Edie Fleeman Archives -

NRA Gun Bus Visits North Carolina

The NRA Gun Bus stopped in Vass, NC for its first North Carolina visit on its Battlefield State Tour. Vass is in Moore County near Southern Pines. They set up at Ed’s Gun Shop on US 1. This was a great location as there was a lot of gun shop traffic plus the gun bus was easily seen from the highway.

As a NRA director I felt some obligation to be there. Andrew Brown of the NRA Grassroots staff filmed me in front of the gun bus doing a short welcome video.

NRA Director Edie Fleeman also was there for much of the time. We had some interesting discussions about the state of the NRA, competitions, and the like. We both got to meet with Congressman Richard Hudson who came with some of his staff.

Congressman Hudson and I had some interesting discussion concerning his HR 38 and national right to carry. I mentioned that the Legislative Policy Committee had voted to make it our top legislative policy objective of the year. He said that the major holdup in getting it through the House were a handful of Republicans. That sounds so familiar to what we are dealing with in the NC House regarding overriding Governor Stein’s veto of SB50 – Freedom to Carry NC. Hudson and I also discussed the various races in North Carolina. He is chair of the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee and has allocated significant funds to my own 11th District.

Along with Congressman Hudson, Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields came by with a number of his deputies. He recorded a short message which was posted along with Hudson’s message on Instagram.

The Battlefield Tour continues its North Carolina visit with stops in Rocky Mount tomorrow at ENC Indoor Shooting Range, in Washington on the 9th at the Pull for Youth Sporting Clays event, in Greenville on Saturday for tailgating at the Rice vs. ECU game, and finally in Whittier on Monday at Outpost Mountain Outfitters. I will be attending the event in Whittier as that is in my neck of the woods. While I was in Vass, Congressman Hudson texted Jennifer Balkcom who is the GOP nominee in the 11th District urging her to attend. Fingers crossed that she can be there.

Three More NRA Petition Candidates

Running by petition has become even more critical than ever. The NRA Nominating Committee met on August 29th and then recessed until after the September board meeting. The reason is that there are some proposed bylaw amendments that could impact who and how many the committee nominates. The bottom line is that no one other than committee members know who is or isn’t going to be a nominee.

Under NRA Bylaw Article VIII, Sec. 3(b), petition signatures must be received in the Secretary’s Office no later than 45 days “after the announced date of the meeting of the Nominating Committee to select nominees for the office of Director.” In laymen’s terms, this means a minimum of 285 valid petition signatures must be received in the Secretary’s Office by October 13, 2026. This 45 day period is a bold print bylaw which means it can only be changed by the vote of the members and that is there no leeway for signatures received after October 13th to be counted.

I believe the three women below deserve a chance to be on the ballot. I have signed each of their petitions. I am an advocate of having as large and as diverse a pool of candidates as possible for members to vote on. This is in keeping with both the spirit and the letter of the Final Judgment of the NY court.

Edie Fleeman

Edie has been a member of the Board of Directors for many years. She serves as chair of the Air Gun, Collegiate Programs, and Protest Committee as well as vice-chair of Competition Rules and Smallbore Committees. She is a long-time competitor and was the coach of the North Carolina State University Rifle Team before it was disbanded by the NCSU Athletic Department.

Edie’s petition: https://nra.directnominations.net/Petitions/Sign/474afe09-804b-424f-b447-ac79edf9a23d

Terri Townsend

Terri, a non-director, serves as the chair of the NRA’s Black Powder Committee. She is a competitor in black powder events including those sponsored by the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association. Terri is also a member of the Competition Rules Committee.

Terri’s petition: https://nra.directnominations.net/Petitions/Sign/2f4d9273-96e3-4726-83ca-ea020364df4b

Chris Rakyta

Chris is an accomplished smallbore shooter and is a member of the NRA’s Smallbore Committee. By training, she is a mechanical engineer and is the senior director of R&D and engineering for an Ohio-based home furnishings company. She would bring both managerial and competition experience to the Board.

Chris’ petition: https://nra.directnominations.net/Petitions/Sign/cb399be6-fe38-477a-bcee-e4472c6e8a8f