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The Yankee Marshall is no fan of the NRA, to say the least. To say the most, “I feel like people like LaPew and his constant cycle of demagoguery, demonization, division, political cronyism [are] using all that to stick his hand out and get more money so they can pad expense accounts and support their political friends [turning] the NRA into nothing but a fund raising machine the elite of the supposed ‘gun community.'” Don’t sugar coat it, YM! Tell us how you really feel . . .

“And it hasn’t done any good for anybody really. Anytime there’s a difficult fight, they abandon that fight.” Etc.

As you might expect given the vituperative rant, YM calls for NRA Veep Wayne LaPierre to take his more than a few millions and go home. Agree or disagree? If so, who would you like to see running the NRA? If not, why not?

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144 COMMENTS

  1. A new fresh face of the NRA is needed. There needs to be continued focus on the politics and calling out the usual parade of libtards, but so much more can be done to reach younger generations that isn’t happening. LaPew just doesn’t resonate with the younger crowd and we need to be cultivating the next generation of shooters and defenders of the 2A. He is a FUDD for the FUDD’s. I vote for Tim, the guy that runs Military Arms Channel on YouTube.

    • “LaPew just doesn’t resonate with the younger crowd and we need to be cultivating the next generation of
      shooters . . .”

      A kinder, gentler population of gun owners? Younger folks who might be ok with “commonsense gun-control” because, well, it makes them seem a bit more likable, a little more mainstream perhaps? Tell you what. Come up with someone who—in the midst of the most intense anti-gun agitation in recent history—can deconstruct that whole argument with a “good guy with a gun” statement and we’ll talk.

      • Nothing was said about kinder and gentler. I don’t like LaPierre on a visceral level. I find him grating.

        As to the younger generation, millennials are the least likely generation to support gun control. Or at least that was how I took a comment of Dana Loesch’s NRATV show. Who could have guessed that a generation raised in a new age of terrorism and race riots would think it was a good idea to have access to guns?

      • Don’t be an idiot. Why do you think that a younger person would be any closer to placating the enemy than LaPierre is? We millennials have grown up in a world where no one ever compromises (see: gun control advocates, liberals, tea party, etc). If anything, a younger VP would be less likely to compromise and more likely to fight absolutely everything tooth & nail.

      • Kinder? Gentler? Do you even FUDD brah? Sorry, but no…that wasn’t what I said. More like less of a corporate stiff in a suit and someone Joe Public can actually relate to. Reading is fundamental, as well as comprehension. You should give both a try sometime.

        • Well, like I said, that “corporate stiff in a suit” single handedly caused the gun control movement’s best opportunity in decades to come to a full stop. Do you know of someone else who could have done that? I don’t.

        • Seriously? It was less of Wayne’s electric personality and more of Hitlary being herself. Me thinks you give the Waynester way too much credit. You could have put Mr. Rogers as the frontman for the NRA last year and it would have had the same effect.

      • Yep. Calm, collected, rational, “cool,” not to excitable but not passionless either. Also black, which, let’s face it, matters with the left. Him being black takes a huge arrow out of the gun control lobbies quiver and would give the NRA more access to a critical Democrat voting block.

        If we can get blacks to vote on the 2A, then we win on the 2A. Simple as that.

      • Yes! Noir or Loesch… I would love to see how liberals would try to vilify a capable, eloquent minority spokesperson fighting for civil rights!

  2. I don’t know that you can blame Wayne, it’s more that the NRA marketing team has created a persona of him that has proven to be quite successful. For every gun owner that cringes at what he says publicly, there’s 10 others who open up their wallets.

    Wayne in-person is not Wayne in public. For better or worse, raising money for the cause is what they need to do – soft words and compromise don’t inspire people to give money.

    • So far, I’ve done both.

      Despite the cringeworthy rhetoric and deference to the status quo, having an NRA membership card is still the single best way to say “I’m not with you” to the anti-freedom establishment. The NRA is the only politically effective organization gun owners have. So I pony up.

      • Exactly. We wouldn’t be here without the NRA. It’s that effective. And, more important, there’s nothing following along to take it’s place. The YouTube commandos and sundry web sites exist because of the space created by the NRA. End of argument.

        • I’d say that is the beginning of the argument.

          Also, while “soft words and compromise don’t inspire people to give money.” They also don’t make for great laws. I think the NRA is all to ready “compromise.”

          For the record, I am a Life Member.

        • “I think the NRA is all to ready “compromise.”

          I’m inclined to agree with you. I joined the NRA after Sandy Hook. Their behavior post Sandy Hook has been exemplary, I think.

        • Yeah. I joined after they got aggressive. In the interest of full disclosure, I still probably wouldn’t have joined except my local gun club requires an NRA membership to join.

      • Ing, I don’t know what state you live in, but you should have at least one state gun organization (group) that works very closely with your state legislature on crafting new pro-2A bills and correcting bad laws. So the NRA is NOT the only politically effective organization gun owners have.

        • That’s a good point. I live in a state that’s ground zero for the progressive billionaire club’s state-level infringements, and the NRA is only peripherally involved. Time to get hooked up closer to home, too.

      • Ditch the NRA and go with GOA. They really are a no compromise hard fighting gun rights organization. The NRA only cares about getting your money. They harassed my wife for months about money after her membership expired. It took her threatening a law suit to get them to stop calling her.

  3. If the NRA wants to survive, the time is long past for them to reorganize, get their shit together and actually promote gun ownership in the real best interest of their members. Wayne should have been tossed out long, long ago. He’s a clear symptom of the problems.

    • Please explain these “problems” to me. Carry laws across the nation have expanded greatly despite how much Obama hated armed self-defense. Do you really think that would have happened without the NRA?

      • The NRA seems to do business only in states where it’s easy for them to be effective. They’ve pretty much abandoned the blue states. If they want to keep me as a member, they should elect leadership that will actually do something for gun-owners in those blue states. If that means putting in charge somebody other than LaPierre, somebody who can get things done, then they should do it.

        • According to the NRA, it spends more litigation dollars in California than in any other state. It engages in some lobbying, but that is pretty much a lost cause here. It has been quite active in Illinois, and its lobbyist, for good or for bad, was at the center of the Illinois Shall Issue CCW law.

        • I’ll admit I’m not up to date on all the litigation they do, but it seems to me it’s never here in the blue states on the east coast. They’ve deemed certain places as lost causes and they don’t seem to be involved much here. That’s why I would not mind a change in leadership if they decided to get involved more in NY, NJ, MD, CT, MA etc., which they should.

  4. The NRA got Trump elected (for better or for worse). Trump got Gorsuch on the court (for better or for worse). The NRA bet it all, sunk all their money in, and gave us a non-Hillary president (well, that’s better no matter how you slice it).

    I don’t agree with everything they do, and I do agree that Wayne’s constant fearmongering is tedious. Every time I see any NRA ad or speech it always starts with that apocalyptic music, and it just makes me roll my eyes. I’d much rather see Colion Noir as the face of the NRA than Wayne LaPierre. But to indict and rag on the only politically EFFECTIVE friend the firearms community has (the NRA)? That’s just stupid. Of course they’re not perfect, but they’re a hell of a lot better than if there wasn’t an NRA!

    • Yep, I agree with much of what you say. Some people seem to think that if Wayne LaPierre was gone, tomorrow everyone in the USA would be legal to carry full-auto rifles everywhere they went. That’s ridiculous. The “chipotle ninjas” almost torpedoed open carry down in Texas. Sometimes getting things done bit by bit is more effective than running around acting like a billy-badass and scaring the sally soccermoms into voting for Democrat gun grabbers. I hate gun control with a passion, but TYM doesn’t impress me one bit.

      • Exactly. The NRA is playing to win the war, not to sacrifice all it’s resources and support on a single battle or by opening multiple fronts.

    • I too agree with much of what you say. Rallying the troops for every crackpot bill that never had a chance of making it out of committee to begin with makes it look like your doing something to the membership. That’s all it does other than waste your political capital, both with elected officials and members that get tired of Wayne crying wolf 6 times a day.

      However, we need to remember that Wayne is a compromise. There are members that are much more “strident” in their views, opinions and methods. Wayne’s extremes appease that group of members.

      Don’t take these comments as compromising what the 2d really means or that I advocate “common sense” gun control measures. I don’t.

      Rather it’s a question of methodology and appearances to those not in the pro or anti camps. The goal is to persuade those in between. If you come off as a ranting nut job to them, the antis are winning.

  5. Colion Noir, Adam Kraut, John Patton.
    Anyone who’s willing to take the anti’s head on and call them on their bullshit, not deflect blame onto music, or video games or “modern” values.
    Anyone who tries to scare me into supporting them get the side eye…

  6. I’m still waiting for the court to do something that solidifies the 2nd like directly strike down unconstitutional state laws. All this low hanging fruit b.’s is a losers mentality.

  7. I don’t really give a shit what a pro-censorship pro SJW rioter lefty like TYM thinks. He’s a quisling and I have zero use for quislings.

    • +1000. The Janky Marshal is the same idiot that proclaimed he would be voting for Gary Johnson, who was another left-wing, anti-gun douchebag masquerading as a Libertarian. That guy is another of the idiot-class who screams about the loss of his rights, but keeps voting for the guys who plan to take his rights.

      • I called TYM out on one of his videos about supporting an anti like Johnson and his response was a very sarcastic reply about why I would support Trump because he was anti in the past. That is the moment I realized he was so brainwashed in liberal ideology that he was effectively useless to the firearms community. Which is sad, because the firearms community could use an outspoken liberal voice.

      • As soon as i saw his video on the .45 auto being useless, i left. i couldn’t stand listening to him, he just sounds like a typical libtard, oh look at me im on youtube so i know more then all of you, listen to me! I would rather watch MAC, IraqVetren8888, or nutnfancy.

        and as for the 45 being useless its not. i wont get into the 9 vs 45 because i see each having different benifits, but the 45 is far from obsolete. unlike the 40.

        • He never said it was useless. He said it is the least useful among all tbe acceptable self defense calibers. The TYM is a typical revolver guy who totes around. 2 or 3 inch barreled .357 and acts like it has the effectiveness as a 6 inch barrel. We have those same types here.

    • I am ok with the Marshall. When he talks about self defense he exhibits a lot of common sense but he tends to talk BS when he wants defend his subject preferences. Then he sounds like a dumbass hillbilly with a Youtube channel.

      • Until he started shadow-banning people from commenting on his videos like a typical lefty. There are few things that piss me off more than censorship. When you put up your soap box in the public square, you lose any right to deny other people the right to counter your arguments.

        • It’s his channel and his rules. I have called him out a couple of time and he hasn’t banned me. You can call him names at he won’t ban you. Can TTAG say the same thing.

        • Actually, it’s not “his” channel. The only thing he owns is the content. That’s the point of a public space like YouTube. It’s supposed to be an open marketplace of ideas. (I’m all for trust-busting Google to make them leave their political bias at the door.) Oh, and shadow bans are tricky, your comment will still appear to post, but nobody besides you will see it.

        • It is still private space and the First Amendment does not apply. People are still reacting to my comments so I guess he doesn’t mind me instituting him.

        • Freedom of speech is not limited to the 1st amendment. The idea is ludicrous. …and no, by its very premise youtube is not a private venue.

        • In fact, freedom of speech does not apply to private venues. YouTube is owned by Google, not the general public. It is a privately owned venue.

        • Pwrserge thats the same reason I won’t go to TFB anymore. When their writers are publishing articles consistantly with factually incorrect data and you alert them to it, they ban you from posting…unlike here where at least they’ll fix the article and say thanks for the heads up. That site has some of the most under-informed writers out there and they seem to really dig TYM. Doushebaggery abounds.

    • TYM = YouTube commando. Like many other’s who post gun-oriented content on YouTube, this guy seems a bit second-hand. I’ve never given him much credibility.

  8. I’m cool with anyone who’s name gives the gun control lobby high blood pressure. Be they someone like Ted Nugent or Colion Noir.
    I’d love to see someone like Tom Selleck take the reigns, but he already has a paying job and likely wouldn’t be willing to deal with the BS

  9. I’m not a fan of YM at all, but I’m willing to listen to people.

    His excuse that the NRA is “loved or hated” because of Lapierre is idiotic at best. JFK was a member of the NRA. Name the last president who was, especially a democrat. The media and liberals are vehemently against the NRA and gun owners in general, and that has been increasing since the 70’s. Obama outright mocked gun owners. The liberal party line towards guns has nothing to do with Lapierre, nor does the fact that media, both social and print/TV, are firmly in the back pocket of the same gun-owner hating liberals, and are used to villify the NRA and gun owners. To ignore this fact is to ignore the fact that the propaganda is designed to marginalize gun owners to the end that their numbers dwindle until they don’t have enough votes to stop the liberals. However successful they may or may not be, the NRA outreach to women and the Eddie Eagle program are efforts to keep the left from painting the NRA as wholly evil.

    Arguing profit is an extremely vague assertion. I’m not going to claim YM is stupid, so why ignore what it really costs to run a campaign of any type anymore? Why would the NRA spend money in a place like CA, WA, or OR (to name three) that you have zero chance of winning? You can try and fight, losing on the battlefield does more to hurt your cause than not entering the battlefield, when the media would quickly use the “loss” to show how ineffective/unimportant the NRA is. Those states will NEVER win back their freedoms until SCOTUS saves them. The liberal populations are firmly anti-2A, and no amount of campaigning will ever change the outcomes of gun control votes in those states.

    Fundraising seems to be the main gripe here, evidence to the contrary. Yeah, Gorsuch is all about fundraising: http://www.newsweek.com/neil-gorsuch-hearing-nra-betting-trump-supreme-court-nominee-571092

    Not that I’m a fan of Lapierre, but if you are going to accuse people of sucking, as YM does, there should be evidence. I heard no numbers, no statistics, nothing but allegations.

    • The reason you see no numbers or statistics is that there hasn’t been any REAL gains or major accomplishments made by the NRA to quote or count. Accepting minor losses and putting them down as a win, because the lefties originally wanted more or harsher laws and you take credit for them “only” getting this or that. Where are the REAL wins? National reciprocity is an easy one, but its never really been pushed. They are self admittedly a lobbying organization…if they got a few real wins they’d be out of work. The NRA used to be education and saftey based…now that they are as big a business as they are, they’ll never really push for true constitutional gun rights, there is not enough money in it for them if they had to go back to education and saftey. If the NRA wasn’t run by fudds, we’d have some legislation inacted already…or at least seriously in the works.

  10. While there are some things about the NRA that I don’t like (such as their scare-based weekly fund-raising tactics), I think Wayne LaPierre (and his alter-ego, ILA Director Chris Cox) should stay. I believe the LaPierre-led NRA has conducted a most effective fight against the Forces of Anti-Gun Darkness by effectively using the same tactics against the bad guys that they use against us. Gun rights have expanded during LaPierre’s administration, although admittedly some of this was due to the efforts of other groups, such as the 2nd Amendment Foundation and state-centric groups (such as Virginia’s Virginia Citizens’ Defense League). The infighting and sniping between LaPierre’s NRA and these groups is something I don’t agree with, as it can only hurt us all in the end. But overall, I approve of LaPierre’s leadership. If he is padding his bank account at the NRA members’ expense, why have we not heard of this previously, and why has nobody within the NRA accused him of this chicanery and had him charged? Not a peep – even from anti-gunners! I have no problem with him getting a large salary – he earns it on my behalf. And yours, too. At some point he will retire. As to who will replace him effectively, I have no idea who that person may be, unless it’s Chris Cox.

  11. I don’t have feelings one way or the other regarding LaPierre… he is doing a good job, he could do better, he is doing well enough that he is still in charge and hasn’t been voted/booted out of his position.

    As to the second half of the question…. My top two choices would be Colin Noir or Bill Whittle. Both are well spoken, insanely smart, and both are young enough (more so Mr Noir) to connect more or better with the younger firearm enthusiast.

  12. Wayne doesn’t run the NRA or the NRA-ILA. He’s a VP. He just happens to be the most visible. If you want things to change, removing Wayne isn’t enough. You have to remove all of the leadership currently in power or nothing will change no matter who replaces him.

    • You might want to check the job descriptions. Wayne’s VP position has at least as much actual power and influence within the organization as the president.

      • Howdy1 is right about having to change “the entire leadership” in order to change direction (of any organization), though.

  13. I agree that a fresh focus is needed. The current leaders of the NRA are too political and have caused divides within thier membership. It is about the constitution, pure and simple. Using sneaky ways to get around the assault on firearms is not right. We need to stand up and fight these laws with the truth and also do the same where other of our rights comes up. The ACLU and the NRA should be working hand in hand to make sure that our rights are not leglislated away. How any one group can be for one right and fight against others rights is beyond me.

    Believe me, the Republicans are glad of the NRA’s support, but they are also trying to limit rights in other areas. Don’t think that they don’t want to see guns only in the hands of thier lackeys. We need to get rid on national LE. The states handle LE. If the feds can just fly in a bunch of yahoos from another part of the country(because they know the states’ LE won’t support them), how much different is that than the president declaring martial law and trying to keep his position for life? This was Obama’s plan, and Hillary would have used it. We need to take back that kind of power from the feds, or we will be a police state with a dictator. at that point, it doesn’t matter if the power is with Communists or with Nazis, or even declaring a Theocracy, we will have lost all of our freedoms.

  14. Second amendment freedoms have made more gains and more anti-firearms measures have been defeated during the term of LaPierre than ever in the course of American history.

    What’s wrong with you knuckleheads – miss Obama much?

  15. The NRA must focus on Public Relations marketing campaigns to show gun ownership as a non-threatening and American tradition and introduce as many new people as possible to shooting sports. We need to focus on ensuring the future of our rights by expanding participation in shooting sports.

    The current NRA crop falls into old grumpy grandpa types or young offensive “proud infidel / proud deplorable” “death before dishonor ” with AR tattoos. The grandpas don’t attract anyone, the wannabe operators scare people away. NRA needs an image marketing campaign ASAP

  16. I was on the NRA Board for 9 years, 5 on the Finance Committee. They raise money they way they do because it works. People give 3-5x more from fear than they give from satisfaction. You are correct that the NRA shys away from serious offensive action. It is ingrained after years of doing nothing but defense. And, very importantly, loss of rights hurts more than failure to expand rights.
    No person is indispensable and everyone gets replaced (by death or orderly succession). Wayne has become a multi-millionaire from his job and the associated opportunities, he is 67 years of age, and has been the EVP [CEO] for over a quarter Century. It is time for him to transition to retirement but the ego-boosting perks of the NRA’s EVP are such (much like the Shah’s) that it may be psychologically impossible for him to let go. And the currant Board of sycophants is not able to push, however gently, Wayne out.

    • The NRA President is only a figurehead.
      The Executive Vice President [EVP] is the Chief Executive Officer and has ALL the POWER. Internally, it is an iron-handed Dictatorship.
      Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely, especially the longer it is held. It is time for new blood at the top.

  17. Am I the only Wayne fan? My $ well spent. No Hildebeast and (I hope!) a pro-2A justice. The NRA wildly exceeded my expectations. I expected nothing…

  18. Can e first talk about how counter-productive (if not downright subversive) NAGR is?

    NRA might not be as aggressive as some of uswould like, but NAGR is actively working against legitimate, grassroots gun-rights supporters, such as Jim Lucas in Indiana.

  19. Resume / Criteria for a new NRA head honcho:

    1. Knowledge / Fact retention of Ben Shapiro
    2. Charisma of Kurt Russell
    3. Communication / writing skills of Colion Noir
    4. No nonsense attitude of Clint Smith
    5. Skills and experience of Instructor Zero

  20. The NRA is nothing but a terror group disguised as a “civil rights” group.

    The NRA has done nothing but cause hate and destruction in this country disguised as “patriotism”.

    The NRA has done nothing but arm drug cartels, crazed right-wing doomsday militias nutbars, white supremacy groups and foreign terror groups especially their favorite customers who had been responsible for the number of tragedies through the world including the several tragedies Paris and the incident in Sydney, Australia back in 2014 in some lame attempt to prove that gun control “doesn’t” work.

    The NRA does not give a flying manure about it’s members, Just your money.

    Real freedom is to not live in fear of not being shot dead at your place of venue or home.

    Real freedom is not to fear of everyday being possibly your last day on earth when some paranoid whackjob with a chip on his shoulder and thinks the government is going to implant chips in people’s skulls goes on a rampage.

    Your not really “free” if you have to live with being armed 24/7 in some juvenile delusion that evil is everywhere.

    Your not really “Free” when you have a homicide and suicide rate higher than Somalia or the African nation of Burundi.

    I’m glad I will never fall for the false insane delusion of ever needing a gun. Because I don’t need one and never had and use my money to help myself, my loved ones and the community than blowing it on useless armaments that are mores statically more likely to be used against you or a loved one than stopping imaginary threats.

    This doesn’t happen in the rest of the world on a daily basis. It’s easier to run, hide or fight back against a psycho with a knife, baseball bat, section of pipe or a car than fighting back against a nut-bar with a gun.

      • Lol, The_Resistance is my favorite. Everyone in the gun community knows the NRA doesn’t “arm” anybody. These outlandish claims are like the Onion for guns. This guy bonds gun owners together. I love him on this site.

    • The so-called resistance is the real terrorist group. We know why you resistors are against guns. People with guns prevent people like you from committing mass murder. But, as recent events in Berkeley show, we really don’t need firearms to defend our selves from you Fascists. Wedgies seem to get the job done.

    • “It’s easier to run, hide or fight back against a psycho with a knife, baseball bat, section of pipe or a car than fighting back against a nut-bar with a gun.” That might be true if you are a 25-year-old, 6’6″, 300 pound, mixed martial artist who runs marathons on the weekend. I, however, am 71 years old, 5’5″, 30 pounds overweight at 165, and, except for three years of tae kwon do in my mid thirties, have never been athletic. My “fastest” time for the 100 yard dash, back when I was a teenager, was 13.5 seconds. (The world record is 9.1 seconds.) Because of muscle strain injuries to my back, I avoid handling anything that weighs more than 30 pounds. I suppose you are half right. If the other guy doesn’t have a gun but I do, I have a good chance to put him down before he hurts me. If he has a gun, too, I figure my chances are 50/50 and can be improved with training. If neither of us is armed, I’m helpless prey since I can neither out fight nor outrun him. Helplessness isn’t an acceptable option.

      • He isn’t against guns. He is against us having guns. He is ok with Blackbloc and antifa having and using guns against people he disagrees with.

    • This guy! Funny how in one paragraph we have murder rate higher than Somalia and Burundi and in next the evil murderers are but a figment of our imagination.

      Running and hiding from your attacker is easy for you and sticking your head in sand, so you don’t see that human predators can always arm themselves if they want to, is even easier.

      Real freedom according Concerned Revolutionist Against Somerhing or Somerhing Else – shutting eyes, plugging your ears and going: Lalalalalala, there is no evil, I’m free!

  21. Maybe I haven’t paid enough attention to the NRA since my membership lapsed, or heck even before that.

    Either way, maybe it’s just the presentation but this came across to me as some sniveling, whiney anti-corporate OWS type garbage. “Waaaaa NRA bad because money!” BUT then in practically the same breath ” Waaaaaa gun channels on YouTubez don’t get paid enough money!”.

    Seriously, YM, you got a Bernie sticker on your whip or what?

  22. I think the NRA needs less OFWG’s on the board. They need more than just Colin Noire to get back to their roots of defending black gun ownership. And they need more women in visible leadership roles to do serious outreach to that half of the population.

  23. I dumped the NRA in ’94 after they supported the AWB. I rejoined after they supported the sunset of that legislation. They have been more in the face of the gun ban crowd in recent years and I like that. They have finally gotten on board with the actual meaning of “shall not be infringed!”

  24. Who does the left demonize when they’re trying to stir up their base and raise money? The evil NRA! That says a lot.

    When a law is passed that removes an infringement, who do they blame? The NRA! They don’t blame the Republicans, they don’t blame the flyover country citizens clinging to their Bibles and their guns. They blame the NRA.

    The fact that the left hates the organization so much is a testament to its success. They don’t vilify the GOA or the 2nd Amendment Coalition. They vilify the NRA.

    Wayne is a mouthpiece. He is moderately competent in that role. You could replace him with some other mouthpiece and the effectiveness of the organization wouldn’t get much better, or much worse.

  25. My best guess in YM is trying to suck up to YouTube so he isnt thrown off for posting about firearms, not like its a subject YM knows much about, considering…

  26. We need a person who is young, cool, and someone that represents the changing demographics of this country. Either we adapt or become extinct. We need someone like Colion Noir. We also need some young women on that board as well. Perhaps one of the competitive shooters like Jessie Duff, Natalie Foster, or YouTube sensation Kirsten Joy Weiss.

  27. This is my personal opinion, not DRGO’s. How many of the jerks on this thread who diss Wayne because of his age or his tactics have actually been involved in motivating, organizing, and yes, fundraising from the “faithful”? I find it ironic that, just as Wayne and the NRA brass have pulled off a hugely successful political victory for every gun owner in America, so many are willing to throw him under the bus.

    Why do you think Wayne and NRA marketing put out those apocalyptic videos? Those mail solicitations? I’ll tell you why–because they work. As a person who has been involved in 2A activism for 30 years, I can tell you that the vast majority of gun owners would let the whole 2A movement go south before bothering to send a few bucks to the NRA PVF rather than buy a new sight, or a new lower, or some other toy. That’s just the truth. NRA has successfully adapted to human nature and knows its membership. Wayne has been the successful figurehead of the most powerful (and most hated by the anti-gun left) lobby on the scene today. Let him serve out his time, for Heaven’s sake!

    With friends like I see on this thread, the gun lobby doesn’t need enemies. I think I’ll send some more money to NRA today.

    Timothy Wheeler, MD

  28. Well I just went through my call log for about the last three weeks… five fund raiser calls, then I went through my NRA app emails… no local interest messages (our biannual state legislature is in session and just passed constitutional carry, then the governor signed it). So you tell me where that push really is/isn’t!

    Look this guy doesn’t d fight the good fight especially through the 90’s! But is it time for Wayne to go? Maybe between his fellow board member getting busted poaching and the fact that with some very friendly people in power I’m not seeing much progress here.

    If I’m wrong let me know.

  29. Wayne has done a pretty good job. He isn’t perfect, no one is but he is one of a number of people who have improved gun rights over the decades.

  30. TYM has gone so far off the reservation in the past couple years that I don’t even see him anymore.

    As to Wayne… I have no particular affinity to him but the question isn’t whether ‘he should go’ because that doesn’t account for who would take over. There are plenty of choices that would be worse. If there’s one that would be better, and he or she wants the job, then we can talk…

  31. If Wayne goes, I nominate TTAG’s resident “operator with operational experience in operating operationally” JWT. If that doesn’t give the lefties a collective (get it – lefties + collective!) stroke, then nothing will.

  32. Yeah, sure, dump LaPierre, because we’re winning, and we can’t let that happen.

    Bullfight critics ranked in rows . . . .

  33. Time for old out of date ideas to go. Wayne can take his seven figure income and retire. As far as YM, he has a point. so why the hate folks?
    Ted, Dana or Crowder. Shit, maybe all three!

  34. Will this rambling commentary appear on MSNBC tonight as evidence the right is crumbling? All the commentator gives is his speculation, without even the slightest shred of coherent evidence, that the super secret rich fat cats of the NRA are stealing our money and giving nothing in return. Based on his comments about YouTube however, it looks more like wants part of the action that he accuses others of having. So, is he a useful idiot of the left who is supposed to develop unrest and desension in the ranks of the true believers? Well if not he comes off as a very unflattering image of people who are involved in shooting, hunting, and gun rights. It’s an image we can ill afford at such a dangerous time in our history.

  35. Changing horses midstream, when we have a chance of victory, is stupid.

    We have Gorsuch, but he’s not a dyed-in-the-wool, on-the-record gun rights advocate.

    We need to wait at LEAST until the next SCOTUS replacement. THEN WLP can go.

    As is, there’s a lot of *feelings* about how bad he is, and *feelings* he doesn’t represent us well.

    Feelings are for elections. Right now, raw political manuevering- getting bills passed, getting the most implacably MOLON LABE court appointees (lower courts as well! Restock the 9th! It’s quite empty!) is what matters.

    Changing horses, with a guy who’s maybe a schmoozer and too cozy, when we need someone who is a schmoozer, cozy, and knows everyone and where the bodies are buried…

    WTF. It’s called being afraid of success. We need a deep political operator. Trump gets outflanked by the deep state. So the answer is… to abandon our operator, and have a novice right at the time the people with the most experience get undue influence?

    Stupid!

    NRA during elections/fundraising is different than the NRA during backroom negotiations. Unless you can point to someone who isn’t about image (Colion Noir and Nugent) who actually has political skills, you’re trying to oust the wrong guy who is the right leader at the right time, for the right guy who is the wrong leader at the right time.

    STUPID. That’s a move worthy of democrats.

  36. I wonder if the critics who disparage LaPierre and the NRA can take credit for any of the legislation or court decisions that have benefitted the shooting fraternity in recent years. Probably not. But still they bitch, moan and suffocate the rest of us with their toxic fuming. Wish they would just shut up, man up, pay up and support the NRA.

  37. I wonder if the critics who disparage LaPierre and the NRA can take credit for any of the legislation or court decisions that have benefitted the shooting fraternity in recent years. Probably not. But still they bitch, moan and suffocate the rest of us with their toxic fuming. Wish they would just shut up, man up, pay up and support the NRA.

  38. Chris Cox will take over, period, like it or not. There are 75 people on the NRA board. Why? Because that is how you marginalize a board and run the organization with little interference. And for those that don’t get it, yes, LaPierre runs the NRA.

  39. Sometimes when you have nothing to say but need interest in your product ($), you throw it out there.

    Me thinks he’s hooked a few.

    Positive or negative publicity is usually good.

  40. Really? 111 responses so far, but no one has mentioned Trey Gowdy? LOL

    Just kidding, I don’t know if he’s even a member. But wouldn’t he be simply awesome in that position? Telling those liberal lawmakers just how shit’s gonna go down, now that there’s a new sheriff in town!

  41. Wayne has been around for a long time and is good at raising money. He also is willing to be the public face of the NRA on tv. He could do better, but others could do worse. I’m ambivalent. He does an okay job running the organization.

    Colion Noir might be a good choice as a president or Vice President. They’d need to get him on the talk shows once a week, but his being black would take the wind out of a lot of racist arguments leveled by liberals. The title of spokesman doesn’t carry as much weight.

  42. Yall can say and think all you want about Mr LaPierre but take from an old guy who was a life member when the NRA was strickly an organization that promoted marksmenship and the people in charge did not want to get in charge did not want to get invoved with Politics. Then came Harlon Carter who fundamentally changed the NRA to a group that fought for gun rights. All you complainers dont seem to know how close we have come to loosing the 2nd . Mr LaPierre brougt in millions of people to the NRA and started lots of programs to protect the 2nd. If not for LaPierre and his leadership there woulb be no ARs as we know them today through his leadership the NRA got the sundown amedment to the clinton Assault Weapons ban. We shud all be gratefull to the NRA and LaPierre for all that has been done. Yall shud read up on all the proposals in the 1960s 70s and 80s that the NRA fought. The orginal cop killer bullit ban which almost passed would of banned all rifle calibers thank the NRA it did not get passed. Its been a long hard fight when few people really cared but the NRA so compromises had to be made to get us here where there is finally achance for unrestricted progress

    I am getting off my soap box now but one last thought you younger men and women are lucky people like Mr LaPierre were around to fight for us. Check it out befor you come down so hard on him

  43. Colion Noir (if he’s already been suggested, ignore. I’m in line at In-N-Out and can’t read all the posts)

  44. The bottom line is the NRA is greatly feared in most political parts of the USA. The problem in California and other slave states is the millions of gun owners keep voting for slavery because getting free stuff is more important than their gun rights.
    At 88 years old Dianne Feinstein will run for reelection. Gavin Newsom is running also. They will be giving out lots of free stuff.

  45. Listen I’ve been on Yankee’s Shooting Left of Center Podcast once or twice, He’s been on my Hit-or-miss Podcast once. We both occasionally have discussions on NeverEnuffAmmo’s Geeks & Guns Podcast. We’ve had many conversations over Politics and Gun Advocacy Groups, but there’s one thing people don’t realize about Yankee and he has no qualms about telling others but he’s one of those rare Liberal Democrats that Like Guns. and yes I said liberal, but in his case it’s Classical Liberal Democrat more so on the track of FDR.

    I for one don’t agree with him on this one, but Yankee’s allowed to have his own opinion. Though here’s the thing if you don’t agree with him come to GunChannels.com on Thursday nights when he’s doing Shooting Left of Center and call him out. Call him out on YouTube via comment or in the YouTube Live Chat.

    Anyways I said what I needed to.

    • Classical Liberal in no way describes FDR. The words progressive and socialist describe FDR. FDR is the one who introduced the modern conception of the terms liberal and conservative. Before that, liberal meant supporting individual liberty and political equality. Conservative was generally meant as a political philosophy that supported monarchy.

      Under the pre-FDR definition, Republicans have been the liberal party since Lincoln. Democrats often espouse liberal beliefs, but seldom support liberal policy. Most policies forwarded by Democrats hinder individual liberty, political equality, economic equality, and social equality.

  46. This isn’t really about LaPierre or the NRA specifically, but wouldn’t it be great if there was an organization or leader who honestly dealt with their people?

    I’d like to know what’s going on. This bill is up. We support it, but it doesn’t have a chance. Send in a letter. These two bills are up. This one is better, but we a pushing this one because it has a better chance and moves the ball forward. These representatives are in the way of the bill even though they say they support us. This bill is close, now is the time to push hard.

    I get plenty of e-mails about bills being introduced, but never seen one about the chances of anything happening.

    I also don’t need an e-mail telling me to encourage the sponsors of a bill to sponsor the bill. The NRA was pushing Trump’s nominees. What exactly was the point of that? They were all going to get in unless someone found the skeleton in their closet. Depending on the skeleton, there wouldn’t be anything the NRA membership could do. Trump’s got 53 possible votes in the Senate to work with (counting Pence if there is a tie).

  47. Never listened to the podcast, don’t care who the guy is, but I can agree that NRA needs an overhaul. It’s 2017, and I feel like they’re just hitting 2005. “Hey, other old rich Luddites, look! I just figured out how to post YouTube videos!”

  48. A liberal publicist said to me. The NRA needs to rebrand itself. When she heard the gun control myths she wanted to know how come they aren’t common knowledge. Her age group is open to the truth. Leaving them to hear it from MSNBC etc. is not helpful.

    I said the NRA is a teaching organization. She said then why aren’t they producing ads for safe gun handling practices? Why weren’t they defending the CCW nurse who strayed across the border into New Jersey? Are they afraid of losing their base and donations if they defend certain people?

    Perhaps they are more effective just lobbying. I find there are clergy, women, Dems etc. who actually get it when they are presented with the facts.
    The basic breakdown of who constitutes gun victims and assailants is very different than the media presents. The facts from the FBI and CDC and NIH show there is less to worry about than everyday hazards. But, you know this. Most people don’t.

    The racial and class restrictions on gun rights would alarm any leftist once they get past their visions. You know what has helped? Conversations about machine guns and suppressors. They realize they are watching too many movies 🙂 and that they are lied to by the press.

    When I demonstrate dropping an empty magazine and inserting a fresh empty one they realize their assistant principle wasn’t going to rush this shooter in that time. Then they are for a trained armed person in the school who is not a police resource officer.

    The Guardian has done great work in dissolving the myths about gun owners and ownership. They’re British! Couldn’t the NRA produce editorials that educate the general populace?

  49. Wayne LaPierre has been seduced by President Trump and has forgotten to hold his feet to the fire. I just received a questionnaire from Trump asking me to prioritize his various initiatives. Not on his list at all: anything to do with firearms or the Second Amendment.

    At the other end of the political hierarchy, the NRA endorsed our local sheriff in his last primary, though he was opposed by the state gun rights organization with good reason.

    We need someone leading the NRA whose allegiance is to its reasons for being and not to the president or to the establishment.

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