On January 15th, 2021 the National Rifle Association declared bankruptcy, filing for chapter 11 protections and also attempting to reincorporate in Texas. In its 150 year history, this is the first time that the NRA has ever declared bankruptcy.

This comes as no surprise to those NRA members who have been following the drama inside the NRA. Since the NRA Annual Meeting in 2019 it has been obvious that the leadership of the NRA has operated without any accountability and with gross negligence. The NY v. NRA, DC v NRA Foundation, NRA v Oliver North, and now this declaration of bankruptcy are irrefutable proof of that.

This comes at a time when the Constitution is in immediate, unavoidable jeopardy of being grossly infringed. While in decades past we might have seen the NRA be a bastion of defense, defending Second Amendment rights, we will likely see them become increasingly irrelevant, ineffective and unaccountable. That much is already true with the fact that the NRA spent more money defending the malfeasance of its leadership than it did in the 2020 elections. 

This comes also at a time where the NRA Board of Directors have conversely stopped directing and instead started following the Captain of the sinking ship with a freshly ratified resolution basically giving LaPierre complete authority of the NRA. That’s right. Instead of removing the CEO/EVP that has led the NRA to disaster, the BoD gave him more authority! They accomplished this in Executive Session (behind and away from NRA Members) in their January 7th, 2021 meeting which allowed LaPierre to file for Chapter 11 instead of the BoD having the authority to decide. 

How do we as NRA Members respond? That remains to be seen. Since the BoD have largely ignored members who have painfully obvious grievances we might be left to only watch the demise of our National Rifle Association. There are exceptions to that and I wish David Dell’Aquila well! Also, we might even see this bankruptcy filing backfire. Still, I encourage you to contact your NRA Board of Directors. Their negligence is outstanding. When the NRA is gone, as it likely will be, these people will still attempt to profit from our Second Amendment community, the community that they have harmed the most.

Save the Second’s goals remain. Far better to see our NRA made strong, relevant, effective and accountable than see it sink to the bottom of the abyss. In lieu of that we encourage you to support organizations that are doing the work that the NRA will not or cannot. Many of those are already proving more fruitful than the NRA has been in the past decade.