Al Hammond Urges Hamlin To Fire Brewer

NRA Director Al Hammond has sent a letter to the members of the Board of Directors encouraging them to support NRA EVP Doug Hamlin and to encourage Hamlin to fire Bill Brewer and his law firm. From everything I’ve read and everything I’ve heard, Hamlin as EVP has the authority to hire and fire any and all vendors including Brewer. While some are strongly holding to the theory that only the Special Litigation Committee has that power, I think ultimately that they are in error.

From Al Hammond’s letter to the BOD:

Subject: Letter to Support Doug Hamlin to Terminate Bill Brewer

Fellow NRA BOD members,  We have come to a critical time in the history of the NRA.  Myself having worked for the NRA for close to 30 years and then joining the BOD I have never seen this association in such dire straits financially and continuing down a path dooming our beloved NRA. We have to take a stand and turn this organization around. 

The first step is to terminate Bill Brewer and his legal team and allow our elected CEO/EVP to do his job without constraint.  I have sent a letter to Doug Hamlin encouraging him to do so and I would ask you to consider sending one in support of Doug as well. My letter is below.

Now is the time to stand and be counted and help rewrite history as being part of the patriots who saved not only the NRA but our Country. We owe this to our NRA members, our Country and our children to continue to protect these rights every day.  Now is your chance to be heard. Please send Doug Hamlin a support letter for all the good work he has accomplished and continues to do for our NRA everyday.

Best Regards

Al Hammond

NRA BOD

Hammond then goes on to release the letter he sent to Doug Hamlin in encouragement. You may remember that some of the cabal had referred to Hamlin as the “interim EVP” which he is not. I presume that was because they preferred a more compliant EVP and one not associated with the reformers.

From that letter to Hamlin:

Doug,

As a member of the National Rifle Association Board of Directors my fiduciary responsibility is to represent our members and promote and protect this great association.

With the continuation and constant legal maneuvering by the Brewer law firm to keep the NYAG law suite and other lawsuits without a resolution it is time to terminate and replace our current legal counsel and replace them with our own internal legal counsel and/or another outside legal counsel firm who can get the job done.

We have paid the Brewer firm in excess of 190 million dollars and we can no longer afford this high priced counsel with dismal positive results.  We are cash strapped and the current legal counsel and our President, Bob Barr, along with the entire Special Litigations Committee seem to have turned a blind eye and insist we continue to use Bill Brewer for not only the NYAG case but other pending cases and any new legal cases we enter into.  Enough is enough.

As the duly elected CEO/EVP you have the full authority to decide on any legal counsel moving forward and termination of any currently being utilized.  I fully support and ask you to dismiss the Brewer Firm from any and all lawsuits currently and any moving forward. Our members have had enough of their hard earned money and the support they have given being squandered on poor legal representation.

Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do to bring back the NRA to what it should be and let’s build a bigger and stronger NRA  working together.

Best Regards

Al Hammond

NRA BOD

The Fourth Circuit ignores Bruen again

The Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision held, with crystal clarity, the Second Amendment is an individual right, which extends to keeping and bearing arms not only in one’s home or on one’s property, but in public, with some limited exceptions. Not only did Bruen reaffirm the Second Amendment as a fundamental unalienable right–no second-class right—it established strict scrutiny, the highest level of judicial analysis, for Second Amendment cases. Equally important was this holding:

When the  Second Amendment’s plain text covers an individual’s conduct, the Constitution presumptively protects that conduct. The government must then justify its regulation by demonstrating that it is consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. Only then may a court conclude that the individual’s conduct falls outside the  Second Amendment’s “unqualified command.”

In other words, anti-liberty/gun schemes are only constitutional if there was a clear historical analogue at the time of the founding.  As one might suspect, some states—Like Maryland—are determined to ignore the Second Amendment and Bruen.

Under current Maryland law,  no one may own, rent, or even touch a firearm without a 16-hour class which includes live fire. There is an 8-hour class required for each permit renewal. Only upon passing the 16-hour course, can one apply for a permit, and the State Police have 30 days to approve or deny applications. So while Maryland is, at least ostensibly, a “shall-issue” state the state puts as many barriers as possible in the path of gun owners, including a seven day waiting period for purchase, and gun registration.

In 2023 a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals took up a challenge to the licensing law and struck it down in consonance with Bruen:

“The challenged law restricts the ability of law-abiding adult citizens to possess handguns, and the state has not presented a historical analogue that justifies its restriction; indeed, it has seemingly admitted that it couldn’t find one.”

On would reasonably think that would have been the end of it. No historical analogue, presumptively unconstitutional. Then the entire Court got into the act (decision available here):

We conclude that the Supreme Court in Bruen foreclosed the plaintiffs’ “temporary deprivation” argument by stating that, despite some delay occasioned by “shall-issue” permit processes, this type of licensing law is presumptively constitutional because it operates merely to ensure that individuals seeking to exercise their Second Amendment rights are “law-abiding” persons.

We hold that the plaintiffs have failed to rebut this presumption of constitutionality afforded to “shall-issue” licensing laws like the handgun qualification statute. So the plaintiffs’ challenge to the HQL statute fails, and we affirm the district court’s award of summary judgment to the state of Maryland.

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Well, morons like you have underestimated their opposition to their utter ruination for millennia.

San Antonio police said the two men who were shot were attempting to rob another man, 34, before the shooting. “After an investigation was conducted, it was determined that the two shooting suspects were armed and had attempted to rob the victim,” SAPD said.

As they approached the 34-year-old man, police said he took out a handgun and defended himself “firing at the suspects.” The shooting remains under investigation.

At about 3:51 a.m. early Sunday morning, August 25, a San Antonio Police Department preliminary report says officials responded to a call for a shooting at the 200 block of Ranch Valley.

When officers arrived on-scene, they found a 23-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his head. He was taken to the hospital by Emergency Medical Services in critical condition, according to the San Antonio Police Department. During the investigation, officials were told another man was taken to the hospital and found to have a gunshot wound to the hip that was connected to the shooting, SAPD said.

Well, we all know the one about democrats having double standards

The Left’s Swift Shift After RFK Jr.’s Trump Endorsement

Kennedy’s indictment of his former party, along with his endorsement of Donald Trump, has sent shock waves through the chambers of the self-appointed elite who would rule us.

The thing I admire about contemporary deep-state Democrats is their nimbleness.

This nimbleness was on ostentatious view in the regime response to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s announcement Friday that he was 1) suspending his campaign (at least in battleground states) and 2) throwing his support behind Donald Trump.

The acrid scent of panic might have been expected among the limp-wristed, totalitarian faithful. And, in fact,  beneath the amusing cologne of anti-Trump bluster, the panic was indeed discernible.

But there was also that trademark smooth-as-a-suppository (as Saul Bellow put it) suaveness, exemplified, for instance, by former Obama strategist David Axelrod.

“Robert F. Kennedy Sr.,” Axelrod posted shortly after the deed was done, “would have been appalled to see his son cut a deal to drop out for [t]he race and endorse Trump.”

Imagine: someone agrees to drop out of a race at the last minute and support a rival candidate!  As the commentator Ned Ryan put it in response to Axelrod’s snippy post: “You suddenly seem offended by someone cutting a deal to drop out of the race and endorse someone else.”

Cast your mind back, David, to July 21 of this year.  That’s when Joe Biden, having been made an offer he couldn’t refuse by the secret committee running the country, suddenly announced that he was dropping out of the race. This was, remember, after Biden repeatedly insisted that he was staying in the race and was looking forward to the next debate against Trump. Yes, the first was a disaster, but he would show ’em!

Biden’s missive, posted to his personal—not his official POTUS—account, bore all the earmarks of haste not to say coercion.  Had someone actually dictated the text to him? We don’t know. But it was widely remarked that he neglected to endorse Kamala Harris. That came a few moments later in a separate post.

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Good Samaritan shoots man attempting to carjack woman and child

FALLS MILLS, Va. (WVVA) – A Good Samaritan shot a wanted man attempting to carjack a woman and her child on Friday.

According to Major Harold Heatley with the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office, the incident happened at Lee’s Kar-Go when the suspect, identified as Cody Dailey, 30, “attempted to carjack a truck, assaulted the female driver of the vehicle and told her child that was in the vehicle, ‘I’m going to rape your mommy.’”

Multiple citizens heard the victim screaming and came to her aid, and one of those citizens was armed with his 9mm handgun.

The armed Good Samaritan approached Dailey and gave commands, but Dailey charged and shoved the man to the ground.

Dailey continued approaching the armed citizen, and that was when the citizen shot the suspect, hitting him in the chest.

Law enforcement responded after hearing the gunshot at approximately 1:15 p.m. while working a nearby separate incident on Mudfork Road.

Dailey was airlifted to Roanoke for his injuries with the last word on his condition being “stable.”

Dailey was wanted on two outstanding capiases from the Tazewell County Circuit Court.

Roanoke authorities have been made aware of Dailey’s current charges, and detectives are actively working to obtain additional charges for abduction, carjacking, assault and battery among others.

Sheriff Brian Hieatt stated, “Thank goodness for the good Samaritans that came to the victims’ aid during her time of need. We are grateful for their desire to intercede on her behalf, had they not acted this could have been a very different outcome.”

Andrew Arulanandam Heads To Idaho

Andrew Arulanandam has officially submitted his papers to retire from the NRA effective September 1st. Doug Hamlin, CEO and EVP, sent out this announcement this morning.

Andrew Arulanandam – a valued member of our NRA team for the past 24 years, will be retiring effective September 1, 2024 to pursue a new opportunity.  Andrew has been an integral part of our organization consistently demonstrating dedication, expertise, and a commitment to professionalism and excellence.  Please join me in expressing the NRA’s deep gratitude and best wishes to Andrew.

Doug Hamlin

Executive Vice President/CEO

National Rifle Association of America

After being promoted from being the NRA’s head PR flack to the Executive Director of General Operations and then becoming Interim EVP after Wayne resigned, I was a bit surprised that that he was allowed to stick around after Doug Hamlin was elected EVP. This is especially true given how Arulanandam fronted for the cabal. That said, it was probably easier to return him to his position in PR with the understanding he would be retiring in a few months. I don’t know whether this allowed him to qualify for the NRA’s old pension but that is neither here nor there. I also don’t know whether his salary was reduced from $450,000 when he returned to the old job.

While the NRA hopefully has seen the last of him, the people of Idaho are getting him back.

Governor Brad Little announced the appointment of Andrew Arulanandam as the new director of the Idaho Lottery and the Idaho State Liquor Division. Arulanandam will take over following the retirement of Jeff Anderson, who had led both agencies until July….

In his new position, Arulanandam will lead two agencies that generate significant economic activity for Idaho. In 2023, the Idaho Lottery and Idaho State Liquor Division returned over $210 million to support state programs such as schools and infrastructure.

Arulanandam will begin his new role in September.

It should be noted that Arulanandam was the Executive Director of the Idaho GOP among other Idaho-based positions before he started working for the NRA. He is also a 1992 graduate of Boise State University.

The house cleaning at the NRA continues as now Arulanandam joins Tyler Schropp in the former NRA employee category. I certainly hope there will be more to come including a certain outside counsel.

The Houthis have defeated the US Navy

Operation Prosperity Guardian (OPG) was set up in December 2023 in response to the Houthi attacks on commercial shipping passing through the southern Red Sea. The aim was to provide a unified international front that would both deter the Houthis from further attacks and reassure the shipping companies who due to reasons of risk and associated insurance costs were already starting to take the long route round the Cape of Good Hope.

The problem was, it didn’t work. The Houthis were not deterred and continued taking pot shots at anyone and everything from ships with the most tenuous links to Israel, to Iranian grain carriers to Russian dark fleet oilers. For relatively little effort and money, they achieved their desired end states of ‘improved local influence’ and ‘challenging international shipping’ almost immediately. Their line that they would stop if there was a ceasefire in Gaza convinced only a few.

This led to Operation Poseidon Archer starting in January 2024, with US and UK counterstrikes on Houthi targets. But as Saudi Arabia proved between 2015 and 2023 (and repeatedly told us) trying to disable the Houthis by kinetic strikes is like punching smoke, and so it proved.

None of these efforts were helped when the EU formed a splinter coalition called Aspides so as not to associate with the US posture in Israel. The West’s inability to agree on how to perform a relatively basic task did not go unnoticed by potential adversaries. It was certainly noticed by the shipping companies we were trying to reassure.

Since January, not only have the attacks steadily increased in number, they have diversified too. Drones and cruise missiles were accompanied by hijackings and ballistic missiles. April saw the first use of a surface drone and there has been a steady increase in this method since.

Recently the Houthis have started following up their attacks with small arms fire from fast boats and the last few weeks have seen the amount of attacks increase above what was an average of 2.5 a week.

Even Russia doesn’t want to risk it at the moment. Earlier this month, Russian tankers Arpus and Arlan, which could have gone through the Suez Canal, instead transferred their oil into the Gold Pearl – too big for the Canal – and she duly went round the Cape.

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