I have been an NRA member for decades, hold an NRA instructor certification and even did some recruiting for them back in the 90's.

After the Las Vegas shooting, instead of keeping his mouth shut, Wayne LaPierre issued a statement basically telling the world that the NRA approved banning of bump stocks.....I know those weren't his exact words, but the meaning is the same. Now, I don't have any desire to own a bump stock, but banning bump stocks because someone used one in a crime is no different than the anti gunners wanting to ban "assault rifles" for exactly the same reason!! The NRA has been saying for years that you can't blame an inanimate object (a gun) when it is misused by a criminal......then, they turn around and do exactly the same thing!!

The NRA leadership knows that the BATF has reviewed bump stocks and has ruled that they do not meet the legal definition of an NFA weapon, yet they open the door and invite the BATF to change the ruling even though the legal definition has not changed. If that isn't consorting with the enemy, I'm not sure what to call it.

Now, again, instead of keeping his mouth shut, Chris Cox issues another statement reversing the NRA position on "extreme risk protection orders" saying it's a great idea as long as the order is subject to due process.......excuse me if I don't trust the government and liberal judges to not abuse and misuse the law when it suits them!! We read about this abuse every day yet Chris Cox wants us to trust that it will be different this time???

Sorry, but the NRA no longer speaks for me.......LaPierre, Cox and any other NRA leadership that agrees with these ideas need to be run out on a rail!

So, how do we get rid of LaPiere, Cox and the rest of the compromisers in the NRA hierarchy and still support the NRA??

You just get to donate and put up with the junk mail fellas, you don’t get a say so.

Twenty years past time.

LaPierre is like watching paint dry.

While submerged in piranha infested waters.

Your problem is your opinion is aberrant from the majority of NRA members.

I don’t follow the day in and day out happenings in the NRA. I am though aware of the bump stock issues.
I’ll just say, for the size of the NRA, relative to the population of the USA, the NRA has done quite well the past 20 or so years.
I am a 30 plus year life member and a “Patron” at this time.

The NRA even went all in for Donald Trump. They were his biggest super pac donors

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/20/nra-endorses-donald-trump-convention

You guys are lucky to have the NRA and the leadership they have. Considering you had 16 years of Clinton and Obama as Presidents, the NRA has done very well for you.

Yup.

They do decent work but LaPierre has zero charisma. He inspires almost nobody.

Please tell me how so I won't feel like I belong to a totally feckless association. Money grubbing and crisis mongering LaPierre needs to go(he reminds me of Jimmy Swaggart's money begging) . I can't get over our NRA inaction in the Heller and McDonald cases. I know they joined in at the last after the battle was already won, kind of like when Argentina declared war on Germany on March 27, 1945.

A great article from the owner of Amazon and the Washington post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...be42df_story.html?utm_term=.6583530cd4d6

He must inspire the right people, Antigun legislation doesn’t get a lot of traction in Congress.

I think some of the people here are all hat an no cattle. IMHO. There are at least 70 million gun owners and only 5 million NRA members. What is up with that??? Get even 50 million of those gun owners signed up and you will see a whole different NRA. Given what they are up against and have to work with I think they have done a good job. Do I agree with everything they've done. NO! I don't agree with everything my wife does. But this is as much of a two way street as marriage. It appears to me the people that complain the most, do the least. You become a life member and what have you done since??? I get more tired of the whining than I do NRA's deficiencies. I like they have already filed suit against Florida.

Have those they rep done "quite well"?

He has done quite well.

I inspire myself. I don’t rely on others for that.

Thanks for the cited article - it could enlighten some folks about the basic effort that has been ongoing. Anyone who truly believes that the Constitution guarantees a personal right to bear arms, and treasures that right, would do well to understand why, after decades of assaults by those who believe the opposite and who are very determined to prevail, they have not been able to do so.

Several groups and individuals have been important in various aspects of the ongoing battle for this right, and the NRA is only one of the actors. But, it has been - and is - a huge presence in the faces and minds of the opponents centered in DC, and quite a few around the country. Not that the NRA is truly huge in membership or funding, but it helps to have a well-armed giant on your side.

I won't knock the NRA members here who criticize LaPierre and Cox - it is their right and duty as members to voice their views and wishes regarding policy and leadership. I agree that LaPierre does not display much charisma and is not particularly smooth or eloquent with his presentations. I also doubt that, when he was needed and hired for this role, charisma and eloquence were the highest criteria. Maybe it could be time for a change there - it always happens eventually anyway - but I'm thinking it would be difficult to make the case for removal on the basis of poor overall performance results - or for selling out on core values.

Then, too, it might be good for some here to remember that LaPierre does not set NRA policy all by himself, and he alone does not form the positions stated by the NRA. It might also be helpful to remember that he and the NRA are not operating in an environment of somewhat similar mind sets and attitudes as do we here. Political action with controversial issues, particularly on the national scene, is a different animal.

It boils down to this...

* The 2nd A is not negotiable.

* People are aware that we have lost many freedoms through "negotiation" that we will never see again.

* I don't support the NRA both monetarily and vocally, only to watch them throw in the towel.
I support them to hold the line.

You know where I stand. The problem is, this site is full of Fudds and the NRA is even fuller. Broaden it out to the average gun owner and you get what smells like tuna and looks like taco.

True!

Did you listen to LaPierre's speech at CPAC? If not - might wanna cue that up and listen up for a while..

At some point, the leadership WILL change - if for no other reason than life is not forever.. It will be most interesting to see who replaces him..

Being a spokeperson for the NRA is one of the most difficult positions I can think off. Everytime there is a shooting inicent that brings national attention, the NRA is in the crosshairs and there is no quick defense agaisnt the onslaught.

The NRA is the only reason we did not have European style gun control long ago.

This. I've met both LaPierre and Cox and you'll not find two more passionate individuals (without being kookish) on the issue of the 2nd Amendment and our gun rights.

True. But the reason they have been successful is:


No truce with kings. No compromise with tyrants.

Ditto!

I can understand the frustration - even fears - of folks here. It is a serious matter. But, it seems hard to figure how attacks on those in the limelight will reduce much of the anxiety - it is a larger body that sets the direction and makes the calls.

Maybe our most avid Campfire critics of those NRA spokespersons could present themselves to the NRA as better performers, and get the jobs.

The biggest problem NRA has is the "free riders." I can't tell you the number of polls where the "NRA members" that get called are like three to five times the actual proportion of members in the population. Either these people are liars, or they feel guilty about owning guns but not anteing up to support the right.
So it's left to the members to pull the wagon with everyone aboard. Gets old.
People need to realize that there's always someone who wants to take away the things you value. Theft. A right is something of enormous value, yet so few of us will sacrifice or even make the minimal contribution of dues....the magazines aren't THAT terrible, in fact, they aren't giant ads like so many of the specialty gun rags.
As for LaPierre and Cox.....just imagine every time you leave the office and go to an interview, the press hack has DREAMS of tripping you up, making you say the wrong word, of scoring that Pulitzer or promotion for being the brave journalist who "took down" the NRA. Kind of hard to smile when that's your JOB. Part of the reason Dana Loesch is out there, it's not easy to flog a woman in the "me Too" era, or Colion Noir when it's black lives that matter. But that's the game, and there's only a few who can play it and SURVIVE, much less get the message across.