In what can be described as a lover’s quarrel and misappropriation of emotions due to sour grapes from a set of aggrieved former directors, the NRA and their sister 501(c)(3) organization the NRA Foundation are embattled in a nasty lawsuit. The NRA proper alleges that the NRA Foundation has been withholding grant money to crucial flagship programs amongst other things. The Foundation has been tight-lipped concerning the filing, offering only some weak statements to the media — without answering any of the many follow-up questions. Now the NRA says they want to set the record straight with what’s going on with the Foundation and has decided to spill the beans.
“The National Rifle Association condemns the decision by the NRA Foundation to slash funding for the NRA’s critical public-interest programs that train and educate Americans on how to safely exercise their Second Amendment rights,” The NRA stated in a release obtained by Bearing Arms. “The Foundation announced the cuts after the NRA filed suit against the Foundation, accusing it of seeking to separate itself from the NRA and misappropriate funds raised to support the NRA’s charitable activities.”
The funding slashes that the NRA alleges the Foundation has made are as follows:
- NRA Competitive Shooting 53% DECREASE in funding
- Law Enforcement Training & Competition: 55% DECREASE in funding
- Education & Training Programs 34% DECREASE in funding
- Youth Programs: 30% DECREASE in funding
- Hunting Programs 36% DECREASE in funding
- Range Services: 59% DECREASE in funding
- NRA Museum 16% DECREASE in funding
“The Foundation’s decision to slash funding for crucial public-interest programs serving children, hunters, sportsmen, and law enforcement officers is indefensible,” said Doug Hamlin, CEO and Executive Vice President of the NRA. “The Foundation’s attempt to inflict financial injury on the NRA is a dereliction of the Foundation’s purpose and will only hurt the many thousands of Americans who participate in the NRA programs.”
The NRA claims that the Foundation is holding and sitting on a substantial sum of money raised by NRA members for these programs. They state that “the Foundation currently holds over $160 million in funds raised by the NRA using NRA intellectual property and at NRA events.”
NRA members and donors have gone to social media to express their displeasure. One commenter said that “anyone tied to the Foundation at this point is pretty clearly grasping on to whatever they can of the power they used to have under LaPierre before the Reform Movement finally got ahold of the NRA Board.”
Another person was more critical in their commentary saying that the “mafia that [Tom] King has formed at the foundation seems to be remarkably talented at deception.”
The author of the post continued by stating that “nothing they do can surprise me” and that the Foundation leadership “seem[s] to have lost all sense of responsibility to the cause and are now in it for whatever personal retribution they can extract from the havoc they create.”
“I an [sic] disappointed by Ronnie Barrett’s participation in this, I thought he had more character than that,” the commenter wrote. “I hope the new board members at the NRA can find a way to ban these miscreants from future participation in OUR organization. No one that so blatantly works against the mission of the organization and the will of the membership should be allowed a role in it.”
Foundation leadership did not respond to requests for comment on the NRA’s latest allegations; nor did they respond to a request that they address these social media posts.
Those following the happenings at the National Rifle Association over the last few years know that there’s been issues. As part of rectifying wrongdoings of past leadership, an entire cadre of reform-minded directors and director candidates have surfaced to steer the Association in a new direction. Part of those reformative efforts pushed out an “old guard” faction of directors, with them losing significant power over the organization.
It’s said that many of the old guard directors who have apparent sour grapes over not having majority — any — control over the Association have migrated to the NRA Foundation. Confirmation of who serves on the full Foundation Board of Trustees has not been established as the organization has refused to respond to several requests for information and comment. However, we know that Peter Churchbourne is serving as the organization’s executive director and Tom King is the Foundation’s president.
The NRA alleges in the suit that “the Foundation has been seized by a disgruntled faction of former NRA directors who lost control of the NRA’s Board following revelations of financial improprieties, mismanagement, and breaches of fiduciary duty and member trust.” The filing further notes that those directors were “booted out of power by the NRA’s members, [and] they now seek to reclaim it through the Foundation.”
Previously reported, a website that has an origin that cannot be confirmed surfaced. FoundationFacts.org has many claims and statements about the ongoing litigation between the organizations, however there’s no proof of pedigree. The author of the page makes claims refuting the allegations the NRA made in the filing and statements. Foundation leaders — and others associated with the Foundation — have been contacted, asking them to verify the authenticity of the website and those queries have gone unanswered.
This is a developing story and updates will be provided as they arise.
Author’s Note: NRA Foundation trustees, officers, and/or employees are invited to reach out to me for an on–or-off-the-record interview. My door is open; you know how to get hold of me.
For prior and associated coverage on this topic see:
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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