NRA

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NC Senate Rules Committee Hearing On S.50 – Freedom To Carry NC

March 19, 2025 by 1 Comment

The NC Senate Rules Committee hearing on S.50 – Freedom to Carry NC – lasted just under 30 minutes. After some preliminary introductions, Sen. Danny Britt (R-Hoke, Robeson, Scotland), the primary sponsor of S.50, introduced the bill and described its content.

Questions were raised by Sen. Paul Lowe (D-Forsyth) about training, Sen. Julie Mayfield (D-Buncombe) with some general questions, and Sen. Ralph Hise (R-WNC) who asked what other right requires you to get a permit.

It was then opened to public comment. Ken Stallings and Karen Raines represented Grass Roots North Carolina and urged passage. Likewise Sarah Kettle of the NRA spoke in favor of the bill with some reservations due to some of the restrictions on who qualifies. Opposing the bill were representatives from the left-wing activist group Democracy Out Loud, Dr. Anna Ruderman – a pediatrician from Durham, and a couple more whose affiliation I didn’t get.

The bottom line is that S.50 has now passed the Senate Rules Committee and will go to the floor of the State Senate.

The full hearing can be viewed in the video below. I would suggest viewing it on YouTube to be able to see and hear it better.

UPDATE: S.50 will have a floor vote on Thursday!

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20 Days To Go In NRA Board Race

March 17, 2025 by 0 Comments

With only 20 days to go before all ballots must be received by the NRA’s tabulating firm, this last factoid from the Falls Township Rifle and Pistol Association is an interesting note. With 49 candidates on the ballot plus another two write-in candidates, I think this number may drop even with people voting the full slate of NRA 2.0 candidates.

Now that we know that a total of 30 candidates will be elected, it is critical to remember that your ballot can only contain 28 selections including the two write-ins. Any more than that and it will be trashed as invalid. The passing of Walt Walter and the pending resignation of Ken Blackwell are what have opened up the extra two slots on the board.

Falls Township made this observation about the implications of the post above.

Reformers can win! In previous elections, the difference between popular insider candidates and the ones who barely got elected was a huge.

In recent years, the races have narrowed dramatically. Members are spreading their votes out and not voting for insider candidates as frequently.

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NRA Annual Membership Deal

March 11, 2025 by

Doug Hamlin has announced a reduced cost annual membership deal that is only good until April 20, 2025. You can get a NRA Annual Membership for only $18.71. The amount commemorates the NRA’s founding in 1871.

To take advantage of this deal, go to this link: https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR047188

Frankly, I know many (MANY!) people dropped their membership as a result of the issues of the last few years. The issues include Wayne’s grifting, too many directors looking the other way, insider deals, the New York trial, and the list goes on. The way I see it is that this deal allows one to take a chance on NRA 2.0 and the team of reformers that I sincerely expect to get elected for less than the cost of a box of ammo. If we don’t live up to your expectations, you can walk away having spent less than the cost of a ticket, popcorn, and a soda at most local movie theaters.

I want to be clear. This annual membership will not make you eligible to vote in this year’s Board of Directors election. You would still need to be either a life member or an annual member with five years of continuous, unbroken membership by March 7th to have been eligible to vote.

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Let’s Be Above Average

March 7, 2025 by 2 Comments

In another voting facts factoid from the Falls Township Rifle and Pistol Association, we learn that in the last five NRA Board elections that it took an average of 51,774 votes to be elected.

If what I’m hearing on the ground is accurate, it should take more than that to be elected. The reason being is that I’m hearing from long time members that they plan to vote for the first time. Moreover, they plan to vote for NRA 2.0 and reform.

If you have friends who are NRA members, ask them if they are a voting member? Ask them if they have voted yet? If they answer no, tell them they need to vote and they need to vote for NRA 2.0. While it might be nice to see the NRA returned to its former prominence, I am more concerned about it being an effective advocate for the Second Amendment and not worrying about who gets the credit for the win.

Go to ElectANewNRA.com to see the whole slate.

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March 7th Is Deadline To Become A Voting Member

February 28, 2025 by

I received an email this morning from NRA Secretary John Frazer which clarifies the deadline to become a voting member eligible to vote in the 2025 NRA Board of Directors election. The deadline is March 7th.

Here is the email from Frazer:

To:          Board and Executive Council members

                2025 Board of Directors candidates

We’ve received a couple of questions about the voting eligibility of members who paid their Life membership dues in January or February. 

Under the Bylaws, anyone who is a fully paid Life member (or reaches the five-year mark of annual membership) at least 50 days before the Annual Meeting of Members is eligible to vote.  This year, that date is March 7.

However, anyone who becomes eligible after late December wouldn’t get a ballot in the February magazines (or the initial first-class mailing for overseas ballots).  Members who qualify to vote between that initial data pull and March 7 will receive a ballot by first-class mail around March 11.

Based on the questions we’ve received and some social media posts, it appears that our Membership call center may not have communicated that clearly.  We’ve reminded the call center about this timeline. 

Anyone who joined early enough to get a ballot in the initial mailing, but still hasn’t received one, can contact Membership to verify their ballot status, and request a replacement if appropriate.

Many thanks to those who called this to our attention, and please let me know if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

John Frazer

Secretary

National Rifle Association of America

11250 Waples Mill Rd.

Fairfax, VA 22030

So if you are planning on buying or upgrading to a Life Membership so that you can vote in this election, your deadline to do so is March 7th.

The half price Life Membership offer at $750 has reportedly expired. However, it is still listed online here. If you are considering becoming a Life Member, do it now and take advantage of that discount. I sincerely doubt that the days of the $300 “friends and family” Life Memberships will ever return.

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Proof Online Voting Is Viable

February 27, 2025 by 1 Comment

One of the questions I have been getting with some frequency as a candidate for the NRA Board of Directors is, “Can I vote online?” I have to answer that they cannot and they must use the paper ballot that was mailed to them in the February issue of the various NRA magazines.

It is a reasonable question and with today’s technology the question really should be “Why can’t I?” We vote proxies for multi-billion dollar public companies online all the time with the option to use a paper ballot. We use DocuSign to sign off securely on mortgages and financial transactions. Judge Cohen called the paper and ink petition signature gathering process as very “20th Century” and “antiquated”. In his Final Order, while permitting the paper petitions to remain, he said the NRA must provide an online alternative.

It is doable and I know it is doable because I just voted that way this evening for the Dallas Safari Club Board of Directors. I realize that DSC is a much smaller organization but I can’t see why it could not work for a larger organization like the NRA.

I was given an Election Code and Voting PIN. The ballot had the names of five candidates plus spaces for three write-in candidates. I could vote for up to three candidates. I ended up voting for only two and the system questioned whether I wanted to vote for a third candidate before submitting my vote. I didn’t and it went through with no troubles. As you can see above, I even got a confirm that it was a success.

This system was run by a company called YesElections which was formerly known as Election-America, Inc. According to a PDF e-book that I downloaded, they are able to handle hybrid elections where members are sent a paper ballot with the option to vote it online.

I plan to follow up with them this week and ask is there a maximum limit on the number of voters that they can handle. I know there are other companies like ProxyVote that handle millions of proxy votes during Annual Meeting season. While the latter is exclusively for the financial world, YesElections seems to work with a wider range of clients ranging from associations to unions to educational institutions.

Read their e-book yourself. Can you think of any reason something like this could not be implemented for the 2026 NRA Board of Directors’ election?

I can’t.

Ebook _ The Ultimate Guide To Planning & Organizing ElectionsDownload
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Letter On Electioneering

February 11, 2025 by 1 Comment

A letter went out today to the Board of Directors signed by Bob Barr, Bill Bachenberg, Mark Vaughan, and Doug Hamlin concerning statements that cross the line when it comes to campaigning for the Board. I don’t know what precipitated this letter nor do I know if it is aimed at any one in particular. It could just be a general warning letter to Board members to “keep it clean”.

That said, it could be aimed at the reform slate for daring to call the old guard or Wayne’s enablers the “cabal” and urging voters not to vote for them. Conversely, it could be aimed at the troll named “Seth Haan” who I called out for his attack on Jeff Knox.

I will say that I’ve tried to be objective in my push for the reform slate which includes me. Likewise, it is my considered opinion that there are some running to keep their Board seats whose past behavior makes them unworthy of your vote and I stand by that.

It is time to replace what has long been a passive Board with an activist Board that will work to reform, rebuild, and rejuvenate the NRA. That can only come from electing the slate of reformers found at ElectANewNRA.com. I might add Mark Shuell to the list as he has been endorsed by Jeff Knox.

If you are a voting member and have not yet voted, I would encourage you to do so ASAP. If you have been disgusted by the grifting of the past and just turned your back on the NRA, I say to come back and help make a positive change. Voting participation in the past has been atrocious and that has worked to the cabal’s advantage. Now is the time to change that!

Below is a copy of the letter sent to the Board:

Officers’ letter to the Board – 2-10-2025Download
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Reports On January NRA Board Meeting

January 13, 2025 by 5 Comments

As you know from my earlier post, I attended the Dallas Safari Club Convention in Atlanta rather than the NRA Board Meeting in Dallas. I know that sounds backwards but when the DSC Convention was planned the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center was supposed to be in the process of being demolished.

Thanks to reports by Frank Tait and NRA In Danger, we know how the meeting went. The bottom line was that it went even better than hoped for those of us in favor of reform.

Significantly, the Special Litigation Committee was dissolved! But wait, there’s more! Brewer, Attorneys and Counselors, have resigned from representing the NRA and their only continued work is transitioning legal matter to General Counsel Michael Blas.

From Frank in part on the bylaw amendments and resolutions:

  • Several By-Law amendments and policies were passed to address compliance with NY Nonprofit law:
    • Enhanced federal 990 (tax return) and CHAR500 (NY return) reporting
    • Updates to the Conflict of Interest Policy, including making the threshold any aggregate amount over 1,000 in any 12 months.
    • Director Nomination policy, including mandatory background checks
    • Officer Eligibility Requirements (minimum age, etc.)
    • The threshold for ethics complaints is “malicious disparagement.” This is important because it appears that attempts were made to constrain directors from voicing issues that some would prefer to keep within the board. This keeps valuable reporting from people like Jeff Knox and John Richardson available to the members.
    • Cleaned up the by-laws regarding Junior members transitioning to regular members at age 18 (Thanks, Bitterb!)
    • While Ron Andring’s resolution regarding adding the Conflict of Interest policy to the by-laws was defeated, the Conflict of Interest policy will be provided online and will be referenced in the By-Laws book
  • A Resolution calling for the clawback of any advanced expenses from former EVP LaPierre passed. Note that LaPierre fully paid the amounts, including interest, from the jury verdict in the NY case.
  • The EVP search committee has been repurposed. Any search is now off the table. The Committee has been renamed the Special Committee of Leadership Criteria and focuses on developing appropriate job descriptions and determining the attributes needed for all officer positions.

Dennis Fusaro and I had multiple discussions regarding indemnification and advanced expenses prior to the meeting. I understand from another director that there was an extensive discussion of the differences between indemnification and advances and whether a signed agreement was required in the clawback of expenses. It is my understanding this resolution is being referred back to the Bylaws and Resolutions Committee to clean up imprecise language.

NRA In Danger reports:

It began with two tests of strength. A motion to change the agenda so that the resolution abolishing the Special Litigation Committee (SLC) and some other key one would come first, before even the committee reports. Dennis Fusaro pointed out that those resolutions were the most important ones, and the board might as well get them out of the way. That carried by an overwhelming voice vote. Then Jeff Knox pointed out the agenda had a mass of deliberations being held in executive session, and he moved to delete that and only go into executive session as necessary on individual items. The tests of strength indicated the reformers had strong support.

New CEO Doug Hamlin reported, and it was a very businesslike report, not at all like the LaPierre presentations, which usually were political rah-rahs. Membership continues to drop, but the rate of drop is greatly reducing (a factual statement that would never have been uttered by LaPierre). Revenues were up a little in 2024. The roof has been fixed and the top floor now fully usable. Looking to lease out offices in the South Tower. Court cases have either been resolved or are transitioning (meaning have been taken away from Brewer). A secure internal portal has been created for directors to communicate with each other and with the entire board (no more sending it to HQ for distribution). It was a report from an effective manager rather than from a lobbyist pushed upstairs. (The report from Treasurer Sonya Rowling was likewise: she just said, you have my written report. Do you have any questions?)

Then came the serious work. Rocky Marshall spoke to the resolution abolishing the SLC. No one opposed it, the fight was over whether responsibility for the four cases it had been handling should go to EVP (as it normally would or to Legal Affairs Committee). Several reformers supported EVP, and several non-reformers supported Legal Affairs. Dennis Fusaro (corrected) pointed out Legal Affairs is legally not a “committee of the board” and cannot make decisions that bind the NRA, it can only recommend that the entire board do so. (This would mean it can’t settle a case or pay an invoice). In the end the “Legal Affairs Committee” option did carry. (A later resolution ordered the SLC to turn over all its records to the General Counsel. Ouch, that’s gonna hurt). The final vote to abolish the SLC was overwhelming. A chorus of “Aye,” and a barely audible peep of “Nay.”

Kudos to both Dennis and Jeff for putting first things first and for keeping the use of executive session limited. I would also like to thank whomever inserted the word “malicious” into the Code of Conduct.

I am also happy to see that the roof has been fixed in the Headquarters Building and that the 7th floor is usable again. I seem to remember someone had a resolution at the 2022 Meeting of Members about fixing the leaking roof that ended up being defeated about being poo-pooed by numerous directors under instruction from the cabal. Gee, I wonder who brought that resolution.

Please read both reports in their entirety. There is important stuff reported there.

It is my hope that there will come a time when in the interest of transparency all board meetings will be livestreamed and official minutes will be post expeditiously. Being open and transparent nullifies the gossip and innuendo that our blood enemies in the anti-rights industry like to spread. You can’t lie about things when it the truth is there for all to see.

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Keep Rick Ector In Your Prayers

January 10, 2025 by 1 Comment

Our good friend Rick Ector, NRA Director and the catalyst behind training thousand of women in Detroit, recently suffered a stroke. I only found out about it yesterday thanks to a post by Candy Petticord. She reports that he is doing well but has a long recovery process.

Hi, Everyone!!

To those of you who know Rick Ector and/or have participated in Rick Ector‘s Annual Women’s Shooting Event in Detroit, I wanted to let you know that Rick has suffered a stroke, however, he is doing well. He is currently in a rehabilitation facility, and he has a long recovery process ahead of him, but he is alert, talking, laughing, joking and trying desperately to have a coffee IV inserted. 😂😂

I have it on great authority that the July Women’s Shooting Event is still on, so please plan on attending!! 😃👍🏾😃

Anyone wanting to send cards to Rick, please send them to:

Rick Ector c/o Tanisha Moner, 44544 Bayview Ave., Unit 26313, Clinton Township, Mi 48038

That is good news that both Rick is doing well considering and that the July Women’s Shooting Even is still on. Few people have done more grass roots work in reaching out to an underserved community – urban women – than Rick. He has always had my vote for the NRA Board of Directors and fortunately he will still be on the Board for the next two years and then some.

Please take the time to reach out to Rick and send a card or note. You may not think it is much but the mind. body, spirit connection is real and a card may raise his spirits.