NRA Winter Board meeting update (edited)

Strong signs that the NRA has turned the corner

This update compiles (and cleans up) my Facebook posts yesterday on Friends of Save the Second and Members Take Back Our NRA. Please pardon any typos as I’m doing this on the plane. Edits in italics.

NRAINDANGER has an excellent summary.

My overall impression is that things are definitely moving in the right direction and that the upcoming board election will only accelerate the positive movement.

This was a long meeting starting at 9am and adjourning at 12:15am. For those that have never attended a board meeting, any device capable of recording must be locked in a case so they cannot be accessed while in the meeting. That is why the facebook posts are sporadic as I made them while on breaks or when the board ws in executive session.

The board was very transparent, only going into executive session to approve the minutes for the last meeting executive session, a legal affairs update, an executive compensation update, and a discussion regarding recovery of advanced expenses from former EVP LaPierre.

Notable decisions that move in the right direction include:

• The Special Litigation Committee (SLC) is dissolved! This returns us to where we were before with the Legal Affairs committee having the primary advise and consent role for non-routine legal matters. The SLC has 30 days to turn over all relevant material to the General Counsel.

• The Brewer firm has resigned from supporting the NRA. They will still support the transition of legal matters to the General Counsel or a new firm as appropriate.

• The appeal in the NY case is only for first amendment issues

• The Special Committee on Relocation is Dissolved! We’re staying put.

• A board portal is finally in place - NASDAQ Vantage is an excellent system.

• A by-law change that would have hanstrung the EVP wqs defeated after a heated debate, some of which was in executive session.

• Several By-Law amendments and policies were passed to address compliance with NY Nonprofit law:

  • Enhanced federal 990 (tax return) and CHAR500 (NY return) reporting

  • Updates to the Conflict of Interest Policy, including making the threshold any aggregate amount over 1,000 in any 12 months.

  • Director Nomination policy, including mandatory background checks

  • Officer Eligibility Requirements (minimum age, etc.)

  • The threshold for ethics complaints is “malicious disparagement.” This is important because it appears that attempts were made to constrain directors from voicing issues that some would prefer to keep within the board. This keeps valuable reporting from people like Jeff Knox and John Richardson available to the members.

  • Cleaned up the by-laws regarding Junior members transitioning to regular members at age 18 (Thanks, Bitterb!)

  • While Ron Andring’s resolution regarding adding the Conflict of Interest policy to the by-laws was defeated, the Conflict of Interest policy will be provided online and will be referenced in the By-Laws book

• A Resolution calling for the clawback of any advanced expenses from former EVP LaPierre passed. Note that LaPierre fully paid the amounts, including interest, from the jury verdict in the NY case.

• The EVP search committee has been repurposed. Any search is now off the table. The Committee has been renamed the Special Committee of Leadership Criteria and focuses on developing appropriate job descriptions and determining the attributes needed for all officer positions.

• All board committees are now active.

  • The Sport Shooting Committee met for the first time in 5 years

  • The Membership committee met for the first time in 5 years

  • The Ethics committee met for the first time in 3 years

• The budget is reasonable and achievable

  • 2024 revenue was about $178M, and the loss was $32M (legal fees…….)

  • The revenue from 2024 is above 2023’s $176M

  • The Budget for 2025 includes revenue of $180M and a surplus of $2M. This is what happens when legal fees return to normal.

  • The budget includes adding 14 full-time and six part-time staff to start to clear the backlog of services for members.

  • The decline in membership has slowed substiantially

• Hi-Power finally approved Suppressors for competition (this was a long-time issue for me (see my posts from 2020)

• The Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 board meetings will be held in Reston, VA, which will save over $80K.

• The appeals of the 2 Petition Board candidates, Babaz and Brown to get on the ballot were defeated.

For those who asked which Directors were absent:

Allbaugh, Arvs, Babaz, Bach, Blunt, Cain, Carter, Carter, Ector, Heil, Innis, Johnson, Mills, Nugent, Nyce, Porter, Rhode, Ross, Thomes, Van Horn, Walter, Weidner, Wright.

King and Blackwell left by lunch.

The ballots for the Board election are coming out later this month - please consult the ELECT a NEW NRA site for details on the reform candidates