Experience for the Future: To Revive, Reform & Rebuild the NRA

I am running to return to the NRA Board of Directors because I love the NRA, and I fear for her well-being and continued viability.

My name is John Sigler. I am a retired Police Captain, a veteran of the U.S. Navy’s Submarine Service, a lifelong Second Amendment activist, a lifelong hunter, collector, and competitive shooter, and an experienced corporate attorney. [John also writes for AmmoLand News]

My passion is Second Amendment legal research and advocacy. All of my pro bono legal work is centered upon and revolves around the defense of The Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

I had the honor and privilege of serving as NRA’s 59th president (2007-2009) during the “Glory Years” immediately following Charlton Heston’s time as our president.

To be painfully blunt, our beloved NRA is not what it once was, nor what it could be and should be today. Over the past few years, the NRA has been lied to, lied about, used, abused, swindled, spindled, and mutilated – and we, “The Members”, have paid the price.

But thankfully, times are changing and those who caused that damage are now gone, including their leader – a man who had very little use for competitive shooters. To be polite, let’s just say that he and I had our differences over the years. (It takes both a qualified challenger and majority vote to elect a new EVP, and a three-quarters (75%) vote to remove an EVP).

The NRA Board has changed dramatically over the last few years, and that is definitely a good thing.

But those new people on the NRA Board need help and guidance from those of us who have successfully served before. I can help, and I want to help if you will let me. It has often been said that “In times of crisis experience counts, leadership counts, dedication counts, loyalty counts, and integrity counts.”

It is my honor to have been nominated by both NRA Members’ Petition and the NRA’s new Nominating Committee. Over 850 NRA members from forty (40) states supported my candidacy by personally signing my petitions, more than double the number required.

It is time for an NRA Board of Directors to understand, respect, and appreciate that the NRA belongs to the Members – not to the staff, not to the Officers (paid and unpaid), and certainly not to the Board itself.

When I was NRA’s President during “The Glory Days” some 16 years ago, I was sometimes called “The Members’ President”, but not always as a compliment. My loyalty belongs to The Members and not to anyone else – always has, always will.

Back then, NRA’s membership was growing, our finances were strong, we worked under a balanced budget, and we had a system of both long-term and short-term financial reserves. Not anymore.

Back then, we had a full complement of employees who were knowledgeable and responsive, who enjoyed servicing the needs of the members and worked hard to deliver programs the members needed, wanted, expected and deserved – not anymore.

And back then, NRA was the established leader in Second Amendment advocacy in the State Legislatures, in Congress, and in the Courts – and we must be again.

It is time for both the NRA Board and the NRA Staff to refocus on The Members – The Members deserve it; it is our right to expect it – and the well-being of the NRA and our sacred Second Amendment both demand it.

The roadblocks have been removed and it is time to move forward. We have an entirely new slate of Board officers and a new cadre of professional executives – and that is a very good thing.

The time is right, and the cause is just. Together, we CAN – and we MUST – save the NRA.

I have devoted most of my life to the NRA, competitive shooting, and to the defense of the Second Amendment and the individual citizen’s God-given Right to Keep and Bear Arms for defense of self, family, home, and nation, and for hunting and recreation.

After being sidelined for most of 2024, I am seeking to return to the Board in 2025 because I have the education, training and years of corporate experience, both inside NRA and in the private sector, that our new “NRA 2.0” will definitely need to fully reform, repair and recover.

To fully recover, our NRA will need highly qualified and proven leaders with both the knowledge and experience to help “the new blood” on the Board understand and appreciate what our NRA has been, can be, and should be once again – America’s leader in the fight for individual freedom.

I encourage you to explore my website at www.sigler4nra.com, check out my record and qualifications, see who I am, and what I have accomplished. You will find that I do have the broad base of education and experience the NRA so desperately needs for a better and brighter future.

The NRA is a complex, multi-faceted organization. Unlike other Second Amendment organizations with which you may be familiar that focus on just one thing, your NRA is designed around a holistic approach to Second Amendment advocacy, providing the full range of services and opportunities for its members to not only fight for and defend the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, but also to freely exercise and enjoy that right in multiple ways.

Now is not the time for whimsical theories, steep up-hill learning curves, and on-the-job training. Now is the time for experienced leadership with a clear view of the future, a firm set of goals and objectives, and the will and skill to fight for what is right for the NRA, The Members, and our nation – uninhibited by the roadblocks that for so long stood in our way.

My “platform” is based upon what I call “The Seven R’s” – Reform, Recover, Repair, Revive, Replace, Rebuild and Restore.

I believe that all of these things can happen and must happen if our beloved NRA is to survive, recover, grow, and prosper.

Our members need, expect, and deserve a strong and effective NRA – and in today’s turbulent world, America needs a strong and effective NRA!

The NRA was once a political powerhouse, a legal juggernaut in the courts, and a source of pride for every NRA member – it can be so again –
and it MUST be so again.

American Freedom is under attack and only the NRA can repulse that attack – we have done it before and, together, we can do it again!

But I need your help, and I need your vote.

My Platform For NRA’s Future Success

• Reform – Reform, modernize and streamline NRA’s business model and business operations. Strengthen the Bylaws to clarify the Board’s control and authority to ensure accountability, transparency and integrity.
• Recover – Recover financially, organizationally, legally and politically from the damage inflicted upon NRA over the past 10 years. Recover the money owed to NRA by former executives and others.
• Repair – Repair the damage done to NRA’s image and its relationship with its members, our clubs, our donors, the industry, Congress, and the public at-large.
• Revive – Revive the dormant and semi-dormant programs our members want, need, deserve, and expect.
• Replace –Replace the programs abandoned over the past 10 years.
• Rebuild – Rebuild NRA-ILA, Membership, and General Operations, including Competitions, Education & Training, and our network of NRA grassroots clubs and State Associations.
• Restore – Restore NRA’s position as America’s leader in Competitions, Education, and Training, and NRA’s position of leadership and dominance in Second Amendment advocacy in Congress, State Legislatures, and in the Courts.

Let’s Make NRA Great Again! Let’s do it together!

Please Vote for
CAPTAIN JOHN C. SIGLER (Ret.), J.D.,
for the new NRA Board of Directors.

For more information please visit: www.sigler4nra.com.