The National Rifle Association has been around since the postbellum era of the Civil War. The original mission of the NRA, according to a magazine editorial written by Col. William C. Church, was to "promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis." In the decades since, the group has grown in many ways. Over the last five plus years, the NRA has suffered through several challenges. Part of the healing of the organization included the 2024 election and hiring of a new CEO and executive vice president. Executive Vice President/CEO Doug Hamlin was kind enough to chat with us on February 2, 2025 at the Great American Outdoor Show.

The soft-spoken publishing veteran in his mid-60’s does not come off like a gruff jarhead. The proud Marine Corps veteran is thoughtful in his words, as many contemplative Marines are. Hamlin is surely finding his footing as the forward-facing image of the NRA after spending his career in the more behind-the-scenes world of the written word.

“I just want to remind the members, and I also want to remind the law-abiding, gun-owning public that we've been through a rough five-year period,” Hamlin stated during the conversion. “I will admit that it's not been fun for those of us that have been on the staff and had to go through it.”

The NRA is now in a post-N.Y.-lawsuit world, or nearly post-lawsuit world. Most of the work that needed to be done through the conclusion of the trial has been done, with some loose ends just needing to be shored up.

One of the big things that the NRA has gotten out from under is they no longer have a relationship with the Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors firm. Hamlin counts this severance as a win for the Association and members. The funds that were formerly going to the firm can now be redirected back into the organization and its programs. Hamlin indicated that the Association also intends on hiring 20 new employees after having to let so many people go in recent times.

The Sunday afternoon meeting with Hamlin was pleasant. Interestingly enough, the 2025 Great American Outdoor Show was Hamlin’s first. “We've always covered it from the NRA publications, my previous assignment, but this is the first time I've been here,” Hamlin said. “I should have been here many years ago. This thing is unbelievable. It's fantastic.”

The most pressing issue we got to right off the bat. Hamlin was asked if he managed to get one of the world famous farm-show milkshakes in the “gun room.” “The milkshakes [are] on the list of things to do today,” Hamlin noted. “I definitely have been in the gun room. Yes, [I] made the rounds.”

It was estimated that there were approximately 900 vendors at the show, to which Hamlin said the numbers were coming up to 1,000 and that “It's really been a spectacular turnout.”

A number of months ago, the NRA started showing up again as a co-plaintiff in lawsuits, where over the last four years there’s been minimal involvement. Yes, the Association was responsible for and supportive of the landmark NYSRPA v. Bruen case, but during the tumultuous years surrounding the N.Y. lawsuit and leading up to the eventual ousting of former CEO Wayne LaPierre, there was not a lot of action.

“We're always tuned into what's happening out there and listening to our members, and so we're going to be out there advocating on behalf of law-abiding citizens,” Hamlin said when asked about future and more litigation efforts. “When opportunities arise to defend the rights of the law-abiding, we will intercede. We will bring suit.”

As the longest-standing Second Amendment organization in the world, the NRA has come under considerable fire. Accusations range in topic and scope. There were a couple that were put on the agenda, and Hamlin was asked to address them. Partisanship was one issue, and so-called "gun control" measures the Association has supported in the past, the other.

With or without merit, critics have accused the NRA of being partisan and acting as an extension of the Republican Party. Hamlin commented when confronted with that idea:

I've been interviewed a number of times. People asking me about taking a look back at the election that took place on November 5th, and [saying] "Wow, how did the Democrats go so far astray? What led to the landslide…the Republican landslide?"

And so my answer has been that the Democrats better look at the 2A issue a little bit more seriously, because Democrats are buying guns too.

Back in, let's go back to ‘94 when you had the “assault weapons ban,” you had 60 Democrats that voted against that bill. So today, it's zero. When you have a Second Amendment case that's brought to the floor and there's a vote, it's straight down party lines. 

There [are] zero Democrats that are voting pro-2A these days. And I believe that that should change.

When asked directly about “the other ancillary issues” and that “we're just looking at 2A that's all we're worried about, right?” Hamlin said, “That's our issue.”

As far as the Trump candidacy and now administration goes, Hamlin noted that “it was really easy for us to support President Trump.” He further explained, “On a personal level, for me, a lot of reasons. But in the job that I do, in the organization that I represent and the members that we're advocating for, it was a clear choice. That kind of goes unsaid.”

There were recent reports that even though there’s been this support from the NRA, that the Trump campaign was losing faith in the Association. On January 19, 2025, Donald Trump, then President-elect Trump, was in Dallas and doing a celebration, and he gave a speech. In that speech, Trump stated, “I have to tell ya, we had great support from every gun group, including the NRA...Really worked hard."

Hamlin was asked about the Trump-NRA relationship and he said the following:

I was at the Starlight Inauguration Ball on Monday night the 20th of January, the next day. I had been at the victory rally where he called out the NRA by name, and I had three current cabinet ranking officials that have since been confirmed, that I shook hands with on Monday evening, and three of them said to me, "You guys got a shout out from the President yesterday."

People in Washington are well aware of the influence and the level of relationship, the deep relationship that NRA has had with President Trump going back to 2016.

Beyond the shoutout from President Trump, Hamlin was asked if the NRA was in any active discussions with the current administration. “We're going to have ongoing communication at the highest levels of the Trump administration for everything 2A-related, you can count on that,” Hamlin stated. “I'll give you our word on that.”

With the Association being hyper-scrutinized these last few years, there’s no denying that there has been a lot of good that the group has done. Hamlin took some time to discuss some of the things that perhaps have gotten lost with the dumping of the wash water:

[Let’s] talk about NRA as an organization compared to some of the other three letter groups. When, when I look back to the last 30 years, I mean today, if you get to go to a gun show. Thank the NRA. If you've purchased a modern sporting rifle since 2004 because of the sunset provisions written by the NRA in the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban. Thank the NRA. We're the ones that made that possible.

There's so many things that NRA has made possible, and people want to forget all of that. 

Beyond that, if you look at a lot of these other groups, and I have great respect for all of them, as a matter of fact, we train most of the people that work there, but we do everything. And what does that mean? 

We have a law enforcement death benefit. So if you're a law enforcement officer, for $10.00 you can become an NRA member, and if the unthinkable happens, you'll receive $35,000 within seven days of the unthinkable happening. All right, that's just one minor example of the kind of things that we do that no one else does. 

You talk about education and training. We've got over 100,000 NRA certified instructors that are out there, and we've been doing it for years. There are a lot of entrepreneurs that are out there that are training first time gun buyers. That's wonderful. We need all the training out there that we can get, but NRA, we're the gold standard. We're the ones that have written the programs that that people emulate.

One of the common things that is often repeated is that the NRA has supported so-called “gun control” over the years. Two particular examples that were brought up were provisions in the 1968 Gun Control Act and the recent alleged support of the bump stock ban.

“My personal belief is that I'm not advocating for any control of any law-abiding citizen and their right to own and possess either firearms or accessories,” Hamlin asserted.

There were questions about the membership numbers during the N.Y. litigation. There seemed to be no concreate number. Hamlin was asked about the current number of members. He said that membership is just under 4 million. “We have lost members,” Hamlin admitted. “There's no question about it.”

Since his election last year, at the end of May, Hamlin noted, he was subpoenaed by the New York attorney general “within days” and then “was testifying under oath, and spent 10 days in the month of July in the courtroom.”

New York Attorney General James had her sights set on the NRA, it was part of her platform. When Hamlin said that “the weaponization of government and lawfare is real,” he’s correct, to an extent. While he admitted he was shocked by being so quickly thrust into the mix he had a salient realization that at least communicates good leadership qualities.

“I realized I now am the CEO of the National Rifle Association,” Hamlin reflected. “This is not your average CEO position in this country, and so I become targeted, and the organization was targeted unfairly.”

Hamlin openly admitted that there were executives that made poor decisions, noting that they’re no longer with the organization. “It's my pledge to our members that we are going to be extremely judicious with any expenditures that come from their membership dues,” Hamlin promised. “We have a chief compliance officer in place now. Malfeasance will not be tolerated. We have a whistleblower policy that's available. You can do it anonymously, you can do it by name.”

Through the New York case, no one can deny that plenty was uncovered. Part of Hamlin’s promotion to EVP has to do with the repercussions from the case. Hamlin was directly asked if there was anything good that came from the outcome of the New York litigation.

Hamlin said:

Well, that's a good question. I would say that, yeah. We realize that we have a much higher calling at NRA, and that because of the special trust that's placed in us by our members, we have some seriously high standards to uphold and maintain. And it was somewhat of a wake up call that everybody within the organization, from top to bottom, we need to live it every day,

Hamlin was asked about the top priority for the Association right now.

“The highest priority, John, is for us to rebuild the trust of the members, the industry, our donors, and mostly though, our employees, our staff,” Hamlin said. “Rebuild that trust, and then the priority for me is to rebuild the membership.” Hamlin explained that the Association's clout on Capital Hill comes from the membership.

He continued:

We are really good at getting people to the polls. And if you look at the seven battleground states that we just witnessed on November 5, each one of those states was won by a margin of 1% to 3%.

So while the post script is that it was a landslide victory 1% to 3% in those states…very, very close margin of victory. We take nothing for granted, and we also know that we're looking forward to 2026, in those midterm elections, and we're starting to make decisions today that will position us to be victorious again in ‘26. There's no rest. 

This is no time to gloat. This is time to stay focused and stay serious on the mission.

Before ending with Hamlin, he was asked if there was anything else that he’d like to share with members or the public at large. 

Hamlin discussed the challenges the Association has faced and that even in spite of those challenges, he said “we have won two Supreme Court cases in the last two years. Bruen, being a huge case because it just validates the fact that we have a right to carry firearms outside the home. Concealed carry is a big part of that. And then also a landmark decision called Vullo. NRA v. Vullo, there's a First Amendment case, and it's going to have widespread implications across the United States.”

“We are not just a 2A fundamental education and training group. We do all that. We do it better than anybody else,” Hamlin closed with. “But we're involved in so many other things as we fight for freedom and the rights of law-abiding citizens in this country.”

We’re appreciative of the time that Executive Vice President Doug Hamlin gave us at the 2025 NRA Great American Outdoor Show. We’re hoping to follow up with him throughout the year and beyond. If you’re interested in information about the NRA, Hamlin said “go to nra.org. We need you to join. When you go to nra.org the upper right hand corner has a join button, a renew button, and a donate button.”

If you’d like to listen to the full interview with Doug Hamlin, you can do so HERE or in the embed below. Portions of quotations were edited for clarity within this reporting.