Neal Knox

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Neal Knox – “April 28, 1997”

August 21, 2020 by 1 Comment

Preface by Chris Knox

This piece and the preceding one were written during the run-up to the 1997 NRA Board meeting that would replace Neal Knox with Charlton Heston as NRA First Vice-President. In order to assure Heston’s election, which was not a sure thing (Heston won by a mere four votes), his backers had “gone negative.” The details of the 1997 fight appear later in this section, but in this piece and its preceding companion, Knox looks back needing to protect his name, he ran these two pieces in back-to-back issues of Shotgun News.

April 28, 1997


When the New York Times devotes an editorial to trashing me, I’m honored.

On February 3, 1997 they huffed that “Mr. Knox has been a dark force in the N.R.A. since his days as the group’s chief lobbyist. He was kicked out of that job in 1982 and expelled from the board in 1984 for ‘extremism.’”

As reported in my last column,“extremism” had nothing to do with my firing—not unless it is “extremist” to insist that Sen. Bob Dole and the other 54 co-sponsors of the McClure-Volkmer “Gun Decontrol Act” bring it to a vote and pass it, as they had promised to do.

Similarly my removal from the Board in 1984 had nothing to do with “extremism.”

But it was again tied to my all-out effort to pass the McClure-Volkmer bill, which would have cut the heart out of the Gun Control Act of 1968. I helped write the McClure bill in 1979, and began the ground-work—by declaring war on BATF’s GCA ’68 enforcement tactics—the week after I became ILA Executive Director in January 1978.

The week after I was fired, the Senate Judiciary finally approved the long-stalled McClure-Volkmer bill—but only after adding the Kennedy-Dole amendment calling for a 7-day waiting period on handgun purchases (a concept Dole had been quietly pushing for a couple of years).

Instead of working to remove the Dole-Kennedy amendment, my successor at ILA, J. Warren Cassidy, happily quit supporting McClure-Volkmer. The Senators who didn’t want to vote on it—led by Dole—were relieved.

But NRA members wouldn’t back off. They demanded that NRA and Congress move the bill.

In early 1983 Cassidy took two copies of the bill to Sen. Jim McClure, showing the amendments wanted by the “Reagan Administration” (BATF and the Justice Department). Sen. McClure gave me one of his copies and asked me to give him a report of their effect.

To my astonishment, the modifications weren’t to the original version, but to the committee-passed version—which had the Dole-Kennedy waiting period. 

The Administration/BATF amendments gutted the bill. For instance, the heart of GCA ’68 was its prohibition of virtually all interstate transfers. The original M-V eliminated those prohibitions unless the laws of either state restricted such transfers. 

I was reared on both sides of the Red River dividing Texas and Oklahoma, and had family in each; neither state restricted my purchase of any type gun.  But under GCA ’68 my uncle couldn’t give me a gun without both of us committing a Federal felony.

One of the dozen BATF amendments to M-V would have retained the total prohibition on interstate handgun transfers and allowed long gun purchases only from dealers. At the 1983 members’ meeting in Phoenix, Cassidy claimed he hadn’t asked Sen. McClure to support those amendments—but that’s not what Sen. McClure told me.

Harlon did his best to get the Board not to seat me, saying, “We must excise this cancer.” But he couldn’t get the board to agree. That fall, Cassidy got Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) to support the BATF amendments. Sen. McClure was furious. I prepared written testimony—as a private citizen—opposing the amendments and presented it to the Senate Judiciary, which wouldn’t let me testify. And I lobbied friends on the Hill, some of whom I had known for 15 years, and probably none of whom knew I was on the NRA Board.

When I blasted Cassidy in Gun Week for supporting the amendments, he denied it, citing weasel-worded committee testimony. Only long after, when the hearing report came out, did I learn that Sen. Thurmond had demanded—and got—a clear written statement in support of the amendments. Late on the night before the January 1984 Board Meeting, I was informally told that there would be an effort to expel me for opposing the position taken by ILA. I received no official notice. The Board voted 45-24 (just short of two-thirds; not the three-quarter vote claimed in a recently distributed letter from four past presidents, all of whom voted against me).

In opposing any amendments to McClure-Volkmer, I was lobbying in support of long-established Board policy. 

Board members asked me if I would promise not to do it again; I replied that I could not make such a promise because I couldn’t know if NRA were going to at some future time act against the best interests of the members.

If that be “extremism,” make the most of it.

Used with permission.

Knox, Neal. Neal Knox – The Gun Rights War: Dispatches from the Front Lines 1966 through 2000 . MacFarlane Press. Kindle Edition. Location 5398 – 5432.

The New York Times editorial that is referenced in this excerpt can be found here. It referred to Neal Knox as a “dark force” who wanted to repeal the Brady Law as well as the Clinton assault weapons ban. It said he even wanted to legalize “fully automatic weapons.” The horror!

That editorial noted that Wayne LaPierre was facing a challenge from within due to “declining membership, financial problems and an abysmal public image”. Other than a declining membership, this could have almost been written in 2020. If they had said declining contributions, it would have been spot on.

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Neal Knox – “NRA Restored To Proper Course”

August 13, 2020 by

Preface by Chris Knox:

The Cincinnati Revolution

The gathering storm over whether and how NRA should fulfill its role as “the gun lobby” came to a head at the organization’s 1977 convention in Cincinnati when, operating under long-ignored Bylaws and New York not-for-profit corporation law (NRA is chartered in New York), a loose-knit organization of members that dubbed itself “The Federation for NRA” wrested control of the organization from the “Old Guard” NRA establishment. The man who moved the Bylaw changes that re-made the Association was Neal Knox.

Knox’s motions were far from a solo act. Reform-minded members had gathered for this meeting from across the country and rebel Board members, including Ed Topmiller and Harlon Carter, provided tactical advice.

Nor had Knox sought the lead role. In a planning session prior to the meeting he looked to the core of the reformers to appoint a speaker. They pointed back at him as the most recognizable name and face. Knox’s columns and editorials on NRA over the previous half-dozen years had brought many of the delegates to the meeting. Knox refused the appointment. But Bill Greif, a blunt-spoken New Yorker hustled him into a corner and growled into his good ear, “Enough of this democracy shit, Neal! Tonight we need Napoleon and you’re it! ”

In a raucous meeting that lasted a full eight hours—until past four in the morning—the members replaced most of the officers with candidates who were less squeamish about involving NRA in politics, and elected Board ally Harlon Carter as Executive Vice President (EVP). Under the newly-passed Bylaws, the redefined post of EVP, now functionally a Chief Executive Officer, would be elected directly by the members gathered at the Convention.

The members also passed Bylaw amendments that dissolved the Management Committee, and created a petition process to nominate Board candidates. Other Bylaw amendments strengthened the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, the lobbying arm, by making the ILA Executive Director report directly to the EVP on a co-equal basis with the Director of General Operations. The ILA Director had previously reported to General Operations. Other new Bylaws provided that only the members could change certain sections of the Bylaws which would be printed in boldface type. For the first time in living memory, the members had a genuine say in the affairs of the Association.

Satisfied that his work was done, Neal returned home to Prescott, Arizona and to his magazines. Within weeks Carter asked him to come to Washington and head ILA. He refused. As he told Harlon, he had every boy’s dream job: he drove a company-provided 4-wheel-drive truck to work, flew the company twin-engine plane to shooting matches and hunting trips, and he got to play with the best new toys the firearms industry had to offer. Why would he want to go to Washington where he would have to commute through Washington traffic and wear a suit and tie to work?

Nonetheless Knox and Harlon Carter were in near-daily telephone contact. Finally, late in 1977, Carter prevailed on him to head ILA. He planned to stay in Washington no more than two years, never dreaming that he would never live outside the Washington area again.

NRA Restored to Proper Course

Handloader July-August, 1977


The National Rifle Association rests in the hands of its membership. At the May 21, 1977 annual members’ meeting a well-organized, determined group of delegates from organizations across the country—the Federation for NRA—deposed almost all the top officers, placed moratoriums on the National Outdoor Center and planned sale of the Washington Headquarters, provided for member nominations of Directors, and elected Harlon B. Carter as Executive Vice President, placing him over all NRA operations.

The Federation’s program was strongly supported by the more than 1,100 Life Members who had registered to vote and more than 1,000 other Life and Annual members—the largest-ever attendance at a members’ meeting. Those members came to Cincinnati deeply disturbed about the reports of serious problems within NRA, which had appeared here, in Gene Crum’s articles in Gun Week, and elsewhere. They were determined to discover whether the allegations were true—and to take corrective actions if they were. During their reports the officers charged that the allegations against them were lies and distortions. First Vice President lrvine Reynolds said the articles were “propaganda that make Hitler look like a piker.” Although not mentioning the writers by name, President Merrill Wright did mention the title of a Rifle article, which gave your editor the right to respond—which I did, challenging specific false statements made by the officers. When several members demanded that my charges be answered,Wright declined.

Then Institute for Legislative Action Executive Director Bob Kukla, in an extremely courageous act, confirmed that the independence of ILA, and its effectiveness in fighting repressive gun legislation had been threatened by the Management Committee, composed of the three top officers. As proof, Kukla played an openly recorded tape of the February 26 Management Committee meeting in which he was criticized for ILA’s opposition to Smith & Wesson’s proposal for national handgun licensing, and ILA’s opposition to the National Education Association’s anti-handgun position. Kukla’s evidence convinced the neutral members of the seriousness of the problems within NRA; although relatively few members in the meeting had known of the Federation’s reform program, they supported it overwhelmingly.

Some Directors were outraged by many of the members’ actions—especially the removal from office of First Vice President Reynolds, Second Vice President Alonzo Garcelon, Executive V.P. Max Rich,V.P.-Finance Tom Billings and Executive Council members C. R. Gutermuth and Fred Hakenjos (Wright was exempted by floor amendment since he had but two days to serve, but he was not elected by the Board to the traditional Executive Council post for past presidents). Although there was much private discussion of legal action to attempt to set aside what the members had done, there was no overt action. However, the Board did adopt a resolution to restore Gutermuth and Hakenjos to the Executive Council on the grounds that the members didn’t have the legal authority to remove them. Also, the Board treated the deposed paid officers much more generously than the treatment given the 74 employees fired and “early-retired” last fall—instead of normal severance pay, Billings was voted $20,000, and Rich was given his full $50,000 per annum pay through December 31, 1977.

There were other indications that numerous Board members are unwilling to accept the members’ actions as a mandate, contending that the members present represented only .5 percent of the voting membership—ignoring the fact that many, particularly those wearing the blaze orange hats of the Federation, came to Cincinnati as delegates of organizations with hundreds and thousands of NRA members. However, as the members wished, the Board did provide that ILA’s basic overhead will be funded from member dues—which have been raised to $15.

The question of the full membership’s opinion of these events will not be resolved until the next election of Directors, when the Federation intends to sponsor a slate of petition-nominated candidates selected by the member organizations of the Federation. (That slate may include some present Board members, but it will not include your editor.) For the first time in years, the members will have a choice of candidates—no longer will there be 25 names for 25 offices, a traditional practice which has made the members’ ballots meaningless. The mere existence of a means for members to elect—or fail to elect—Directors will have a profound impact upon NRA policies, for present and future Directors will be certain to be more mindful of the wishes of the members, thereby avoiding the creation of even more new organizations set up by NRA members to do what the membership wants NRA to be doing—and avoiding future turmoil of the sort that led to the membership meeting at Cincinnati. The representative form of government which now exists within the Association assures that all member interests will be represented, and that the one strong cord that binds NRA together—the love of firearms and shooting in all its varied forms—will make the organization what it ought to be: the world’s most powerful association of gun owners.

And under the leadership of the new officers—President Lloyd Mustin,Vice President John Layton, Executive Vice President Harlon Carter and ILA Executive Director Bob Kukla—that is what it will be. As the new NRA emerges, it will grow in strength and unity, and more than anything else, the evidence of that new vigor will heal the wounds inflicted at Cincinnati—for few NRA members have a greater love of NRA, or a grander vision of NRA’s greatness as a gun organization, than some of the very officers who were deposed at Cincinnati. We never questioned their motives, only their methods.

As Harlon Carter said in his memorable speech at the membership meeting: “Let us put the past behind us. We go forward from here!”

Amen!

Used with permission.

Knox, Neal. Neal Knox – The Gun Rights War: Dispatches from the Front Lines 1966 through 2000 . MacFarlane Press. Kindle Edition. Location 5300-5346.

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Neal Knox – The Gun Rights War: Dispatches From The Front Lines 1966-2000

August 13, 2020 by

Philosopher and historian George Santayana wrote in 1905 that “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” In that spirit, I thought it would be useful to readers to revisit some of the history of the National Rifle Association starting with the Cincinnati Revolt and going up through the late 1990s. It was in the late 1990s that Wayne LaPierre cemented his role as Executive Vice President of the NRA and effectively stifled any future efforts to remove him.

This history is not unbiased as it comes from the writings of the late Neal Knox. He was one of the architects of the Cincinnati Revolt, served as head of NRA-ILA, was a NRA Board member, was its 1st Vice President, was the man who first hired Wayne LaPierre as a lobbyist, and later became his chief antagonist. Neal was also a gun writer and publisher. He was the founding editor of Gun Week (now The GunMag), was the editor of Wolfe Publishing’s Handloader and Rifle magazines, and later had a column in Shotgun News (now Firearm News). This archived post from Gun Week gives more of Neal’s life and work.

Neal’s son Chris compiled a number of his articles and other written work into a book entitled Neal Knox – The Gun Rights War: Dispatches from the Front Lines 1966-2000. The book was first published in 2009 and then re-released with some updates in a Kindle format in 2019. Chris edited the book and also provided some necessary annotations to put stuff in context.

Through the gracious permission of Chris and Jeff Knox, I will be reprinting selected chapters from the book as it relates to the NRA. I’ll be doing this on an occasional basis so as to spread it out.

It is my belief that knowing some of this history will allow readers to better understand the current NRA, its problems, and what has led to it being sued by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The problems that she points out in her lawsuit didn’t just happen and it is important to realize that.

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Thanks For The PR, Marion!

September 11, 2019 by 1 Comment

There is a concept in public relations called strategic silence. While normally you want to respond to critics, sometimes it is advisable to do nothing. This is especially true when you are a large organization and the critic is small and not well-known. It is counterproductive.

Marion Hammer obviously never learned this.

Yesterday, the Washington Times ran a commentary by Ms. Hammer attacking Save the Second. It also had a condescending attack by her on Alan Gottlieb of SAF and CCRKBA as well as on the late Neal Knox. Her purpose in this op-ed seems to have been to defend Wayne LaPierre as well as position the NRA as the be all and end all of the Second Amendment.

Some attackers, including some of the NRA’s own members, have created an outfit that calls itself “Save the Second.” 


The organization is most definitely not about saving the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 


It is about destroying the National Rifle Association. Save the Second has never done anything to save the Second Amendment. It was created to oust NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre and take control of NRA. 


Save the Second maliciously encourages the harassment of NRA board members who oppose attempts to oust NRA leadership.

There are many in the Second Amendment community who have not heard of Save the Second. They have now.

Save the Second is a 501(c)(3) non-profit established for the sole purpose of reforming the NRA so that it can be a more effective advocate for the Second Amendment and gun rights.

One of the original founders – Anthony Garcia – was one of the organizers of the successful recall effort in Colorado. (Corrected – I had both Ron Carter and Anthony as organizers while it was only Anthony.) The recall was to replace prominent Democrats who passed universal background checks and a magazine ban. Those Democrats had been funded by Michael Bloomberg and the opposition to their recall was funded by his millions as well. Both Senate President John Morse and Sen. Angela Giron were recalled and a third Democrat resigned before she could be recalled.

Ms. Hammer continues:

Leaving the NRA in the hands of a bunch of novices who haven’t done 1 percent of what Wayne has helped the NRA accomplish is a pure recipe for disaster.


You may think they’re well-meaning but they likely couldn’t figure out how to run the NRA or a 50-state legislative operation, period.


From all appearances, Save the Second is just an extension of the 22-year-old failed coup attempt against Wayne by led by the late NRA board member Neal Knox, whose son is gun-rights supporter Jeff Knox of the Firearms Coalition.

Oh, I think they could figure out how to run a 50-state legislative operation. After all, the blueprint for the NRA’s grassroots efforts did come from former BOD members Tim Knight and Sean Maloney who just happened to work with Ron and Anthony in the Colorado recall effort.

As to the “failed coup attempt” of 1997, this is actually a rewriting of history. I have been going back and re-reading Neal Knox – The Gun Rights War. Just as now, there was a call for financial audits as well as a “management audit” ordered by the NRA Board of Directors in 1996. There were serious concerns about a decline in assets and a “failure to manage, poor internal controls, too much reliance on outside vendors, and too many multi-million dollar agreements without written contracts.” (As an aside, I really suggest buying the Kindle version of this book to learn more.)

Then, as now, the chief resistance to financial openness was Wayne LaPierre. Then, as now, his chief backer was Marion Hammer. The two have a long-term symbiotic relationship which seems to have little to do with protecting the Second Amendment and all about protecting their perks.

Ms. Hammer concludes by saying, ” Our country needs the NRA. And Wayne LaPierre is the only person who can lead us through this hate-storm. ”

She is half right. We do need the NRA. However, we need an effective NRA with an effective Board focused on the Second Amendment. Unfortunately, it seems that the most effective people such as Chris Cox, Jennifer Baker, Emily Cummins, and David Lehman are all gone having been forced out due to Wayne’s paranoia fed by William Brewer III and Josh Powell.

Now that you know about Save the Second thanks to Ms. Hammer, they plan to be at the NRA Board of Director’s meeting this Saturday morning. It is being held at the Hilton Washington Dulles. Save the Second will be presenting the member’s petition calling for a vote on mandatory attendance at NRA Board meetings. If you are in the area, I hope you will attend.