NRA

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NRA Moves Of Note

March 16, 2023 by 7 Comments

Two interesting developments concerning the NRA crossed my desk today. One was expected in the sense that the position had to be filled and the other has me wondering.

First, Randy Kozuch has been appointed to be the Interim Director of the NRA-ILA. The position had to be filled with someone after Jason Ouimet left as the Director of the ILA. There are boards and foundations within the NRA that specify the Director of the ILA must be a member. If I remember correctly, Kozuch was a candidate for the position when Chris Cox resigned. He had served as ILA head of state and local affairs.

According to the press release, Kozuch has been with the NRA for 29 years and had “overseen state lobbying efforts in all 50 state legislatures and served as the primary point of contact between NRA and the nation’s governors and state constitutional officers.” I will leave that statement there as is and refrain from any comments on his effectiveness in North Carolina.

The second development is of far more interest. A “Dear Director” email went out today from former NRA President David Keene. Under the current bylaws (Article V, Sec. 1 (a)), the president of the NRA “may not succeed himself or herself more than once, after being elected to serve a full term.” There is an exception made in the bylaws for the late Charlton Heston who was allowed to succeed himself up to four times.

A resolution is being submitted by Carol Frampton and Joel Friedman that would waive this limitation for current NRA President Charles Cotton and allow him to serve a third one-year term as President. The email from Keene is below:

Dear Fellow NRA Director.

This morning’s mail brought a copy of the resolution submitted by Carol Frampton and Joel Friedman to extend NRA President Charles Cotton’s term for another year. We will be asked to vote on this resolution at the Indianapolis Board meeting and it is my hope that you will join me in supporting it.

As a former NRA President, I can tell you that during challenging times, I know of no one in that job who would want an additional year on the firing line, but sometimes sacrifices are necessary for the good of the association membership and the Second Amendment. As a competent and careful attorney, himself, Charles has been a steady helmsman during the legal battles in which we have been enmeshed during his term. These battles should wind down over the course of the next year and he should be there to serve our interests during this crucial period. He deserves our thanks not just for what he’s accomplished thus far but for his willingness to allow us to ask him to carry on for another year.

David A. Keene

I find this quite interesting. It engenders a lot of questions as to the reasons behind this move. I don’t have any answers to them. Cotton’s term as President would normally end in April at the next Board meeting. At that time, First VP Willes Lee would be the successor to Cotton as President and David Coy would move into Lee’s position. A new Second VP would be selected at that time.

One potential reason, and the most innocent, is that the terms of office were interrupted during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021. The Annual Meeting happened later in the year which screwed things up a bit.

It could also be that Wayne and Brewer prefer to keep Cotton in the position while the New York proceedings are active. As Brewer plays Rasputin to Wayne’s Czar Nicholas II, this is believable. The shots are being called by Brewer and the Board does what they are told to do by Wayne.

Another alternative is that there is a faction who want to prevent Willes Lee from assuming the position of President of the NRA. His past actions as the leadership’s number two hatchet man (Marion Hammer holds the number one position) are coming back to bite him. I have referred to Lee as the Spiro Agnew of the NRA in the past. While that might be an insult to Agnew, Lee has served that role as Agnew did Nixon.

In the end, if this email is being sent out now, it is a fait accompli or done deal. The overwhelming majority of the Board does what it is told like obedient children. There are only a few members who have rocked the boat and they will be off the Board come the Annual Meeting. The sad thing is I have more faith in NY Assistant AG Monica Connell to represent the members of the NRA than I do in the Board.

UPDATE: Here is a copy of the actual resolution. It is a screen shot.

The resolution has been added to the agenda of the Bylaws and Resolutions Committee.

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Bleg On NRA Annual Membership Renewal

March 14, 2023 by

The Complementary Spouse has a five-year membership that will expire next month. On the assumption that there will be a NRA next year, I want to renew her membership so she will now be a voting member.

I seem to remember in the comments that she could get a discount through a NRA Recruiter. If this is correct and you are a NRA Recruiter, please contact me. I don’t want the membership to lapse and have to restart the five year clock all over again.

Thanks.

You can send the email to gunsandmoneyblog AT gmail DOT com.

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A Precursor To Selling The NRA HQ Building?

February 28, 2023 by 6 Comments

A good friend was sent a listing for leased office space in the NRA headquarters building by a commercial real estate broker. The broker suggested that it was the precursor to selling the building. That confused me a bit so I did some more digging.

I found the leased space listing on at least five websites serving the commercial real estate market in the Metro DC area. It was on Loopnet.com, Propertyshark.com, Cityfeet.com, and CommercialCafe.com in addition to CommercialSearch.com. The listings in all five were virtually identical.

From CommercialEdge:

There is currently one space available at 11250 Waples Mill Road. The building’s general use is office. The space listed for lease is described as general office. Current availability totals 8,977 square feet. Of this, minimum divisible area is 8,977 square feet. The listed lease rate is $30.00/SF/YR.

The space is on the 3rd floor. According to the FAQ, this is the only space available for lease in the NRA headquarters building. All five of the listings note that the building was updated in 2022 and emphasize its location. However, none of the listings nor any of the photos indicate that it is the NRA headquarters building. The big red NRA letters are on the other side of the building.

I reached out to a commercial real estate broker with a large firm here in North Carolina for his opinion. Lee was aware of the listings above. He took note that it was the only space available for lease in the building. Given that, he said, having a full occupancy makes a building more attractive to buyers. Or as he put it, “Lease it up first to then sell.” I mentioned the building’s condition and he said the tenants will make them fix the roof before they’d lease it. I imagine a seller would do the same or use it to really whittle down the price.

As can be seen in the photo below of the ceiling of the building’s atrium, there is still damage left from the leaking roof. While the powers that be assert they have fixed the roof, I think that is questionable. The photo below was taken within the past month or so (update based on metadata – May 2022)

I submitted a resolution at the 2022 Meeting of Members to address the issue of the headquarters building’s condition. I was told an independent inspection would be a waste of money by director Ron Schmeits and the problem was being addressed. The resolution went down to defeat as might be expected. I asked for an independent inspection because I frankly didn’t trust the majority of the board to do more than pay lip service to it. Obviously, I was correct.

The board has authorized a search committee to explore a move to Texas. They may even vote on finalizing a move at the board meeting after the conclusion of the NRA Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. Selling the Virginia headquarters building would certainly fit into that move. However, the question remains how they can afford to fix the building, buy or lease a new one in Texas, move everything, and do it given the state of their finances. Even if they can sell the building, the monies realized would only pay off the existing over-extended line of credit. Unlike the gun control lobby, there is no sugar daddy billionaire waiting in the wings to rescue the NRA.

UPDATE: I was told by Frank Tait that the Board of Directors voted in January 2020 to sell the Headquarters Building. If memory serves me correctly, that meeting was before the Covid-19 pandemic hit its stride and everything shut down. (Correction – the vote to sell was not the HQ building but adjacent 2-story brick office buildings located at 11244 Waples Mill Rd. They are also owned by the NRA. Their combined assessment is $2 million. Frank reports it has now been taken off the market. The HQ is 11250 Waples Mill Rd.)

The normal thing to do when trying to sell a house – or a building in this case – is to spiff it up and get it in top-notch shape in order to receive the best offer. While I grant you that the pandemic shut-down was in full force, building maintenance workers and contractors were considered essential employees. Unfortunately, maintenance of the Headquarters Building was obviously put off and damage resulted. This is mismanagement at its worst because it is letting a valuable asset erode in value.

UPDATE II: I was wrong on the date of the atrium photo. Checking the meta-data on the original, it was taken in May 2022. A friend who visited the NRA HQ on business within the last two weeks assures me that while the atrium is closed, the damage to the ceiling has been repaired. It was also noted that the roof is in much better shape.

It has been brought up that the building has had a number of outside leasees. That is not denied. However, it was the ad that in the professional opinion of a commercial real estate broker was to be considered a precursor to a sale. I confirmed this with another broker with whom I have a trusted working relationship.

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Guest Post By Rocky Marshall

January 25, 2023 by 1 Comment

Roscoe “Rocky” Marshall is a former member of the NRA Board of Directors. More importantly, he is an experienced business executive. He is now founder and CEO of Frontier Truck Gear. Prior to that, he served as president of two subsidiaries of oil field services giant Baker Hughes which is a Fortune 150 company. In other words, he can drill down into an income statement or balance sheet to get to the real health of an organization. What he has to say below is not encouraging as to the health of the NRA.

Rocky had sought to be an intervenor in the lawsuit brought by the Attorney General of New York against the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, John Frazier, Woody Phillips, and Josh Powell. He sought to do so to be an advocate for the members of the NRA as it seems no one is actively representing their interests before the court as opposed to the interests of LaPierre and company. His motion was ultimately denied. I met Rocky in person at the 2022 NRA Annual Meeting and have corresponded with him extensively. What he is saying below is not some spur of the moment comment. He has been reading the tea leaves and saying this exact thing for some time now.

The Late Great National Rifle Association R.I.P. by Former NRA Director Rocky Marshall
To NRA Members: IT IS OVER!


The NRA’s financials are spiraling rapidly towards insolvency, and the future appears bleak for
the survivability of the NRA which may be forced into bankruptcy (for real this time) in the
coming months. The next and final chapter for the NRA will be in a bankruptcy court where a
Judge will likely appoint a “Receiver” to take control of the assets of the NRA.


The NRA has been thriving for over 150 years; but will likely not survive to the end of this year.
This once great organization is now facing dissolution as the direct result of malfeasance by
Wayne LaPierre and the impotent Board of Directors (BOD). Undoubtedly, key management
personnel including Wayne Lapierre, Wilson Phillips, and others will likely face criminal charges
for embezzlement, fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and other charges.


The NRA in the coming months will not be able to pay outstanding bills or maintain staff to
fulfill the mission due to the rapid decline of donations by members. In 2016, NRA revenues
reached a peak of $367 million and currently is projected to receive $200 million for the current
fiscal year 2022. The collapse in donations is directly related to the revelations that the NRA
Management misused millions of dollars of donations for personal benefit. The misuse of NRA
monies by NRA Management and the BOD has been reported as far back as 1998 when a
complaint was filed by NRA Directors with the FEC.1


A question that is often repeated is: “Why did the NRA BOD allow Wayne Lapierre and others to
misuse the donations and defraud the members?” The most obvious answer is because a few
key Directors were being paid. From 2002 through 2020, over $10 million dollars have been
paid directly or indirectly to NRA Directors. A secondary issue is that NRA Directors were not
informed and also routinely presented false information by NRA Officers and Management in
order to hide the truth. During my tenure as an NRA Director, I was routinely denied access to
information and also received blatantly untrue information from NRA officers. The NRA BOD
has not provided proper fiduciary oversight of the NRA for decades. The NRA BOD could have
easily stopped the fraud and mismanagement by Wayne LaPierre (and others) but instead
chose to ignore the obvious illegal activities. The BOD audit committee (chaired by the current
President Charles Cotton) approved transactions retro actively without BOD approval.


The current lawsuit from the New York Attorney General will likely not go to trial; but instead,
will be superseded by a forced bankruptcy. The negative press reports from these legal filings
will continue to drive donors away and revenues will decline. As a former Director for the NRA,
I have researched the complaints by the New York Attorney General and found all charges to be
true. I could not identify a single charge that was untrue or exaggerated. As has been
reported, Wayne Lapierre has admitted to several of the charges in the previous bankruptcy
trial in Dallas.


Historians and columnists will report in future years that the NRA was destroyed from within by
the greed of NRA Management Wayne LaPierre, Woody Phillips, (and others) and also by the
lack of oversight by the NRA Board of Directors. Collectively this group has destroyed the most
valuable gun rights organization on the planet.

  1. Weldon H. Clark Jr. FEC Complaint 1998 (https://www.fec.gov/files/legal/murs/4865/00001F57.pdf)
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NRA Wants Jury Trial In NYC

January 9, 2023 by 1 Comment

Initially, it was only the New York Office of Attorney General that was asking for a jury trial in the lawsuit against the NRA and the four defendants. However, that was a demand for jury trial on only some issues. Even though it was only on some issues, finding a jury in Manhattan that would sympathetic to a case against the NRA shouldn’t be too hard.

Today, the blog NRA In Danger reports that in response the NRA along with Wayne LaPierre and John Frazer have demanded a jury trial on all issues.

From the Demand for Trial by Jury filed by Svetlana Eisenberg on behalf of the NRA:

Therefore, the National Rifle Association of America (the “NRA”) hereby demands a trial by jury of all issues triable of right by a jury, including, but not limited to, issues of fact related to each element of (i) Plaintiff’s claims; and (ii) the NRA’s defenses. The NRA asserts this demand pursuant to, inter alia, (i) Section 2 of Article I of the Constitution of the State of New York; (ii) Section 18 of Article VI of the Constitution of the State of New York; (iii) Section 112(b)(1) of Not-For-Profit Corporation Law; and (iv) article 41 of Civil Practice Law and Rules (the “CPLR”) (including Sections 4101 and 4102 of the CPLR).

WTF?!

I have to agree 100% with NRA In Danger when they wrote:

This is insanity, we can find no other word for it, and our attorney friends agree. The judge seems actually to be impartial and concerned with doing the right thing. Why would NRA and LaPierre demand to be tried instead by a Manhattan jury? If we searched, could we find a worse group to try NRA?

I can think of no rationale reason for the NRA to demand a jury trial. The only person who benefits is Bill Brewer as he runs up the billings. Did the NRA Board of Directors even have any input into this? Or is it still the Special Litigation Committee making the decisions?

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The Frenkel Report

December 2, 2022 by 4 Comments

From what I can gather, the Frenkel Report was a confidential document prepared by an outside attorney for the NRA in approximately 2003. The attorney’s name was Jacob Frenkel. His specialty is conducting internal investigations and providing white collar criminal defense. The report in question concerned expenditures by Wayne LaPierre for travel as well as multi-million dollar payments to favored vendors. This report was provided to the Audit Committee and then laid dormant until recently.

The blog NRA In Danger has done great work in bringing out the testimony and legal wrangling over disclosure of this report. The NRA wants the document kept sealed contending that it is covered by attorney-client privilege while the New York AG’s office and the Special Master disagree.

Judge Joel Cohen agrees with the Special Master and the NYAG regarding the sealing of the document.

From NRA In Danger:

The ruling was that the NRA attorneys screwed up and waived the argument by not raising it earlier. “The NRA’s piecemeal approach to raising objections to producing this document is inefficient. and inappropriate. All objections to production should have been raised and litigated in connection with the prior motion. Those that were not argued are waived. The fact that the NRA purported to reserve the right to assert additional objections at a later date does not make it so.”

The court adds that the objection would have lost anyway. Attorney-client privilege is lost if the client shares the document with non-attorneys, and NRA shared it with its accountants. “In any event, even if the privilege objection is considered timely, it is unavailing. The Report was, by design, shared with a third party, namely PricewaterhouseCoopers. Any privilege that otherwise might have attached to this document was waived.”

Again, Brewer, Attorneys and Counselors, have lost in court and the NRA has racked up even more legal bills.

More on the Frenkel Report can be found here and here. As NRA In Danger notes, whatever is in that 19 year report must be “really hot”. If I had to speculate and this is all it is, the report must be enough to at least bring criminal charges against Wayne along with potential liability to both the current President and 2nd VP of the NRA who have served on the Audit Committee.

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Adam Kraut Joins SAF As Executive Director

October 26, 2022 by

I have known Adam Kraut for a few years now. I supported him in his runs for the NRA Board of Directors even though Marion Hammer considered him “the enemy within”. I think one of the smartest moves he made in the past was opting not to fill out a term on the NRA Board of Directors in lieu of becoming the FPC’s Director of Legal Strategy which later became the VP for Programs. He left the Firearms Policy Coalition in August to be a sole practitioner.

On Monday, it was announced that Adam would be the new Executive Director of the Second Amendment Foundation. He will be doing that full time.

From the announcement:

Kraut brings almost a decade of experience in the Second Amendment realm as a litigator and educator. Throughout his career, Kraut has represented individuals, companies, and institutional plaintiffs in state and federal litigation and regulatory matters.

In addition to his legal background, Kraut draws management experience from his time in the non-profit world, where he was responsible for overseeing the programmatic functions of a liberty-based non-profit, which concentrated on Second Amendment issues. He also managed a federal firearms licensee. Kraut comes with a variety of media experience, having written for publications such as Recoil magazine, Recoil Web, and other online publications, writing and hosting a YouTube series, hosting and appearing as guest on multiple podcasts, and appearing on television.

Alan Gottlieb, SAF’s founder and Executive VP, had this to say on the appointment:

“We’re delighted to have Adam coming aboard at a time when our legal activities are greatly expanding,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “He brings a wealth of experience to the position, at a critical time when we are challenging an array of restrictive gun control laws that clearly have restrained peaceable, law-abiding citizens while accomplishing nothing in the effort to reduce violent crime.

“Adam has been a SAF Life Member since 2013,” Gottlieb added. “He has a keen understanding of our mission, our history and our effort to win firearms freedom, one lawsuit at a time. We are proud to bring him aboard to fill an important role as we ramp up our fight to restore and expand the Second Amendment as the cornerstone of our Constitution.”

In accepting the position, Adam acknowledged the legacy of the Second Amendment Foundation and said he looked forward to continuing developing more cases to bring to the Supreme Court “to ensure the right to keep and bear arms is restored to its original meaning.”

I think this is a great selection. While not said out loud, I think Alan Gottlieb is looking to build a succession plan for SAF. Contrast that with Wayne LaPierre and the NRA where any thoughts of a succession plan are quickly stomped out. Healthy organizations look to succession; unhealthy organizations actively resist it.

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Personnel Changes At NRA

October 4, 2022 by 4 Comments

The blog NRA In Danger is reporting that Millie Hallow and Tyler Schropp have left the NRA.

Mrs. Hallow was the Managing Director of Executive Operations. Her primary function seems to have been as the gatekeeper for Wayne LaPierre as willing to lie for him when needed. I should note that Mrs. Hallow is a prohibited person insomuch as she is a convicted felon. I reported on that in 2019 when it came to light she had been convicted of embezzlement while serving as the Executive Director of the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities.

I have had confirmation from another source that Mrs. Hallow is out. There is no word on whether she received a golden parachute or was required to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Additionally, it is not known if she left willingly or was pushed out the door.

Tyler Schropp served as the Executive Director for Advancement. I have not received confirmation from a second source that he has left the NRA. If and when I do, I will update this post.

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2023 NRA Board Nominations Released

August 31, 2022 by 1 Comment

The list of people nominated by the Nominations Committee for the 2023 Board of Directors election has been released. Comparing the list below to the candidates who ran in 2020, you find 21 of the 2023 nominees are repeats. A couple more – James Chapman and Isaac Demerest – are board members elected in subsequent years.

It goes without saying that Frank Tait was not nominated. He has indicated he will not be running by petition this time. Also not nominated were Judge Phil Journey and Graham Hill. Given that Journey has been treated as a persona non grata since the bankruptcy filing, his not being re-nominated is not a surprise. It is surprising that Graham Hill who finished 8th in 2020 was not re-nominated as he had served on the board for 15 years and had been an Executive Committee member in the past. One rumor that I heard is that the NRA’s outside counsel didn’t want any attorneys on the board other than NRA President Charles Cotton.

Included as new nominees are Rick Ector and Amanda Suffecool who have done great work at the grass roots level. With the exception of Charles Beers III, I don’t know anything about the rest.

As to Beers, he was the person who offered the resolution at the Meeting of Members that declared “profound support for the past, present, and future leadership of its Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre.” If you read the review of the Annual Meeting in either the American Rifleman or Shooting Illustrated (page 57 in both), that is the only mention of the Meeting of Members. Call me a cynic, but it seems that if you suck up to Wayne big time and publicly then you will get your reward. That really is kind of pathetic.

As of now, I know of no one who plans to run as a petition candidate. If I do hear of anyone, I will post on it.

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Prof. Yamane Reviews Books On The NRA

August 12, 2022 by 4 Comments

Professor David Yamane just reviewed four books about the NRA. This was on his YouTube channel entitled “Light Over Heat with Professor David Yamane.”

Of the four books that he reviewed, I was only familiar with and have read Tim Mak’s Misfire. I personally found it a good book pointing out the controversies surrounding Wayne LaPierre.

David’s reviews takes on two persistent myths about the NRA. First that they only became political after the Cincinnati Revolt of 1977. Second that they are the most powerful lobby in Washington.

The other three books are Firepower: How the NRA Turned Gun Owners into a Political Force by political scientist Matthew J. Lacombe; Gun Crusaders: The NRA’s Culture War by sociologist Scott Melzer; and The NRA: The Unauthorized History by journalist Frank Smyth.

(You can also find links to each of the books on David’s blog page here.)

After listening to his review of all four books, I think Lacombe’s Firepower will be my next book to read on the NRA. He also has a number of academic articles out on the gun culture and the NRA according to Google Scholar. As a one-time grad student in political science, this has peaked piqued my interest.