I see you have launched yet another attack on critics of the Vichy National Rifle Association.
I am one of those people. I have been for decades; long before it became trendy to notice the financial mismanagement (to be kind). So you are attacking me.
If I had done “1 percent of what Wayne has helped the NRA accomplish,” I would expect The Zelman Partisans to ban me from the site, cancel all my login credentials, and apologize to its members for allowing me to work there.
Even as news breaks of a class action lawsuit filed against the VICHY NRA for fraud and misspending, we learn that…
NRA mulled mansion for chief executive: report
The National Rifle Association (NRA) reportedly considered buying a $6 million mansion for use by CEO Wayne LaPierre.The Washington Post reports that documents show that the gun-rights group discussed buying the Dallas-area house for its CEO but talks fell through. The dealings are now under scrutiny by New York investigators as part of an ongoing investigation into the NRA’s tax-exempt status.
Ackerman McQueen says the idea came from LaPierre, and they were “alarmed.”
The VNRA defending our Second Amendment rights.
LaPierre seemingly had Ack-Mac paying $4,500 a month in rent for his “intern’s” apartment.
Forty-five hundred bucks. Per month.
First, offhand I can’t recall seeing an internship that provided a free apartment. And did Allen declare that $13,804.84 payment in-kind in her tax filings?
Second, that rent seemed high to me but I don’t know what Fairfax rents are like. So I looked up The Ridgewood II by Windsor. Nice place. The listed rents run from $1,710 (1BR, 1BA) to $3,460 (3BR, 2BA) per month.
For the mathematically challenged, the rent billed to Ack-Mac, and passed on to the NRA to be covered by gullible members, was $1,040 more than the highest rent listed for the place. (There are larger apartments for which you have to “call for rent.)
Not a bad deal for a summer “intern.”
Since I have previously made my opinion on the Vichy NRA pretty clear, I was reluctant to weigh in on the latest controversy. Two columns finally prompted me to speak up.
The starting point for all this — just in case you haven’t kept up — was Mike Spies’ report on the NRA’s financial woes. It appears to confirm many things people have warned of for decades.
Jeff Knox spoke up on the matter.
NRA’s Dirty Laundry Exposed as Pro-Gun Group Cleans House
While the NRA is a powerful communication tool between rights supporters and their elected servants and losing that central conduit would be a significant blow, it would only be a temporary setback.
Mr. Knox focuses on the apparent corruption. He’s overlooking a major point which Mark Walters touches on.
To NRA or Not to NRA
I have disagreed with the NRA many, many times over the years over many issues and no doubt I will in the future. In fact, I nearly tossed my membership a few years back when the NRA here in the state of GA refused to support the GeorgiaCarry.org effort to remove the 140-year-old ban on carrying firearms at a “public gathering.”
[…]
I’ve seen far too many posts on social media, which to me is a joke anyway, from chatroom warriors that are calling for the destruction of the NRA.
Both columns are worth reading in full, but the snippets I quoted are my point of contention.
If the VNRA BOD finally gets off its collective ass and cleans up the financial corruption, it is entirely possible to save the organization. They should not save it.
Yes, I am one of those calling for the end of the VNRA, because financial fraud is the least of the problems. That can be fixed by firing the appropriate people, suing to recover funds, and — I strongly suspect — criminally charging a few.
The real problem is how that “powerful communication tool” and money have been used.
Mr. Walters finally noticed the problem when the NRA wouldn’t help with Georgia SB308. For him, that wasn’t quite enough to make him quit, possibly because it was largely passive inaction by the organization. OK, sometimes one must pick and choose where to dedicate one’s resources. Judgement call; I’d be with Walters on this one. But what Walters didn’t notice until nine years ago is something I’ve been about for decades.
The real issue with the VNRA isn’t corruption or not doing enough to push rights. The problem is what the group actively does to violate rights. NFA ’34, GCA ’68, FOPA ’86. Everyone knows those. It shows how long the rot has existed.
They tried to keep HELLER from going to SCOTUS. They actively killed constitutional carry legislation in New Hampshire. They wrote an “assault weapon” ban in Ohio. They sabotaged an RKBA/free speech case in NH.
I could go on, but let’s skip ahead to 2017, when the VNRA called for the ATF to regulate bump-fire stocks as NFA items because they make semi-autos work like machineguns. (And despite their weasel-worded defense, I haven’t seen a single court challenge from them.)
Then there’s the VNRA’s support for no-due process ex parte protective orders.
Yes, the VNRA is politically powerful. But they aren’t using that power to advance rights. They push gun control. And then they fundraise for cash to “fight” what they imposed on us.
Arguably, the last thing the VNRA did for gun owners was sunsetting the national waiting period… by saddling us with an ineffective NICS which violates the rights of millions of innocent people while still passing thousands of prohibited persons. And making us pay for the “privilege.”
The Vichy National Rifle Association is inherently anti-gun. It sacrificed rights for political power and money a long time ago. That’s what it does. Forcing it to transparently and honestly spend gun owners’ money to violate their rights isn’t “fixing” anything.
For decades, I called on the group to change its ways, and really work for our rights. I made very specific suggestions (and never, ever once received any reply from anyone at any level). Quite a few election cycles later, it hasn’t improved. It got worse.
If reformers haven’t managed to “repair” the VNRA by now, after decades of trying, they aren’t going to succeed now. Many gun owners have an emotional attachment to the idea of the NRA, but it’s time to admit that ideal is gone.
It’s time to pull the plug.
I’ve been checking other sites for reactions to the Vichy NRA vs. Pro-RKBA positions. I’m seeing a trend developing amongst the VNRA apologists.
“NRA-bashers” are Russian bots.
To which I reply: Yob tvyu mat.
Given other current reports, I find that claim rather ironic moronic.
Makes you wonder how many of the VNRA supporters parroting the same only the all-powerful NRA can do anything in DC talking points can pass a Turing test.
The Vichy NRA appears to be in full damage control mode as people read the ATF’s final bump-fire stock rule, and realize just how badly the group screwed over gun owners.
This is a bit longer than my usual blog posts, so I’ll give you a TL;DR:
For three consecutive days, columns have been published defending the NRA’s bump-fire fiasco. In all three cases, it is the same refrain we heard after NFA, GCA, FOPA, Brady, Constitutional Carry, and all the rest: It isn’t our fault. And it would have been worse if we hadn’t done it. We derailed legislation that would have banned more. Except the bump-stock-type device (BSTD) rule can be applied to all the devices the NRA claims to have protected, and makes every semiauto in existence “easily converted to a machinegun,” and subject to a post-FOPA ban. And it didn’t even derail any legislation
Keep reading and I’ll address the points made by Marion Hammer, Duane Liptak, and Tom knighton, and explain — yet again — what I mean by that.
I received an email from Gunowners of America.
If Nancy Pelosi wins the midterm elections, the rabid anti-gunner mob you’ve seen marching on TV will seize control of the people’s House.
Pelosi’s home state of California has already called for a tax on gun ownership (at a time when Democrats have demanded tax hikes). A former Supreme Court Justice has even called for a repeal of the Second Amendment.
Here’s the worst part: Anti-gun Democrats have a SIX-point lead on the generic ballot. It’s time to rally the patriots of the Silent Majority.
Will you pledge to keep the House of Representatives out of the hands of Nancy Pelosi?
As opposed to anti-gun Republicans? Here’s the real problem. Democrats are anti-RKBA for obvious reasons. But so are the Republicans.
For the Republicans, the excuse is always “law and order,” and public safety. Officer safety. Looking like they “care.”
Like it or not, the NRA is the “face” of gun owners. And the NRA makes big money from pretending to be pro-RKBA to raise money to “fight for your rights.” That means they need gun control to maintain the cash flow.
And Republicans need the NRA to tell them this or that bill is fine, or that one should be killed. To put the “gun owner” imprimatur on their own victim disarmament schemes. Thus, we have the NRA writing city level “assault weapon” bans that then pass (D: ‘Assault weapons are terrible!’ R: ‘Lawn order! Police safety! No one hunts with those.’), and the NRA sends out fundraising flyers to “fight” that ban. After state level activist finally get a constitutional carry bill ready to pass and be signed, the NRA send in a rep for the first time in a decade to tell reluctantly supporting Republicans that it should pass; assured of “gun owner” support from the NRA face, they kill it. Then there’s Fix NICS, ERPOs, bump-fire, more “assault weapon” bans… What does it tell you when Republicans call for bans, duplicating Democrat efforts?
And what have those great Republicans done with national reciprocal carry again?
-crickets-
Politically aware gun owners are tired of voting Republican only to get the “compromise”-lubricated shaft. Yet-a-fricking-gain. “Compromise” that never seems to give us anything but a promise to not take everything yet. “Bend over and we’ll compromise on just two inches. For now.”
Now add in Obamacare never going away despite R control of the House, Senate, and the White House. Wait… and FOSTA-SESTA attacks on free speech.
We no longer see the point of bothering to vote for backstabbing Republicans. We can’t tell them from the Democrats without a letter after their name.
I can vote for a “pro-gun” Republican, then spend all my time watching for him to stab me in the back over RKBA issues, and constantly call and write letters in an attempt — increasingly futile — to stop him.
Or I can vote for a Democrat who will screw me, too. At least I won’t have to waste time watching my backside for Republicans who want to hold me down for the Democrats.
Yes, the Republicans may lose the House to the Democrats. Anti-human/civil rights Pelosi might even become Speaker again (though that’s looking less likely lately).
But as far as I can tell — based on the alternating offensive actions and submissive inaction of the Republicans — it won’t make a difference to my rights, that both wings of the Boot On Your Neck Party want to sacrifice on the altar of power.
You want me to vote for a pro-RKBA Republican? Ain’t gonna happen. If you know of one running, tell him to drop the R, and run as an independent. If he’s acceptable on other issues, I’ll vote for him even if I have to write him in.
It’s too late for the GOP. Republican affiliation is a warning that he is just as dangerous as any rabid Democrat.
If the GOP had balls, Pence would simply reply with a brief, “F**k you, punk. Read the Constitution.”
Hogg demands Mike Pence cancel NRA speech
Gun-control activist David Hogg now wants to stop elected politicians from speaking to the National Rifle Association. In a tweet Sunday, Mr. Hogg noted that he had signed a MoveOn.org petition to “Demand Mike Pence cancel his speech to the NRA convention on May 4.”
But it’s the GOP. If they had balls and read the Constitution, none of this would matter anyway.
NRA Launches Drive to Add 100,000 Members in 100 Days
Fox News reports that NRA media relations manager Jason J. Brown said, “The NRA’s strength is in our dedicated and politically savvy members. Over the next 100 days we hope to welcome 100,000 new freedom-loving Americans to our ranks. The threat to our Second Amendment has never been greater.”
Seriously. Fire Wayne LaPierre. Chris Cox, too.
Then repudiate ERPOs and bump-fire bans. Apologize for opposing constitutional carry, for helping draft “assault weapons” bans, and endorsing obviously anti-human/civil rights politicians. Hell, apologize for supporting NFA ’34, GCA ’68, FOPA ’86, et cetera (it’s a long list).
And I’ll at least think about maybe joining.
Not until.
Random Acts of Gibberish 