The NRA's Plan to Become More Effective

For a long time, the National Rifle Association was the 800-pound gorilla in the gun rights movement. While they were never alone in the fight for the Second Amendment, they were the big guns.

Recent years have seen the NRA lose a little something. Wayne LaPierre's shady moves, coupled with legal issues, forced the NRA to take a step back and defend itself to such a degree that it almost seemed at times like they weren't doing anything for gun rights.

I know that they were, mind you, but not like they had been.

So, when I saw the president of the NRA decided to talk about making the organization more effective, I thought it was something we should talk about.

Your new NRA leadership team is making great progress in reimagining the National Rifle Association and actively building a foundation and vision to carry us into the next 150 years.

Gun owners—and all American citizens—need a strong NRA. No other organization can do what the NRA does for our members, gun owners, the nation and the free world. Our strength comes from our membership, volunteers, donors, supporters, volunteer Board of Directors, great staff and outstanding leadership teams. Add incredible programs and our decades of successful Second Amendment advocacy, and time and time again, the NRA has held strong by putting freedom first.

NRA has two primary leadership positions: the Executive Vice President/Chief Executive Officer (Doug Hamlin), who oversees the day-to-day operations of the association, and the President, who presides over the Board of Directors and handles related functions.

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This year for the first time, your officers collected additional background information on our Board members and used those details of members’ knowledge, experience and passion to help in assigning committee appointments. We then applied a test to gauge their past integrity and abeyance of the New York non-profit responsibilities of duty of obedience, duty of loyalty and fiduciary responsibility toward committee assignments.

Also, this year the officers recruited 110 general NRA members, based on their specific knowledge and expertise, to serve as non-Board members on various committees, which will increase the committees’ overall effectiveness.

Additionally, for the first time in decades, your new officers are fundamentally changing how the Board operates. We are adopting a comprehensive new leadership paradigm for the Board to become more engaged in formulating the policies for the coming years. A few committees have been structurally consolidated, while others are coordinating joint meetings to create synergy and reduce cost. I’m also holding virtual town-hall Board member meetings to keep the Board engaged and up to date between regularly scheduled meetings. The governance committees are now holding monthly meetings to provide proper fiduciary oversight. Leadership also just held the Board’s first-ever committee chairman retreat in early August at the chairmen’s own expense. Your officers communicate with the NRA EVP weekly and visit NRA headquarters in Fairfax, Va., several times each month.

Now, let's understand that this is mostly inside baseball stuff, but on the same token, they're also promising steps. If the internal organization isn't working correctly, the organization can't be as effective as it should be.

I'm mostly baffled that there was never really an attempt to collect background information on board members so they could be utilized in the best possible ways.

Also, seeking out non-board members with specific areas of expertise is another wise decision, as there are those who aren't interested in running for election to be board members but who would like to help and have relevant skillsets that can be brought to bear on various issues.

While this doesn't look like much to many people, I'm sure, the truth is that I see these as promising developments.

The NRA took it on the chin, and not just from the state of New York. A lot of gun rights supporters lost trust in the NRA because of what all LaPierre did with the organization's money, and what they saw as a failure to defend our right to keep and bear arms sufficiently.

However, what's quoted above, plus the interactions I had with NRA officials at the annual meeting in Atlanta earlier this year, all indicate that the people who remain have no interest in any such thing happening again. They want to protect our gun rights and will work toward that end, not personal enrichment. They want safeguards put in place so that it never happens again.

These are all great signs.

Yet I'll also acknowledge that the proof is in the pudding. We need to see action beyond some internal changes that might look good, but are meaningless if nothing happens outwardly to advance the NRA's mission.

Editor’s Note: Organizations like the NRA and others across the country are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.

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