On Monday, four members of National Rifle Association Board of Directors members sent a letter to President Carolyn Meadows, Secretary John Frazier and their fellow Board Members, calling for independent investigations of the “continued leaks, accusations, and counter accusations” that have lead to a “haze of conjecture surrounding our Association.”
In the letter (which we will include in its entirety below), Board Members Sean Maloney, Timothy Knight, Col. Bob Brown and Esther Schneider call for “outside professionals” to investigation allegations of financial misconduct, an outside, independent review of the “millions of dollars in payments to Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors for legal fees”
It also cites the Association’s bylaws and calls for an Outside Independent Committee’s formation “tasked with investigating and addressing the problems” - that Outside Independent Committee would be required to report its findings and recommendations to the entire Board of Directors.
You can see the entire letter for yourself by clicking here.
This latest development will likely not sit well with some readers who have made it apparent that whatever the evidence, they refuse to believe there’s anything wrong at the 5-million member organization. Calling for an independent investigation - knowing it will likely have serious ramifications, if not their outright dismissal from the board- is an extreme step.
It’s a story that isn’t going away anytime soon.
After our Monday report on the NRA’s dissident contributor movement having graded the performance of the Board of Directors from A to F, I received this note from a gun company owner who said:
“I say with respect, shame on you and anyone re-posting rumors, innuendo, as well as anything about the NRA using sources like CNN, Atlantic, Mother Jones and all the others who hate us, hate you and hate the NRA. The truth will come out, and then, we can judge. Your encouragement of a circular firing squad hurts us as an industry, it hurts gun owners. Publishing rumors, accusations and, in this case, this flat-out crap, is wrong.
Stop it. Report news, not gossip, which is all this is.”
OK…this one deserves an answer.
First, we reported on what the dissident contributors had done. No “rumors, accusations or flat-out crap” - and nothing from another organization. It was verified by the authors who wrote- and sent- the document to the Board of Directors. That’s called reporting.
Refusing to accept the fact there is a problem at the National Rifle Association is like closing your eyes and believing the charging bear can’t see you.
That response contrasts - mightily- with the response of another industry figure:
“Just wanted you to know how much I appreciate you covering what is going on internally with NRA. I have been a life time member for more than 30 years and it sickens me to have seen what has been going on for a LONG time “
Or this note from a lifelong NRA member:
“I want to thank you for keeping us NRA members updated on the scourge taking place within an organization we used to hold so dear. I don’t know where else we could get such critical informational….When I think of all the urgent pleas for money and now learn of the wasteful spending, like meetings in faraway places with fishing excursions, I become nauseated. Some sent money when personal finances dictated otherwise. And those folks smile all the way to party time. I wonder if they can honestly feel our disgust.”
I appreciate both sides of the discussion caring enough to write and express their positions. Having been in the news business a very long time, I understand that some stories bring emotional responses. Those stories, unfortunately, impact us most.
We were also questioned about not publishing or linking to the grade sheet and cover letter sent to the Board of Directors.
Ordinarily, we would have. Here’s why we didn’t:
- the grade sheet included email addresses for many of the board members. As a matter of course, we do not publish anyone’s contact information unless we’re granted their permission beforehand.
- if/when we republish or link to a document, we do not modify it in any way. Removing the email column could have enabled us to include the scorecard. But it would have required us to modify the document. We don’t do that.
Hopefully, that clarifies the difference between rumor-mongering and reporting. There is a difference.
And like many of you, I have been reading reports across a very diverse group of media outlets. They include a significant number of outlets whose motivations, if not their veracity, I would question.
Unfortunately, there’s very little distinction between their reporting and the facts we have independently verified.
Like many of you, I question the motivations of some outlets -and believe they may, in fact, have an agenda But simply disliking the source doesn’t immediately discredit the accuracy of the reports.
You deserve nothing except the whole truth. We want nothing less.
We’ll keep you posted.
—Jim Shepherd