ATLANTA—Doug Hamlin, executive vice president and CEO of the National Rifle Association (NRA), said the 154-year-old organization has implemented reforms to enable it to rise above its legal troubles.
“We’re making the changes we need to make the NRA stronger right where we are,” Hamlin told a gathering at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta on April 26.
The NRA’s new chief compliance officer, Robert Mensinger, told the gathering that the NRA now has the “gold standard” of accountability.
He was hired as one of 12 conditions handed down by New York Judge Joel Cohen in December 2024.
Mensinger works directly for the board of directors, not NRA management, which gives him the independence to report his findings without fear of retaliation.
Mensinger said board members and management have received training and adopted a mission statement that focuses on core values of integrity, accountability, and transparency. He said that so far this year, his office has received 36 reports of possible issues from NRA employees, volunteers, and members.
“That’s not a bad thing, that’s a good thing,” Mensinger said.
In his first compliance report, Mensinger listed travel expenses, including private jet travel, the costs of external contracts, and business arrangements involving an NRA officer, director, key employee, or their family members.
These are all issues that came up at trial in a lawsuit brought against the NRA by the state of New York.
As part of a court settlement, NRA directors, officers, and key employees completed financial disclosures, according to Mensinger’s report. In one case, a possibly excessive 2024 contract with a former board member was terminated, and a report on the matter will be made to the IRS, the report states.
“We’re trying to change the culture, and I think we’ve done a pretty good job. We have an effective compliance program now,” Mensinger told The Epoch Times.
Resolution Adopted
During the annual business meeting in Atlanta, the members adopted two resolutions: one to require financial accountability of board members, officers, and key employees, and another to make more NRA information available to members online.In December 2024, the NRA agreed to more than a dozen reforms to settle a lawsuit brought by New York State Attorney General Letitia James on Aug. 6, 2020, based on a 2019 investigation by her office.
LaPierre left the organization to deal with the fallout from reports that he and other officials used NRA funds on luxury vacations, private jets, expensive gifts for donors, and other questionable expenditures.
Longtime NRA member Ronald Andring said the resolution was to prevent board members and employees from associating with entities that receive funding from the NRA or that may benefit the board member.
Andring said the catalyst for the resolution is rooted in allegations of impropriety that surfaced in 2018 and 2019.
“We began asking questions, then we found out [the allegations] were true,” Andring said.
He said the trial revealed that LaPierre had not only diverted money to benefit himself but had also used funds to get board members to align with him when dealing with the board.
According to Andring, this helped LaPierre rig board elections and retaliate against board members who opposed him.
During voting on the resolutions on April 26, board member Amanda Suffecool asked to have the resolutions referred to the board’s bylaw committee.
She said the language could be an issue when recruiting NRA members, especially those who might serve on the board. She expressed support for the accountability efforts but said the bylaws should be more precise.
Board member David Rainey agreed. Rainey is a history professor at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan, where the NRA provides funding for some programs.
“I would have to choose between being a director or a professor at Hillsdale,” Rainey said. “Otherwise, I certainly support the intent of this.”
Member Wants More Discussion
Board member Jeff Knox of Arizona said he supported the intent of the resolution but not how it was handled.He said the question should have been debated and settled by the membership so the board would know exactly what to do.
“My opposition ... is that I want to discuss that. I don’t want it thrown back to the board where it’s done in secret-ish, and nobody knows what happened,” Knox told The Epoch Times. “I’d like to have that debate with this body so we can move forward.”
John Richardson, a board member from North Carolina, proposed adding a members page to the NRA website. This page would allow members to access the NRA bylaws, tax forms, the members of each committee, and the board of directors meeting minutes.
The page would also livestream the board’s meetings. Richardson said it would be open to members only.
“It would keep our business our business,” Richardson said.
The membership overwhelmingly approved the proposed website plan, with fewer than 20 of the several hundred members present voting against it.
