This is the fourth part of a five-part series celebrating 50 years of the Second Amendment Foundation. SAF has been a pivotal force in defending the Second Amendment and has played a much-needed role in the preservation of civil liberties in the United States.

In part one, we explored the formation and early years of SAF. In part two, we took a closer look at Alan Merrill Gottlieb, the founder of the organization and current executive vice president. And, in part three, the current state of affairs at SAF were discussed. In this part, we’re going to take a closer look at Adam Kraut, the organization's executive director.

I met Adam Kraut in person in Dallas at the 2022 Second Amendment Foundation Gun Rights Policy Conference. Truth be told, I saw him at the San Diego County Gun Owners “Gun Prom,” a few months earlier, but we never got to shake hands.

I ducked out of the conference for a few minutes to grab some fresh air, and ran into Kraut, giving us the chance to and have a chat. At that time, Kraut was wearing a name badge that said he was from “Adam Kraut Law Firm,” which was indicative of a period of transition he was in at that time. I didn't know at that time, and it’s possible Kraut didn’t know either, that he was to be named SAF’s Executive Director a month later on October 24th.

On his bio over at Prince Law Offices, where Kraut was employed from 2014 to 2019, it’s mentioned that he’s been an Eagle Scout since 2004. This is an accomplishment that we can assume Kraut takes great pride in, as when I met him in ‘22, his event badge holder was adorned with an Eagle Scout pin.

This Eagle Scout business is not to act as some sort of concrete proof that an individual is a great human being. However, the correlation between individuals and the level of moral fiber they may have based on having obtained this award, is a real thing. This is being brought up because from all observed accounts, Kraut is and has always been a very standup guy in my view.

Kraut has been nothing but a dynamo since hitting the ground running in the Second Amendment arena. His track record speaks to that.

Kraut has stated in the past that he did not grow up in a gun-owning household – actually he notes that his parents were “anti-gun.” However, pulling from this Eagle Scout’s past, he has said that his first introduction to shooting was at a scout camp in Maryland. In an interview, he said that it was the “first time I ever shot a .22, and I had this stupid grin that never left my face.” 

Kraut further explained that a year or two after being introduced to small-bore rifle shooting, he had a chance to try shotgun shooting, also at camp. Leading up to shooting a shotgun for the first time, Kraut was “absolutely mortified,” but after taking his first shot he learned two things, “One, it’s not nearly as terrifying as I thought it would be. And two, you have to ‘aim.’” After that, he started breaking clays and that “stupid grin” never left his face.

Kraut graduated college with a degree in political science. While working at a restaurant, Kraut decided to apply to law school. Both his father and uncle were lawyers, so he figured he’d give it a shot while trying to figure out what he wanted to be when he “grew up.” Kraut ended up attending law school at night. Night school made the three-year program a four-year program.

While he was going into his fourth year, heading into taking the bar, Kraut decided to look into becoming an intern somewhere. Kraut often tells the story of how he always saw an attorney’s name pop up in the Pennsylvania gun forums over and over again, Joshua Prince. Kraut fired off a query email to see if Prince's office would accept him. Candidly, he said in the email that he was not sure if he even ever wanted to practice law.

Kraut recounts that Prince’s father replied to his message and gave him the advice that he should probably keep that detail about not wanting to practice law to himself, and said the internship relationship might now work out with them. After some back and forth, Kraut did end up with an internship at Prince Law Offices.

After passing the bar and graduating law school, Kraut stayed on with Prince and practiced law at the firm for five years.

Kraut admits that he did, and does, not “love” practicing law. It’s something he can do, and something he understands.

When there were murmurs that Kraut was seeking to run for a board of directors position with the National Rifle Association, people got energized. Kraut made three runs for the NRA BOD over the years, all via petition. In each election, Kraut did not garner enough support to take a director’s chair.

However, due to some reorganization at the NRA, with some directors resigning, the bylaws dictated that vacant positions would be offered to runner-up candidates with the most votes from the most recent election.

At the time that Kraut was offered a spot on the NRA board, he was already in talks about securing a job with the Firearms Policy Coalition. Because he was close to securing the new job, he declined the offer to take a BOD seat, respectfully citing the potential for conflicts of interest.

After Kraut’s time with Prince, he did end up working for the Firearms Policy Coalition. Kraut spent three years at the foundation. He was running the programmatic division at FPC as well as wearing several other hats.

When I met Kraut at the 2022 GRPC, he was spending his time doing freelance work because he wanted a change in his life. Noted earlier, that change came swiftly, as he was named the Second Amendment Foundation’s Executive Director on October 24th, 2022, about a month after the conference.

I caught up with Kraut in April to talk about the upcoming 50th anniversary of the foundation as well as to discuss his view on the organization holistically. Much like the way Kraut described Gottlieb to me, “He's just a regular guy like everybody else, in the sense of he's a person, Alan's incredibly bright,” is the same way Kraut presents himself. A regular guy you can talk to who’s incredibly bright.

Kraut is very pragmatic in his view on things. This ability to accept that there are differing opinions on what’s important or should be taking center stage, positions him such that he’s able to reach across the table.

“I think it depends on who's sitting on the other side of the table asking the question, what I view as impactful may not affect them at all,” Kraut told me. “And likewise, what they may view as very important, maybe something that I say, ‘yeah, it's important, but it's not the most important thing.’” Kraut’s current “general” view is that cases dealing with carry in some form or fashion rank high on what’s important. In particular, challenging these unconstitutional provisions in holdout states like New York, New Jersey, California, and Maryland ranks highly on his to-do list.

As far as steering the ship, I asked Kraut about any other message he had for those reading or turning in.

It's my goal to steward the organization in the best manner that I think is possible, be fiscally responsible with donors’ dollars, hire staff that are dedicated individuals who want to be part of a team and share a vision and work hard to get there.

I think through all of that, with some mentorship from people who have been around, because I don't have all the answers. I know that. But I do have some ideas.

So I think [..] we'll be able to continue just build[ing] on the foundation that Alan built, and bring SAF to yet another level that is only possible through adding more brains to the mix, [] seeing what the future holds, and trying some [new] stuff.

There’s no doubt that Kraut has his intentions in the right place. The Second Amendment Foundation with Executive Director Kraut taking a role in leading the organization today and into tomorrow, is a net positive. The team of legacy staff members working with some of the new blood, is taking an already great organization and notching it up to new levels.

The Second Amendment Foundation is celebrating their 50th anniversary all year. But, they’re really showcasing and coming together at their annual Gun Rights Policy Conference. This year’s GRPC is being held in San Diego, Calif. September 27th through the 29th. For more information about the upcoming GRPC, head over to saf.org/grpc/, I hope to see you there!

Be sure to check out next week’s article, the final installment of this series, “Part 5: Second Amendment Foundation 50 Years - The Future,” which is slated for publication on August 26th, 2024.

If you’d like to catch the video that was posted last week covering the current state of affairs of the Second Amendment Foundation, you can do so HERE, or in the embed below.