Stephen Gutowski

Uncategorized

The NRA Meeting Of Members – Part 1

May 19, 2024 by 2 Comments

The NRA Meeting of Members was one for the history books. For the first time in recent memory, you had sitting Directors speaking out in opposition to the leadership. Though President Charles Cotton tried to control the meeting including putting a hard stop time limit on it in an effort to limit debate, it was evident by the end that control had passed to the members.

I regret somewhat that I could not be there in person to witness it. However, there have been some great reports on it from Twitter as well as a couple of videos that have since been posted.

Stephen Gutowski of The Reload did a great job tweeting from the meeting. Here are some of his reports from X or Twitter.

It was the resolution phase of the meeting where things started to go awry for the Cabal. Bearing in mind there was a hard stop to the meeting, they started with a resolution praising President Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX). While nice, it was an effort to run the clock out and not let any of the resolutions that were critical of the NRA or its leadership to be heard. (I have seen multiple resolutions that were intended to introduced that condemned Charles Cotton and his leadership.) They then moved on to what they assumed was going to be a resolution that in Texas would just sail through. The Cabal asked the members to approve a resolution approving moving NRA Headquarters to Texas.

Here is a blow by blow when Stephen’s tweet are rolled together.

There’s now a resolution to move the NRA’s headquarters to Texas. Leadership really wants to do this even though it would have no impact on the New York case. I honestly don’t know what significant benefit this would have for the NRA. 

A member asks what kind of fiscal impact a move from Virginia to Texas given the severe drop in revenue the NRA has experienced recently. NRA president Cotton claims it would be less expensive to operate in Texas. He says Texas has a lot of big companies, too. 

The member wants more specific details on the actual cost of the move. Cotton refers to Arulanandam for that. Arulanandam says the NRA’s current headquarters is too big for the 60 or so staff that actually go in on a regular basis. 

Arulanandam claims the current NRA building is also expensive to maintain. He also says people in Virginia don’t want to work for the NRA. So, he thinks Texas will be a better job pool. Cotton calls Virginia “DC south.” Sounds like an outright retreat from Virginia. Remarkable. 

Arulanandam claims selling naming rights for the new Texas buildings will cover the costs of moving. However, he’s not giving any concrete numbers. The member who asked about it isn’t satisfied with the responses. He wants hard numbers. 

NRA board member William Bachenberg gets up and claims the board hasn’t been given hard numbers on the cost of the mov either. He claims one estimate is $80 million. He also says they can’t sell naming rights for museum exhibits because they were previously sold. 

Cotton is now attacking Bachenberg directly. He says he is wrong and hasn’t been active on the board for years. 

NRA board member Jay Printz gets up and attacks Bachenberg, too. He has been an attack dog for leadership since the corruption scandal first erupted at the 2019 meeting. He jokes that he’s well known for cursing out the opposition. 

Rob Pincus, who was one of those opposition members back in 2019, gets up to speak against the Texas move. Or, at least, moving right now. 

I’m definitely getting some deja vu from the 2019 NRA members meeting. It’s not as roudy, but it’s very similar. 

NRA board member Maria Heil is now speaking in opposition to th Texas move as well. You’re seeing a lot more board members speak out against what leadership wants that usual. That’s very interesting. 

NRA board member Amanda Suffecool is now also speaking against the Texas move resolution. 

Cotton gets loud boos when he insinuates that Suffecool isn’t in a position to understand what’s going on with the move because she’s only been on the board for a year. The biggest reaction so far. 

The resolution to move to Texas is put to a vote. It fails. There was a big laugh when Cotton initially said who couldn’t tell which side won because it was pretty clear. 

And that is where the meeting essentially ended thanks to the Cotton-imposed hard stop.

Just a few comments with my impressions on the meeting. First, attacking gun blogs is ridiculous. I don’t know any gun blogger who doesn’t want the NRA to be more than it has been in the fight for 2A rights. If we have been critical of the NRA, it is because the corruption has impaired the never-ending fight with the gun prohibitionists. Second, Andrew Arulanadam suggesting “naming rights” for a NRA building in Texas would pay for the move is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard. To even suggest it is to insult our intelligence. Third, seeing Directors standing up to the Cabal was wonderful. Finally, Cotton attacking Amanda Suffecool was a big mistake and the members present let him know it with their boos.

Uncategorized

Quote Of The Day

February 2, 2024 by

While I have been following the NRA’s trial in New York, I have been holding off writing about it until the New York Attorney General’s Office has rested their case. Based upon what I have read, that appears to be this coming Monday, February 5th. There is a lot there and I want to make sense of it all before tendering my complete opinion.

That said, the quote of the day comes from Stephen Gutowski of The Reload. It involves the testimony of NRA Secretary and General Counsel John Frazer.

Stephen wrote:

In it, the NRA’s top lawyer defended his integrity. When asked if LaPierre had breached his trust when he failed to disclose his now-admitted use of NRA funds for personal expenses, Frazer said he wouldn’t characterize it that way.

“I think Mr. LaPierre has always been very open and honest with me in terms of communications that we would have and then trying to rectify the issues,” he said.

But, when asked if LaPierre breached the trust of NRA members, he took an agonized pause before responding.

“I’d have to say probably yes,” Frazer testified.

LaPierre walked slowly out of the courtroom–and the NRA–on that note.

While I am glad that Mr. Frazer is finally recognizing that Wayne LaPierre breached the trust of the NRA members, it is sad that Frazer is only now coming out and saying it. His fiduciary duty which included a duty of loyalty was to the organization which means the members and not to Wayne LaPierre. He is not alone in that breach of fiduciary duty. There are many members of the Board of Directors who likewise breached their duty in their loyalty to Wayne instead of the members. Whether it was due to ignorance or a willful choice, it really doesn’t matter.

The victim in this trial has never been the state of New York. It has always been the members of the NRA who paid their dues and donated what they could to the organization because they believed in the mission. In return, they were used as the personal piggy banks to support the avaricious lifestyles of the Millies, the Waynes, the Susans, and those of their ilk.

Uncategorized

Will Texas Politics Impact NRA EVP Succession?

January 11, 2024 by 1 Comment

With so much attention focussed on the trial involving the NRA in New York City, scant attention has been paid to who succeeds Wayne LaPierre as CEO and Executive Vice President of the NRA. I think most observers would agree that Andrew Arulanandam, who will serve as the interim EVP upon Wayne’s January 31st resignation, is a place holder and not a serious contender for the permanent position.

An article by Stephen Gutowski in The Reload posted today may give some clue as to a potential successor. After discussing what I called “the dueling letters” regarding post-employment compensation and health issues of Wayne, Gutowski provides this potential clue.

Prominent NRA supporters have already begun publicly circulating at least one alternative. Former NRA Institute of Legislative Action deputy executive director and general counsel Wade Callender, who helped coordinate with the group’s state affiliate in the successful 2022 Supreme Court Bruen case, has already received the backing of several elected officials. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R.) and State Senator Drew Springer (R.) posted a call for Callender to take over the NRA’s top perch on social media this week.

Callender left the position as General Counsel and Deputy Executive Director of NRA-ILA due, in large part, to the growing interference from the NRA’s outside counsel William Brewer III. Callender confirmed this to me in a face-to-face conversation we held at the 2022 Gun Rights Policy Conference held in Irving, Texas. He has since returned to private practice in Dallas area.

Texas AG Ken Paxton has been a stalwart supporter of the Second Amendment and has signed on to a number of amicus briefs in support of it. Paxton, who was last year impeached by the Texas House of Representatives, was acquitted on all charges in the trial in the Texas Senate. The move to impeach Paxton was led by Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan who is his arch political enemy. Phelan, who is considered a RINO by Texas conservatives, and has been asked to resign by the leaders of the Texas Republican Party.

After the murders of school children in Uvalde, Phelan formed a House Select Committee on Community Safety to review all firearms-related legislation. This included red flag laws and raising the age to purchase a modern sporting rifle. While the committee composition was officially seven Republicans and six Democrats, the Republican chair had been a Democrat until just recently.

With this as a background, Randy Kozuch, Executive Director of NRA-ILA and Chairman of the NRA-PVF, endorsed Dade Phelan and rated him A+.

This brought pushback from a number of conservatives including Dana Loesch who served as a special assistant to Wayne at one time. She said of Phelan that he “was an obstacle while fighting red flag laws, and dragged out our fight to win Constitutional carry.” Others are saying they are dropping their NRA membership or looking for alternatives.

One must wonder who pushed Randy Kozuch to give an A+ rating to Phelan who by most accounts is a RINO and who is marginal on gun rights. Was it the Old Guard on the NRA led by NRA President Charles Cotton who is a Texan? Was it Bill Brewer who saw an ally in a RINO politician who was barely so-so on gun rights? If Brewer, was it with knowledge that it would anger true Second Amendment supporters in Texas?

Giving Phelan the A+ rating and endorsement obviously angered his arch-enemies Ken Paxton and Sen. Drew Springer as the next day they endorsed Wade Callender for EVP. This move by Paxton and Springer is definitely a call for new blood to lead the NRA and a repudiation of the Old Guard.

Uncategorized

Shannon Watts’ Nose Is Out Of Joint

October 20, 2022 by 1 Comment

CNN announced yesterday that they were establishing a “Guns in America” beat. In somewhat of a surprise, it isn’t totally filled with gun prohibitionists. That fact has the Shannon Watts and the rest of the gun prohibitionists in a tizzy.

From Deadline:

Josh Campbell will lead CNN’s new “Guns in America” beat, one of the new initiatives announced earlier this year by CNN chairman and CEO Chris Licht.

Providing reporting and analysis to the beat will be figures from a range of points of view, including Stephen Gutowski, the founder of firearms reporting site (The) Reload; Jennifer Mascia from The Trace, which covers the impact of gun violence; and Abené Clayton, reporter on the The Guardian’s Guns and Lies in America project.

CNN said that the team “will explore who buys and sells guns; who makes and regulates them; and dive into the communities most impacted to help illuminate possible solutions to America’s epidemic of gun violence.”

It is the addition of Stephen Gutowski, a reporter who is not ignorant about firearms, that has her and the rest of her ilk so outraged.

(click on the embedded tweet to see the full comments from Shannon Watts)

Then this array of comments on The Wrap:

This sentiment was echoed by many others, with one user saying the hire, who will join the Guns in America beat, “a new beat dedicated to tracking and unpacking all aspects of the complex and divisive issues surrounding guns and gun violence in the country,” according to CNN, was like getting “paychecks for the price of innocent lives,” considering his approval rating from the NRA. Another user tweeted “CNN hires gun nut for gun analysis,” while others insisted Gutowski’s hire would end their CNN viewership. “No thanks @CNN,” one user wrote. “I will not be watching ANY of your programs. NONE.”

Therein lies the problem for them. They don’t want to hear anything that challenges their narrative about firearms. It is like they all live on the set of the Truman Show and their favorite song is Home on the Range because “seldom is heard, a discouragin’ word”.

I have known Stephen for a few years now. I have always found him to be a serious, sober, and fair-minded journalist. Yes he does provide an alternative perspective on firearms issues. Moreover, despite the charge of being “NRA approved”, he has never shied away from criticism of the NRA, its leadership, and the board when criticism is due. I think he will acquit himself well even though it will be two against one.

He said this on The Reload to which I’m a paid subscriber about being an analyst for CNN in addition to continuing his work on The Reload:

I’m excited about the opportunity to work with many solid reporters and reach a new audience. I’ve long criticized how major media outlets have reported on firearms. A severe lack of knowledge about guns, gun owners, gun laws, and even gun politics is endemic throughout the industry.

But I’ve also long been an advocate of engaging with other reporters to help foster a more informed media. I’ve contributed stories to outlets across the political spectrum. I’ve given advice to writers at every one of the top news outlets in the country and even taken many to the range for first-hand experience.

So, I’m glad to get a chance to put that worldview into practice on a greater scale than ever before.

What makes this whole faux-outrage by Shannon Watts so amusing is that the president of Everytown of which her organization is a part and that of The Trace are one and the same. Thanks to Rob Romano for pointing that out.

If Shannon couldn’t engage in hypocrisy, then she would be left with nothing.

Uncategorized

Update On Move To Draft Allen West

May 6, 2022 by 7 Comments

Stephen Gutowski at TheReload.com has an update on the move to draft Allen West to challenge Wayne LaPierre for the post of Executive VP and CEO of the NRA.

From The Reload:

West said he is “honored” by the call for him to run against LaPierre. He said he is considering the move and consulting with loved ones.

“It is deeply humbling and I am honored that these current and former NRA Board Members would put such trust and confidence in my abilities,” West told The Reload. “I have to pray and consult with my family. I love the NRA and my life has been defined by answering the call to serve, and my oath to the Constitution has no statute of limitations.”

While some who intensely dislike LaPierre wonder if this is a good move, Jeff Knox of the Firearms Coalition had this point to make about Lt. Col. West.

From a comment on Facebook where he points out that perfect is the enemy of good:

Folks, not having an alternative candidate that’s “perfect” is how we end up with LaPierre continuing in power. We must take out LaPierre, and that means running a candidate who has the potential to win, and who will actually run. He might not be your favorite candidate, but he is likely to be the candidate we have, so please don’t be disparaging him.

I think Jeff is correct in that the question comes down to this: do you want the perfect candidate for EVP/CEO or do you want Wayne ousted?

Uncategorized

Intervention By Rocky Marshall Denied

February 16, 2022 by 1 Comment

Former NRA Director Rocky Marshall had filed a motion to intervene in the NRA dissolution case. His motion was filed in September 2021. He was still a director when he filed the motion to intervene. New York Not-for-Profit Corporation Law § 720 b (1) gave him the statutory right to intervene.

Today a hearing was held on this motion in New York County Supreme Court. Unfortunately, Judge Joel Cohen denied Mr. Marshall’s intervention motion. I did not have an opportunity to listen to the hearing.

However, Stephen Gutowski of The Reload did cover the hearing and posted a series of tweets about it.

He wrote:

The hearing over former board member Rocky Marshall’s attempt to intervene in the New York suit against the NRA is happening. Marshall and others are trying to intervene as a way of providing an alternative representation of members. 

The judge seems skeptical of letting Marshall intervene without evidence he was illegitimately pushed off the NRA board. 

Marshall’s lawyers are noting they have different claims against the NRA than what New York has brought. They note that a big one is potentially trying to recover legal fees that the interveners believe are excessive. 

The judge says that sort of claim isn’t at issue in the New York suit and wouldn’t be decided there. So, an intervention isn’t necessary. Marshall’s lawyers counter that the NRA could be dissolved in this suit and they wouldn’t be able to make any claims at that point. 

The interveners argue NRA leadership, such as CEO Wayne LaPierre, has acted against the interests of NRA membership. They argue leadership has harmed the organization and they should be able to intervene on behalf of NRA members. 

The NRA’s lawyers are arguing, basically, what the judge had argued earlier. They say Marshall doesn’t have standing to intervene since he isn’t a director anymore. 

The NRA is arguing that because Rocky Marshall ran for NRA president during last year’s board meeting he has a conflict of interest in trying to invene (sic) in the case. 

The NRA is also arguing Marshall filed his intervention too late. The New York AG’s office also don’t want Marshall to intervene. They also argue he has no standing. 

The judge has denied former board member Marshall’s motion to intervene in New York’s case against the NRA. 

The judge says he does value the input of NRA members who don’t agree with how NRA leadership has run the organization, though. 

Judge says Marshall lacks standing because he is no longer an NRA board member. 

It will be interesting to see whether the judge has to decide this same intervention question for a third time if Frank Tait, who is another one of the interveners, is able to get on the NRA board. 

Well, crap! I thought Mr. Marshall had a chance to become an intervenor. As things stand now – and I hate to say it – the closest thing we as members have to someone representing our interests in the case is the NY Attorney General’s Office. That sucks.

Frank Tait noted in a post today:

Rocky’s attorneys made the point that the NRA is being bled dry and that this helps achieve the NY AG’s intent of dissolving the NRA.

That correlates with reporting in The Reload that analyzed the NRA’s finances and found that 20% of the budget is now going for legal expenses. Moreover, Wayne’s attorney Phillip Correll has billed the NRA approximately $175,000 in legal fees as of this past August.

One last thing that came out in the hearing today is that Susan LaPierre is also being represented by Phillip Correll. That leads to the obvious question is who is paying him to represent her – the NRA or the LaPierres?

Uncategorized

Chipman Derails Black ATF Agent’s Career With False Accusation

August 11, 2021 by

Stephen Gutowski of The Reload has a story today of how David Chipman derailed a promising black ATF Special Agent’s career with a false accusation of cheating in a promotion assessment. Chipman’s accusation required a two-year investigation into the matter which effectively took this Special Agent out of contention for further promotions even though the agent in question was eventually cleared.

“I couldn’t believe it when it happened,” the agent told The Reload. “But when I read about his other comments, in my mind, I was like ‘that motherf*****.’ That’s what happened. He said, ‘Hey, a lot of African Americans qualified to be promoted on this certification list; they must have been cheating.’ And then he had to go and find one. I happened to be that one.”

He said he believes Chipman’s allegation after the in-person test was motivated by race.

“I believe it had to have been a bias,” the agent, who spent more than 25 years at the agency, said. “My answers were just ‘too good.’ And my thought is he just said, ‘this black guy could not have answered this well if he wasn’t cheating.’”

The agent said he was cleared by a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation, but not before his career took a hit. He said the protracted investigation effectively paused the promising career he’d built.

“I was cleared as I should have been,” the agent said. “But it was very painful because it was two years out of my life where my career was sidelined for something like that. And it caused me a lot of stress and my family a lot of stress. And it kind of disenchanted me with the idea of management.”

In the in-person assessment, the Special Agent was given a scenario and asked how he would handle it. In this particular case, unbeknownst to Chipman the scenario was something this agent had been doing as part of team for a number of years. The agent did well on it which led Chipman to make his false accusation of cheating.

Read the whole story which has been corroborated by another ATF agent.

Uncategorized

For Your Weekend Reading

May 1, 2021 by 5 Comments

The NRA Board of Directors is having a special meeting today in Dallas along with a regular meeting tomorrow on Sunday. The special meeting is to approve the reorganization plan and the Chief Restructuring Officer. This comes on the heels of the last day of testimony in the US Bankruptcy Court hearings.

Day 10, as reported by the blog NRA In Danger, had testimony from the NRA’s outside auditor and the proposed Chief Restructuring Officer as well as cross-examination of Wayne LaPierre. While there is a lot there and you should read it in its entirety, three things captured my attention.

This witness did not do well under cross examination. He argued he’d reformed everything, then was faced with improper events that occurred after his alleged reforms. His choices were to appear corrupt or to appear incompetent and out of control, and he went with the second choice.

That to me provides even more evidence to Judge Harlin Hale that perhaps a trustee is called for. As those who are no fans of Wayne but are really worried about the future of the NRA have observed, a trustee would have the power to convert the Chapter 11 into a Chapter 7 and dissolve the NRA.

The second thing that captured my attention was Wayne’s response to the NRA’s attorney Greg Garman when asked about his background and history.

Background. MA from Boston College in politics, VA legislature. Got Phd. Over at DNC, knew NRA people, NRA right across street. Went into NRA building, they offered me job, late 1977. State liaison for year, then director state local. 1 year, then head govt affairs, in 1980. Membership now 4.9 million. Tried convert NRA into freedom organization. Outreach to celebrities. Celebrity shoots in Hollywood, dinners, etc.

Wayne does not have a PhD. He may have been in a PhD program in political science at BC but he never earned a PhD. I was admitted to the PhD program in political science at UNC-Chapel Hill. However, I left with a wife and no degree. I would never, ever, claim to hold a PhD if I hadn’t earned it. It just isn’t done and is consummately tacky.

Finally, there is Judge Hale’s question that he ordered the attorneys for both sides to answer on Monday. Judge Hale may be nicknamed “Cooter” but he is no fool.

Judge asks question, to be answered in arguments Monday (no court Friday)—chapter 11 purpose is to save company from liquidation bankruptcy. Does court have jurisdiction where sole purpose is to save company from dissolution under state law, which dissolution will only occur if the state court concludes dissolution is in best interests of public?

The blog NRA In Danger examines Judge Hale’s question in more detail. It is the critical question: does the court have jurisdiction? If not, then the case must be dismissed and the NYAG is free to continue in her attempt to dissolve the NRA.

Her dissolution suit has been strengthened by the bankruptcy court revelations. Just the lad day of testimony saw Wayne LaPierre claiming that he’d begun cleaning everything up in 2017, but forced to admit that he’d been given an incredibly lucrative “golden parachute” agreement in mid-2018 (it would have given him many millions had the board ever stopped electing him) that was signed by an outgoing president and Carolyn Meadows, now NRA president and head of the board’s Special Litigation Committee. The signing of the contract implicates NRA’s current board leadership, and also LaPierre himself, and shows his supposed 2017 reforms are. sham. He himself is free to loot despite them. On the same day those board officers signed another golden parachute for Woody Phillips, the NRA treasurer who had to “take the Fifth” dozens of times in his testimony. Others who got such agreements, LaPierre testified he had no idea of the contracts, showing that even if he were honest, in practice others are free to loot NRA at will without his being able to discover it.

Read the whole thing.

Moving on, a column by Stephen Gutowski on his new platform The Reload examines what he calls the membership program. In 2013, Wayne promised to double the membership after it had just hit five million members. Membership now stands at 4.89 million members. Not only has membership not doubled under Wayne’s most recent watch but it has regressed.

If the NRA’s membership has hit a ceiling, that’s significant, and it’s a bad sign for the most influential gun-rights group on the planet. It’s also a bad sign for NRA leadership’s argument in their current argument in the bankruptcy case. NRA leadership has repeatedly argued the LaPierre is the driving force behind fundraising at the organization, and it could not operate anywhere as effectively without him. But LaPierre has not only failed to meet his self-set 2013 goal of doubling NRA membership; membership has actually receded by his own account.

There are millions of new gun owners out there. I imagine some may have joined the NRA this year but the majority have not. Moreover, if what I’m reading across the Internet in forums on hunting, on the Second Amendment, and the like is correct, then there are a lot of people refusing to renew memberships or to make donations so long as Wayne and his grifter cronies remain in power. I am hearing this from both Gun Culture v1.0 and 2.0. I know my own wallet will remain closed to the NRA so long as Wayne is there.

Finally, my friend Kevin Creighton has an excellent post about the NRA’s fund raising approach. He notes Stephen Gutowski’s column on the NRA’s negative growth and relates it to their fund raising approach.

However, let’s face facts. For over 10 years now, the NRA’s primary messaging has been “Give us money, they’re a-comin’ for yer guns.” Okay, fine, let’s say they actually ARE coming for our guns. What have you, the NRA, done to prevent that from happening? What value am I getting for my donation? Why should I give to you right now, except out of habit?

Kevin relates his success fund raising for a faith-based organization using a positive approach. He urges the NRA to get away from the negative approach and return to the more positive approach of the past. Then, both money and membership might grow.

If you are a NRA member or were at one time, you really need to read all these blog posts and articles. Those of us who want a reformed NRA may be voices crying in the wilderness like the Old Testament prophets but the fight for the Second Amendment depends upon it.

Uncategorized

Another NRA Board Special Meeting

April 19, 2021 by 2 Comments

Stephen Gutowski of The Reload is reporting that a special meeting of the Board of Directors has been called for May 1st in Dallas. The purpose of this meeting is to approve a reorganization plan that the NRA plans to present to the US Bankruptcy Court.

They plan to have a regular Board meeting on Sunday, May 2nd.

This meeting comes after two weeks of testimony before Judge Hale in the US Bankruptcy Court. As Gutowski, myself, and others have noted, this testimony has brought out many questionable financial practices involving Wayne LaPierre, his executive assistant Millie Hallow, and former CFO Woody Phillips.

As Gutowski notes regarding the meeting:

The NRA did not respond to a request for comment on the special board meeting, but there is a possibility the meeting won’t even take place. The current portion of the bankruptcy trial is set to end on April 23, and the judge is supposed to issue an order in the case by April 30. If the judge decides to appoint a trustee or dismiss the case, it is possible the group won’t have an opportunity to present the restructuring plan the board is set to review on May 1. A trustee could also fire current leadership and the board of directors before the meeting occurs.

The US Trustee has objected to the appointment of a Chief Restructuring Officer as proposed by the NRA. The US Trustee noted that the CRO would report to Wayne and the Special Litigation Committee composed of Meadows, Cotton, and Lee. Thus, the CRO would not be independent and could not be independent without bylaw changes by the NRA.

As the blog NRA In Danger points out:

The US Trustee did a better job of reading NRA’s Bylaws than did NRA’s attorneys. He points out that the CRO might be an NRA officer and the Bylaws say only the members can create a new NRA officer,

“It is not clear whether the NRA’s bylaws permit the creation of a chief restructuring officer position. The NRA’s most recent Bylaws incorporate input from the NRA’s membership and confer limited authority to officers and committees. The NRA’s Bylaws state that certain “AMENDMENTS IN BOLD FACE ITALICS SHALL NOT BE REPEALED OR AMENDED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS.” Instead, Article XV, Section 4, reserves authority to amend bylaws in bold and italics to the NRA’s membership. Article V, Section 1(b), describes the specific officer positions, and in bold italics, states “The Board may not abolish said offices nor create any other offices.” 

There is another hearing scheduled before Judge Hale this afternoon at 4pm CDT. It will be interesting to hear what comes out of that meeting.

You will note that I did not say that Stephen Gutowski is with the Free Beacon. He left them on Friday and is now out on his own with The Reload. I would urge you to check it out and subscribe if you think it worthwhile. I did and I’m looking forward to his continued reporting on all things gun-related.

Uncategorized

ATF Blinks – Request For Comment Withdrawn

December 24, 2020 by

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has withdrawn their Request for Comment on “Objective Factors for Classifying Weapons with ‘Stabilizing Braces’” as of today.

Upon further consultation with the Department of Justice and the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, ATF is withdrawing, pending further Department of Justice review, the notice and request for comments entitled “Objective Factors for Classifying Weapons with ‘Stabilizing Braces’,” that was published on December 18, 2020. 85 FR 82516. As explained in the notice, the proposed guidance was not a regulation. The
notice informed and invited comment from the industry and public on a proposed guidance prior to issuing a final guidance document.


The withdrawal of the guidance does not change any law, regulation, or other legally binding requirement.
December 23, 2020

Marvin G. Richardson
Associate Deputy Director

In other words, BATFE was feeling the heat. They had over 67,000 comments at last count and a letter from 90 Congressmen.

According to Dan Zimmerman at TTAG, what may have swung the decision was the involvement of Mitch McConnell.

But TTAG has learned that the final straw that persuaded the ATF to back down was serious pressure applied by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. A call took place over the weekend involving a number of firearms industry companies and McConnell’s office.

Stephen Gutowski of the Free Beacon reports more on that phone call.

Second Amendment activists and industry giants are imploring Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to use his influence on the Department of Justice to scuttle a proposed firearms regulation that would banish a popular gun accessory known as a “pistol brace.”

In a phone call with McConnell’s office on Saturday, approximately 80 gun makers warned that a proposed ruling from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms could cost them nearly $2 billion in sales, according to several sources who participated in the call. 

The Daily Caller indicates that the runoff elections in Georgia may have played a role in McConnell getting involved in addition to the loss of revenues by the firearms industry.

Jamin McCallum, founder of Palmetto State Armory, one of the leading manufacturers of AR-15s, predicted a $150 million loss if the ATF  followed through with the regulation. McCallum also insisted that inaction by Republicans to stop the agency may have a deleterious effect on the Georgia runoffs.

“This could actually cost the Georgia runoff for Republicans,” McCallum told the Free Beacon. “Gun owners are demoralized right now.”

Regina Lombardo and Marvin Richardson got slapped down on this move. However, given the anti-gun fervor of the incoming Biden Administration, I fully expect more moves by BATFE when they have the full support of the White House. In other words, we may have won the round of the battle but we are far from winning the war.