One thought on “A Voice in the Wilderness”

  1. Let me differ with you. From February, 1998:

    Brown’s Picks for NRA Board Elections
    Robert K. Brown

    An unprecedented lawsuit against the NRA by nine people – current directors and candidates for election to the board – which has severely limited the information NRA voting members can receive about the candidate for whom they will be voting. They chose to launch a lawsuit rather than bring their concerns to a meeting of the Board of Directors so there could be honest dialogue on the issues and the disagreement could remain “in the family” rather than before the courts.

    A lawsuit, so I am told by the other “faction,” filed to prevent the NRA Board from violating its own By Laws. These By laws expressly PROHIBIT them from disclosing this information, so as not to bias the election. Apparently, a NY state judge agrees.
    Colonel Brown fails to mention this. This is troubling.
    If he really expects the aggrieved candidates to “bring their concerns to a meeting” AFTER all the paper ballots have already been marked and mailed, he’s a bigger fool than most, and I say this with all due respect.

    During the last election cycle Neal and his supporters attacked Wayne LaPierre, Tanya K. Metaksa and Marion P. Hammer and now, for this election, they are attacking the same three, plus, they have added Charlton Heston and NRA’s Secretary, Major Jim Land USMC (Ret.) to their purge/attack list.

    And the unprecedented “vote against” ads in the national magazine — who placed those? Were these not “personal attacks?” Why not?

    The desire to squelch open dialog and reduce the information available to voting NRA members fits part-an-parcel with past activities of Neal’s followers. Past principals of his group have included loyalty oaths, secret meetings and vicious personal attacks on individuals who do not march in lockstep with their agenda. In sun, Knox and his followers have shamelessly resorted to tactics better suited to tinpot dictators ruling banana republics.

    I am reminded of the tanks at Waco, crushing the house while the loudspeakers blared, “This is not an assault.” Perhaps Colonel Brown should have prefaced this paragraph about vicious personal attacks by his opposition with, “This is not a vicious personal attack.”

    Of equal importance is electing the best directors possible. This election cycle there are a total of 65 candidates from which you can vote for no more than 26. The NRA’s Nominating Committee selected 31 candidates for nomination, but, because of the lawsuit by Neal’s allies – including his son Jeff – you are denied knowing which candidates were selected by the Committee and which are running by petition.

    And because of the NRA’s By Laws, Colonel — don’t forget them.
    You know, I have my reservations about the By Laws amendment. I know what abuses the drafters were trying to prevent, but I do believe it was worded so loosely as to prohibit simple personal endorsements of one or more candidates by an officer or vendor. I can’t support this. Claims aside, I am willing to believe that it was unintentional.
    On the other hand, I have great reservations about a clique of officers and directors who feel so threatened than they have to engage, for two years in a row, in ads that don’t say simply “vote for,” but actually say “vote against” specific people. That is pretty clearly not unintentional.
    I feel particularly threatened when these same people show us that they really believe that the end (their victory) justifies the means (defying their own By Laws) — and then piss and moan when a judge catches them at it. This is also pretty clearly not unintentional.
    And yes, I do resent it when NRA continues to grant endorsements to politicians that both they AND we know don’t really give a damn about the Second Amendment. This happens too often to be unintentional.
    The Association may not need this By Laws amendment, but they sure do need some new blood on the Board — people who are serious about preserving ALL of the right to keep and bear arms.

    (Hope I didn’t blow the formatting, there’s no way to preview it.)

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