I was the only reporter in the room on Monday as reformers effectively took over the levers of power at the National Rifle Association. In a culmination of years of fighting, the dissidents that appeared all but defeated managed to take three of the top four NRA leadership positions.
This was their last opportunity to affect change inside the group before a judge decides whether to affect change from the outside. And they seized it. But, as I explain in a piece for members, that isn’t the end of the story. Do these elections really mean the group is reforming? Can they even do that in time to avoid disaster?
Because, in addition to (and in part because of) their legal woes, the NRA’s financial struggle has gotten much worse. Check out the exclusive details I obtained while on the ground at the group’s annual meeting in Dallas, Texas. I was far from the only one there, though. 72,500 attended and so did former President Donald Trump. I outline his message to the crowd in another piece.
Contributing Writer Jake Fogleman has us covered on non-NRA stories this week. A federal judge partially blocked the Biden Administration’s new gun dealer rule. Jake compares the 10-year sentence gun hobbyist Dexter Taylor got for illegally building his own guns to people in the same jurisdiction who committed seemingly more serious offenses.
Plus, one of the most successful Second Amendment litigators joins the podcast to explain how his latest case got Hawaii to unexpectedly legalize carrying swords.
Reformers Prevail at NRA Meeting, Elect New Leadership
By Stephen Gutowski
Dallas, Texas — The National Rifle Association has decided on a new direction.
On Monday, the NRA board voted to install reform candidates across three of its top four leadership positions. That includes the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice President position filled by Wayne LaPierre until his resignation during the group’s corruption trial. Doug Hamlin, who ran the NRA’s publications and ran on a reform platform, defeated Ronnie Barrett in a 35-to-31 vote.
“We want to welcome all of our members to the new NRA,” Hamlin told The Reload. “We want to welcome those that we’ve lost in the past five years to come back to us. And we want them to bring friends and family with them.”
Analysis: Is the NRA on Track to Reform Now? [Member Exclusive]
By Stephen Gutowski
The reformers are ascendant at the National Rifle Association, but have they made enough progress to fix things before the wheels fall off?
The first substantial sign that reforms had gained real sway with the NRA membership came at the beginning of the month when a slate of them won board seats, with several landing among the most-voted-for candidates. In the five years since longtime NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre was accused of diverting millions of the charity’s dollars toward lavish personal expenses, the board election was the first direct, concrete sign members were fed up with the ordeal and wanted the significant change the reformers promised.
Most of the rest of the board seems to have gotten the message, too. While only five of the 76 board members ran on a reform platform, they took three of the four top positions in the leadership elections. The candidates put up and endorsed by the reformers won the First and Second Vice President positions. Most importantly, they picked Doug Hamlin as the permanent replacement for Wayne LaPierre as Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice President.
The group also secured a majority on the nominating committee, which decides who gets on the board election ballots and who gets put up in future leadership positions. They also got a number of members on the executive committee, which effectively operates the NRA between full board meetings.
That’s a remarkable turnaround from just a year ago, when nearly all of the vocal reformers had been wiped off the board, and LaPierre remained in charge.
However, the NRA’s problems have also deepened in that time…
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NRA Sold Off $44 Million in Assets After Revenue Plunged Again in 2023
By Stephen Gutowski
The National Rifle Association’s financial struggles have deepened.
The nation’s largest gun-rights group saw its revenues decline and was forced to sell off a substantial amount of its assets early this year, according to a copy of the NRA’s 2023 annual report obtained by The Reload. The report shows membership dues were down $21.4 million compared to 2022, settling at $61.8 million. Contributions were also down $15.8 million, ending at $93.7 million.
The group experienced an overall year-over-year revenue drop of $60.5 million. Despite cutting $34.3 million in expenses, the NRA ended 2023 spending $26.8 million more than it brought in. That deficit is likely what drove the group to liquidate $44.6 million of assets to pay off a line of credit and fund its operating account, according to a disclosure in the report.
Federal Judge Partially Blocks ATF Gun Dealer Rule
By Jake Fogleman
Just a day before it was set to take effect, a federal judge called the legality of President Joe Biden’s new rule aimed at forcing private gun sellers to obtain federal licenses into question.
US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) on Sunday, preventing the ATF from enforcing the new rule in Texas and against the members of multiple gun rights groups. He determined that the rule likely violated the Administrative Procedures Act because it contradicted the federal statute it was based on and reversed the agency’s previous interpretation.
“Plaintiffs understandably fear that these presumptions will trigger civil or criminal penalties for conduct deemed lawful just yesterday,” Kacsmaryk wrote in Texas v. ATF. “And as this Court’s analysis makes clear, Defendants’ Final Rule is almost certainly violative of — at the least — the [Administrative Procedure Act]. As such, ‘both the balance of equities and the public interest weigh in favor of allowing orderly judicial review of the Rule before anyone shuts down their businesses or sends them to jail.’”
Trump Announces Mobilization Effort at NRA Conference Because ‘Gun Owners Don’t Vote’
By Stephen Gutowski
Dallas, Texas — “The gun owners don’t vote. It’s so crazy. I would think that they would vote more than any other group of people and it’s just the opposite. They don’t vote.”
That was former president Donald Trump’s message to the National Rifle Association on Saturday at the Kay Baley Hutchinson Convention Center. As he accepted the gun-rights group’s formal endorsement, he told the crowd about a new get-out-the-vote effort. He said Gun Owners for Trump would be a new part of his campaign dedicated specifically to activating gun voters.
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Podcast: The Second Amendment Implications of Hawaii Legalizing Butterfly Knives (Ft. Alan Beck)
By Stephen Gutowski
This week, we have one of the most successful Second Amendment litigators on the show to talk about the surprising outcome of his latest case.
Hawaii legalized the possession and open carry of most bladed weapons a few days ago. That came as a bit of a shock to Second Amendment activists in the state, including our guest Alan Beck. While he had already won a ruling against the state’s butterfly knife ban and he expected lawmakers might try to undercut that case, nobody really expected a blanket reversal on how Hawaii treats bladed weapons.
You can listen to the show on your favorite podcasting app or by clicking here. Video of the episode is available on our YouTube channel.
On the news update, Contributing Writer Jake Fogleman and I discuss my upcoming trip to Dallas to cover the 2024 NRA Annual Meeting and what signs to look for to determine if the group will make substantive reforms or stay its current course. Plus, we discuss the latest in the Dexter Taylor case after a Brooklyn judge sentenced the engineer to 10 years in prison for his hobby of self-manufacturing firearms. We also cover a new ruling out of the 9th Circuit upholding California’s sharing of gun owners’ personal data with university researchers. And we have a bonus member segment, too! Audio is here. Video is here.
Analysis: New York City Throws the Book at Gun Hobbyist [Member Exclusive]
By Jake Fogleman
The punishment for one hobbyist gun builder has been harsher than that of many violent criminals in New York City.
Dexter Taylor, the 53-year-old Brooklyn resident and software engineer who built his own firearms, received a 10-year prison sentence from Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Abena Darkeh on Monday. Taylor was convicted of two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, three counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, five counts of criminal possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of pistol ammunition, and “prohibition on unfinished frames or receivers.”
Those convictions—the majority of which New York law deems violent felonies despite the absence of actual violence—stemmed from Taylor’s infatuation with amateur gunsmithing.
If you’re a Reload Member, click here to read more. If not, buy a membership today for exclusive access to this piece and hundreds of others!
Outside The Reload
Uvalde families reach settlement with city ahead of 2-year mark | ABC News | By Emily Shapiro
Appeals Court overturns UNC gun possession conviction | The Carolina Journal | By CJ Staff
That’s it for this week in guns.
I’ll see you all next week.
Thanks,
Stephen Gutowski
Founder
The Reload
