Photo: LongHa2006 (iStock)
UPDATE (April 29, 2019): Since this NRA cheat sheet was posted, a number of pivotal events have taken place during the NRA's annual exhibition and meetings in Indianapolis. Here are recent highlights.
LaPierre Extortion Claims Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre sent a letter to the NRA Board of Directors late Thursday (April 25) accusing NRA President Oliver North of extorting and pressuring him to resign. According to the Wall Street Journal, La Pierre wrote that he, "refused the demand."
North Resignation Announced Saturday By Saturday (April 27), NRA President Oliver North had resigned. According to Politico, LaPierre directed NRA Vice President Richard Childress to, "read North's resignation to the crowed."
New York Attorney General Opens Investigation into NRA's Financial Turmoil As NRA was preoccupied with its internal chaos in Indianapolis at the organization's annual meetings, National Public Radio reported New York State's intention to open an investigation into the NRA's status as a non-profit organization. The gun-rights group is chartered in New York. "'The Office of New York State Attorney General Letitia James has launched an investigation related to the National Rifle Association (NRA),' a spokesperson for the attorney general told NPR. 'As part of this investigation, the Attorney General has issued subpoenas. We will not have further comment at this time.'"
President Donald Trump Weighs In President Donald Trump who, along with Vice President Mike Pence, spoke at the NRA leadership meeting in Indianapolis, weighed in with a tweet on Monday morning (April 29). The President wrote, "The NRA is under siege by (New York Governor Andrew) Cuomo and the New York State (Attorney General), who are illegally using the State's legal apparatus to take down and destroy the very important organization, & others. It must get its act together quickly, stop the internal fighting, & get back to GREATNESS-FAST!"
The NRA filed suit against Governor Cuomo and the State of New York last fall. Details are provided in the cheat sheet below.
NRA Board of Directors Meets Monday (April 29) All of this culminates with the scheduled NRA Board of Directors meeting in Indianapolis. According to Tom Gresham, host of Gun Talk Radio, the board went into private, executive session 30 minutes after the meeting began. Gresham tweeted, "The future of the NRA hangs in the balance."
ORIGINAL POST (April 25, 2019): Last week, The New Yorker and The Wall Street Journal published stories reporting a rift within the National Rifle Association (NRA). The reports were prompted by a lawsuit filed Friday, April 12, by the NRA against its longtime public relations firm Ackerman McQueen. The NRA accuses the firm of denying, “the NRA access to basic business records, including the terms of (NRA President) Oliver North’s contract, and blames the firm for throwing it into an existential crisis.” According to The New Yorker, the language in the formal complaint filed in the suit says the agency’s general lack of transparency, “threatens to imminently and irreparable harm,” the NRA’s status as a nonprofit organization.
The situation is, by all accounts, a hot mess; but that doesn’t mean the NRA is destined to be a hot mess as well. While enemies of the NRA are laughing at its reported discord, others consider the conflict a much-needed course correction that will only make the organization stronger. One such voice of optimism comes from David Yamane, a sociology professor at Wake Forest. Yamane has published research known as Gun Culture 2.0 on the evolution of gun culture. Yamane, who is scheduled to speak at the NRA convention this week, tweeted, “I wonder if people realize that this purification has the potential to make the NRA stronger rather than weaker? Be careful what you wish for.”
The situation is, by all accounts, a hot mess; but that doesn’t mean the NRA is destined to be a hot mess as well. ”
Since the initial mainstream reports were published last week following the NRA's lawsuit, those closer to the situation have weighed in, including Ammoland contributor Jeff Knox, a second-generation political activist and director of The Firearms Coalition, and John Richardson, founder of the gun rights blog, No Lawyers – Only Guns and Money.
All of this comes as the NRA is set to kickoff its annual convention on April 26, where President Trump and Vice President Pence are scheduled to speak at the event’s leadership forum. The convention, held in Indianapolis, is destined to be another chapter in the book on the NRA's recent conflicts. Although it’s uncertain how much, if any, discourse from NRA-member and Board of Directors meetings will be made public.
NRA Lawsuit and Turmoil: A Cheat Sheet
As such, here’s an NRA cheat sheet highlighting key takeaways from news reports and op-eds published last week. Links to all articles cited in the “cheat sheet” are also listed at the end of article.
The NRA's Lawsuit Against New York State
Before brushing up on the NRA’s lawsuit against its public relations agency Ackerman McQueen, take note of the suit filed by the NRA against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and the state’s financial regulator in 2018. It offers some backstory, and plays a role in the NRA's overall reported instability. According to Reuters, “Cuomo and the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) aimed to deprive the NRA of its right to ‘speak freely about gun-related issues and defend the Second Amendment,’ the (NRA) said in the suit, referring to part of the U.S. Constitution that protects the right of Americans to bear arms. ‘The NRA’s lawsuit is a futile and desperate attempt to advance its dangerous agenda to sell more guns,’ Cuomo said in a statement, calling the suit ‘frivolous.’”
More so, “Cuomo, NYDFS and its superintendent, Maria Vullo, whom the NRA also named as a defendant, engaged in a ‘campaign of selective prosecution, backroom exhortations, and public threats’ to coerce banks and insurance companies to withhold services from the NRA, the group said in the suit.”
Despite Cuomo’s claim that the suit was frivolous, it was kept alive due to the Constitution’s protection of free speech. Six months after the suit was filed, Judge Thomas McAvoy handed down a 71-page ruling. While the ruling dismissed a number of the NRA’s claims, Judge McAvoy ruled in favor of the NRA, according to Reuters, refusing to toss the organization's claims that Cuomo, Vullo and the DFS interfered with the NRA’s right to advance its agenda when state officials, in public statements and in regulatory actions, threatened to use the power of their offices against businesses that work with the NRA. “The allegations of direct and implied threats to insurers and financial institutions because of these entities’ links with the NRA, and the allegations of resulting harm to the NRA’s operations, are sufficient to make out plausible First Amendment freedom-of-speech claims,” the judge wrote.
Why Does the 2018 New York Lawsuit Matter?
First, the NRA is chartered in New York State. We'll come back to that in a moment. Secondly, part of the chaos that the NRA is enduring is due to financial woes, as reported by The New Yorker and the Wall Street Journal. And lawsuits like this are a drain on the non-profit’s coffers. Thirdly, it’s clear from the reports surrounding the NRA's lawsuit and favorable ruling against the State of New York that the state's leadership is willing to take actions to silence the organization if opportunities present themselves. This is underlined by Governor Cuomo’s accusation that the NRA is an “extremist organization.” In a tweet, the governor also urged “companies in New York State to revisit any ties they have to the NRA and consider their reputations, and responsibility to the public.”
Couple this with a filed complaint to the IRS made by Everytown for Gun Safety. The filing (here’s the formal letter of complaint) asked for an investigation of the NRA, and alleges that “directors, officers, and others are using income and/or assets for personal gain and that the NRA is engaged in commercial, for-profit, activities.” In the letter, Everytown cites accusations brought to light by The New Yorker article written by Mike Spies.
John Richardson, No Lawyers - Only Guns and MoneyNew York State could close down the NRA entirely by moving for dissolution. You have a governor and attorney general in New York that hate the National Rifle Association. You have a Board of Directors which is too large to be effective. You have Ackerman McQueen trying to preserve its position and an outside counsel trying to take their position for himself. And then you have internal civil war going on within the organization between loyalists to one executive and friends of another leader.”
Even before Everytown formally challenged the NRA's non-profit status — which is defined and governed by the State of York given the organization's New York charter — there were suggestions the NRA’s non-profit status was in jeopardy. In The New Yorker piece, a former IRS official (in light of internal memos and other materials the report cited) said New York State “could sanction board members, remove board members, disband the board, or close down the origination entirely.”
In his April 21 post, “Don’t Shoot the Messenger,” Richardson wrote, “New York State could close down the NRA entirely by moving for dissolution. You have a governor and attorney general in New York that hate the National Rifle Association. You have a Board of Directors which is too large to be effective. You have Ackerman McQueen trying to preserve its position and an outside counsel trying to take their position for himself. And then you have internal civil war going on within the organization between loyalists to one executive and friends of another leader.”
Detailing the Lawsuit Against Ackerman McQueen
A lawsuit was filed by the NRA on April 12 against public relations firm Ackerman McQueen. The firm, with offices in Oklahoma City, Dallas, Alexandria and Colorado Springs, has worked as an NRA contractor for 38 years. The NRA’s 2017 tax filings show the organization paid the PR agency and its affiliates $40.9 million that year. The New Yorker describes the relationship between the NRA and its PR agency as a proverbial case of blurred lines. Susan LaPierre, wife of NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, was briefly employed by Ackerman McQueen, while NRA President Oliver North and NRA talent Colion Noir and Dana Loesch are all paid by Ackerman McQueen, not the NRA. The NRA’s attorney Bill Brewer is the son-in-law of Ackerman founder Angus McQueen, although it’s true Brewer prepared and filed the suit on behalf of the NRA against his father-in-law’s company. Brewer’s firm is paid, on average, $1.5 million per month by the NRA.
The NRA’s lawsuit alleges Ackerman McQueen's lack of transparency — which includes the terms of Oliver North’s contract and the failure to provide marketing analytics and outcomes so the NRA can gage the success of its campaigns — “'threatens to imminently and irreparably harm’ the N.R.A.’s status as a nonprofit organization.”
In the op-ed written by Jeff Knox and published by Ammoland, Knox suggests most of the NRA’s Board of Directors had no advance warning the suit was being filed.
A Dust-Up Over the NRA’s Checkbook
After The Wall Street Journal and The New Yorker articles were published, Knox points to a feud that began 20 years ago between NRA staff and some board members, including Knox’s father Neal Knox. This undoubtably sets the stage for a critical Board of Directors meeting this week at the NRA's annual convention.
“Over 20 years ago, my father Neal Knox, as First Vice President of the NRA and just one year away from taking the reins as President, threw a red flag on the practices of Ack-Mac and Wayne LaPierre. He questioned the expensive, intrusive, and heavy-handed fundraising tactics, such as constant, over-hyped letters, phone calls, and fundraising letters sent by registered mail, and the exorbitant sums being paid to the PR company. He demanded reforms in the association’s fundraising methods and specifics on contracts and billing details involving Ack-Mac and other vendors. Both he and Second Vice President Albert Ross refused to sign the hefty, monthly checks being cut to Ack-Mac, and a major battle for control of the NRA ensued. It wasn’t like the 1977 Cincinnati fight for the soul and destiny of the organization. The new dust-up was between the Board and the staff for control of the organization’s checkbook.
The upshot of that battle was that Wayne won, Dad lost and the fast-and-loose money games continued and just got worse. Charlton Heston was brought in to bump Dad from the leadership, and Wayne’s compensation rose rapidly from about $250,000 a year to almost $1,000,000.”
In a follow-up to his initial op-ed, Knox suggest the NRA now has two options moving forward:
"Option 1. A majority of the Board circles the wagons in defense of Wayne LaPierre and his pals and tries to weather the storm. (They’ll fail, and the whole ship will sink.)
or
Option 2. A majority of the Board fires LaPierre and other executives (or accepts their resignations) and nullifies their contracts, suspends all vendor contracts pending thorough review and renegotiation, and purges culpable members of their own body – demonstrating a commitment to safeguarding NRA assets on behalf of the membership. (Plugging the holes and possibly saving the ship.)"
Further Reading
Secrecy, Self-Dealing, and Greed at the NRA (The New Yorker)
NRA Files Suit Against Ad Agency in Rift with Key Partner (The Wall Street Journal)
In NRA v. NY, a Timely Reminder That Officials Can’t Use Their Power to Squelch Speech (Reuters)
NRA’s Dirty Laundry Exposed as Pro-Gun Group Cleans House (Ammoland)
Don’t Shoot the Messenger (Only Guns and Money)
Ackerman McQueen’s Statement on NRA Lawsuit (Only Guns and Money)
NRA: ‘Revolt of Cincinnati’ Molded National Rifle Association (The Enquirer, Cincinnati Ohio)
