Gun Rights Supporters:
Did you know that the NRA just yesterday held its annual meeting right here in Charlotte? You could be forgiven for not knowing, since NRA leadership apparently didn’t want you to know.
As you’ve probably heard, the NRA is subject to legal action to dissolve the organization by leftist New York State Attorney General Letitia James over allegations that NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre and others “looted” the organization, including allegedly misappropriating $64 million of members’ money.
So to avoid accountability from members, apparently the NRA decided to have an annual meeting nobody would attend. After cancelling its annual meeting and convention in Houston, ostensibly due to “COVID,” NRA leaders quietly and belatedly rescheduled it for Charlotte this weekend, presumably because the bylaws require having some type of annual meeting.
Of course, that was after they apparently ensured that they utterly controlled who would attend by changing the minimum notification in the bylaws and changing what constitutes a quorum to 100 people (yes, at an organization claiming millions of members, a “quorum” for its annual meeting is 100 people).
Even if you are a voting member of the NRA, you might not have gotten notice of the meeting. (I’m a voting member, but I didn’t get notice, and neither did all but a couple of people I spoke to – people who are probably not on the NRA’s “naughty list” like I am.) Even those who got notice reportedly didn’t get it until late this week, days before the meeting.
Don’t take my word for it. My friend Jeff Knox, son of the legendary Neal Knox – the former NRA vice president who was removed from the NRA board for advocating reforms – just did a piece on it for ammoland.com. Says Jeff:
“Under the new Bylaws, the Association is just required to meet the minimum announcement requirements of the state in which the Association is incorporated – New York – which offers several options for alerting members to a meeting. The easiest and cheapest of those options is for the Association to publish an announcement at least once per week for three weeks prior to the scheduled meeting, in a newspaper in the local area of the Association’s primary business location” (presumably, New York).
Inaction at the NRA annual meeting
But wait, there’s more: There was nothing to be voted on at the meeting, the board of directors having already been decided upon (everyone on the preferred slate was re-elected, of course, and all of the write-ins failed).
The single resolution – to dump LaPierre & Co. – was reportedly tabled without a vote. Oh, yes: The NRA also reportedly claimed credit for state-level gains like we’ve made in North Carolina, despite the fact that the NRA lobbyist has been seemingly absent for our entire legislative session.
Does the NRA have a future?
What all this means is that LaPierre and his cronies on the board of directors have effectively circled wagons to keep themselves in power (and money) and to reject reforms that could save the NRA, giving carte blanche to leftists like Letitia James to destroy the organization.
Although I have many times spoken out about misdeeds of the NRA such as endorsing anti-gun candidates and green-lighting anti-gun legislation, I have never before said what I am about to say...
The NRA may be beyond saving. By all appearances, LaPierre intends to keep siphoning millions of dollars from hard-working NRA members, and clearly the NRA board of directors intends to continue allowing him to do so.
What makes GRNC different from NRA
By all accounts, the LaPierre & Co. represent little more than a drain on precious resources needed to defend the right to keep and bear arms from the onslaught of the Biden administration.
But Grass Roots North Carolina is very different than the NRA. As an all-volunteer organization, every dime we get goes toward defending your rights, and has since 1994.
That’s why GRNC has been able to pass:
- Concealed carry;
- Concealed handgun reciprocity;
- Castle Doctrine/Stand Your Ground;
- Expansion of concealed carry into restaurants, parks, educational properties, and much more.
It is why GRNC:
- Has killed scores of gun control bills; and
- Is suing yet another North Carolina sheriff over refusal to issue handgun permits as required by law.
And finally, it is why we have gotten both the purchase permit repeal and concealed carry in churches co-located with educational properties through both chambers of the legislature...only to have them vetoed by anti-gun Governor Roy Cooper...whom the NRA once endorsed. (And yes, we are working on overriding those vetoes.)
Are you donating to NRA?
I won’t tell you not to contribute to the NRA. But if you’ve decided to adopt the poker player’s maxim and not throw good money after bad, please continue contributing for gun rights and specifically, please contribute to Grass Roots North Carolina. You can help us defend your rights by going to:
I can’t predict what will happen to gun rights in the future – either with or without the NRA. But what I can say with certainty is that as a lean, mean, all-volunteer gun rights organization, Grass Roots North Carolina uses your money to defend your rights more efficiently and effectively than any other group.
Armatissimi e liberissimi,
F. Paul Valone
President, Grass Roots North Carolina
Executive Director, Rights Watch International
Radio host, Guns, Politics and Freedom
P.S. It is now more important than ever that GRNC defend against the efforts of leftists like not only Joe Biden, but also Attorney General Merrick Garland, to gut your Second Amendment rights. If you can contribute $100, $50 or even $25, it will help us defend your rights.
