said it was legal to be armed in public including on private premises. Traditionally, carry is curtailed on private property in which the owners post against it and not as the 180 degree approach of Hawaii.

This amicus curiae brief makes two major arguments. First, that the Hawaii law was invented to undermine the Bruen decision. Second, that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals misread historical precedents and relied upon outliers including a “black code” law from post-Civil War Louisiana.

The genesis of the panel’s second purported historical analogue is downright repugnant. After the Civil War, defeated Confederate states sought to enact racial apartheid. One such enactment was the 1865 Louisiana law on which the panel relied. As another court recognized in discussing this very law, Louisiana “created these laws as part of their discriminatory ‘Black Codes,’ which sought to deprive African Americans of their rights.” Kipke v. Moore, 695 F. Supp. 3d 638, 659 (D. Md. 2023) (citing McDonald
v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742, 850 (2010) (Thomas, J., concurring in the judgment)). The law was never
intended to be enforced against White residents.

I am greatly heartened to see these organizations working in concert on pro-Second Amendment litigation. I am especially pleased to see the NRA-ILA participating as it had gone its own way in past years and would have never cooperated with other groups like this in the Wayne LaPierre years.

Now it is time to extend this same level of cooperation to pro-Second Amendment legislation. It can’t come too soon.

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Meeting Of Members – Resolution Four

May 2, 2025 by 1 Comment

The fourth and final resolution of the day at the Meeting of Members was offered by Dan Cline. This resolution called out David Coy for his work as Vice-Chair of the Audit Committee. It offered several examples of what the author termed as failures and ultimately called for Mr. Coy to resign from the Board of Directors as a result of a vote of no confidence.

This resolution was defeated. Like with Resolution Two, it condemned past behavior and in my opinion the members attending wanted to move forward. While Mr. Coy remains on the Board of Directors, he was removed from the Audit Committee. Moreover, the Final Judgment in the New York trial specifies that no director who served on the Audit committee during the years 2014 through 2022 shall be elected to the Audit Committee.

Below is the resolution offered by Dan Cline:

I appreciate Dan for sending me a copy of his resolution when I requested it.

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Meeting of Members – Resolution Three

May 2, 2025 by 3 Comments

The third resolution considered at the 2025 Meeting of Members was offered by yours truly. It was my resolution calling for transparency by posting our Form 990s, an up-to-date version of the Bylaws, minutes of the Board of Directors meetings, and a list of Board committees with a listing of members. It also called for a feasibility study by the Board on livestreaming our Board of Directors meetings. Upon the advice of Amanda Suffecool, I kept the wording of the resolution as bare bones as I could.

Here is the resolution as submitted:

WHEREAS, the National Rifle Association as an effective organization that exists for the benefit of its members must be transparent in its actions, finances, and organizational rules;  and

WHEREAS, an enhanced commitment to transparency enhances and extends the official NRA Compliance Commitments to Members; and

WHEREAS, transparency is a critical component in reinvigorating membership; therefore be it

RESOLVED, that, on this 26th day of April, 2025, the members of the National Rifle Association of America here gathered at the Annual Meeting of Members in Atlanta, Georgia do hereby request the NRA Board of Directors to create a NRA members-only webpage; and

RESOLVED, that we, the members here gathered, further request the NRA Board of Directors to include on this NRA members-only webpage an up-to-date edition of the bylaws, the past three years of the organization’s IRS Form 990 filings, the  minutes of all Board of Directors (meetings) for the past year as well as all future meetings, and a list of all the Board committees including their membership ; and

RESOLVED, that we, the members here gathered, further request the NRA Board of Directors to investigate the feasibility of live-streaming Board meetings with a report of their findings to be published in the Official Journal.

If you have read my report or that of Stephen Gutowski in The Reload, you know that this resolution passed overwhelmingly. Not only did it pass but it was sent directly to the Board of Directors without referral to any committee. According to Stephen, he counted about six No votes.

What seemed to be the primary objection to my resolution was about the costs of doing this. I’d like to address this. First, every filing or document that I requested to be put on a webpage that could accessed by members only would have already been created by NRA staff. The only cost might be the less than hour time of the webmaster to upload the documents. Next, a members only portal does not need to be created as one already exists!

If you go to www.nra.org, you will see a link that leads to a Member Services page. See where I have circled in red.

Member services allows one to access their membership information and requires a log-on. You can set up your own User ID and Password as a first time user. I had forgotten my password so had to have it reset and it just took a call to toll-free number to do it. As you can see in the picture below where I have circled, the NRA’s Annual Compliance Report to Members is already there. Adding additional documents is no big deal.

What has been lost by the NRA in the last few years is trust. Transparency builds trust. Trust gets old members to return and encourages new people to join. Posting these documents is an easy and cost-effective first step in our efforts to rebuild trust in the organization.

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Meeting Of Members – Resolution Two

May 2, 2025 by

The second resolution offered at the 2025 NRA Meeting of Members was also by Ronald Andring, Sr. This resolution condemned the past collusion of the Executive VP of the NRA in manipulating the nomination and election process. As was revealed in both the New York AG’s trial and by the podcast Gangster Capitalism, Wayne LaPierre had sought to have a “friendly” Board of Directors elected. He did this by using monies from his budget to campaign for the 76th Director and by using his gatekeeper Millie Hallow as an intermediary between himself and the Nominating Committee.

This resolution, unlike Ron’s earlier resolution, was defeated. I spoke with Ron after the Meeting of Members and he was still satisfied despite not having both of his resolutions adopted. He was able to be heard and to get his information out into the public arena.

Andring Resolution No. 2 – 2025 Meeting of MembersDownload
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Meeting Of Members – Resolution One

May 2, 2025 by 4 Comments

Ronald Andring, Sr. offered the first resolution to be discussed at the 2025 NRA Meeting of Members. The resolution dealt with conflicts of interest and offered an amendment to the NRA Bylaws. Accompanying his resolution was a compilation of insider payments. I have embedded both of these below.

There was considerable discussion of Ron’s resolution. As discussed in my post on the Meeting of Members, the resolution was eventually forwarded to the Bylaws & Resolutions Committee for consideration and further refinement. While many resolutions in the past have been forwarded to that committee to die a quiet death, I do not think that will be the case here. Part of the reason is that the referral was done by a paper ballot vote by the members assembled. A long time observer noted this was the first time she has seen this happening in over 25 years of attending these meetings. The second part of the reason is that it was requested that Ron be appointed to the Bylaws & Resolutions Committee to work specifically on this bylaw amendment.

Andring – Resolution No. 1 – 2025 Meeting of MembersDownload
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Running By Petition Enters 21st Century

May 1, 2025 by 11 Comments

One of the stumbling blocks to get on the ballot for NRA Board of Directors by petition was that it required the candidate to get signatures in ink on a paper petition. Judge Joel Cohen referred to this in the New York trial as “antiquated” and “20th Century”.

He was correct and he said in his Final Order that an online alternative must be offered. With the petition process opening at approximately 2pm on Saturday at the close of the Meeting of Members, candidates can now gather petition signatures either the old fashioned way on paper or through electronic signatures. They just need to send a request to NRA Secretary John Frazer for the petition packet and an online petition link. Just email Mr. Frazer at john.frazer@nrahq.org

My longtime friend and fellow Board member Amanda Suffecool agreed to be one of the trial candidates. Both the Complementary Spouse and I have signed her petition. It could not be easier as you can do it on a smart phone, a tablet, or a regular computer. It just asks for name, address, and membership number. Then you sign with your mouse or finger tip, hit submit, and it is done.

Here is Amanda’s petition. If you are a NRA Voting Member (life or five year continuous annual member), please sign!

My good friend Todd Vandermyde has decided to run again. He just barely missed being elected and we need people like Todd on the Board. I could really see him shaking up the Legislative Policy Committee given his decades of experience as a 2A lobbyist in the lion’s den of the Illinois General Assembly.

Here is Todd’s petition.

If you know of other reform minded activists who wish to run by petition, let them know how to obtain the link. I think this is a change that needed to come. One advantage to using the online petition is that candidates know how many signatures have been gathered and they know they are valid so long as the system accepts them. If they run into issues, they should contact the Office of the Secretary. The NRA’s records could have had the signer’s name misspelled.

One final note: Candidates will need 363 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. According to the Bylaws Article VIII, Sec. 3(b), there is a limit of five candidates qualifying by petition per state. If more than five qualify, then it will be the top five in terms of numbers of signatures obtained.

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2025 NRA Elected Committees And Appointees

April 30, 2025 by 2 Comments

One of the key agenda items on Monday’s Board of Directors meeting was the election of officers and election of members of various committees of the board. The latter is different from a regular committee because under New York Non-Profit Corporation Law, committees of the board have the delegated authority of the Board of Directors and can bind the Board. The committees elected during this meeting include the Executive Committee, the Nominating Committee, and the Audit Committee. Also elected were trustees for the Special Contribution Fund (aka Whittington Center) and the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund.

NRA In Danger has covered the election of the officers so I would refer you there for more details. Suffice it to say, it was a good day there for NRA 2.0.

With the exception of the Audit Committee and the trustees of the NRA CRDF, all were highly contested and all involved multiple rounds of voting as each person elected must have achieved a majority during that round of voting. For example, if a round of voting had 64 ballots cast, only candidates who achieved 32 votes or more would have been elected. Thus, if the leading candidate got 31 votes, they were not elected. What usually happened is that the lower vote getters would voluntarily remove themselves from contention and we would have another round of voting.

Italics indicate ex officio and names in bold generally indicate they are and were part of NRA 2.0.

Executive Committee

  • Bill Bachenberg* – Chairman
  • Mark Vaughan*
  • Rocky Marshall*
  • Thomas Arvas
  • Bob Barr
  • Charles Beers III
  • Anthony Colandro
  • Todd Ellis
  • Al Hammond
  • Craig Haggard
  • Maria Heil
  • Charles Hiltunen
  • Robert Mansell
  • Buz Mills
  • Janet Nyce
  • James Porter II
  • David Raney
  • Barbara Rumpel
  • Amanda Suffecool
  • Craig Swartz
  • Linda Walker
  • Bruce Widener
  • Robert Wos

The Nominating Committee is composed of six Board members and three Non-Board members. All seats on the Nominating Committee were won by those proposed by the NRA 2.0 side. Italics indicate Non-Board members.

Nominating Committee

  • Cam Edwards 
  • Al Hammond
  • Maria Heil
  • Robbie Love
  • Mitzy McCorvey
  • Buz Mills
  • Janet Nyce
  • Susan Springhorn
  • Robert Wos

Special Contribution Fund (Whittington Center) Trustees for Terms Ending in 2028

  • Al Hammond 
  • Robert Mansell
  • Barbara Rumpel
  • Craig Swartz

NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund Trustees for Terms Ending in 2028

Finally, there is the Audit Committee which is now a committee of the board as specified by Item 7 in the Final Order of the New York trial. Each member of the committee was proposed, one by one, by President Bill Bachenberg. After each proposed member was named, the Board had the opportunity to accept or reject the candidate. No one was rejected. Once all five were seated, the Audit Committee officially became an elected committee of the board.

Audit Committee

  1. Charlie Beers
  2. Rocky Marshall
  3. Jonathan Goldstein
  4. Theresa Inacker
  5. John Richardson

Obviously, you will notice that I was elected to the Audit Committee. The best way I can put it is that I wasn’t looking for the Audit Committee but the Audit Committee was looking for me. I would also like to point out that while Charlie Beers has not usually been associated with “the reformers”, his was the first name proposed for this committee at a caucus of the NRA 2.0 team given the exemplary job he has done on the committee previously.

The reformers are firmly in charge and it is up to us to revitalize, reinvigorate, and reform the NRA. You saw it at the Meeting of Members and you can see the results from the Board meeting. It isn’t perfect but it is more than a good start. Last year was the start and now we are moving into the next stage where we solidified the leadership changes begun in 2024. We still have a long road in front of us and need, as Frank Tait has written, to show members and potential members that there is a value in being a NRA member again. I think there is or I would haven’t bothered running.

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The Fall Of Saigon Plus 50 Years

April 30, 2025 by

One thing I have found about getting older is that events that happened even half a century ago seem almost like yesterday. The Fall of Saigon is one of those events. Perhaps it was because it was an event closer to me than most as my father served two tours of duty in South Vietnam.

I came across an interesting website that details the Fall of Saigon from the perspective of the US Diplomatic Corps. It is part of the National Museum of American Diplomacy and is well worth reading.

My friend Danny posted this to Twitter/X today. It was the last message sent out from the US Embassy in Saigon.

It was hoped for a long time that the evacuation at the Fall of Saigon was the last of its sort. As we unfortunately saw during the withdrawal from Afghanistan, it was not.