Wayne LaPierre NRA
NRA executive vice president and CEO Wayne LaPierre (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
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On his GunTalk radio show and website, Tom Gresham has added his voice to the cacophony calling for the ouster of Wayne LaPierre as Executive Director at the National Rifle Association. “The CEO has failed,” Gresham wrote.  “…[I]t’s time for a new leader.”

Gresham has had his “Gun Talk” radio show since 1995 and has seen a lot in his time. Just like a lot of the rest of us involved in gun rights and political advocacy. Gresham’s program was America’s first syndicated gun-centric national radio show. Even today he’s still picking up affiliates.

Image via GunTalk Media Facebook page.

And now, he’s come out with his opinion piece entitled “Wayne Must Go.” Here is an introductory excerpt from Gresham’s GunTalk website:

It’s time for Wayne LaPierre to retire.

I have put this off for a while as I waited to see how events would develop. The leaders at the NRA and I’m talking about YOU, the board of directors, as well as the hired help, have spent years … decades … setting up a system which gives key people massive financial rewards. In my view, it’s at least malfeasance, and it might even be corruption. Monster salaries, private jets, slush funds, insane budgets spent on TV shows, as well as PR and advertising campaigns designed to do nothing more than generate more funds which can be siphoned off for dubious programs, putting millions into the pockets of vendors (and maybe staffers and directors and even family members of key staffers), have eroded the confidence of members and gun owners to the point where we now see a campaign of “no money until Wayne is gone.”

Whether he directed it, was part of it, or just didn’t see what was happening, this all metastasized under the watch of Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre. The buck stops there.

All in all, Gresham takes a rather gentlemanly approach at calling for LaPierre’s exit. And he appeals to Wayne’s sense of right and wrong, too.

Wayne, if you care about the movement … if you care about the fight for gun rights — recognize that you now constitute an impediment. Take your millions and retire. Staying on to fight the good fight won’t do.

Do the right thing. ~ Tom

Time will tell if Gresham’s call — added to dozens of other prominent voices — will serve as the straw that breaks Wayne’s back.

No doubt many of us believe Gresham’s call, as so many others have so far, will fall upon deaf ears in Fairfax.

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83 COMMENTS

    • As much a s I love guns, I cannot stand Tom Gresham. In the old days, he was on his game, but today he is like King Fudd and constantly comments about stuff he knows nothing about. Especially any gun made after 2005. And don’t get me started about how he twists the news. He’s worse than FOX and gives gun owners a bad name as if we are all Christ-like angels, infallible in every way. Makes me want to puke!

      If Tom is finally vocally on board, then his fuddness is firmly in place. Anyone running a national gun show should have been a leader here, not a distant follower like Tom Gresham is. Yawn, old man need to retire if he truly cares about guns. Please Tom, get out before we have to throw you out.

      • if you got a gripe with Tom,try calling into the show, he gets it right most of the time. Nobody is perfect.

        I agree with him on this and as they say better late than never.

        • Agree w/Robert 100%. I’m done giving anything extra to NRA until Wayne has moved on. Giving $$$ now to GOA and USCCA. I’ve been a member of the NRA for 50 years.

        • You’ve got to be f’n kidding me about calling Gresham. Every challenging caller to Gresham’s show gets insulted, roasted, and then shut down. I cringe whenever someone wants to share a differing viewpoint. Gresham’s gun beliefs do not include any descending thoughts. It’s Tom’s way or the highway regardless if he understands the issue or not. Mostly not.

      • Yeah, Fox is bad! You prob like CNN and MSNBC, or Networki News where everything they say is the absolute, unbiased truth.

      • ” He’s worse than FOX”. Well, what else have you got? Like the never-Trumpers, Who was the better candidate that you voted for? A write-in? You need to start your own radio show. I’m sure it would be the best.

      • Tom Gresham is an original Louisiana idiot cracker.

        His and Larry Vickers advice are the most useless. At least Vickers can shoot.

        • Tom Gresham has never said he is a trainer but refers people to others like Tiger McGee and Gunsite.

          Maybe he is an “idiot cracker” because he is inclusive with groups like the pink pistols and other LGBT groups?

      • Please state specific examples of your problem with FOX News! Please be specific about each and every comment you made about Wayne.
        I am so upset by generalizations and accusations being thrown around without facts (ie: the annual report for 2018, or based upon and internal audit by XXXX last year)!!!!!!

        • Well F, your closed mind and head-in-the-sand life is not worth anyone’s time to argue. If this is all new to you, then it’s your problem.

      • Maybe you listen to a different Tom Gresham that is a Fudd.

        The one I listen to…
        – owns and recommends ARs for hunting and competition.
        – conceal carries polymer 9mm
        – advocates for 2A including SAF and Knife Rights
        – detests “red flag” laws and the bump stop ban
        – owns and promotes suppressors

        • I support anyone who agrees with all of the five listings in Jeremy B. says:
          July 23, 2019 at 17:19 !!!

        • Yeah!

          Tom doesn’t sound very FUDD-like to me. I’ve been listening for a couple of years.

      • Splitshot, I’m not sure what show you are listening to, but I don’t shout down anyone and only cut off a caller when we are against a hard break and have to go. Tell you what. Call the show (but you’ll have to use your real name, and not a screen name), and I’ll give you the floor. Lay it out. I’ll give you time. But, be prepared to defend your assertions.

        Does that seem fair?

        Let’s talk guns and gun rights.

        The ball is now in your court.

    • Have never liked LaPierre! He’s a hot head! Been in and out of the NRA for years, just never seem to find a reason to stay. Their upper crust have mad million’s off of the member’s and I suspect that’s what it’s all about. Always got the magazine’s but seem’s they never stopasking for more money. Beyond that I see little that they do for the shooting sport’s. They sell a magazine and collect money from gun owner’s, that’s abut it in my view.

  1. My guess is that after a suitably timed grace period, long enough for him to avoid appearing to have been fired—but sooner rather than later—we’ll see the departure of LaPierre. That’s pretty common in American corporate life when someone really needs to go but doesn’t want to be seen exiting with their tail between their legs.

    • +1

      I too think this is how it’ll happen. There will be some sort of shell game “strategery” over the next few months as TPTB attempt to accomplish the trifecta of (1) allowing WLP to escape intact, (2) ushering in a new leader without the perception of animosity, and (3) maintaining the NRA’s political mojo in D.C.

      Personally, I don’t want the NRA to fall, but the *appearance* that it’s dying has been perfect bait to lure the anti-gunner 2020 candidates into leaning full libtard for all voters to see…and remember. Sharks sensing blood in the water and thinking their chance to pounce has come.

      • It’s so damn dumb; all WLP has to do is leave willingly, and it accomplishes all those things.
        -WLP gets clear of the ensuing shit-storm unless he’s left criminal fingerprints on the finances (remains to be seen…but I think his stubbornness is due to not wanting others’ eyes on his accounts)
        -Almost anyone else could replace him and be seen as a strong improvement, so long as they aren’t an avowed political apparatchik or LaPierre toadie (I should think NRA members have had enough of the org being all but openly led by the GOP after the party’s recent screwing of gun owners)
        -A BoD and membership strong enough to drive away a tyrant like LaPierre would be rightly feared in DC. A bunch of apathetic & oblivious Fudds being fleeced while their own wool is pulled over their eyes, is not fearful at all.

        • He’s now toxic. Even if he is innocent of all things, he’s toxic. We need a new face of the NRA. I miss Charlton Heston. He would have cleaned-up the place.

      • But, then who will email me twice a week asking me to renew (well before expiration) and offering free goodies (or a chance for free goodies).

        • Yeah- I am a Life Member and they harass me regularly via phone + mail to “renew” my membership. They have no idea who I am or what my membership level is, nor do they seem to care about what a “do not call” list is. They haven’t had their sh*t together for a very long time now.

        • Out of all the things they offered me with membership, the only one I really wanted was the black hat with the red NRA letters. They couldn’t even get that right. Fact is, the only thing I ever received from them was a cheap, plastic pen which had a shiny gold finish on it. Followed by a salvo of “We need more money, fear type letters and e-mails. I never gave them any more than the membership fee. I’m glad now.

    • Garrison, I really want to believe that, but after the naked arrogance on display at the last meeting…

      It’s no longer just about him. All of them, the whole lot of them (maybe a few exceptions) need to go, and the finances of the upper management need to be made public…

    • Want to put some money on that? I have heard this before and yet he is still there and will be until forced out.

    • I think WLP and a number of BOD and key employees are beyond shame. Wayne will leave but not until his golden parachute has been tuned to perfection.
      I have no question whatsoever that he has been meeting with his attorneys, on our dime, working out an indemnification agreement before he turns in his keys.
      I’m tired of people telling me what a terrific guy Wayne is while the organization is gasping.
      I’ve been a Benefactor LM and instructor for years and NRA has seen the last of my money until Wayne & Co. are gone AND trustworthy leadership who are actually answerable to the BOD and membership are installed.
      For my $0.02 I think Wayne goes to jail on this. Between NYS, the Feds and whoever else in on his heels, there can be no excuse for his criminal malfeasance while at the helm.
      I just pray that he hasn’t caused the NFP status to be revoked.

    • Wayne owns 90% of the BOD, he owns pretty much all the NRA Executive Board, he only needs 30% to maintain a hammer lock on the NRA BoD. NRA Bylaws require a supermajority of the BoD to remove an NRA officer absent a move from the NRA Executive Board.

  2. Why all the wheel of fortune type fund raising going on now with the NRA? For WLP, this must be like a drowning mans last kick. Please don’t let the door hit you in the arse on the way out.

  3. NRA uses the direct mail fundraising techniques pioneered by conservative Republican Richard Viguerie. Yuuck!
    In a nut shell it amounts to, “Send us your $$$ or the world will end in two weeks!”

    • They sent the latest iteration of this today. My response:

      As a Life Member, I cannot provide any support in good conscience until Wayne LaPierre and his sycophants are banished from all NRA offices and employment entirely, in perpetuity, from here forward until the end of time, coupled with sweeping board election reforms.

      The NRA has been hijacked to serve the interests of an internal aristocracy, and no longer represents its member constituency in any measurably significant way. The NRA now lacks the requisite integrity to be trusted with any further resources, having proven itself a fraudulent steward of everything it’s been entrusted with. By allowing unbridled cronyism and slothful dereliction to be your highest ethical concepts, the NRA is now a tragic illustration of mismanagement, gross incompetence and abandonment of fiduciary duty. Good job.

      Don’t call or email me again asking for so much as a dime until you’re announcing a colossal avalanche of terminations for parasitic fraud and breach of fiduciary duty.

      • I agree with your assessment of the sorry state of affairs at the NRA with Wayne LaPierre, and think only a sweeping re-organization of the entire leadership and board of directors will eventually solve the problem.

        This fiasco could not have come at a worse time, and I (and we) can only hope it is resolved satisfactorily in time so that members and the general public can ‘get-on-board’ for the 2020 election cycle.

        Hopefully all members and others that can look at the great work the NRA has done in the past will not be swayed to vote against the ideals the NRA membership-at-large believe in and support.

    • Ah, so that’s where that started. Interesting. I’m not a member but well acquainted with the NRA’s alternately blustering and being chicken-little because, you know, some trashball gun supply vendor must have given them my info and they’re totally shameless.

  4. Ranks right up there with wondering how old that red wasp is flying around in my tool shed is in my book

  5. If Mr. La Pee Pee continues to drag this out between N.Y. and the Feds he could end up behind bars,personally that would be fitting,he’d better get while he can get

  6. WLP has taken ~$ 5 million cash payouts from his NRA pension. Sounds to me like he’s protecting the money from later, possible, criminal prosecution. Anytime I read/hear/see a politician “suddenly” retiring it’s ususually followed by the release of info that could lead to prosecution. Retiring protects his/her pension. However, it maybe in business, profit ot non-profit, that an employee’s pension can be witheld do to any actionable hanky-panky. Cashing out means the money is already in WLP’s pocket(s). It would probably take a civil court to try to claw back that money.

  7. If this was Japan, Wayne would have committed seppuku by now. Since this is the USA, he doesn’t have to kill himself — he just has to leave.

      • Well, the bar has certainly been lowered on that job. And the swamp has much more fetid waters and alligators now too.

        So Wayne ought to feel right at home in his $20,000 Gator Proof Suits.

    • Mary and hammers paid $300,000 a year. If she can’t even make it into a board meeting.

      She is definitely part of the swamp.

      Plus she can’t even get a successful Lobbying in Florida for crying out loud.

  8. I don’t care whose fault it is but if Wayne was a man and truly concerned about the life of the organization he would step down to calm the rough seas and have absent contributors return. And if he is a real man he would remain a member.

  9. I don’t care whose fault it is but if Wayne is aman he will step down for the long-term good of the organization. And remain as a member.

  10. As a Life member I don’t have to “hold back” any dues, but the Chris Cox ouster means I don’t send NRA-ILA any money either. If this mess doesn’t play out with WLP and the board members who back him gone by the end of this year, the money I would spend to go to Nashville 2020 will instead get spent at mom n pop gunships in my home town. Not fair to the vendors and good people of Nashville but it’s the card I have to play, and play it I will.

    • Spend your money on the AM. NRA doesn’t get money for attendance – just booths, ads, VIP and optional concerts, talks, and meals. Don’t pay for the extras. Attend the actual meeting and voice your concerns. Boycott the trade floor if you want to try to strangle the booth money for 2021.

  11. Better check his off-shore bank accounts. Probably uses the same banks as the disgraceful Trump.
    What a joke.

    • You do realize that offshore bank accounts aren’t like in the movies (anymore), right? After the UBS debacle, we have FATCA. Undeclared accounts with a value greater than US$10,000 are subject to a 33% “penalty”, if discovered. Additionally, many foreign banks won’t accept US citizens as customers, even those who legitimately work in the bank’s country.

  12. I believe the military says, “Loss of confidence in his ability to lead”. That covers it for me. This is a rough time for gun owners, we don’t need a NRA head more worried about keeping his pension than serving the NRA’s members.

  13. Wayne’s “Background checks for everyone”, so far as I know and understand never withdrawn, modified or explained soured me on him. Iam, by the way, a Life Member of NRA, and have been since 1975.

  14. I say kick La Pierre to the curb and move Uncle Ted into his office and get Chris Cox back into his office. We need some fire eaters on the front lines that won’t backdown and are willing to go toe to toe and slug it out with the gun grabbers. Time to end the P.C. wimp stuff and call it as everyone sees it. Such as calling for boycotts of the gun industries enemies Capitol One and Bank of America. Someone needs to remind the people as part of the Bill of Rights the 2nd Amendment cannot be touched by Politicians, Black Robbed Tyrants, or weasel Bureaucrats. All laws affecting our rights and hindering our ability to walk in a store buy the firearm we want and take it home and carry as we choose are illegal. If I want to walk into the local hardware store and buy an M-60 no paper necessary that is my GOD given right according to the Founders. That is what the Civil Rights movement is about today getting back to those basic God Given Rights. We need people on the Board of the N.R.A., the original Civil Rights Organization that are willing to stand their ground and fight for those rights.

    • Uncle Ted is one of the problems. He’s one of the no-show directors. They should have an advisory council for honoring celebrities and notable contributors to the gun community. The BoD should be people who show up, drive the vision, can manage, and oversee the officers.

  15. While I don’t agree with Tom on a lot of issues (or his reasoning), on this subject, I have to agree. Whether or not LaPierre was directly involved up to his eyeballs in the problems that have come to light or he’s condemned by his association, it’s time to put what’s best for the Association first and step down.

  16. It took Tom 4 evah to stop insisting that we pro-rights folks need to embrace Dems. He finally realized that, while Dems (or what ever you call them) do own guns, they vote for anti-rights laws.

    • Today’s Republicans are lefties too. They also support anti rights laws. They are more likely to call for a bigger police state and mass imprisonment whereas the peace and love Democrats want to get rid of the police state.

      • User1: Are you the new troll we ordered? If so, you’re late.

        The Dems are Statists that Repubs can only dream about.

        • I have seen hours of city council meetings where Democrats come in the dozens to say how much they don’t like the police and how their funding should be cut. How they should focus more on the community instead of arresting people. They constantly say they don’t agree with the militarization of the police force and they don’t want it to be federalized. They also say they don’t want the police to enforce immigration laws rather they want them to protect illegal immigrants. They call for reforms in use of force policies, for less lethal tactics over officer safety and deescalation training to prevent deadly force.

          Yes, Demcorats are statists, so are the Republicans. The Republicans just want to do it differently, That’s why I say the Republicans are now lefties too.

          Democrats are very confused people who like to base policies on compassion. The whole “peace and love” will solve all the problems in the world. When that fails just spend more money.

          Republicans are the types that like to wage wars. Be it actual war via an offensive military or figurative war on drugs, terrorism and guns via a police state.

          Republicans agree with Democrats that we need public works/infrastructure, public education, public health care, public security forces, etc.

          We still have forced government education teaching Americans to be communists because Republicans are not opposed to such a “public” system.

          Republicans like to pretend to be patriots that love liberty, but in practice they are a bunch of hypocrites. No different than the average NRA member or Christian.

  17. This on the heels of this mornings offer from Wayne to upgrade my Life membership for a song. Gonna have to pass for now.

    #nomoneyuntilwayneisgone

  18. I was appalled to learn that my hard earned money is being used by Wayne Lapierre to buy $20,000.00 suits. Therefore, I have become a charter member of the “no money until Wayne is gone” movement. So, Wayne, get lost already; I can’t afford the likes of you!

    • What? You don’t like Wayne and other members of the NRA traveling around comfortably to meet with wealthy people to ask them for more money? What’s wrong with Wayne buying clothes that cost tens of thousands of dollars, traveling on private jets, using higher end ride services and having private security once in awhile as he meets with Friends of NRA in fancy places to raise more money for his organization?

      It’s like when Hillary meets with bankers to give speeches to raise money. It’s totally legal and a common American practice.

      If the Democrats can do it, why can’t the NRA? It’s not okay to have a double standard. The Republicans should be able to do exactly what the Democrats do. It’s only fair to allow the Republicans to behave like Democrats. Embrace the culture. Why hold Wayne and Cox — who used to work for the Democrats before taking over the NRA — to a different standard of ethics?

      If you don’t like it, it’s probably because you are a commie who is funded by some rich Jewish man like Soros or Bloomberg. According to the NRA and the Republicans, it’s rich Jewish men that are making the NRA look bad and they are the ones at fault for all the troubles with the NRA. You are probably being paid by one of them to post anti American stuff in an attempt to make us all commies by dividing and conquering.

      #WayneThePatriot #RighteousRepublicans #NRAStrong #WeStandWithWayne #UnitedBoDs

      • Democrats can do whatever they want with their own money. I don’t care one bit. Wayne can live it up if he feels like it too – but let him pay with his own card. I don’t have a problem with that.

        If the NRA spends money like drunk sailor, I do care. It’s in very little part my money they are wasting and every dollar spent on luxury for top execs is a dollar missing in war fund. The war against gun grabbers, war that will win our constitutionally protected rights back. You know, the war the NRA should be fighting.

  19. I have to agree! I live in Florida where he has become the weapon of choice by the Demorats. The constant pleading more money and the anti up 2 years before your membership up is starting to look more like a money grab than they are fighting for our rights. There are other orgs. that are more welcome in this state than the NRA is now days. I won’t mention names but some of these groups have done more lately the good old boys.
    Do it while you still have a bit of dignity

    • People actually believe that the NRA really wants to restore the Bill of Rights. They actually believe that Hammer was on Florida’s side when she pushed for certain laws.

      https://www.ammoland.com/2019/07/a-short-recap-of-the-history-success-of-the-national-rifle-association/#axzz5uRUtj4M1

      “In 1980, Wayne was promoted to Director of State and Local Affairs. Once he got settled into that position he and I worked out the plan to create and pass the “Shall Issue Right to Carry” legislation. Bob Dowlut, in the NRA General Counsel’s office worked with me on drafting the legislation because we planned for it to be a model for the nation.” –Marion Hammer

      That’s right. Hammer admits to not wanting constitutional carry throughout the nation, instead the NRA wants permission slips to be controlled by government and handed out upon request. How is that working out in the state of Florida now and elsewhere? Are there people, who control the permits, deciding to deny or delay those permits in the state of Florida? Is open carry possible without restriction in the state of Florida? Is a “shall” issue permit considered to fit within the “shall not be infringed” standard?

      I know in Europe, and in other white countries, permission slips are the norm and are traditional to the “Western” culture. Many European sportsmen support the licensing of gun owners and hunters, it’s hard to find one that doesn’t. When they come to America they advocate for such licensing, even those that sell 2A related products think it’s a great thing. At the end of the day, Western culture is about government given rights not God/natural given rights. How is God going to sign off on your permit? A man is going to have to do that, a man that works for the politicians.

  20. If losing Tom isn’t enough, maybe Jim Scoutten will be his “lost Walter Cronkite” moment. Who’s left as an NRA cheerleader that isn’t a board member or exec? Hopefully, Tom will show other gun media that they won’t be treated like Metcalf if they speak out against Wayne and the Board.

  21. Wayne is only the visible symptom. The Board is the illness. The senior 1/3 (the “Old Guard”) most of whom were first elected on the past Century must be removed. Otherwise, they will elect a new “Wayne” and continue business as usual.

    • The old peeps want to elect Cox to replace Wayne.

      ROFL

      Apparently, they don’t pay attention and choose to be ignorant.

  22. Thanks for shooting us in the foot Tom. Democrat fund raisers love you. Why don’t you volunteer your services to CNN.

    • WLP does suck. There is no way around it. The Board of Directors sucks for letting him do what he does. Pretending that there is no problem will not help anyone. We need to clean our house.
      Don’t shoot the messenger.

  23. Even considering nothing else, anyone allowing the traitor and total con-man Oliver North in the door is unfit for any leadership role, as is North. Nobody with any brains could be fooled by Oliver North, so Lapierre MUST be a con-man too. The new officers of the NRA MUST publish the salaries and benefits of ALL of the executives and board members! Open books!

  24. the NRA has imploded, they are a laughing stock now to most of my circle of members and soon to be ex-members. Noe are expecting to renew memberships in the near future. They are backing anti-gun legislation and will be the reason we lose our rights if it happens.

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  26. I get phone calls about 4 times a week asking for money. I politely tell them no $$$ until WLP is gone. I’ve been listening to Tom Gresham for almost 10 years now. He is a better gun education source than the NRA magazines.

    • Hmmm…

      Now I know where some of the anonymous number fund raising calls I’m getting come from. They even use in state numbers from random places. Maybe I’ll answer one and comment on WLP.

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