Opinion
This article is somewhat self-serving. While the reconstruction of the NRA is well underway, a group of NRA board directors decided that now would be a good time for what I suspect will be an annual recruitment challenge among board members.
It’s not a competition, per se, but I guarantee some people are keeping score like T-ball and Pee-Wee Soccer. I don’t expect to “win,” but neither do I want to come in last.
The basics for the challenge are really simple. Doug Hamlin and the Membership Department dug deep and came up with the lowest price for a Life Membership they could muster, then gave Directors a very limited time to recruit as many new Life Members at that price as possible. If you’re happy with the NRA’s recent reorganization and improvements and have been thinking about becoming a Life Member, now is the perfect time.
For the next few days, you can secure a Life Membership for just $600—a 60% discount off the regular $1,500 price!
Anyone interested in taking advantage of this deal can easily do so by going to my website at www.FirearmsCoalition.org, downloading the form, and submitting it to the NRA by March 17th, 2025. Mail to: National Rifle Association of America• Attn: Derek Robinson • 11250 Waples Mill Road • Fairfax, VA 22030 .
It’s been reported to me that this can also be done over the phone by calling the NRA membership line [877-672-2000] and requesting the $600 Life membership deal, naming me, Jeff Knox, (or another current Director) as your sponsor, but I’ve not verified this.
Life Membership in the NRA comes with a wide variety of perks, including your choice of NRA magazines, eligibility for NRA-affiliated clubs, ranges, and competitions, special insurance options, various discounts, and the right to vote in NRA elections, as well as avoiding the hassle of having to renew – and receiving all of those renewal notices (which we’re working on reducing, by the way). And, of course, every new member of the NRA adds to the Association’s political clout and influence with politicians at every level of government, helping to protect all of our firearm rights.
The NRA is under new management, and progress is being made every day. Wayne LaPierre is gone and has repaid over $5 million in “excess compensation” to the Association. Contrary to what many outlets reported, LaPierre was NOT given a multi-million dollar “Golden Parachute.” In fact, he was given no parachute at all, and several Directors are working on clawing back any funds expended by NRA on his personal defense in the New York lawsuit. He also has been forbidden by the court from holding any position within the Association for the next 10 years. At 75 years old, that pretty well guarantees that he’s gone for good.
Along with Mr. LaPierre’s departure, there have been major changes in staffing and organization, policies and procedures, and our use of outside contractors.
In-depth audits have been performed across the entirety of the Association, looking not only at the NRA’s books but also at all of our policies and procedures, particularly those dealing with finances. We’ve installed a new Chief Compliance Officer, whose sole job is to make sure that everything is being done above board and in accordance with all applicable laws, regulations, and our Association Bylaws. This includes ensuring that every whistleblower complaint or question is thoroughly investigated and addressed. We’ve elected new officers, including Doug Hamlin as Executive Vice President and CEO, who has led the charge in removing and replacing many senior managers and vendors and restructuring departments and programs.
And all of this has been done under the watchful eye of Judge Joel Cohen of the New York Supreme Court.
Just a couple of years ago, I was ready to throw in the towel on the NRA. I was convinced that there was no chance of recovery, but I was wrong. In a last-ditch effort, three other staunch member advocates joined me in running for the NRA Board of Directors. We thought that, if we could get elected, it would take at least two or three years of electing additional reformers to the NRA board before we could build a coalition strong enough to turn things around and get the Association moving back in the right direction. To our surprise, when we arrived at our first Board meeting in Dallas last May, we found that over half of the Board was anxious to ally with us. Buz Mills, longtime NRA Director and owner of Gunsite Academy had been actively lobbying and building a reform movement within the board for several years. With the resignation of LaPierre in January, the Jury verdicts against him and others, as well as against the NRA itself in February, and then the overwhelming election of the four of us by the membership, along with the addition of several new Directors over the past few election cycles, the majority of the Board was ready for change.
There’s still much work to do, and I believe the currently ongoing Director elections [covered in detail by Ammolamd News] will dramatically advance and accelerate that work. However, most of the major reforms have already been achieved. A good bit of what we’ll be working on going forward will be filling in details and overseeing the execution of the new commitments—especially our commitments to core programs and member services.
I know that the comment section under this article will be flooded with negative comments suggesting that the NRA is beyond redemption, that other groups are a better investment, and that the NRA has never done anything worthwhile in support of gun owner rights.
Those folks are simply wrong. I’m working on a column covering the real history of the NRA, including it’s good, it’s bad, and its ugly, so I won’t go into a lot of detail now, but here’s the Cliff’s Notes:
- Even after the scandals and serious depletion of our resources in recent years, the NRA still has twice as many members and raised and spent far more on the 2024 elections than all other Second Amendment groups combined. Several times more.
- The NRA is much more than just a Second Amendment organization, and while a few other groups might do a little in the areas of training or competition, no other group comes anywhere close to the broad array of programs and activities that the NRA is involved in.
- While the NRA and some of its leaders have made some major mistakes over the past 150+ years, the Association has been the nation’s most effective and influential defender of the right to arms for all of that century and a half. No other gun rights organization has even existed for a third of the time that the NRA has, and every legislative or judicial success that any of those other groups has ever achieved was based on a foundation laid by the NRA. The most recent and glaring example is the Bruen decision, which has been the basis of almost all of the recent court wins across the country. That was an NRA case that set the stage for all of those victories and for the many more that we expect to see in the near future.
As I said, I’ll have more details on all of this published soon [subscribe to AmmoLand News so you don’t miss it], but the main point is that the NRA has been a significant force in politics and the courts for many decades and is still the most powerful tool in the rights movement’s arsenal.
My objective here, though, is not to convince anyone that they should join the NRA or to argue the pros and cons of the NRA’s history. My objective is simply to inform people of an opportunity so they can decide whether to take advantage of it or not.
Anyone who does want to take advantage of this opportunity can print the form at www.FirearmsCoalition.org, fill it out, and send it in. Thanks to everyone else for taking a look and staying in the fight for your Right to Keep & Bear Arms.
LaPierre Pays Up $, Lawyer Brewer Resigns, Our Causes Advance : NRA Board After Action Report
About Jeff Knox:
Jeff Knox is a dedicated political activist and the director of The Firearms Coalition, following in the footsteps of his father, Neal Knox. In 2024, Jeff was elected to the NRA Board of Directors, underscoring his lifelong commitment to protecting the Second Amendment. The Knox family has played a pivotal role in the ongoing struggle for gun rights, a legacy documented in the book Neal Knox – The Gun Rights War, authored by Jeff’s brother, Chris Knox.
Founded by Neal Knox in 1984, The Firearms Coalition is a network of individual Second Amendment activists, clubs, and civil rights organizations. The Coalition supports grassroots efforts by providing education, analysis of current issues, and a historical perspective on the gun rights movement. For more information, visit www.FirearmsCoalition.org.
