I have been holding off blogging for the last week or so due to the issue with security certificate for the website.
I have not been hacked nor has the website been taken over. I am aware of the issue and am working with my webhost to get the security certificate updated.
In the meantime, I plan to try and put up posts on a more regular basis.
The transcript of the October 31st hearing in the New York trial was released earlier this week. Having listened to it live, it is still worth a read to get a feeling for how Judge Cohen will rule. As one observer noted to me, it seems the judge will be more inclined to engage in ” incremental tweaking of procedures than decapitation of the culpable.”
I hope he is wrong.
It is a tradition here on the blog to wish the US Marines Corps a Happy Birthday on November 10th. While I come from an Army family and the Complementary Spouse comes from an Air Force family, we have great respect for the Marines. I will say it is getting tougher to find vintage recruiting posters that I haven’t used in the past!
Here is the official Marine Corps birthday message for 2024.
So I would like to wish a very happy 249th birthday to the Marines Corps and all who have served with them.
The polls are still open up and down the East Coast. Of course, they are open in the time zones west of here.
As a reminder to North Carolinians, the polls close at 7:30pm EST. In case you are wondering who is pro-gun rights and who is anti, the Grass Roots NC Political Victory Fund has these recommendations. As of yesterday, almost 4.5 million votes have already been cast between early voting and absentee ballots returned. You can follow the election results for North Carolina on the State Board of Elections Results Dashboard. I like this better than any TV or radio station as you get the actual, up-to-the-minute results without all the useless commentary.
For other states, a number of organizations have their own scorecards. NSSF has their ratings of members of Congress here. Gun Owners of America has their voter guide on this page. The NRA Political Victory Fund has their grades on candidates by state here.
Conversely, if you want to know who is running that would joyfully trample on your God-given, Constitutionally enumerated rights, Everytown has their search engine for “gunsense” candidates here. Unlike many other endorsement or ratings lists, Everytown drills down as low as candidates for board of education along with the usual legislative, state level, and national endorsements. I have to give them credit for realizing that candidates for school boards now are the congressional candidates of the future. Moreover, these are the people who will be pushing teachers to indoctrinate students with their anti-rights rhetoric.
Bloomberg-funded The Trace has a list of items that they say Donald Trump will toss if elected. It starts with ATF Director Steve Dettelbach and ends with Biden’s executive orders. I was already going to vote for Trump so they didn’t have to use this list to convince me but I’m cool with it.
I have been registered to vote for over 49 years and have never (ever!) missed voting in an election or primary since then. This includes municipal elections and second primaries. I have no sympathy for complaints from anyone of any political stripe who didn’t vote when given the opportunity.
NRA Present Bob Barr sent out a memo to the Board yesterday after the hearing before Judge Joel Cohen. I would make the humble suggestion to read this and then compare to my report on the hearing published earlier this evening.
After a nearly two-hour hearing today in his New York City courtroom, Justice Joel Cohen indicated he would issue a final order shortly. Today’s hearing was argued by Sarah Rogers as NRA counsel and attended in person by President Barr and Chief Compliance Officer Bob Mensinger—along with various Board members who observed the proceedings electronically.
The judge began the hearing by praising the careful process that the NRA and its Board followed in formulating its Final Judgment proposals, stating that it was clear that those proposals reflected a lot of work. He also posed numerous questions to both sides in assessing the following issues that are before him for resolution:
— The process according to which NRA Board members are nominated and then selected — which we believe robustly identifies individuals with the background and skills most necessary for the advancement of the NRA and its mission.
— The composition of NRA committees, how their members are selected, and whether any committees in addition to the Audit Committee fall within the Court’s purview.
— Protections for our Chief Compliance Officer: the parties agreed on the NRA’s proposed severance contract.
—Whether the NRA should be required, per the NYAG’s request, to retain an additional third-party internal auditor.
—Whether the NRA should retain an advisory consultant who was not a testifying expert (for either side) at trial.
— Whether the NRA should be forced to conduct a referendum on the size of our Board, or, as we have argued, allow the Special Committee on Organization to continue its work to carefully and comprehensively consider such issues and report back to its recommendations the Board of Directors, as directed by the Board at its September 7th meeting.
— In response to the NYAG’s arguments for dissolution of the SLC, the judge raised questions about his jurisdiction with regard to the issue.
Additionally, as a final matter during the hearing, there was a robust discussion regarding collection of the money judgments against the individual defendants, including Wayne LaPierre. Both the NRA and Mr. LaPierre’s counsel argued that monies — once collected — should be paid straight away to the NRA, not held in escrow by the NYAG. The judge signaled agreement on the latter point and suggested further that the NRA could come to him if the collection was not being appropriately pursued (for example, if problems were encountered with the NYAG dragging its feet or placing some type of roadblock in the NRA’s ability to collect such monies).
We anticipate the judge will render a final, written order soon, and will keep the Board timely apprised of further developments.
Best regards,
Bob Barr
For the SLC
I was able to follow the hearing in the NRA’s New York case in its entirety today thanks to being provided a link to Microsoft Teams. The hearing started at approximately 11am and ran until 12:58pm.
Judge Joel Cohen started the hearing by having the participants introduce themselves. Representing the NY Attorney General’s Office were Stephen Thompson and Monica Connell. Meanwhile, the NRA was represented by Sarah Rogers and Noah Peters of Brewer, Attorneys and Counselors, with NRA President Bob Barr and Chief Compliance Officer Bob Mensinger there as well. Finally, P. Kent Correll was there to represent Wayne LaPierre.
Judge Cohen divided the hearing into seven areas for discussion. These include issues regarding Board elections, the appointment of a compliance consultant, Board committees, protection for the Chief Compliance Officer position, a referendum on reducing the Board size, the “Commitment to Members” document, and then a catchall for remaining miscellaneous issues. He noted that he was pleased with how the process worked between his interim decision and now. The parties’ meetings and proposed final judgments isolated the areas of agreement and disagreement.
First up in the hearing was a discussion of issues related to Board of Directors elections. The NYAG started out by saying that Judge Cohen has indicated he wanted to reduce the “hegemony of the Nominating Committee” but that it remains the “same old, same old”. Stephen Thompson noted the issues with the secrecy of how the Nominating Committee works and said they want to take the subjectivity out of the process. The judge then said vetting of candidates is legitimate and he wasn’t good with selection at random. Sarah Rogers for the NRA tried to blame the problems in the past on Wayne LaPierre and Millie Hallow to which the judge responded that “yes, there were problems.”
This led into a discussion of the petition process which Judge Cohen found “very 20th Century.” He didn’t see why it couldn’t be done online with an electronic signature rather than candidates having to scramble to get physical signatures and then having to mail them into the Secretary’s Office. In response to a question from Rogers asking what the judge would like to see, Judge Cohen responded that it should be broadened, made more open, made more easy, and more accessible to members. This led Rogers to say it can’t be changed due to the bylaws and she went on to say that the judge could not meddle with the process. This was a bit of a red flag for the judge who responded he can indeed make changes with an order. He went on to say that he saw a number of what I’d call the cabal still there going into NRA 2.0. He said there needs to be a measured way to remove the impediments, it needs to be more transparent, and that the current petition process is “antiquated.”
The next item on the judge’s agenda was the advisory compliance consultant. In their Proposed Final Judgment, the NRA had specified that Fox Rothschild, LLP to act as the consultant. Daniel Kurtz of the firm had been an expert witness for the NRA during the trials. The NYAG’s Thompson objected to this on the grounds that Kurtz is a governance expert and, more importantly, that Kurtz had served as an expert witness for the NRA. Sarah Rogers tried to make the case that Bob Mensinger had interviewed many for this role and he was the best. Judge Cohen sided with Thompson on this saying that he would have a problem with former expert witnesses for either side in this role. He wanted a fresh look and the person would be court approved – not AG approved. He also noted in response to a question from Rogers that he would retain authority to name a replacement if the person or firm appointed left before the end of three years.
Moving forward, the court then moved to board committees and how they were populated. This proved more contentious. In addition to the Audit Committee, Thompson said the Ethics, Finance, Legal Affairs, and Bylaws and Resolutions Committees were areas of concern. He said they were still led by directors who had been on the Board for years. After the judge said he was not sure of a criteria that would be either over or under inclusive of new blood, Thompson stated that David Coy, Charles Cotton, Joel Friedman, Curtis Jenkins, Bob Barr, and Sandy Froman all must be removed from these key committees. Rogers moved to defend both Jenkins and Froman and then said committee composition had changed. When Thompson objected, Rogers replied that Barr had been elected by the same Board that had elected Bill Bachenberg and Mark Vaughan.
Judge Cohen noted that both sides agree that the Audit Committee will be a Committee of the Board. Rogers said the NRA only wanted the Audit Committee as a Committee of the Board and that they wanted to avoid more 12-hour Board meetings. This led to Thompson saying how Audit Committee members are nominated doesn’t meet New York law which Rogers disagreed with. Judge Cohen wondered if the proposal to have the President nominate members takes discretion from the Board. Rogers replied the President nominates and then the Board votes on them but they didn’t take nominees from the floor. I’m not sure how Judge Cohen will rule on board committees but it will probably have something for each side.
The next item on Judge Cohen’s agenda was protection for the Chief Compliance Officer position. In this case, both sides have come to an agreement to use a severance agreement that would provide two years salary if the person was terminated without “Good Reason”.
On the issue of a referendum on the size of the Board, Thompson noted that it would generous to say the parties have agreed to study the issue. He objected to David Keene being on the Committee on Organization noting the jury had found Keene had engaged in a related party transaction not properly approved by the Audit Committee. The NYAG’s Office also noted they had not addressed the final size of the Board. Judge Cohen then gave his thoughts about governing versus advisory board members noting both could call themselves “Board members”. He was “not offended by thinking about it.” Thompson replied that the rank and file members should have a say and they want the size issue done sooner than later.
The NRA’s response was that they now have a Committee on Organization studying the issue, that there would mediation on the size of the Board, and that the Board grew over time as areas of interest expanded. Rogers then said that the Board was elected in a democratic process and that the will of the Board on the issue would reflect this. This led Judge Cohen to wonder how to assess that the issue doesn’t “die a quiet death in committee.” Rogers then replied that the “world is watching” and it would be difficult and expensive to do now as ballots are in the process of being printed.
The next to last issue was how to frame the order based upon the NRA’s Compliance Commitment to Members. This document was submitted to the court at the beginning of the bench phase of the trial and was composed by the members of the Audit Committee. This led to a discussion that centered around the internal audit reports and the signing of the Form 990 by the EVP and CFO. Thompson said the AG’s Office wants the external audit reported to the members. Neither side had any objection to the audit firm Aprio going forward. The discussion about the signing of the Form 990 centered around what it signified. Thompson said it should attest to the adequacy of the internal controls to which Rogers objected. Judge Cohen said it was really not a matter of who signs but that the signers are attesting that the Form 990 is accurate to the best of their knowledge. He went on to say the required signer must make some assessment that it is accurate.
The final issues discussed were a miscellany including protection for whistleblowers, the Special Litigation Committee, an independent internal control audit, and how the NRA was to recover the funds from LaPierre, Wilson, and Powell. There was quite a bit of back and forth about whether Judge Phil Journey and Dennis Fusaro could be considered whistleblowers. Judge Cohen said he’d take it under advisement as it appears to be a new claim. With regard to the Special Litigation Committee’s status, Thompson made the argument that a majority vote of the Board should have done away with it under New York law. Rogers argued it was not necessary as the Board will vote on it in January 2025 as it had now been noticed. Judge Cohen was not sure whether to dissolve it or not as he thought it a new claim and he doubted his authority in the matter.
LaPierre’s attorney P. Kent Correll then entered the discussion regarding how payments should be made to the NRA. Judge Cohen said sending money to the state is easy while sent money out is hard. He thought the payment probably should be made directly to the NRA which Thompson of the NYAG’s Office had no issue with. Rogers then said they had not received the $100,000 that Josh Powell was supposed to pay and they want some assurance that they can enforce the judgment. Here is where it starts to get interesting. It appears Correll wants the ability to negotiate the actual settlement amount on behalf of LaPierre. He wondered if the Attorney General’s Office would settle for a presumably lesser amount than the jury-assessed $4.3 million if LaPierre didn’t appeal or would it drag out for five years. There was a back and forth on who controlled the settlement and it got into derivative payees. Finally, Judge Cohen said the plaintiff, i.e., the Attorney General’s Office on behalf of the State of New York, controls the settlement.
Judge Cohen concluded the hearing at 12:58pm after saying each side assumes his own cost in the trial and that he would work with Correll on Wayne LaPierre’s home address being in the judgment order. Correll was worried that publishing LaPierre’s address could put him in danger.
Nine current members of the Board were on the Microsoft Teams feed listening in as were myself, some Brewer attorneys, and Stephen Gutowski. I have been told by another Board member that many others on the Board were being informed of what was happening by text.
If I had to hazard a guess, the Final Judgment will have items that will please both sides and items that will disappoint as well. There will be nothing dealing with the SLC and perhaps little regarding whistleblowers. The only thing I know for sure is that the severance agreement for the CCO will be in the Final Judgment.
Judge Joel Cohen has scheduled the oral arguments on the final judgment proposals for tomorrow at 11am. Unfortunately, New York being New York, we cannot watch or listen to the oral arguments live as that is prevented by New York law. You can thank the media who covered the Lindbergh kidnapping trial back in 1935 for that.
Since the oral arguments are scheduled for Halloween, the question is whether the final decision will be a trick or treat for the NRA.
Having read both sets of proposals – and I’m not counting the one from disgraced former EVP Wayne LaPierre – my expectation is that Judge Cohen’s final decision will tend to be closer to the proposal offered by the New York Attorney General’s Office than that of the NRA. My reasoning is that their proposal more closely follows his dicta in his interim decision. For example, the NYAG’s proposal more fully opens up the nomination process while the NRA’s speaks of seeking out certain attributes for directors. The latter could be used to eliminate candidates who might not buy into the party line.
While not having a crystal ball, I also would not be surprised if Judge Cohen orders that Paul Babaz and Charlie Brown be added to the ballot. Both were late in delivering petitions due to storm-related issues.
As I wrote earlier, neither proposal addresses information sharing with the members. I would hope that Judge Cohen realizes this is not addressed and adds that as a requirement. NRA members should be able to view up-to-date bylaws online, see the financial filings for a period of at least five years, and be able to read the minutes and agendas for Board meetings. This is the minimum that should be available online for members to access. If anyone is worried about the opponents of gun rights having access to it, make it available to members only just as they do with the ratings from the NRA-PVF.
I don’t think we will have to wait long to receive Judge Cohen’s final judgment. I would not be surprised if he doesn’t have a draft in place that only needing some tweaking following the oral arguments.
Fingers crossed that the final judgment will be a treat for the members and a trick for the cabal whose acquiescence to the whims of Wayne LaPierre put us in this position to begin with.
NRA In Danger posted “The Cabal Chronicles” yesterday. It presents a fictional newsletter from a cabal dedicated to the destruction of the NRA. It details the efforts made over the years to infiltrate the Board of Directors, siphon money and members from the NRA, and to set it up so that it self-destructs.
This supposed fictional newsletter is as close a description of what has actually happened to the NRA over the last 20 years as could be imagined. I think a publisher presented this as a book would have rejected it as it was just too far-fetched to be believed. However, this supposed fictional newsletter is as close a description of what has actually happened to the NRA over the last 20 years as could be imagined.
From “The Cabal Chronicles” about Indy in 2019:
On the eve of NRA’s annual meeting, some of the CEO’s scandals became public. For a day, though, our plan was in grave danger. The president, first VP, and some directors asked the CEO to step down, which of course would have ruined everything. NRA would have stood out as the nonprofit that discovered its CEO was corrupt, and immediately took action.
Fortunately, our obedient directors and the new chief vendor convinced the CEO to refuse the idea, and instead drafted a letter from the CEO to the board, portraying the CEO as bravely resisting extortionate demands. (We had many a laugh at that one. “Next, we write the letter for Al Capone!”)
Luckily for us, the majority of the board fell in line behind our sheep dogs and endorsed the CEO. So obedient were they that, before we were through, they’d purged their president and the first vice president for daring to challenge the corrupt CEO. The presidency fell to a lady whom we could easily control by making sure she chose our tools as her advisors. Led by them, she stripped any dissenting directors of their committee assignments, effectively making them powerless.
Moving on to 2020 and the pandemic. The Annual Meeting scheduled to happen in Nashville was canceled. However, the bylaws stipulated a meeting must be held so it was rescheduled to happen over Labor Day Weekend in Springfield, Missouri. Then that meeting got canceled and moved to a fancy resort in Tucson, Arizona. While not stated in the story, I think it must have been because too many rank and file members would have headed to Springfield if only to visit the Bass Pro mothership and the NRA Sporting Arms Museum before the meeting.
The Chronicles continue about the 2020 meeting in Tucson which I did attend in reality and did present a resolution in reality.
The regular meeting of the members was canceled “due to Covid.” Then the meeting was reset and held in Tucson, AZ, where due to the small venue and Covid spacing, only a few hundred members could be allowed in. An online site was established for registration, and directors were tipped off in advance to fill it with themselves, their family, and their guests. As a result, registration of ordinary members closed within hours. A couple of dozen got in.
VP Cotton assured the friendly audience that the NY lawsuit was a sham and would surely be defeated. The directors in the audience led the rest in giving LaPierre a standing ovation. Some members did present resolutions which might have hindered our plans for destruction, but the directors present asked that they be referred to board committees, which of course discarded them.
The rest of The Cabal Chronicles continues and concludes with the members striking back by nominating 14 petition candidates. As my readers know, I am one of those 14 petition candidates. I am also one of the two “double nominated” candidates meaning I was nominated by both the Nominating Committee and by petition.
An interesting side note on being nominated by the Nominating Committee. An affidavit regarding the work of the Nominating Committee was filed by Charlie Beers with whom I’ve had friendly conversations. It states as the last item, “In fact, the Committee nominated multiple candidates who have been critical of NRA leadership, notably John Richardson, a longtime NRA member who runs a blog entitled No Lawyers, Only Guns and Money that frequently broadcasts such criticisms.” I’m not sure if that makes me famous or infamous but I’ll take it as I will be permanently in the New York trial records.
Presenting the last few years as fictional newsletter from a fictional cabal was a brilliant move. Read the entire post in NRA In Danger. It will be well worth your time.
The Montgomery Community College Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit, is holding their 6th annual Clays for Education tournament on November 1st at DeWitt’s Outdoor Sports in Ellerbe, North Carolina. Proceeds from the event will go to help support the college’s top-notch gunsmithing program.
If you right-click on the image below and select “open in a new tab”, you can print out the registration form.
If you will be in the area and want to help support a school that doesn’t look down on firearms and shooters, this is it. I mean, really, how many schools send their college president to both the NRA Annual Meeting and the SHOT Show. I’ve met Dr. Chad Bledsoe, MCC’s president, at both.
Celebrated every year since 2017, October 22nd – 10/22 – has become National Ruger Day. It is a day to celebrate all things Ruger. I can get on board with this as I have many Rugers in my armory ranging from Security-Six revolvers to an older model Ruger Red Label shotgun. Their common stock hasn’t done too poorly for me either over the years.
This year is a little special as it coincides with Ruger’s 75th Anniversary. Bill Ruger partnered with Alexander McCormick Sturm to found Sturm, Ruger, and Company in 1949. As most know, their first product was the Ruger Standard semi-auto pistol in .22LR.
While today is the day to celebrate Ruger, there are many events going on all week long. You can find a list of the participating retailers here. Depending upon the retailer, there will be sales as well as Ruger swag.
Probably the best way to celebrate the day and the week is to introduce a non-shooter to shooting using a 10/22 carbine. It is light, easy to handle, and, like all .22s, has virtually no recoil.
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