Fighting the NRA leadership means knowing who is in it

Ronnie G. Barrett with the .50 caliber sniper rifle he designed to sell to the civilian market. The National Rifle Association will be making its much-awaited statement today regarding how to prevent more Sandy Hook massacres. Presumably, the organization's leadership will not be so stupid as to argue in favor of arming teachers and principals. But make no mistake, whatever is said today, it will have been vetted by the extremists who have run the organization for 20 years, even if its PR arm and consultants will have given it a patina of concern for America's children. (Full disclosure: I was a member of the NRA 1966-1987).

Defeating the NRA and its agenda means knowing who the leadership is. We already know from previous polls and our own poll that gun owners do not agree with the NRA's extremism.

The NRA's Board of Directors is supposedly bipartisan, but that's a transparent disguise. As the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence points out:

One only has to look to the NRA's Board of Directors to discover that the organization is operated by a group of individuals who promote racism, misogyny, homophobia, anti-immigrant animus, religious bigotry, anti-environmentalism, and insurrectionism. Some active board members have even had close relationships with brutal dictators in outside nations. Put simply, members of the NRA leadership no longer make for polite company.

Moreover, while superficially bipartisan, the NRA is closely aligned with the most extreme elements in the Republican Party and has brought a number of the GOP's most influential operatives into positions of power within the organization. The GOP and NRA are now locked  in a symbiotic relationship where Republican legislators advance the NRA's extreme agenda while the NRA musters its hardcore supporters to serve as attack dogs for a wide range of conservative causes.

You'll no doubt recognize many of the names on the list below. But some you probably never heard of, like, for example, Ronnie Barrett:

Ronnie Barrett personally designed the first .50 caliber sniper rifle after observing a Browning machine gun mounted on a gunboat. This high-powered sniper rifle'available for sale on the civilian market'has an effective range of over a mile and can pierce armor. John C. Killorin, a former special agent in charge of the Atlanta field division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), called Barrett's rifle "a devastatingly powerful weapon against which most troops, most law enforcement, no civilians, have any means of defense.' Barrett, on the other hand, has described his invention as 'a toy for a big boy.' In 2004, then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) banned civilian ownership of the rifle. In 2005, U.S. Representative Jim Moran (D-VA) and 28 cosponsors introduced legislation that would have placed stricter regulations on .50 caliber sniper rifles by placing them in the same federal regulatory class as machine guns. The 50 Caliber Sniper Rifle Reduction Act found that 'the intended use of these long-range firearms'is the taking of human life and the destruction of materiel, including armored vehicles and such components of the national critical infrastructure as radars and microwave transmission devices, in addition 50 caliber sniper weapons pose a significant threat to civil aviation in that they are capable of destroying or disabling jet aircraft ' The virtually unrestricted availability of these firearms and ammunition, given the uses intended in their design and manufacture, present a serious and substantial threat to the national security.'

In fact, a Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle was used by the Branch Davidians during the 1993 Waco siege, forcing the FBI to use armored Bradley fighting vehicles before having to upgrade to even heavier armor.

And there's Steve Hornady, president of Hornady Ammunition:

... Steve Hornday is the son of Joyce Hornady, the founder of the company. Joyce began manufacturing ammunition because he was dissatisfied with the quality of surplus ammunition following World War II. Steve Hornady joined his father's business in 1970. Presently, Hornady Ammunition manufactures 'FMJ' armor piercing bullets for sale on the civilian market.

And Cleta Mitchell:

Mitchell served as an 'attack attorney' for many Tea Party Congressional candidates during the 2010 elections, including Sharron Angle, Christine O'Donnell and Joe Miller. She has suggested that the Democratic Party's 'tricks' include widespread engagement in voter fraud. Mitchell famously wrote a fundraising letter on behalf of Angle where she accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of attempting to steal the election. Mitchell also accused the Democratic party of stealing the 2002 South Dakota senate election, where Senator Tim Johnson was victorious over Senator John Thune. Both Angle and Miller have been involved in high-profile controversies surrounding guns and the Second Amendment.

The whole list:

Joe Allbaugh (Board Member)
Graham Hill (Board Member)
Scott Bach (Board Member)
Steve Hornady (Board Member)
Buster Bachhuber (Board Member)
Roy Innis (Board Member)
Carol Bambery (Board Member)
Joaquin Jackson (Board Member)
Bob Barr (Board Member)
David Keene (Board Member)
Ronnie Barrett (Board Member)
Tom King (Board Member)
Clel Baudler (Board Member)
Herbert Lanford (Board Member)
Ken Blackwell (Board Member)
Wayne LaPierre (Executive Vice President and CEO)
Matt Blunt (Board Member)
Karl Malone (Board Member)
John Bolton (Chairman of International Affairs Subcommittee)
John Milius (Board Member)
Rep. Dan Boren (Board Member)
Buz Mills (Board Member)
Bob Brown (Board Member)
Cleta Mitchell (Board Member)
Pete Brownell (Board Member)
Grover Norquist (Board Member)
John Burtt (Board Member)
Chuck Norris (Celebrity Spokesperson)
Dave Butz (Board Member)
Oliver North (Board Member)
Harlon Carter (Former NRA Executive Vice President)
Ted Nugent (Board Member)
Richard Childress (Board Member)
Johnny Nugent (Board Member)
Jim Porter (First Vice President)
Chris Cox (Executive Director)
Jay Printz (Board Member)
David Coy (Board Member)
Todd Rathner (Board Member)
Larry Craig (Board Member)
Kayne Robinson (Executive Director of NRA General Operations Division)
Wayne Anthony Ross (Board Member)
R. Lee Ermey (Board Member)
Ron Schmeits (Board Member)
Manny Fernandez (Board Member)
Tom Selleck (Board Member)
Sandy Froman (Board Member)
John Sigler (Board Member)
Jim Gilmore (Board Member)
Linda Walker (Board Member)
Marion Hammer (Board Member)
Maria Heil (Board Member)
Rep. Don Young (Board Member)

Getting to know these individuals and making their views and interests widely known to Americans is essential in our fight to reduce the chances of another Aurora or Newtown massacre.