The NRA’s Plan to Become More Effective

For a long time, the National Rifle Association was the 800-pound gorilla in the gun rights movement. While they were never alone in the fight for the Second Amendment, they were the big guns.

Recent years have seen the NRA lose a little something. Wayne LaPierre’s shady moves, coupled with legal issues, forced the NRA to take a step back and defend itself to such a degree that it almost seemed at times like they weren’t doing anything for gun rights.

I know that they were, mind you, but not like they had been.

So, when I saw the president of the NRA decided to talk about making the organization more effective, I thought it was something we should talk about.

Your new NRA leadership team is making great progress in reimagining the National Rifle Association and actively building a foundation and vision to carry us into the next 150 years.

Gun owners—and all American citizens—need a strong NRA. No other organization can do what the NRA does for our members, gun owners, the nation and the free world. Our strength comes from our membership, volunteers, donors, supporters, volunteer Board of Directors, great staff and outstanding leadership teams. Add incredible programs and our decades of successful Second Amendment advocacy, and time and time again, the NRA has held strong by putting freedom first.

NRA has two primary leadership positions: the Executive Vice President/Chief Executive Officer (Doug Hamlin), who oversees the day-to-day operations of the association, and the President, who presides over the Board of Directors and handles related functions.

…

This year for the first time, your officers collected additional background information on our Board members and used those details of members’ knowledge, experience and passion to help in assigning committee appointments. We then applied a test to gauge their past integrity and abeyance of the New York non-profit responsibilities of duty of obedience, duty of loyalty and fiduciary responsibility toward committee assignments.

Also, this year the officers recruited 110 general NRA members, based on their specific knowledge and expertise, to serve as non-Board members on various committees, which will increase the committees’ overall effectiveness.

Additionally, for the first time in decades, your new officers are fundamentally changing how the Board operates. We are adopting a comprehensive new leadership paradigm for the Board to become more engaged in formulating the policies for the coming years. A few committees have been structurally consolidated, while others are coordinating joint meetings to create synergy and reduce cost. I’m also holding virtual town-hall Board member meetings to keep the Board engaged and up to date between regularly scheduled meetings. The governance committees are now holding monthly meetings to provide proper fiduciary oversight. Leadership also just held the Board’s first-ever committee chairman retreat in early August at the chairmen’s own expense. Your officers communicate with the NRA EVP weekly and visit NRA headquarters in Fairfax, Va., several times each month.

Now, let’s understand that this is mostly inside baseball stuff, but on the same token, they’re also promising steps. If the internal organization isn’t working correctly, the organization can’t be as effective as it should be.

I’m mostly baffled that there was never really an attempt to collect background information on board members so they could be utilized in the best possible ways.

Also, seeking out non-board members with specific areas of expertise is another wise decision, as there are those who aren’t interested in running for election to be board members but who would like to help and have relevant skillsets that can be brought to bear on various issues.

While this doesn’t look like much to many people, I’m sure, the truth is that I see these as promising developments.

The NRA took it on the chin, and not just from the state of New York. A lot of gun rights supporters lost trust in the NRA because of what all LaPierre did with the organization’s money, and what they saw as a failure to defend our right to keep and bear arms sufficiently.

However, what’s quoted above, plus the interactions I had with NRA officials at the annual meeting in Atlanta earlier this year, all indicate that the people who remain have no interest in any such thing happening again. They want to protect our gun rights and will work toward that end, not personal enrichment. They want safeguards put in place so that it never happens again.

These are all great signs.

Yet I’ll also acknowledge that the proof is in the pudding. We need to see action beyond some internal changes that might look good, but are meaningless if nothing happens outwardly to advance the NRA’s mission.

Petro Opposes Right to Carry Guns in Colombia

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro spoke yesterday during a Cabinet meeting about the ongoing debate over the right to carry guns among civilians. Petro repeated what he has previously stated on other occasions, expressing his support for keeping weapons solely in the hands of public security forces and not in civilian possession.

This is a recurring debate during election periods in Colombia, a country where violence is cyclical and the notion of self-defense resurfaces in political campaigns. While the conservative opposition makes legal gun ownership one of its key banners, the ruling party maintains that the state should monopolize the use of force, arguing that arming the population only fuels the cycle of violence.

Petro calls for a gun-free civilian population

During a Cabinet meeting held Yesterday, Tuesday, Aug. 19, Petro weighed in on the debate over the right to carry guns in Colombia. The President stressed the need to move toward a country where civilians are unarmed. In his remarks, he pointed out that Colombia must remain consistent with the principle that weapons should be monopolized by the state and not by private citizens.

Continue reading “”

92 Ohio school districts now allow staff to carry blasters

Ohio has been doing this since 2022, a year that saw 22 school districts arm their staffs after the passage of a new law allowing the practice. Fast-forward to 2025 and that number is 92.

The main argument for arming these teachers is that in rural areas like Eastern Ohio where Benjamin Logan Local School District is located, it takes too long (about 10-15 minutes) for police to arrive during an active shooter situation. With armed staff, this isn’t as much of a problem.

These armed staff members are required to take basic firearms training before they can carry in school.

Believe it or not, 30 states allow school staff to carry firearms.

From Newsweek:

 

 

 

Here’s what the comments look like on Twitter when it comes to the above report on Benjamin Logan:

 

Allowing riflery training while decrying gun violence doesn’t send a mixed message any more than does supporting a wrestling team while opposing schoolyard brawls.
— a CHICAGO TRIBUNE editorial 1999

155mm artillery is our current and only ‘Big Gun’
And FYI, that TNT manufacturing plant that was in the U.S. was just down the road at Carthage MO.
The new plant will be at Graham, KY.

An atrophied defense production base is one obvious sign of national decadence — and not the fun kind. – Stephen Green

Army Falls Short of 155mm Production Goal.

The Army — in response to diminishing stockpiles as it supported Ukraine’s defense against Russia — set a goal to produce 100,000 155mm artillery rounds per month by this October.

The service opened a number of new facilities to support this endeavor — and as one Army official stated, “We haven’t seen this level of investment in our industrial base since World War II.”

However, the Army is going to fall short of its goal. Service spokesperson Steve Warren told reporters in July that the Army is not expecting to produce 100,000 155mm rounds per month until mid-2026.

The service is currently producing 40,000 rounds per month, Warren said — the same amount it was producing as of September 2024, according to a Defense Department release.

There are a “whole host of reasons” behind the stagnation in 155mm production, said Maj. Gen. John Reim, joint program executive officer for armaments and ammunition and commanding general of Picatinny Arsenal.

One challenge has been the supply chain for production equipment, Reim said in an interview.

“For a lot of this equipment that we need to rapidly expand capacity, it’s not sitting on a shelf somewhere,” and the Army has had to depend on international suppliers, he said. “We’ve [been] experiencing longer than expected lead times with some of that capability, and that has a cascading effect.”

It has also taken time for some of the service’s industry partners to ramp production up to the desired rates. The Army recently issued a cure notice to General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems due to poor performance at a modular metal parts facility in Mesquite, Texas, Reim said.

General Dynamics declined to comment for this story.

The language in the cure notice “is intentionally harsh, and it describes potential options, to include … termination,” Reim said. The service’s role is to hold “our industry partner accountable — we owe that to our taxpayers — and where we’re at in terms of our 155 ramp, this is on the critical path, and so we want to ensure they’re successful.”

The Army had just received General Dynamics’ response to the cure notice when National Defense spoke to Reim in mid-July. The Army intends to continue working with the company and “understand the risks and what a realistic schedule looks like, and if there [are] things that we can do to help mitigate the risk to ensure that we get this up and running,” he said.

The service and its industry partners have “realized some risk” bringing in “new and novel 21st-century technologies that really haven’t proven to be able to produce 155,” Reim noted.

At the Mesquite facility, the Army and General Dynamics have brought in capabilities such as flow-forming technology — which uses rollers to shape a round’s metal parts — that have never been used for 155mm production, Reim said. “While all that equipment is installed, now we’re in the process” of ensuring those systems produce parts that conform to the service’s requirements.

“If we don’t have a conforming round, then that can be catastrophic to the equipment and potentially the crew,” he said. “So, it’s something that’s kind of no-fail for us.”

Other companies in the 155mm supply chain are modernizing their production capabilities.

Andy Davis, vice president of engineering and strategy at Nammo Defense Systems, said the company is incorporating new automated manufacturing technologies at its Mesa, Arizona, facility, where it produces 155mm projectiles and base bleed grains.

“Although the technology of the 155mm base bleed round relies on legacy propellant formulation,” with these new technologies, Nammo is creating an “efficient, high-volume propellant grain production capability that minimizes touch labor and improves quality,” Davis said in an email.

John McGuinness, president of munitions and government at Day & Zimmermann, said in an email the company has significantly expanded its use of robotics, data-driven process controls and digital quality assurance systems.

Day & Zimmermann in March reached an all‑time production high, turning out nearly 45,000 M795 155mm rounds — “a milestone that reflects both our workforce’s dedication and the effectiveness of our ongoing modernization efforts,” McGuinness said.

While 155mm production isn’t currently at the desired rate, the Army has experienced successes during the ramp-up, Reim said.

A metal parts production facility in Ingersoll, Canada, managed by IMT Group experienced a labor strike during its build and commissioning phase, but the plant is now producing 3,000 shell bodies a month, he said.

“We’re ramping to 10,000 later this summer,” with the goal to eventually produce 15,000 shell bodies per month at the facility, he added.

The Army in October 2024 held ribbon-cutting ceremonies at a pair of facilities in Marion, Illinois, and Perry, Florida, that will produce M119A2 red bag propelling charges for 155mm rounds, opening those plants two months ahead of schedule, he said.

In November, the Army awarded a $435 million contract to Repkon USA to establish a production facility in Graham, Kentucky, for TNT — the primary explosive fill for 155mm shells.

“We stopped making TNT in the U.S. in 1986, and we were buying from the Russians. We were buying from the Ukrainians,” Reim said. “Obviously, the Russians aren’t a source anymore,” while a Ukrainian production facility was destroyed early on in the war.

The Army is dependent today on Polish TNT and has also sourced it from Australia, South America and Asia, he said. “So, we’re excited … to bring that back to the U.S.”

Additionally, the service and General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems in April opened a new 155mm load, assemble and pack facility in Camden, Arkansas, that will produce completed high-explosive projectiles at a rate of 50,000 per month when fully operational, an Army release stated.

“So, it’s not all bad news,” Reim said.

However, the Army’s struggle to ramp up 155mm production “raises questions about our ability to surge production in an emergency,” said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser in the defense and security department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

While production ramp-ups like this are “always complicated … if it turns out to be much more difficult than we had thought, then that makes a surge strategy more difficult” in the event of crisis or conflict, Cancian said in an interview.

Jerry McGinn, director of CSIS’s Center for the Industrial Base, said in an email that the Army’s struggles to meet its 155mm production goals are linked to the state of the industrial base before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“The industrial base builds capacity to the terms of existing and expected future contracts, and there was no demand signal for a potential production ramp-up prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” McGinn said. “The industrial base has responded to the production ramp-up, but that took time.”

Reim noted that prior to the invasion, the service was producing 14,000 155mm rounds per month — “that was, frankly, optimized for what we shoot during the course of the year in support of training operations for the Army and the Marine Corps.”

When the Army “looked at what it was going to take to surge, we quickly realized it wasn’t just production capacity, it was supply chain,” he said. “And when we looked, there [were] a number of single points of failure that didn’t have surge capacity to meet the rapid requirements.”

Cancian said: “The closer we are towards a production capability, the higher confidence we can have in surge. And by that I mean if we have machinery that is in the back room in a state of preservation, that gives us some level of confidence. If we have a production line that is next to the primary production line, and we use it two weeks a year just to make sure it works, that gives us even more confidence.

“But if all you have is a bunch of drawings in the back room and some notion that you’re going to build a new building and institute a new production facility — which is where we were — that gives you much less confidence,” he said.

However, maintaining that capacity is expensive, especially in peacetime when you don’t need to surge production, and doing so could appear wasteful, Cancian said. The Army will “have to have a comeback to that and be willing to argue for maintaining these surge capabilities.”

Reim said one way the Army is looking to keep its 155mm production capacity active going forward is through foreign military sales.

“Our European partners are right behind us in terms of their” 155mm production ramp-up, “and I think they’re going to experience a lot of the same challenges we have experienced,” he said. “I think our capacity could help satisfy some of their near-term requirements.”

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Defense Industry Joint Stock Company and Florida-based ammunition and primer manufacturer D&M Holding Company Inc. in July announced a joint venture to produce propellant for artillery ammunition, including 155mm shells, at a new U.S.-based facility.

Oleh Huliak, director general of the Ukrainian Defense Industry Joint Stock Company, said in a press release: “We have to gradually move from large-scale procurement to our own production to meet our immediate needs. It is equally important that the company will operate in a safe area.”

D&M Holding Company Inc. President and CEO Dan Powers and Executive Vice President James Jones said in an email that production will begin at the new facility in mid-2026, and the propellant will be available to other 155mm producers.

While the Army failed to meet its initial timeline for its 155mm production ramp-up, producing 100,000 rounds per month is still the goal, Reim said.

“We’ve got the resourcing. We’ve got a lot of the authorities that have enabled us to get money and execution,” he said.

It has taken a “whole-of-government approach to get after this,” and “we’re working hard with our industry partners, and we’re going to hold them accountable when they’re not meeting their contract requirements,” he said.

“If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.” ― Samuel Adams

 

But, or course it’s a deceitful scam.

Gun Control Group Now Offering Firearms ‘Instruction’

The term “gun safety” has different meanings depending on where you stand on the Second Amendment. For those who despise our right to keep and bear arms, “gun safety” translates to “gun control”, and the best way to practice gun safety is to not own a gun at all. T

Those of us who respect and appreciate the Second Amendment, though, “gun safety” means being safe and responsible around firearms. It doesn’t have nearly the negative connotation that “gun control” has, which is precisely why anti-gunner Michael Bloomberg named his group Everytown for Gun Safety, not Everytown for Gun Control.

According to National Shooting Sports Foundation senior vice president and general counsel Larry Keane, Everytown is now trying to move into the realm of actual gun safety, by launching a new firearms training initiative.

The program was recently outlined at the National Conference of State Legislatures, and NSSF staff had a first-hand view of what the gun control group is pushing; a broad initiative called “Train Smart”, which includes a “Gun Ownership 101” class… and eventually, a full eight-hour training course.

Everytown’s “Train Smart” initiative will also host “Raise Standards in Your State” classes, which isn’t even an attempt to hide their efforts to convince people to press for permits and licenses, and instructor certifications, which amazingly can now be provided by the newest firearm training program in town.

Lastly, if those aren’t enough, Everytown’s “Train Smart” plans to offer a “Train Smart Gun Safety & Marksmanship” class, which ought to be hoot, since the gun control group has yet to shoot straight on anything they say. That’s going to be an eight-hour class to teach people how to handle and use firearms responsibly and serve as a role model for others. Topics covered in this class are the same as the other two shorter classes, except they’ll also talk about suicide prevention, de-escalation tactics, pistol marksmanship and… wait for it… “and much more.”

There’s no word if those classes will include any range time – or that any gun range would want to host Everytown to do it.

As Firearms Policy Coalition’s Rob Romano pointed out, the goal here seems to be to force gun ranges to host these Everytown courses, and to force would-be gun owners to get their mandated instruction from a group that doesn’t believe you have a right to keep and bear arms.

We’ve already seen states like California move to disqualify classes taught by NRA certified firearms instructors from satisfying training requirements and substituting state certified instructors instead. It’s not hard to imagine lawmakers in Sacramento (and Trenton, Boston, Albany, and other blue-state capitals) mandating that folks have to go through training taught by Everytown instructors before they can purchase or carry a firearm.

In fact, by making their pitch to attendees at the National Conference of State Legislatures conference, Everytown is already laying the groundwork for their plan to force their way into gun stores and ranges. There’s a reason why the anti-gun group wanted to let state-level lawmakers know about their new offerings; so they can start making laws that mandate attendance in an Everytown taught “gun safety” course before you can exercise your Second Amendment rights.

The biggest problem Everytown will face is coming up with instructors who are willing to work with them. As Keane notes, right now there’s no word on whether the group’s eight-hour course will include any range time, but I’m betting that it won’t. In order to satisfy the training requirements they’ve helped to put on the books in states like Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts, though, Everytown will need instructors who provide range instruction, not just anti-gun talking points. My guess is that it’ll be far easier to get anti-gun legislators to sign on than actual firearm instructors, but that could end up being a feature, not a bug, if it means that it becomes much harder to get access to the training required to bear arms in public or even keep a gun in the home.

Stop and Smell the Commie: The Normie’s Guide to Recognizing Marxism Before it Kills Us All.

The Trump economy continues to improve, and crime is falling. Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met to begin the process of winding down the war between Russia and Ukraine. Trump has also begun turning Washington back into a peaceful city where residents can walk to the Dairy Queen without fear of stray lead perforation.

FACT-O-RAMA! Washington, D.C., is so violent (how violent is it?!) Abe Pollin, the owner of the Washington Bullets basketball team, changed the team’s name to the Wizards. I guess it was easier than arresting the gun-toting yobbos who were perforating people for decades.

The entire nation should be, like me, enjoying a daytime cocktail (a Manhattan with orange bitters, risque!), and enjoying life, oui? Not quite.

Sure, your typical flag-waving, liberty-loving Americans are having a hoot, but the more successful Trump — and America — become, the louder those meat-dodging, septum-pierced, blue-haired apparatchiks seem to screech. Why is that? Because they are filthy communist prags who want to bring down the greatest nation in the history of mankind, which happens to be the United States of America.

You are probably already doing what you can to preserve our republic, but we are going to need more of our normie neighbors and family to join our crusade. But many of them wouldn’t know a Marxist if they/them put on a drag show for their five-year-old. That’s where I come in.

I am writing this article so we can get our politically sleepy friends into the biffo that I firmly believe will decide whether or not our kids will spend their future weekends enjoying BBQed steaks or state-sanctioned cricketloaf.

The first thing to know is this: communists and Islam hate Western civilization. The two have combined to establish a one-government, New World Order. A major part of this plan involves gavaging billions of invaders into the West. If you think I’m being a tinfoil whackadoodle, check out what the World Economic Forum (WEF) “predicts” for 2030:

Continue reading “”

Judge strikes down Minnesota’s binary trigger ban, suggests invalidating 2024 omnibus bill

A Ramsey County District Court judge on Monday struck down a 2024 law banning binary trigger devices — which double the rate of fire of semiautomatic firearms — as a violation of the state constitution’s rule requiring legislation to be about a single subject.

Although just the binary trigger ban was struck down, Judge Leonardo Castro used sweeping language about the DFL-controlled Legislature’s violation of the single-subject rule, clearing the way for potential litigation over a bevy of subjects included in the law, from Uber and Lyft driver wages to paid leave provisions.

The ruling didn’t strictly address the legality of binary triggers, but instead focused on the 1,400-page bill in which the binary trigger ban was included last year. In the final moments of the 2024 session, the DFL-controlled Legislature passed an “omnibus” bill — think: everything but the kitchen sink — that included 13 separate subjects, including minimum pay rates for Uber and Lyft drivers; alterations to the state’s paid leave program; and changes to make the child tax credit more user-friendly.

The Minnesota Constitution states “no law shall embrace more than one subject, which shall be expressed in its title.” The purpose is to prevent legislators from steamrolling provisions into big bills with little notice.

But bills running several hundred pages about a multitude of subjects are common, no matter which party controls the Legislature.

Castro said in his ruling that the Minnesota Supreme Court has considered dozens of cases challenging the state Constitution’s single-subject clause since 1857.

The case challenging the binary trigger ban was brought by the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, arguing the 1,400-page omnibus bill in 2024 was unconstitutional.

Castro ruled that the bill included many provisions that had nothing to do with one another.

“The 2024 Omnibus Bill violates the Single Subject and Title Clause, because, at best, it contains many non-germane parts, and at worst, has no identifiable common theme,” Castro wrote.

Despite his sweeping language, Castro employed judicial restraint. He refrained from invalidating all the provisions in the 1,400-page bill and only struck down the binary trigger ban. He did so because Minnesota Supreme Court precedent states that courts should favor striking certain provisions rather than invalidating entire bills, he wrote.

“But make no mistake, during the late hours of May 19, 2024, lawmaking did not ‘occur within the framework of the Constitution,’” Castro concluded. “This Court respectfully suggests that if there has ever been a bill without common theme and where ‘all bounds of reason and restraint seem to have been abandoned,’ this is it; and if there has ever been time for the ‘draconian result of invalidating the entire law,’ that time is now.”