The third resolution presented at the 2023 NRA Meeting of Members generated the most comment. It was a resolution from Jeff Knox that expressed no confidence in Wayne LaPierre as the Executive Vice President.
After NRA Secretary John Frazer read the resolution, Charles Cotton asked for those for and against it to speak. Those speaking in favor of it were Jeff Knox, Rob Pincus, John Carr, and Michael Mc (missed the rest of his name.)
When it came to speaking against it, the Friends of Wayne on the Board fought one another to express their confidence in Wayne as well as to attack Jeff either directly or through innuendo. These included Tom King, Mark Robinson, David Keene, Joel Friendman, and Jay Printz. There were two others that spoke against it but one of those was a comedian similar to Jason Selvig in 2022.
Here is Jeff’s resolution which failed again in 1/3 aye, 2/3 nay vote.
Resolution of No Confidence in Wayne LaPierre
Submitted by Jeff Knox, Endowment Life Member, Arizona
April 15, 2023
Whereas the NRA has seen a dramatic decline in Annual Members over the past 4 years, with sources indicating a drop of close to 30%, and
Whereas the NRA has experienced a significant declines in revenue over the past 4 years, with sources indicating declines of almost 50%, and
Whereas, between the years 2015 and 2018, the unrestricted net assets of the NRA declined by over 60 million dollars, and
Whereas 2018 saw financial belt-tightening, and the total collapse of the NRA’s heavily promoted, and very expensive Carry Guard program, which had only been introduced a few years earlier, and
Whereas, the advent of the SARS COV 2 pandemic caused layoffs of some 400 NRA employees, along with announced reductions in executive and managerial pay of 20%, and
Whereas, during this time of austerity measures, layoffs, significant financial losses, and growing legal expenses, in 2018, Wayne LaPierre, as Executive Vice President and CEO of the NRA, received a significant pay increase and a four hundred and fifty five thousand dollar “bonus,” bringing his total compensation that year to more than 2.2 million dollars, up from the 1.4 million he received in 2017, and for 2019 and 2020, while the layoffs and pay cuts were being implemented, Mr. LaPierre received compensation of approximately 1.7 million dollars each year, and
Whereas, along with this generous compensation, Mr. LaPierre received numerous other perks, including chartered, corporate jet travel at an average cost of seven thousand dollars per hour, limousine service, luxury accommodations, and a substantial expense and entertainment account, all totaling well over an additional million dollars per year, and
Whereas the National Rifle Association’s positions and objectives are supposed to be based on certain unwavering principles, beginning with the fact that the right to arms is an unalienable, fundamental, individual right, bestowed by our creator, and enshrined in the Constitution, and that restrictions on inanimate objects can never control the behavior of persons with evil and criminal intent, and
Whereas Mr. LaPierre, in his capacity as Executive Vice President of the NRA, publicly declared in 1999 that the National Rifle Association believes in “absolutely gun free, zero tolerance, totally safe schools. That means no guns in America’s schools, period, with the rare exception of law enforcement officers or trained security personnel,” and
Whereas, at other times, while serving as Executive Vice President of the NRA, Mr. LaPierre has declared the NRA’s support for the creation of an “Instant Background-Check System,” declared the NRA’s support for laws requiring background checks for all firearm sales at gun shows, declared NRA support for so-called “red flag” laws, which provide for the confiscation of firearms from people accused of being a threat to themselves or others, with only bare consideration of due process, and declared that “the NRA believes that… (bump-stocks) …should be more tightly regulated,” and
Whereas President Trump subsequently acted on that last statement of support from the NRA, resulting in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives declaring bump-stock devices to be “machine guns,” effectively banning them under the Hughes Amendment, and
Whereas, while serving as chief lobbyist for the NRA, when the Hughes Amendment was attached to the Firearm Owners Protection Act as a “poison pill,” Mr. LaPierre asked the Republican Senate to agree to the amendment in order to pass the law, and asked President Reagan to sign the law, and subsequently stated that repeal of the Hughes Amendment would be the NRA’s number one priority going forward, but has never taken any substantive action toward repealing this travesty of a law, and
Whereas Mr. LaPierre has testified in court and on tax documents that he improperly charged personal and other unauthorized travel on multiple flights on chartered jets, and other unauthorized expenses to his NRA account, and
Whereas the various disclosures, revelations, and numerous substantiated accusations that have come out about Mr. LaPierre in recent years, along with his lack of principled stands on critical rights issues, have damaged the reputation of the National Rifle Association and its members, and have destroyed Mr. LaPierre’s personal credibility, severely limiting his abilities as a fund raiser or a political influencer on behalf of the NRA and its members, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the members here gathered for the 152nd Meeting of Members of the National Rifle Association, here gathered in Indianapolis, Indiana on this 15th day of April, 2023, do hereby declare that we have No Confidence in the ability of Wayne LaPierre to lead this organization going forward, and while we appreciate his contributions to the fight for rights over the past 40 years, we call on him to resign his position as Executive Vice President and to not seek reelection to that, or any other leadership position in the NRA at any time in the future, and, be it further
Resolved, That we call on the NRA Board of Directors to recognize the will of the members and ensure that Mr. LaPierre is not reelected to the office of Executive Vice President, or elected or appointed to any other office of importance within the National Rifle Association or its affiliated organizations, nor be awarded any contract or employment by any NRA-related entity, and, be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary is instructed to cause a full, legible copy of this Resolution to be printed in the Official Journal of the Association within 120 days of the close of this meeting.
UPDATE: I did record Jeff Knox and Rob Pincus speaking in favor of this resolution. Their videos are below. In the one with Rob, you will seek Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R-NC) giving a loud defense of Wayne. While I like Mark, I find it incredibly sad that he had “drunk the Kool-Aid”.
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