Years earlier than New York Lawyer Normal Letitia James ever set her sights on the NRA & Wayne LaPierre, there was one voice on the within sounding the alarm about corruption and monetary mismanagement.
Lately leaked emails [embedded below] present that Retired Lt. Col. Robert Okay. Brown, founding father of Soldier of Fortune journal and a long-time member of the NRA Board of Administrators at the moment, raised critical considerations in regards to the group’s spending and governance from as early as 2011 by way of 2016. Brown’s warnings—usually blunt and uncompromising—have been largely ignored by NRA management.
These failures would later give AG James the very ammunition she used to launch her authorized assault, forcing Wayne LaPierre to resign in shame.
“The Brown Line Has Been Crossed”
In a fiery January 2011 e-mail to NRA Publications Committee Chair Joe Allbaugh, Brown didn’t maintain again:
“You completely refuse or fail, both attributable to incompetence or sucking as much as Wayne and administration, to handle the essential situation… Why are we paying a lot for therefore little?”
Brown pointed to years of huge funds—estimated between $5 million and $10 million—to the NRA’s longtime PR agency, Ackerman McQueen (“Ack Mac”), for offering solely 10 to fifteen pages of editorial copy per journal situation.
“That is gross corruption and incompetence. When our members discover out, they are going to be outraged.”
Pissed off by what he noticed as stonewalling, Brown threatened to escalate:
“I’ve not wished to air NRA’s soiled laundry in public… however out of frustration, I’m lastly ready to take action. If it isn’t resolved satisfactorily, I’ll maintain a press convention on the Nationwide Press Membership. The Brown line has been crossed.”
It was round this time that Brown started quietly reaching out to AmmoLand Information, sharing what particulars he might whereas sure by his fiduciary obligations as a sitting NRA Board member. With assist from Jeff Knox, AmmoLand Information turned the primary outlet to cautiously report on the brewing scandal—lengthy earlier than it turned nationwide information. For daring to shine a light-weight on corruption inside the NRA, AmmoLand was branded a turncoat and traitor to the Second Modification trigger. The backlash was fierce: advertisers pulled their help, readers walked away, and the publication’s repute took successful amongst these not but prepared to listen to the reality.
However AmmoLand Information remained dedicated to exposing wrongdoing in protection of its core mission.
A Sample of Wasteful Spending
Brown’s considerations didn’t cease in 2011. In a March 2016 alternate with NRA Board member Pete Brownell, Brown criticized the staggering prices of NRA publications:
$138,000 per thirty days billed for First Freedom journal regardless of just one article coming from Ack Mac.
$34 per copy of the Ring of Freedom journal, which Brown, the writer of Soldier of Fortune journal, argued might have been produced in-house by NRA’s personal publications division.
“This unbelievable quantity is justified by Wayne and David Keene to ‘check new ideas.’ I wish to get particular on this situation. Exactly what ‘new ideas’ have been examined?”
Ignored Warnings, Missed Alternative
Different board members admitted in non-public emails that they have been reluctant to problem Ack Mac’s grip on NRA operations. One, now former Board member, Tom King, wrote:
“That appears exorbitant however what may be executed? The Board will again the established order as a result of nobody is aware of something about publications.”
This inertia would have penalties. As an alternative of correcting course, NRA management allowed these monetary preparations to fester—leaving the group weak when Letitia James filed her lawsuit in 2020.
The Street to Collapse
Quick-forward to 2024: James’s lawsuit uncovered most of the identical points Brown had flagged years earlier. The trial revealed LaPierre’s lavish spending on non-public jets, yachts, and luxurious journey—all funded by NRA donors. In the long run, LaPierre was pressured to resign, ordered to pay $4.35 million in restitution, and banned from holding any fiduciary function on the NRA for 10 years.
Had Brown’s early warnings been heeded, the NRA might need averted this public humiliation and authorized battle completely.
Why Ought to We Nonetheless Care About All This?
For readers, that is greater than only a story about one group’s missteps. It’s a reminder that transparency and accountability are important in any group that claims to battle for our freedoms.
LtCol Brown tried to scrub home from inside. As an alternative of supporting him, NRA insiders circled the wagons and doubled down on questionable practices and sidelined the one BOD that had the balls to talk up. That call didn’t simply damage the NRA—it value our motion billions of {dollars} and weakened the battle for the Second Modification nationwide.
If the NRA is to proceed rebuild belief with its members, it should be taught from this historical past: reward whistleblowers, confront corruption, and do not forget that its loyalty lies with gun house owners, not self-serving cronies and insiders.
NRA Inside Emails on Ack Mac Funds
Leaked NRA Inside Emails on Ack Mac Funds – Redacted
Former NRA CFO Wilson “Woody” Phillips Ripped Us Off & Now Owes Again Hundreds of thousands
Former NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre Has Value the Gun Rights Motion North Of A Billion {Dollars}
