NRA Board of Directors

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.