Category: A Victory!
Former NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre has been ordered to pay back more than $4 million to the organization. (Dave Workman)
As news broke across the landscape that a six-person Manhattan jury had found against the National Rifle Association in a lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James, one story in the New Yorker may have best explained why the establishment media has had such disdain for the organization.
Former NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre was ordered to repay more than $4.3 million back to the association, noted CNN.
The jury verdict, Fox News reported, said LaPierre had over “decades misspent millions of dollars of the group’s money on luxury personal purchases.”
But it was near the end of the New Yorker piece, which was “published in partnership with The Trace, a non-profit news organization covering guns in America,” where perhaps an explanation surfaced unintentionally about media animosity toward LaPierre and the NRA surfaced. Author Mike Spies said LaPierre—who stepped down from NRA prior to the five-week trial, citing health reasons—and NRA had transformed the country. The article was brutally unflattering to LaPierre.
The Trace is backed by anti-gun billionaire and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Spies wrote that concealed carry permits had become “easy to get.” He complained how “Firearms continued their encroachment into public spaces” and that “Stand Your Ground laws swept the nation.”
NRA had been a force behind congressional passage of legislation to prevent liability lawsuits against the firearms industry. It has worked over the years by mobilizing its members into action, to block extremist gun control legislation which, in the wake of the 2022 Bruen ruling, would almost certainly be deemed unconstitutional. Editorial columnists have portrayed NRA as ultimately responsible for violent crime and accused the organization of having a “guns everywhere” policy.
“The Supreme Court,” the article said, “affirmed the individual right to own a firearm, and directed lower courts to ignore public-safety considerations when reviewing regulations.”
And Republicans, Spies wrote, “took an absolutist position on the Second Amendment.”
All of this happened on LaPierre’s watch, and anti-gunners hate him for it. It happened while newspaper editorial boards routinely disdained what many in the firearms community have come to consider “restoration” of Second Amendment rights. While firearms might be considered an “encroachment” by the gun prohibition lobby, mountains of laws and local ordinances and municipal regulations had, for generations, encroached on the right to keep and bear arms until it became little more than a government regulated privilege.
While the establishment media—sometimes referred to as the “legacy” media—zealously defends the First Amendment and other tenets of the Bill of Rights, the Second Amendment has not fared well on editorial pages.
The trial revealed much about NRA’s financial mismanagement. The CNN article, spanning more than 1,400 words, provided the most detail about what had been revealed during the trial. It also noted that NRA attorney Sarah Rodgers argued the “misconduct” had been “concealed from the organization.” AG James had wanted to dissolve NRA, but the court would not allow that.
In addition to the verdict against LaPierre, who has already paid back $1 million, MSN noted that former chief financial officer Wilson “Woody” Phillips was ordered to reimburse the organization for $2 million.
Over the past couple of years, reports have surfaced that NRA has lost millions of dollars in revenue and more than a million members. There have also been staff losses. Social media has seen many posts from people claiming to have either left the organization or vowing not donate again until LaPierre was gone. Now, in the wake of the verdict, and weeks after LaPierre stepped down, only time will tell if the association will recover, and how long it will take.
Significantly, other gun rights organizations have risen in prominence while the NRA has struggled through the past few years. The Second Amendment Foundation has become the national leader in gun rights litigation. Gun Owners of America is also busier in the legal and lobbying arenas. The National Shooting Sports Foundation is more in the spotlight, as are other organizations, including the Firearms Policy Coalition. In the states, there is much more activity involving the California Rifle & Pistol Association, Florida Carry, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Illinois State Rifle Association, Massachusetts Gun Owners Action League, and others, often in tandem with SAF or the NRA.
Now there is much speculation about who will succeed LaPierre. As noted by The Outdoor Wire’s Jim Shepherd back on Feb.15, “Two most frequently mentioned are former NRA figures: longtime NRA-ILA head Chris Cox and former Executive Director of General Operations Joe DeBergalis. Both were purged by LaPierre.”
Shepherd, a veteran journalist, has been in the courtroom frequently during the trial.
He also mentioned NRA President Charles Cotton. Other names mentioned in the Shepherd column were SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb, Safari Club International and Safari Club International Foundation CEO W. Laird Hamberlin, and Larry Keane, senior vice president and general counsel at the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
Whether any of these names will wind up at the helm of NRA remains purely speculative. But one thing is clear: With a crucial election coming in November, tens of millions of firearms owners will be looking for leadership and guidance, not just at the national level but also for local legislative races, because it is in several state capitals where gun rights have been under withering attack by anti-gun Democrats who have not been oblivious to NRA’s troubles.
With the trial over and LaPierre in retirement, things may begin happening fast.
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
It’s official — the Louisiana House officially passed Senate Bill 1, Constitutional Carry!
SB01 has passed in the House and is headed to Governor Landry’s desk.
After years of tireless efforts and unwavering determination, Louisiana has finally joined the ranks of states that recognize their citizens’ constitutionally protected, God-given right to bear arms without the need for government permission.
This monumental achievement is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our lawmakers, as well as the unwavering support of the people of Louisiana. Without the generous donations and persistent calls to lawmakers demanding the passage of a clean Constitutional Carry bill, this victory would not have been possible.
Louisianans can now legally exercise their right to self-defense.
This historic change in the law will empower citizens to protect themselves and their loved ones, ensuring safer and more secure communities for all.
The bill is now on its way to Governor Jeff Landry’s desk, where it is expected to be signed into law. Once enacted, Louisiana will join the growing list of states that have embraced the true meaning of the Second Amendment, allowing law-abiding citizens to carry concealed firearms without the need for a permit.
This landmark legislation not only strengthens the rights of Louisianans, but it also sends a powerful message to the rest of the nation that the right to self-defense is fundamental and must be protected.
Representative Danny McCormick
Louisiana House District 1
First published in American Rifleman, July, 1989.
By Orson O. Buck
Shooters of the U.S. beware. Give way an inch to the anti-gun lobby and you’ll end up like the poor folk here in Great Britain. And it’s not just handguns I’m talking about.
Regulations which have recently come into force have made all semi-auto rifles larger than .22 Long Rifle illegal. If you’ve got one (and each is individually licensed), you have to hand it in. After much hassle in parliament it’s been agreed you get paid for it—at the time of writing (February) just £150 ($260). It’s legalized robbery!
And now even shotguns have to be individually registered as well, although as yet, there’s no limit on the number you can have.
There’s always been a sneaky bit in United Kingdom firearms legislation, too. It forms Section 5 of the 1968 Act, and it allows the police chief of each area discretion to refuse a license. It’s mostly been used pretty reasonably—an alcoholic finds it rather difficult to own a rifle, for instance—but if you’re getting on in years and a bit frail…?
The other day I witnessed a heartbreaking scene. The owner of a superb firearm, a sniper rifle from World War II, was virtually in tears as he hammered a bullet into the rifling at the breech end and then proceeded to fill the chamber with weld metal. Why? Because he was talked into it! His three-year license was due for renewal, and the police said he was too feeble to go hunting or paper-punching anymore. So, logically, he couldn’t have any use for it, he had to sell it if he could or surrender it to the authorities—with no compensation—and it would be destroyed. The thought of this was intolerable to the old chap, hence the welding exercise. At least that way he could hang it on the wall and dream of days gone by.
What days, too! As a Scotsman he’d hoped to be drafted into a Scottish regiment, but it was not to be. During the Great War of 1914-18 the British Army had encouraged men to enlist in county regiments and units even more localized. Such battalions as “The Manchester Pals” were formed where most of the men knew each other and came from a very small area indeed. They fought well, these formations. Too well. In the big battles of that war whole battalions were virtually erased in minutes—20,000 casualties in the first hour of the Battle of the Somme.
Can you imagine the effect on a small town when it learns that practically all the men it sent to the war are never to return? The collapse of civilian morale was so great as to be bordering on revolt in some cases. So when the next war came that was one lesson the army had learned. Men from the draft were distributed among regiments that bore no connection to their home localities. Our man, then, found himself in a light infantry unit.
But he did well there. Finding that he could shoot straight, he was sent on a snipers’ course and passed with flying colors. Then to Italy with the 79th Division (the badge was a yellow battleaxe on a blue background—maybe some of you vets remember seeing it). On to Special Forces, a high score, a couple of wounds, and he was back on the civvy street.
Wanting a rifle for hunting and target shooting but not having a lot of pennies at the time, he looked around for one of the surplus No. 4 Enfields that were becoming available and that he knew so well. He saw one advertised, mail order, complete with scope sight. In due course it arrived. Now, one thing a soldier remembers, after his ID number, is his rifle’s serial number. The one in a million chance had come up; this had been his very own tool, the one he’d scored with again and again.
For many happy years he shot on the range, using the ordinary aperture Sight but occasionally fitting the scope from its steel box when it came to taking a deer or two in the winter and the light was poor. This was one of the plus points of the No. 4. The scope could be dismounted, carried separately in a transit case and refitted immediately before action without any loss of zero.
The rifle itself was specially selected, in .303 British of course, and the battle sight, a 200-yd. zeroed peep, was milled off to permit mounting the scope, but the ladder sight was left intact. Two machined steel blocks were screwed to the left side of the receiver. Each has a threaded hole. The bottom halves of the scope rings are an integral part of a steel bracket which carries two screws with two large knurled-heads. These screwslocate in the receiver blocks, giving repeatability of lock-up every time. Naturally, the inevitable presence of machining tolerances meant that every scope rifle job was a one-off, and this is corroborated by the sight and rifle numbers being entered on a label in the transit box.
After 45 years (the combination was made in 1943), the scope’s lenses are still clear although of only 2X. Eye relief is rather critical, of course. Each end of the scope tube has a slide-over shade, and the reticle is the post and rail type. The sight is fabricated from brass and immensely strong, but obviously this strength carries a weight penalty. In fact, the complete job, rifle plus scope, turns in at just 11 lbs. unloaded. Of course, when used with the scope the stock had to be higher than standard at the comb in order to get a firm “pinch” with the cheek. This was achieved by having a wooden block with two short pins which dropped into holes on top of the butt and was secured by a leather strap. Unfortunately, this block has gone AWOL over the years, but it would probably have added another 8 ozs. or so to the total, giving an all-up of over 12 lbs. loaded. Quite a handful.
But now all our old “Tommy” can do is doze and dream…that stag on the hill when the snow was 3-ft. deep but the sky a brilliant blue…that machine gun whose crew dropped one by one…
Korean War Sequel
The tale of the British “Tommy” who rediscovered his World War II rifle has its sequel in Henry G. Upfold of Arizona.
Earlier this year Upfold visited a gun shop in Sierra Vista, Ariz., to purchase a handgun. Spotting an M1 Garand on the wall, Upfold asked to examine it.
“I recognized the number right away,” he told a newspaper reporter, explaining his formula for remembering the rifle’s serial number, 1994017. “I was 19 when I was in Korea. 9 is my mom’s birth month. 4 is my birth month, there was a zero, and I was 17 when I enlisted.” he explained.
Upfold was issued the rifle by the Army in Sasebo, Japan, en route to Korea in July 1953. It was to remain his constant companion there until he turned it in at Taegu, Korea, in November 1954.
“I slept with it, and I’ve been through the mud and rain with it,” said Upfold, who is retired because of disability. He was able to purchase his old rifle, and a trip to the range confirmed it was still as accurate as he remembered.