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Leaving For The SHOT Show Sunday

January 19, 2024 by 1 Comment

I fly out to Las Vegas on Sunday to attend the SHOT Show. Monday will be Industry Day at the Range. Unfortunately, the weather forecast is calling for rain. Ugh! It rained last year and I ended up with a nasty cold after Range Day.

I will be at the SHOT Show itself on Tuesday through Thursday. If there is a product or service that you would like me to check out, please let me know in the comments.

I do plan to attend the Governors’ Forum as well as the state Attorney Generals’ Forum. Both events are on Wednesday afternoon. I hope to get some good information from both of those events.

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Buz Mills’ Letter To The NRA Board

January 18, 2024 by 4 Comments

Owen “Buz” Mills is the owner of the renowned training facility Gunsite Academy and has been a member of the NRA Board of Directors for many years. He has called for change in the past and continues that with his letter to the NRA Board of Directors below. This letter was sent out yesterday and I do have permission to publish it. To put it bluntly, Mills pulls no punches in calling out the shenanigans of the Old Guard in pushing Charles Cotton as the next Executive VP and CEP of the NRA.

TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA

So, now we are all looking towards New York and Justice Cohen’s courtroom. Our attention is diverted here while chicanery continues in Fairfax.

The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is at a watershed moment in its 153rd year. Our leadership has admitted in courts and depositions to misappropriation of donor’s funds and unauthorized use of assets. They have admitted condoning the misuse of donor funds by others employed by the NRA. The leadership has for years abused their position and trust placed in them by our members and benefactors. The Board of Directors (BOD) is solely responsible for this victimization of the members.

Thanks to the New York Attorney General, we are halfway to fixing our organization, bringing the NRA  up to par with other non-profit special interest groups.

The judge will hold the victimizers responsible, and they will have to account for their deeds.

Meanwhile, in Fairfax the selected leadership is scheming to continue the abuse suffered over the last few decades instead of following the bylaws for the succession of the Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer (EVP). The selected leadership wants a special election to install the enabler and facilitator of all the previous chicanery. None other than our duly selected President, he is the man more responsible than any other for permitting our selected leadership to rampantly run roughshod over our membership and benefactors.

As the chair of the Audit Committee for many years, Charles Cotton was responsible for holding our employees accountable and ensuring their conduct beyond reproach. Our chair and “moral compass” approved every single act of malfeasance brought to the committee for decades, multiple acts approved retroactively, months and years after the fact.

When restitution was mandated, a bonus was awarded the miscreants including enough money to pay the restitution. This bonus also included enough for the miscreant to have the cash to pay the taxes on his misappropriation. Talk about rewarding bad behavior!! 

Again, I emphasize, it was not miscreant’s money, and it was not the facilitator’s money! It was the MONEY OF OUR MEMBERS and the MONEY provided by the BENEVOLENCE OF OUR DONORS. There is something deeply wrong when you continually permit and encourage this serial abuse.

Also do not forget spearheading the deceit and lying to us about filing bankruptcy that the judge called “a fraud.”  The BOD was never advised we needed to file for bankruptcy, nor was it ever justified to the board. We read it in the papers.

As we violate the bylaws again – accepting, justifying, and participating in some kind of sham election to make the selected president our EVP.

Is the principal facilitator of the misappropriation of tens of millions of dollars (members and donors’ money) causing the hundreds of millions of dollars of legal fees (again members and donors’ money) really have any business with access to the treasury?

Does he have any right to represent any moral, honest person or organization?

NO!

The normal, conventional way this type of business is conducted:

  1. Select a search committee of business professionals from the BOD, selected from the floor by the BOD,
  2. Retain professional employment agencies to recruit, screen and interview potential candidates,
  3. Committee shall interview candidates,
  4. BOD meet and greet,
  5. BOD votes to select a candidate,
  6. Committee sets forth terms and conditions of employment contract.

Now we have a professional to run the business of a world-class organization, in accordance with applicable laws, customs and traditions. Oversight will be provided by a professional BOD congruent with the by-laws in effect prior to ceding all monetary responsibility to the EVP. (circa 2015)

Next we hire a celebrity “FACE” of the NRA as a spokesperson with no access to funds. Using a similar process as finding an EVP.

This is how a professional Board of Directors of a world class not-for-profit begins to heal itself.

We have an opportunity to carefully choose to correct the path we are on. We have the opportunity to recover all of the membership that has abandoned us over these issues (2 million members +/-). We have the opportunity to recover the trust of our most benevolent donors. We have an opportunity to recover the respect of our industry and of the American people. There is no downside to doing this correctly.

Let’s not squander this opportunity, we must move forward smartly and with all the courage of the champions of freedom.

Owen Buz Mills

Director

National Rifle Association of America

January 17, 2024

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Padding The NRA Ballot

January 17, 2024 by 3 Comments

When the NRA Nominations Committee first released their list of nominations for the 2024 Board of Directors election it had 28 names on it. As I noted at the time (Sept. 27th), 25 of those on the list were current board members with 23 having been nominated in 2021. The only three new persons nominated were Craig Haggard, Susannah Warner Kipke, and Gina Roberts.

Fast forward to early November when the complete ballot with the four petition candidates was released. I did not take notice of it at the time but the Nominations Committee had added another two nominees to go along with the four that were on the ballot by petition. I’ll attribute my oversight to being on vacation with family as well as being excited that all four petition candidates had made it.

The additions to the ballot were former NRA President Carolyn Meadows and Greer Johnson of Duluth, Georgia. Ms. Johnson, 72, is on the Board of Trustees of the NRA Foundation. I have been told she is or was a “Friend of Wayne”. Meadows and Johnson both have served as officers on the Board of the Stone Mountain Memorial Association in Georgia at the same time. Note that these two were added to the ballot before Wayne LaPierre resigned.

Adding more people to the list of nominees aka padding the ballot is meant to decrease the odds of one or more of the petition candidates being successful in their quest to be elected to the Board of Directors.

What makes this more egregious is that the Nominations Committee had to be aware that Mrs. Meadows’ health was an issue. Going back as far as the 2020 NRA Annual Meeting in Tucson, it was apparent from her video appearance that she was suffering from a neuro-muscular illness of some sort. More recently, she was supposed to be a witness in the NRA trial in New York City. Attorneys for the NRA informed the NY Attorney General’s Office in mid-December that her health might not allow her to testify in person at the trial. This was amended to both in person and virtually.

From the letter to the court by the Attorney General’s Office:

On January 5, 2024, the NRA finally provided a medical affidavit for Ms. Meadows. Ms. Meadows’ physician represents that she is unable to testify in person or virtually because of her health condition. Subject to a representation from NRA counsel that Ms. Meadows did not attend, in person or virtually, the January 2024 Board meeting, Plaintiff will use Ms. Meadows’ videotaped deposition in lieu of live testimony.

If Mrs. Meadows’ health is such that she cannot even testify virtually, how can she effectively serve on the NRA Board of Directors? The answer is she cannot and it is a disservice to the members of the NRA to even nominate her.

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Another AG Weighs In On NRA EVP Succession

January 17, 2024 by

As I posted last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R-TX) endorsed former NRA-ILA General Counsel Wade Callender to succeed Wayne LaPierre as the permanent Executive VP and CEO of the NRA. He was joined in endorsing Callender by Texas St. Sen. Drew Springer (R-30th).

Now Callender has been endorsed for the position by Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes (R-UT).

Obviously, two of the state attorney generals who worked with Callender in submitting amicus briefs in support of the NY State Rifle and Pistol Association in the Bruen case think very highly of him. I would not be surprised if more of these state attorney generals weigh in with support of Callender.

This must cause a bit of dismay in Fairfax where those still in denial that there is anything wrong within the NRA seem to be backing Charles Cotton to be the successor to Wayne.

Too bad!

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Analogy Of The Day

January 13, 2024 by 2 Comments

I started hearing rumors as soon as Wayne LaPierre resigned that current NRA President Charles Cotton was jockeying for the position of CEO and Executive Vice President. Personally, I think this would be a travesty and would mark the death knell of the NRA. One merely needs to remember that Mr. Cotton served and continues to serve as head of the Audit Committee for many years while the grifters grifted.

The best analogy on the move by Mr. Cotton to win the EVP position was by my friend Ron Carter who said:

Cotton is clearly the Nikita Khrushchev seeking to seize the opportunity on the death of Stalin….I use the Soviet reference because it sure resembles it. All the yes-men will keep saying yes to the strongest posture regardless of any other criteria.

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Will Texas Politics Impact NRA EVP Succession?

January 11, 2024 by 1 Comment

With so much attention focussed on the trial involving the NRA in New York City, scant attention has been paid to who succeeds Wayne LaPierre as CEO and Executive Vice President of the NRA. I think most observers would agree that Andrew Arulanandam, who will serve as the interim EVP upon Wayne’s January 31st resignation, is a place holder and not a serious contender for the permanent position.

An article by Stephen Gutowski in The Reload posted today may give some clue as to a potential successor. After discussing what I called “the dueling letters” regarding post-employment compensation and health issues of Wayne, Gutowski provides this potential clue.

Prominent NRA supporters have already begun publicly circulating at least one alternative. Former NRA Institute of Legislative Action deputy executive director and general counsel Wade Callender, who helped coordinate with the group’s state affiliate in the successful 2022 Supreme Court Bruen case, has already received the backing of several elected officials. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R.) and State Senator Drew Springer (R.) posted a call for Callender to take over the NRA’s top perch on social media this week.

Callender left the position as General Counsel and Deputy Executive Director of NRA-ILA due, in large part, to the growing interference from the NRA’s outside counsel William Brewer III. Callender confirmed this to me in a face-to-face conversation we held at the 2022 Gun Rights Policy Conference held in Irving, Texas. He has since returned to private practice in Dallas area.

Texas AG Ken Paxton has been a stalwart supporter of the Second Amendment and has signed on to a number of amicus briefs in support of it. Paxton, who was last year impeached by the Texas House of Representatives, was acquitted on all charges in the trial in the Texas Senate. The move to impeach Paxton was led by Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan who is his arch political enemy. Phelan, who is considered a RINO by Texas conservatives, and has been asked to resign by the leaders of the Texas Republican Party.

After the murders of school children in Uvalde, Phelan formed a House Select Committee on Community Safety to review all firearms-related legislation. This included red flag laws and raising the age to purchase a modern sporting rifle. While the committee composition was officially seven Republicans and six Democrats, the Republican chair had been a Democrat until just recently.

With this as a background, Randy Kozuch, Executive Director of NRA-ILA and Chairman of the NRA-PVF, endorsed Dade Phelan and rated him A+.

This brought pushback from a number of conservatives including Dana Loesch who served as a special assistant to Wayne at one time. She said of Phelan that he “was an obstacle while fighting red flag laws, and dragged out our fight to win Constitutional carry.” Others are saying they are dropping their NRA membership or looking for alternatives.

One must wonder who pushed Randy Kozuch to give an A+ rating to Phelan who by most accounts is a RINO and who is marginal on gun rights. Was it the Old Guard on the NRA led by NRA President Charles Cotton who is a Texan? Was it Bill Brewer who saw an ally in a RINO politician who was barely so-so on gun rights? If Brewer, was it with knowledge that it would anger true Second Amendment supporters in Texas?

Giving Phelan the A+ rating and endorsement obviously angered his arch-enemies Ken Paxton and Sen. Drew Springer as the next day they endorsed Wade Callender for EVP. This move by Paxton and Springer is definitely a call for new blood to lead the NRA and a repudiation of the Old Guard.

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Michael Bane On Wayne’s Departure

January 10, 2024 by 2 Comments

I had been waiting for Michael Bane’s weekly MBTV On the Radio podcast on Wayne LaPierre’s departure from the NRA. I was not disappointed.

As he has related in the past and did so again today, he openly acknowledges that he has crossed swords with Wayne over outreach and public relations. That said, Michael said we have needed the NRA in the past and will continue to need them. He also emphasized that we are the NRA and the NRA is not Wayne and not his pack of enablers on the board.

Listen to the first 25 minutes of the podcast here. I agree with him that if Wayne had left in 2019 Wayne might have rode off into the sunset with both his reputation and wealth intact.

If you are not a regular listener, you should be.

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The State’s Opening Arguments In NRA Trial (Updated)

January 9, 2024 by 7 Comments

I am not in New York City for the NRA trial. Given the law in New York forbids any audio-visual broadcast of trials, I will have to rely on reports from the mainstream media and other observers such as Jim Shepherd of the Outdoor Wires.

Monica Connell, Assistant Attorney General of New York, is the lead attorney for the NY Charities Bureau in this case. Her opening statement was made today in court which reportedly lasted for more than an hour.

From the Gothamist which is a news feed from WNYC – New York Public Radio on the opening statement:

Assistant Attorney General Monica Connell said in the state’s opening arguments that executives at the NRA violated both state laws and internal policies by spending excessive amounts of money and then covering up their expenditures. She said the organization’s leaders also “breached the trust” of the donors who “took money out of their pocket” to advance the NRA’s cause.

“They should be able to trust that their hard-earned money they donated will not be used for luxury travel,” Connell said.

Connell’s opening statement detailed some of the steep price tags the NRA’s executives charged to the organization in recent years, including millions of dollars on private flights. She also told jurors about the safeguards that are supposed to prevent nonprofits in New York from mismanaging funds. The assistant attorney general argued the NRA’s leaders worked to undermine those safeguards by lying, retaliating against whistleblowers and hiring high-ranking employees who would be more loyal to corrupt executives than to the mission of the organization.

They also reported that Wayne LaPierre watched on from the gallery which was filled with attorneys, observers, and reporters.

Photo of Wayne arriving at the courthouse – by Brendan McDermid/Reuters

The Guardian has more of Connell’s opening statement to the jury.

“The NRA allowed Wayne LaPierre and his group of insiders … to operate the NRA as ‘Wayne’s World’ for decades,” Connell told a six-member jury that was sworn in earlier in the day, referencing the 1992 comedy movie starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey.

“Wayne LaPierre and his friends effectively suppressed the voice of anyone who challenged his leadership.

“This case is about corruption in a charity. It’s about breaches of trust, it’s about power. People take their hard-earned money and donate it to charities they believe in. It doesn’t matter what the cause is. They should be able to trust that the hard-earned money they donate is going to advance the mission of that charity.”

Earlier today, the jury was seated. It consists of six jurors and six alternates. All 12 will be in the courtroom for the trial but only six will actually deliberate the charges. Moreover, under NY civil law and practice, a verdict can be delivered if five out of six agree on the verdict. It need not be unanimous.

UPDATE: Jim Shepherd of the Outdoor Wires was in the courtroom yesterday. He gives his impression of the start of the trial here.

From the firing of Lt. Col. Oliver North as NRA President at the now-infamous 2019 Annual Meetings in Indianapolis, to the harassment and retaliation charges of former NRA Board Members Esther Schneider and Phillip Journey, LaPierre was characterized as a man who broached no threats to his authority.

He was also characterized as a man who used the system to his advantage.

With a rudimentary knowledge of accounting and how the NRA’s internal structure operates, specifically in regards to the distinct lines between the National Rifle Association and the NRA-ILA (Institute for Legislative Action), I was confused by the details and accounting practices outlined by the prosecution. One can only imagine the confusion it caused jurors.

But the case appeared effective in one respect: despite occasionally digging deeply into details, it always wound its way back to a pair of key names: Wayne LaPierre and Woody Phillips. Throughout their joint tenure, the NRA coffers were allegedly used as “private piggy banks” for the duo, their chosen subordinates and enabling Board Members.

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DSC Convention Starts Thursday

January 8, 2024 by

The Dallas Safari Club Convention starts this Thursday, January 11th, in Dallas at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Dallas Convention Center. Beyond all the exhibits, the outfitters, the dinners, and the auctions is the educational component with seminars on everything from preparing for your first safari to managing your property for whitetail deer. The seminars are on Friday and Saturday in order to attract the largest audience. I know I will be attending more than one.

The complete list is embedded below. Zoom in to read the descriptions or download it.

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Dueling Letters On LaPierre Resignation

January 8, 2024 by 1 Comment

The resignation of Wayne LaPierre on the eve of the trial in New York has generated letters to Judge Joel Cohen from both sides. In addition, the pre-trial memorandum containing the NRA’s trial brief seems to throw Wayne under the bus after three plus years of defending him.

First, the letter from Assistant Attorney General Monica Connell asserts that Wayne’s resignation has no impact on the viability of the complaint against the NRA and Wayne. She goes on to argue that the NRA should not be allowed to use Wayne’s resignation as evidence that the NRA is cleaning up its act. As to whether his resignation has any relevance, she asserts it should only come up at the remedial part of the case after the jury has decided.

In response, Noah Peters of Brewer, Attorneys and Counselors, asserts, “As the NRA stated in its trial brief, Mr. LaPierre’s resignation undermines the NYAG’s request for forward-looking injunctive relief.” He goes on to imply that the NYAG must now show that the transgressions of the LaPierre era will continue with him gone which is unlikely.

Connell states, in fairness, that the NRA must give answers to some questions regarding Wayne’s resignation before the trial begins. The NRA through Peters does answer those questions. I have put the questions and answers in a point-counterpoint format below with the question in bold and the answer in italics.

What arrangements or agreements Mr. LaPierre has with the NRA or its affiliates regarding his resignation, severance, licensing, consulting or payments directly or indirectly to LaPierre and amounts of such payments;

Mr. LaPierre has no arrangements or agreements with the NRA or its affiliates regarding his resignation, severance, licensing, or consulting;

Any other position Mr. LaPierre holds or will hold within the NRA;

Mr. LaPierre holds no other position with the NRA, nor will he hold a position after his final day;

The NRA’s succession plan following Mr. LaPierre’s resignation;

The NRA’s Head of General Operations Andrew Arulanandam will become the interim CEO & EVP of the NRA until the NRA hires permanent successor;

Confirmation as to whether Mr. LaPierre’s January 2021 employment agreement is still in effect, is being honored by the NRA and whether and what payments Mr. LaPierre will receive thereunder;

After January 31, 2024, payments under the 2021 Employment Agreement will cease. There are no superseding employment or post-employment agreements with Mr. LaPierre;

Any employment, independent contracting, consulting or other work Mr. LaPierre will undertake following his resignation for the NRA or any affiliate, vendor or contractor of the NRA;

Mr. LaPierre will not undertake any other employment, independent contracting, consulting or other work for the NRA or any affiliate, vendor or contractor;

To the extent Mr. LaPierre intends to testify at trial that his resignation was due to a health problem, the nature of the health problem.

The NRA is informed that Mr. LaPierre has chronic lyme disease. The NYAG’s suggestion that Mr. LaPierre’s health condition is not the cause of his departure is false.

I would note that the NYAG never suggested Wayne’s health condition was not the cause of his departure. They merely questioned the timing of his resignation on the eve of the trial. As to chronic lyme disease, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has this on it. They note that many health experts do not like to even use the term. Another NIH article states, ““Chronic Lyme disease,” however, has no clinical definition and is not characterized by any objective clinical findings.”

According to Wayne’s 2021 Employment Agreement that was introduced into evidence back in December 2021, Sec. 4 (e) seems to preclude Wayne from contracting with current NRA vendors or contractors for his services.

Sec. 5 of the 2021 Employment Agreement gives the NRA the option of licensing Wayne’s name, likeness, and signature for up to two years after departure for fundraising, PR, or membership purposes at the rate of $500,000 per year. This option is the NRA’s alone and does not compel them to exercise the option. This section also says they will pay Wayne for in-person public appearances at the rate of $750 per hour.

There has been much speculation about a $17 million “golden parachute” for Wayne. From what I can tell, this came up during a deposition in the bankruptcy trial regarding his 2018 Employment Agreement. Sec. 8 (c) of the 2021 Employment Agreement says it supersedes any prior agreements or contracts. Thus, it would seem to me that there is no $17 million “golden parachute”. Any post-employment monies due Wayne probably would be coming from a 457(f) non-qualified deferred compensation plan which was funded by salary deferrals by Wayne himself and for which he is now eligible to collect.