Jeff Knox

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Beware Of Trolls

February 7, 2025 by 2 Comments

Someone by the name of Seth Haan has been promoting the old guard or cabal ticket on a number of firearms forums. These include ArfCom, the 24 Hour Campfire Forum, and the Smith & Wesson Forum. He is usually a new member of the forum and no one seems to know who he is nor does he answer questions regarding his identity. His posts usually start off by reposting something NRA President Bob Barr wrote that appeared on Ammoland.com.

Seth or whoever he really is has been openly mocked as a troll on all of these forums. The usual response is “any list the has Bob Barr on it will never get my vote.” Many then go on to ask who Jeff Knox or Tim Knight has endorsed. Other responses to Seth will also suggest going to ElectANewNRA.com and voting for the reform slate.

It is one thing to be a troll supporting the cabal. However, it is another thing when that transforms into a diatribe about Jeff Knox who he characterizes as “a bitter old man.” The diatribe is below:

Jeff Knox frequently starts his attack on his fellow Board members with “This is not some sort of personal vendetta.” and launches on an attack full of ridiculous claims . Of course it is a personal vendetta. He’s been on a crusade to get revenge against NRA and certain board members ever since he and others were not elected to the NRA Board by the voters over 25 years ago.

Most of what Jeff Knox says is distorted, inaccurate, innuendo, speculative and in some cases even ridiculous. This is why the voters gave him and his cronies the boot in the late 90’s.

He claims that NRA has been a failure for the past 20 years. Where is the evidence? NRA spent over $60 million to help get Donald Trump elected in 2016 and now we have a pro-Second Amendment majority in the Supreme Court. Was that a failure? NRA helped elect numerous successful pro-gun candidates in federal, state and local elections over the past 20 years. NRA helped pass numerous pro-gun laws. Where is the failure?

Knox is acting like a democrat propagandist. He blames board members for nonexistant “failures over the past 20 years”. Its all just gaslighting, bloviating, fear mongering.

One of Knox’s more ridiculous statements was his suggestion that the NRA should have fired its attorneys right in the middle of the New York court case! Yes, during the actual negotiations to conclude the case against NRA, Jeff Knox supported firing NRA’s attorneys! What was his reason? To save NRA money in legal fees!!!

And what would have happened to the NRA if it had actually fired its attorneys? It would have had to hire new attorneys at a great cost to the NRA to have new attorneys come up to speed. Unless maybe Jeff was figuring that NRA should have gone into court nekkid as a jaybird, before God and everybody, without any attorney at all?

And now Jeff Knox has the temerity to post his ridiculous attack on board members who opposed firing NRA’s attorneys during the actual court proceedings. He actually expects you to not see through this nonsense.

Jeff Knox is just a bitter old man, desperately seeking revenge for events that happened a quarter century ago.

I’m going to be blunt. Seth Haan or whoever the troll really is can go fuck himself. Jeff has been a friend for many years. He has stood like an Old Testament prophet while being despised and scorned for telling the truth year after year. In 2019, he accurately foretold what would happen if the Board circled the wagons, defended Wayne, and tried to muddle through.

Jeff was absolutely correct that Bill Brewer should have been fired long ago. After Judge Cohen took dissolution off the table, it was time to seek a settlement. I sincerely doubt that any settlement reached at that stage would look much different that what was contained in the Final Order. The difference is the NRA would have saved much of the $200 million spent on Brewer and his colleagues. This is money that could have gone towards rebuilding the Training Department to educate all the new Covid-era gun owners. This is money that could have gone into 2A litigation. The list goes on.

I have gotten off topic a bit. My intent was to warn you about a nasty troll pushing the cabal. However, when this troll attacked Jeff, I could not let that pass without a response.

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Two More Reports About The Winter NRA Board Meeting

January 16, 2025 by 3 Comments

NRA Board members Amanda Suffecool and Jeff Knox have posted their reports and observations of the NRA Board of Directors meeting held this past weekend in Dallas.

First, from Amanda, in part, which was posted on RugerForum.com:

…the big items were that the SLC Special Litigation Committee was disbanded and the power was transferred back to three pronged control. The inside General Counsel, the EVP/CEO (Doug Hamlin) and advisory control to the committee chaired by Sandy Froman which I believe is called Legislative Action Committee (which is primarily made up of Lawyers on the board, and who either advises General Counsel and EVP or sends it to the full board for vote) Look at this one as Sunshine is the best disinfectant.

One that was a BIG issue in my mind and the nuances seemed to be missed by the reporters above was a resolution authored by J Sigler that was three parts. The first part wrestled operational control and management approval from the EVP and placed it with the board. the third part put an approval of the hiring of a second level of management with the board instead of with the EVP and Operations. In my opinion – in an attempt to maintain control and to keep the WLP days of overreach from happening – this was a resolution that would have SLOWED down change, improvements and recovery. It would have had the board approving and second guessing any major decision that the departments want to make. This process as outline in the authors own words could have taken as much as 4 months to complete each time. here is an explanation of it I gave on one of the Forums.

The resolution was egregious. It would have SLOWED down the forward momentum of these new energized folks. The argument on the floor was energetic with both sides of the issue sure that they were right. Some saw safety in extreme oversight ( to avoid past sins from happening in the future) while others saw it as an impediment to much needed progress. In the end the resolution was voted down and Doug retains oversight to operations with the board providing directional advisory guidance.

Amanda also noted a number of Board members were prevented by bad weather from making the meeting. Even worse, some got part way there and then got stuck in airports. She also reported that the management team that Doug Hamlin has assembled from both new hires and long-term NRA employees seemed both professional and collegial.

Moving on to Jeff’s report which was posted today on Ammoland.

The SLC lived up to its contentious record right up to the end however, with their last official act being the filing of a notice of appeal in the New York AG case. For practical purposes, the notice has the effect of retaining the option of filing an appeal within the next 6 months. Had the NRA not filed the notice by a Friday, January 10 deadline, the window for filing appeals would have been closed permanently.

The notice of appeal was also the final major act of Brewer Attorneys and Counselors as the NRA’s outside counsel. The firm has terminated its representation of NRA, with only a few housekeeping and transition matters left to clear up.

The object of the NRA’s appeal would be the judge’s early decision to toss out the NRA’s claims of First Amendment violations by AG James. This should not be confused with the NRA’s other First Amendment case against New York, which was titled NRA vs. Vullo and Cuomo, commonly referred to as the Vullo case. That case did a side-track to the US Supreme Court, where NRA won a unanimous decision on a portion of the suit. It was then remanded back to the lower courts for further action and is still ongoing. That SCOTUS decision might put the NRA in a better position in an appeal on this case, but that is yet to be thoroughly explored.

There was significant debate over the filing of the notice of appeal during committee meetings. Unfortunately, with the deadline for filing falling on the day before the Board meeting, the full Board wasn’t able to debate the pros and cons of the action or offer an advisory vote on the issue. The Legal Affairs Committee did look into it, but it was clear that the members of the SLC had already committed to the idea of filing, so any other debate was moot.

The matter was only briefly touched upon during the meeting of the full Board, as Directors already had a very full agenda to cover. Nonetheless, debate continues, with some calling for immediate withdrawal of the notice, while others argue that the appeal should proceed.

My position on the matter is, while I disagree with the way the notice was filed, I don’t see that it creates any significant problems or harm to the Association. The NY AG has a 10-day window to file a counter-appeal, but I’ve seen no indication that she intends to do so. Frankly, the AG’s office doesn’t need NRA’s notice of appeal to instigate further action. Since the notice has been filed, I think the best course for the NRA to take now is to consult with knowledgeable attorneys, then present the Board with a comprehensive report on the pros and cons of pursuing the appeal. A final decision can be made at our next Board meeting after the Annual Meetings in Atlanta this spring.

I would love nothing more than to have a successful suit against Letitia James and New York for her politically motivated attacks on the Association, but I don’t want to spend millions of dollars on a dead end. If the lawyers conclude there’s a very good chance of a resounding win with substantial compensation coming back to NRA’s treasury, I’ll support it, otherwise I’ll advise we walk away.

Jeff has a lot more to say and I suggest reading his whole post. I disagree a bit with Jeff on the filing of the appeal as I think it is both a waste of time and a waste of money. The Final Judgment was more than generous to the NRA and was more than I expected.

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Speaking Of The Special Litigation Committee

December 10, 2024 by

As I have written about before, the NRA Board of Directors did vote to abolish the Special Litigation Committee. However, the parliamentarian ruled that while they had a majority, they did not have the super-majority needed to abolish the committee. Thanks to the efforts of Jeff Knox, the vote was both recorded AND published in the Official Journal.

Jeff Knox has an editorial on this in today’s Ammoland. The need for the SLC is over and control of the litigation needs to be returned to the entire board.

You should keep this issue in mind when you get your ballot for the 2025 election in mid-January 2025. Jeff has kindly outlined who is up for election that wants to keep this parasite of a committee. I am certainly not a disinterested observer on this as I am a candidate for the Board of Directors. As I have said in the past, I was shocked to be nominated by the Nominating Committee but was humbled and gratified to also be on the ballot by petition.

Those of us running on the reform ticket now have a website with biographical information and statements for each one of us. You can find that at https://electanewnra.com/. It also gives the core values to which each of has pledged ourselves. First and foremost, it is members first!

Here is a little reminder of who not to give your vote.

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Four For Reform Elected!

May 1, 2024 by 3 Comments

The members of the NRA just sent a clear message to the Board of Directors. They want reform and they want it now. The old ways of doing business just won’t cut it anymore.

Jeff Knox posted this to Facebook approximately an hour ago.

The Four for Reform candidates – Jeff Knox, Dennis Fusaro, Phil Journey, and Rocky Marshall – got on the ballot thanks to the many members who signed their petition. Even with the shenanigans from the Nominations Committee of padding the ballot, all four were successfully elected to full 3-year terms.

Additionally, Rick Ector who bucked the Cabal by endorsing Wade Callender to be the next EVP was elected to a full 3-year term.

I have not seen who else was elected. I did see a comment from Gina Roberts on the Members Take Back Our NRA Facebook page that she did not win election. It will be interesting to see who will be running for the 76th Director.

As soon as I can obtain a complete list, I will post it.

Now for a word of caution. This was a great win for the members but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. Moreover, it must be borne in mind that the Board is just too damn large with 76 members and even five members committed to reform will have a hard time changing things. It will take time which, to be honest, the organization doesn’t have a lot of to spare.

One final note and this is not related to the Board election. Judge Phil Journey is the lead individual plaintiff in a Federal lawsuit along with the attorneys general of 21 states challenging the new ATF rule that redefines “engaged in the business” of firearm sales. I will have more on that suit in another post.

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My 2024 NRA Ballots

March 11, 2024 by 3 Comments

Here are my ballots for the 2024 NRA Board of Director election and for the bylaw change.

Now to explain my votes. It should go without saying that I support the Four for Reform. I signed and promoted their petitions to be on the ballot as well as have supported them here. I would love it if they ended up as the top four winning candidates.

I would have voted for Owen Buz Mills except that he told Jeff Knox that he wanted people to bullet vote for the Four for Reform. As to why I added Rick Ector as the fifth candidate, his “missionary work” in Detroit in which he has introduced thousands of women is worthy of recognition. Just as importantly, he bucked the Old Guard aka “The Cabal” when he endorsed Wade Callender to be the next Executive VP of the NRA. These two factors were why I added Rick to the list of candidates for whom I voted.

While I consider the bylaw change to add a Chief Compliance Officer independent of the EVP as closing the barn doors after the horses have escaped, it is a reform in the right direction. I worked for 25 years in the financial services industry and we always had a Chief Compliance Officer. There were times I thought they were a bit “nit-picky” but their goal was to protect both the company and the client. If I had questions on something such as a political contribution, I knew I could reach out to them for advice on the best way to handle it.

While the appointment of a Chief Compliance Officer must wait until the vote is tallied, it appears that a candidate has been hired in anticipation of the bylaw change. Robert Mensinger was hired by the NRA in September 2023 as a Managing Director. He holds a law degree, has had an extensive career as a compliance and business integrity officer, and spent almost 25 years working as a Special Agent/Criminal Investigator for the Small Business Administration, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and Treasury Department. My only reservation about Mensinger is that he was selected for his present job by Wayne LaPierre upon the advice and counsel of Bill Brewer. Other than that, he seems ideal for the job. Only time will tell if I was worried about nothing which is my actual hope.

UPDATE: This is just a reminder that you should vote by NAME and not by NUMBER. There are 5 or so different ballots and the order of the names varies. It is randomized as a security measure.

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Vote Four For Reform

February 21, 2024 by 8 Comments

The official NRA magazines with the ballots for the 2024 Board of Directors election have started to arrive. The Complementary Spouse and I both received ours today.

I would urge you in the strongest possible terms to bullet vote, i.e, only vote for these candidates and no others, for the Four for Reform. While there are a couple of others deserving of your vote, it is essential that these four get elected.

All four are on the ballot as a result of your efforts in signing their petition. We need people like them on the Board as they won’t put up and shut up. Indeed, both Judge Phil Journey and Rocky Marshall were retaliated against for standing up for what is right. That retaliation has led to the NRA being charged with violating the State of New York ‘s whistleblower law. This is one of the charges that the jurors in the New York trial are in the process of deciding guilt or innocence.

So few of the eligible voters actually vote that every vote for these four is critical.

We don’t know the outcome of the trial in New York and we don’t know what remedies Judge Cohen will impose if the NRA is found guilty. He could dissolve the current board and reduce it in size. He could appoint a special overseer. He could appoint a temporary board of people who are not tainted such as these four. He could do all of these things and that is why support for clean, untainted candidates is so important.

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I Endorse Four For Reform

February 3, 2024 by 1 Comment

The NRA’s trial in New York has provided more than enough evidence that many members of the Board of Directors ignored their fiduciary duties. Many thought loyalty to Wayne was the same as loyalty to the organization. It was not.

The ballots for the 2024 Board election go out to eligible voters in the March issue of the NRA official magazines. Not only has the Nominations Committee stacked the ballot with retreads, they are the same people that allowed the rot and corruption to grow. They include people like former NRA President Carolyn Meadows who currently is considered too ill to testify either in person or virtually in the NY trial. It also includes 2nd VP David Coy who served on the Audit Committee for many years who voted to approve questionable expenditures after the fact.

There are four people on the ballot who were not put there by the Nominations Committee. Dennis Fusaro, Judge Phil Journey, Jeff Knox, and Rocky Marshall are on the ballot by petition. In other words, enough of you who are voting members said you wanted them on the ballot. They are untainted by the corruption of the past and are running on a platform of reform. I wholeheartedly endorse all four and would urge you to give them your votes.

The only two current Board members I might consider voting for are Buz Mills and Rick Ector. As evidenced by his letter to the Board exposing the backdoor shenanigans to make Charles Cotton the next EVP, Buz is not a go-along to get-along sort of guy. Rick Ector had done phenomenal grassroots work in the Detroit area introducing thousands of women to self-defense through firearms training. He also bucked the trend with his endorsement of Wade Callender for the EVP.

If it were me, I would not consider anyone else on the list of candidates. The four petition candidates plus the two that have bucked the system are the only candidates that I think will work day in and day out to restore and reform the NRA. We need an effective and untainted NRA. Now is the time to do it.

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You Did It!

November 8, 2023 by

Through your efforts and that of other like-minded people all four petition candidates made the 2024 NRA Board election ballot. I don’t remember this many petition candidates on the ballot since I’ve been a voting member.

Jeff Knox, Judge Phil Journey, Rockey Marshall, and Dennis Fusaro will definitely be on my list of endorsed candidates. I might add Rick Ector given the great work he does in Detroit in bringing women into the gun culture.

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Two More Petition Candidates For NRA Board

October 25, 2023 by 2 Comments

In addition to Rocky Marshall and Judge Phil Journey, the two other petition candidates that I am aware of are Jeff Knox and Dennis Fusaro. They need our help as well to get the necessary signatures. I realize it is the 11th hour but there is still time if you do it NOW.

Here is a link to Jeff’s petition.

And a link to Dennis’s petition.

The Complementary Spouse and I signed and sent the petitions back a while ago. I would urge you, if eligible, to do the same.

Send them to Jeff at:

Jeff Knox, P.O. Box 303, Tombstone, AZ  85638

This needs to be done ASAP as he has to have the petitions in to the NRA by November 7th.

One final note – could you imagine the uproar in Fairfax if Jeff got on the Board. The wailing and gnashing of teeth would be heard everywhere. I do realize that with the size of the board he would be “powerless” in terms of passing stuff. That said, it is not always about passing stuff.

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Guess Who Got Fooled Again

April 19, 2023 by

The British rock legends The Who have a song entitled, “Won’t Get Fooled Again”. It contains the lyric, “We don’t get fooled again.” Unfortunately, it appears that no one in the NRA’s leadership is a Who fan or at least doesn’t remember that song. That is because they did get fooled again.

At last year’s Meeting of Members, Jason Selvig of the comedy duo The Good Liars trolled Wayne LaPierre on a resolution honoring him. He tried to get the members to chant “thoughts and prayers”.

This year, Selvig’s partner Davram Stiefler did the honors. He spoke on Jeff Knox’s second resolution that called for a vote of no confidence in Wayne LaPierre. It is playing on Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube where it has received hundreds of thousands views.

Jeff Knox realized Wayne was just trolled. He even suggested to NRA Secretary John Frazer that speakers be required to hold up their voting credentials before being allowed to speak. That is a quite reasonable suggestion that will probably get blown off given that it came from Jeff.

Selvig and Stiefler understand Alinsky’s Rule Number Five – “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. There is no defense. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage.” While Wayne is worthy of ridicule, the work that the NRA does on training and the promotion of the Second Amendment is not.