When Katie Pavlich, the editor of Townhall.com and a contributor to Fox News, asked for an on-camera interview with Doug Hamlin, CEO and executive vice president of the NRA—to be done in-person at the NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits in Atlanta, Ga.—it was clear this was a chance to tell the NRA’s new story of reform and bold growth to a mainstream audience.
“There is no hiding from a smart, experienced and honest journalist like Katie Pavlich,” said Hamlin, “but the NRA has nothing to hide and a lot of positive things to talk about, so I jumped at the chance.”
The interview quickly flows through pointed questions that dig into the substance of the NRA that, unfortunately, few mainstream-media members have the depth of understanding of this topic or the desire to explore.
“So, let’s start off with the state of the NRA,” began Pavlich. “Given that we’re at the annual meeting … what is the current state of the National Rifle Association?”
Hamlin quickly answers, “I’m very optimistic right now. We’re really pleased with where we are as we move forward. It’s been a challenging six-year period or so. I think it’s been well chronicled, but that’s behind us. We’re super excited for the future.”
Pavlich then began to dig. “The NRA is not just another organization in the United States of America. I’m a daughter of the American Revolution. My family takes the Second Amendment very seriously. The NRA has been around for a long, long time … and it’s an essential part of American culture and preserving American culture and promoting that into the future and protecting the rights of Americans as free citizens in this country. I’ve done a lot of talking throughout the years and recently with industry leaders and members, and they feel the same exact way. They think the NRA is an essential part of American culture, but when I ask them about the current state of the NRA, they come up with words like corruption, mismanagement and being untrustworthy. So, to those who have, maybe left, who were annual members or who were Life Members who haven't been coming to meetings, but still believe in the mission of the NRA, what can you say to them about what’s been happening to regain that trust?”
“Yeah,” says Hamlin, “well, I was elected May 20, 2024. My platform was that we were going to rebuild the trust. We wanted to rebuild the trust of the members, the donors, the industry and our staff.”
Hamlin then explains that he has been “working seven days a week and traveling constantly, having town halls, doing interviews like this and being very consistent” to make it clear that the NRA has put its problems behind it and is now moving positively forward. He notes, for example, that the NRA now has a “chief compliance officer” who “does not report to me.” He also says, “We’re an open book … . We have nothing to hide.”
Pavlich next presses for specifics and Hamlin says, “I was out in California just before Thanksgiving. I did a town hall there and when I was walking into the meeting I heard some say that the NRA doesn’t do anything for California gun owners. And then Dan Reid, who’s our state and local managing director [of NRA-ILA], and I were able to communicate that we spend more money litigating in California than any other state in the union. And the two biggest cases going out there are Duncan and Rhode. Those are two NRA cases. And people in the room really didn’t know that.”
Pavlich continues to press and Hamlin keeps opening all the parts of the NRA to her in this wide-ranging, but focused interview. It is wide-ranging because it covers everything from the NRA-ILA’s many battles to defend and enhance our freedom, to the NRA’s renewed focus on its Competitive Shooting Division, to what the NRA does for women and new gun owners and so much more. The interview is focused because Pavlich and Hamlin keep digging into the shared understanding, of which the NRA is the preeminent defender, that our Second Amendment-protected individual right to keep and bear arms is central to our freedom and therefore to America’s future.
All NRA members—indeed, anyone who cherishes their freedom—should watch and share this important interview.
