The last several years have been a tumultuous period for the United States, as well as the National Rifle Association and its devoted members. Recently, the NRA has weathered several crises of confidence, along with numerous instances of mismanagement. For this reason and many others, I accepted the nomination of my board colleagues to run for the NRA President—and I was elected at the Annual Meeting in Atlanta in April, along with Mark Vaughan as 1st Vice President and Rocky Marshall as 2nd Vice President.
As a longtime board member and donor, I experienced firsthand the actions of previous leadership who withheld vital information, made false statements and misled the Board of Directors, leaving little opportunity for desperately needed change. That change began last year with the election of two new vice presidents and a new executive vice president. NRA members joined the effort this year and elected 15 new independent, thoughtful and responsible NRA directors. With the latest board election results, new leadership has control and the votes on the Board to assume its proper role of directing and overseeing the Association. Additionally, we survived the arduous era of the New York Attorney General and Brewer Attorneys & Counselors, which is now gone.
A number of members and donors are frustrated and resentful about the former NRA leadership’s mismanagement. In addition to the animosity, some have lost trust and confidence. Rest assured that the new officers and Directors recognize the NRA must make fundamental changes to rebuild our former reputation and regain the trust of members and all gun owners. We have committed ourselves to this task and we will not let you down.
Your new leadership team would like to apologize to our members, donors, staff and industry, and we pledge the activities of the past will never and, most importantly, cannot ever happen again. In the vein of accountability and transparency, executives involved have been removed, restitution has been paid to the Association and our Board committees have been restructured with principled board members.
Now, we are adopting a new vision for the NRA moving forward. (Use the QR code on this page to see a video of where NRA has been and where we are heading.) We require extensive conflict-of-interest reporting, and updated policies and procedures now govern the Board and staff. Furthermore, members of the Audit Committee are no longer appointed to the committee, and we have hired a highly qualified Chief Compliance Officer who reports directly to the board via the Audit Committee. These are a few of the comprehensive changes assuring our members’ interests are protected, and we heartily welcome these safeguards.
For the first time, an annual “2024 Compliance Report” was compiled for NRA members by the NRA’s Chief Compliance Officer and distributed in Atlanta. For additional transparency for those not in attendance, I’ve asked our EVP to have staff create a web page to post the report, along with additional board governance materials for access by all members. The “2024 Compliance Report” showed that the former officers had approved private airplane travel at the beginning of 2024. Your new officers and EVP will never authorize private plane charters: The bucks stop with us.
In fact, your officers are changing how the Board operates, including adoption of a comprehensive new leadership paradigm for the Board. Our Board committees have been restaffed with principled members, and we are working on consolidating some of the committees. We are asking the committees to reimagine their work, and we have changed the format of committee meetings to focus on brainstorming, problem-solving and active governing.
Rest assured that you are in good company: You are one of 20 to 30 million Americans who call themselves NRA members. Last year, we started rebuilding the Association’s foundation. Now, I can report that the NRA is well on the road to greatness once more, but we need your help!
I am asking each of you to join me and sign up a new member to help grow your NRA at nra.org. Do you recall why you joined? Did your father, grandfather or grandmother buy you a Life membership when you were just a child? Did you join because your gun club required it, or did you, perhaps, become a member because you wanted to do your part to protect your Second Amendment rights for you children and grandchildren?
I’d love to hear why you joined and hear your ideas on how we can support you better. Drop me an email at [email protected]. I may not be able to respond to every email, but I promise that all will be read and considered.
Ultimately, the NRA is reimagining and refocusing on its mission of protecting and promoting your Second Amendment rights, hunting and conservation, competitive and sport shooting and firearm safety. As your President, I promise to uphold the highest levels of integrity, accountability and transparency. Please join us as we “Make NRA Great Again.”
