Like many, I’ve watched the drama at the National Rifle Association these past few months. Also, like many People of The Gun, I’m trying to figure out who has the best interests of the NRA and its mission at heart.
Given what happened at the NRA annual meeting this year, I can’t help but wonder, was the NRA’s public relations firm Ackerman McQueen really trying to save the organization by asking NRA Executive Director Wayne LaPierre to step down?
Or, to hear others tell it, is LaPierre trying to save the NRA from a bunch of blood-sucking big spenders at their (now former) ad agency?
I have no doubt Ackerman McQueen employs some good people who are dedicated to our cause. Just as virtually everyone I’ve had dealings with at NRA headquarters has earned my respect and admiration for the quality of the work they do.
Furthermore, I have the highest respect for Lt. Col. Oliver North. He signed on as an Ackerman McQueen employee, which allowed him to leave Fox News to take the position of NRA President.
If Ack-Mac really just wanted to pick the NRA’s pockets and fleece them for all they were worth, why would they allow their employee (North) to ask LaPierre to step down?
Why would Ackerman McQueen (allegedly) expose information about LaPierre’s hyper-spendy charter jet rentals, or the ten $20,000 suits, to say nothing of putting up a sorority girl intern in a $4,500/month apartment near NRA HQ? Why would Ack-Mac do any of that if they wanted to keep the gravy train rolling? Or was that just their way of striking back at LaPierre after the first lawsuit was filed by the NRA?
Obviously, if LaPierre really had the best interests of the membership and gun rights in mind, he would fly commercial, pay for his own suits, and not be one of the highest-paid executives of any non-profit in America.
But Ack-Mac and North aren’t the only ones out of the picture now.
Just days ago, LaPierre suspended NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris Cox. And now Cox has resigned. We hear that a number of other top NRA-ILA employees are threatening to jump ship with him. That would be catastrophic-level bad.
While Cox doesn’t walk on water, hasn’t been accused of buying clothing or renting private jets and charging them to the nation’s oldest civil rights organization. He has been accused of providing great leadership at ILA by plenty of people who have earned my trust and respect.
And while no organization has a perfect record in every state, the NRA-ILA has been vitally important in holding back all manner of gun control in my home state of Illinois – for decades.
Not only that, but NRA-ILA-supported endeavors have helped give us concealed carry in the Land of Lincoln – the last state to get concealed carry, if you didn’t already know. And more recently, with the NRA-ILA’s support, Guns Save Life has blocked the Village of Deerfield’s gun and magazine ban. And then there’s the GSL suit challenging the FOID Act…also done with the NRA-ILA’s support. And there are plenty of others, too.
Am I the only one who thinks a whole lot of the good guys are getting forced out of the gun rights fight while LaPierre circles the wagons, not to defend gun rights and the NRA organization, but to protect his his job, his ego, his cronies, and his platinum-plated pension?