The following are the two resolutions submitted by Jeff Knox to the membership of the National Rifle Association at their Annual Meeting of Members in Indianapolis, Indiana on April 15, 2023.
Both of these resolutions were defeated by a majority of the members voting in the meeting.
For background information and documentation of the statements in these resolutions, type “NRA” in the Search Bar in the upper-right of the Home screen.

Resolution of No Confidence in the Officers

Submitted by Jeff Knox, Endowment Member, Tombstone, Arizona

April 15, 2023

Whereas it is the sworn duty of all members of the Board of Directors of the National Rifle Association, and particularly the officers of the Board, to put the needs and interests of the Association above any personal considerations or other loyalties, and

Whereas Directors and officers of the NRA have a legal, ethical, and moral responsibility to be honest and above-board in their dealings with fellow Directors, staff, and the members of the Association, and

Whereas it is the duty of the members of the Audit Committee, as explained in the Committee’s Mission Statement; “to assist the Board of Directors in its oversight of the integrity of financial information, its review of the adequacy of the system of internal controls established by the Association, and its monitoring of the audit process,” as well as to specifically; “review the Association’s financial reporting process and internal controls, review and appraise the audit efforts of the Association’s independent auditors, and provide open means of communication between the Directors, the independent auditors, and the financial and senior management of the Association,” and to; “provide oversight of regulatory compliance and business ethics compliance,” and

Whereas it is also the duty of members of the Audit Committee to oversee and deal with questions of conflict of interest, related party transactions, and the oversight and management of the Association’s “whistleblower” policies, and

Whereas all of the above-mentioned duties and responsibilities are particularly incumbent upon the Chair and Vice Chair of the Audit Committee, as they are responsible for leading, and ensuring that the other members of the Committee are informed of, and in compliance with, these requirements and duties, and

Whereas Mr. Charles Cotton and Mr. David Coy, who currently serve, respectively, as President and Second Vice President of the NRA Board of Directors, and have alternately served as Chair and Vice Chair of the Audit Committee for many years, have both failed in their fiduciary duties and obligations to the members of the NRA by placing personal relationships, and loyalty to Wayne LaPierre above the requirements of their respective offices, failing to properly oversee outside auditors, failing to engage in any sort of internal audits, failing to thoroughly evaluate internal systems, policies, and protocols, to ensure the security of the system from abuse, failing to fully inform the Board of Directors of critical information, failing to enforce conflict of interest and related party transaction policies, and approving such conflicts of interest and related party transactions, with little scrutiny, and no penalty for tardy or incomplete reporting, and failing to give proper consideration to whistleblowers alarms, failing to adequately protect whistleblowers, and failing to report critical whistleblower concerns to the full Board, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the members here gathered at the NRA Annual Meeting of Members, on this 28^th day of May, 2020, do hereby express our extreme frustration with these officers, and declare that we have No Confidence in their ability to effectively serve this Association in their current positions, and we call upon the Board of Directors to select others from among their members, to fill these positions.

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Resolution of No Confidence in Wayne LaPierre

Submitted by Jeff Knox, Endowment Member, Tombstone, Arizona

April 15, 2023

Whereas the NRA has seen a dramatic decline in Annual Members over the past 4 years, with sources indicating a drop of close to 30%, and

Whereas the NRA has experienced a significant declines in revenue over the past 4 years, with sources indicating declines of almost 50%, and

Whereas, between the years 2015 and 2018, the unrestricted net assets of the NRA declined by over 60 million dollars, and

Whereas 2018 saw financial belt-tightening, and the total collapse of the NRA’s heavily promoted, and very expensive Carry Guard program, which had only been introduced a few years earlier, and

Whereas, the advent of the SARS COV 2 pandemic caused layoffs of some 400 NRA employees, along with announced reductions in executive and managerial pay of 20%, and

Whereas, during this time of austerity measures, layoffs, significant financial losses, and growing legal expenses, in 2018, Wayne LaPierre, as Executive Vice President and CEO of the NRA, received a significant pay increase and a four hundred and fifty five thousand dollar “bonus,” bringing his total compensation that year to more than 2.2 million dollars, up from the 1.4 million he received in 2017, and for 2019 and 2020, while the layoffs and pay cuts were being implemented, Mr. LaPierre received compensation of approximately 1.7 million dollars each year, and

Whereas, along with this generous compensation, Mr. LaPierre received numerous other perks, including chartered, corporate jet travel at an average cost of seven thousand dollars per hour, limousine service, luxury accommodations, and a substantial expense and entertainment account, all totaling well over an additional million dollars per year, and

Whereas the National Rifle Association’s positions and objectives are supposed to be based on certain unwavering principles, beginning with the fact that the right to arms is an unalienable, fundamental, individual right, bestowed by our creator, and enshrined in the Constitution, and that restrictions on inanimate objects can never control the behavior of persons with evil and criminal intent, and

Whereas Mr. LaPierre, in his capacity as Executive Vice President of the NRA, publicly declared in 1999 that the National Rifle Association believes in “absolutely gun free, zero tolerance, totally safe schools. That means no guns in America’s schools, period, with the rare exception of law enforcement officers or trained security personnel,” and

Whereas, at other times, while serving as Executive Vice President of the NRA, Mr. LaPierre has declared the NRA’s support for the creation of an “Instant Background-Check System,” declared the NRA’s support for laws requiring background checks for all firearm sales at gun shows, declared NRA support for so-called “red flag” laws, which provide for the confiscation of firearms from people accused of being a threat to themselves or others, with only bare consideration of due process, and declared that “the NRA believes that… (bump-stocks) …should be more tightly regulated,” and

Whereas President Trump subsequently acted on that last statement of support from the NRA, resulting in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives declaring bump-stock devices to be “machine guns,” effectively banning them under the Hughes Amendment, and

Whereas, while serving as chief lobbyist for the NRA, when the Hughes Amendment was attached to the Firearm Owners Protection Act as a “poison pill,” Mr. LaPierre asked the Republican Senate to agree to the amendment in order to pass the law, and asked President Reagan to sign the law, and subsequently stated that repeal of the Hughes Amendment would be the NRA’s number one priority going forward, but has never taken any substantive action toward repealing this travesty of a law, and

Whereas Mr. LaPierre has testified in court and on tax documents that he improperly charged personal and other unauthorized travel on multiple flights on chartered jets, and other unauthorized expenses to his NRA account, and

Whereas the various disclosures, revelations, and numerous substantiated accusations that have come out about Mr. LaPierre in recent years, along with his lack of principled stands on critical rights issues, have damaged the reputation of the National Rifle Association and its members, and have destroyed Mr. LaPierre’s personal credibility, severely limiting his abilities as a fund raiser or a political influencer on behalf of the NRA and its members, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the members here gathered for the 152nd Meeting of Members of the National Rifle Association, here gathered in Indianapolis, Indiana on this 15^th day of April, 2023, do hereby declare that we have No Confidence in the ability of Wayne LaPierre to lead this organization going forward, and while we appreciate his contributions to the fight for rights over the past 40 years, we call on him to resign his position as Executive Vice President and to not seek reelection to that, or any other leadership position in the NRA at any time in the future, and, be it further

Resolved, That we call on the NRA Board of Directors to recognize the will of the members and ensure that Mr. LaPierre is not reelected to the office of Executive Vice President, or elected or appointed to any other office of importance within the National Rifle Association or its affiliated organizations, nor be awarded any contract or employment by any NRA-related entity, and, be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary is instructed to cause a full, legible copy of this Resolution to be printed in the Official Journal of the Association within 120 days of the close of this meeting.