As I write this, I am just back from the 154th NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits in Atlanta. It was a whirlwind of a show with more than 70,000 members of this association coming together to celebrate our right to keep and bear arms.
If you could not make it to Atlanta, consider coming to Houston in April 2026 for the next NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits. There is nothing else like it. Indeed, so many stirring conversations and powerful events from this past show are now running through my thoughts. There was the Foundation Banquet and Auction with all its pomp. There was the Women’s Leadership Brunch & Auction, which has become a don’t-miss event. There was the NRA Country “Freedom Experience” concert, featuring Big & Rich and their blend of country and rock, in which John Rich gave a pounding salutation on the history of the Second Amendment that rocked the audience. Then there was the moving somberness of the National Prayer Breakfast and so many things in between.
Everywhere was excitement. If you stopped for a moment, you could hear it in the hum on the show floor amidst the 600 booths filled with guns and gear as all the NRA members moved along the aisles.
As I went from event to event, I kept running into this visible enthusiasm. This feeling was evident in the tone of the questions as I did interviews in our “Voices of the Second Amendment” section for media on the show floor.
The Annual Meeting of Members also had this upbeat vibe. I gave a speech, of course, and was proud to again tell the members I serve them. Their standing ovation was moving. Next came the members’ proposed resolutions. Four were considered. The members voted down two, adopted one and sent one other to the Board for further review.
The theme of these resolutions was transparency and accountability, which is completely in step with what we’ve already done this past year. The resolution that was adopted asks the Board to create a website for NRA members that will expand access to NRA financial and governance reports. This resolution also asks the Board to consider live-streaming Board meetings to all NRA members.
I have no doubt the NRA Board of Directors will quickly take up this call to action. The Board has changed considerably, as has your NRA leadership, and these changes are very much in step with the goals and aspirations of a majority of our current Board members. This shows that the membership is clearly in charge, as you should be.
On the Monday after the show, the NRA Board elected Bill Bachenberg, of Pennsylvania, as president of the NRA (his first column is in these pages). The Board elected Mark Vaughan, of Oklahoma, as NRA First Vice President and Rocky Marshall, of Texas, as NRA Second Vice President. The Board also reelected Sonya B. Rowling as NRA Treasurer, Robert Mensinger as NRA Chief Compliance Officer and John C. Frazer as NRA Secretary.
They also reelected me to continue my mission of serving you. Following my reelection, I reappointed John Commerford as the executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) and Josh Savani as the executive director of NRA General Operations.
This is your team, men and women chosen by representatives you elected. As I spoke to individuals and audiences during the show, I let them know we are reinvigorating the NRA’s competitions; we are deeply involved in legislative and legal efforts in all the states and at the federal level, which is critical as we help President Donald Trump and his administration in their offensive fight for our freedom; we are also focused on membership drives and so much more.
Indeed, we are doing so much that I am careful not to lose sight of our basis. A true reformation must have a center, a fundamental thing that does not and cannot change. This is the Second Amendment of the U.S. Bill of Rights. It is a natural right protected by those 27 words articulated by the Founders of this great nation. This is the basis of your NRA—true, individual, Second Amendment-protected freedom is at the center of this association, and all the related things we do revolve around this God-given right.
The strength of the NRA is its membership, and our membership is held together by the basic fact that we have, and must retain, the right to defend our lives and liberty. I could feel this within everyone I met at the NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits. So many of us fit into different demographics and backgrounds, but we all have this in common. We are all members of this critical association. Please go to nra.org to sign up a new member, to renew your membership or to donate. The more of us who stand together for our freedom, the stronger we are in legislative, legal and cultural battles.
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