By Dave Workman
Doug Hamlin, who took over as executive vice president of the National Rifle Association last year, told his activist audience at the September Gun Rights Policy Conference that this is not the time to relax, because there is a fight coming.
“We’re riding high in the White House,” he acknowledged. “We’ve got a majority in the House and Senate, but this is no time to gloat. We’ve got to be ready for the attack that we know inevitably will be coming, so we need to continue working together on all fronts as we prepare for the midterms which are just around the corner.”
Since being named CEO of the 154-year-old organization, Hamlin has been working to rebuild the NRA following years of turmoil and legal battles. During the past few years, he recalled how New York Attorney General Letitia James tried to dissolve the NRA, and failing at that, she wanted NRA run by a “monitor,” a plan that also failed.
“That would be like having a fox in the chicken house,” he observed.
But now, Hamlin said NRA is rebuilding.
“We’re rebuilding the trust of our donors, our industry, our staff and you, our members,” he said. “I’m here to tell you on my watch there will be no malfeasance. We’ve cleaned house. I’ve made management changes in every one of our five divisions.”
Explaining that the NRA is “getting back to basics,” Hamlin said the organization is rebuilding its training and education division, expanding its competitive shooting involvement, and providing more services.
“The mainstream media,” he pondered, “what have they done, other than allocate roughly a billion dollars to wreck the NRA?”
NRA helped put Donald Trump back in the White House, where he is—as described by Hamlin—”the most pro-Second Amendment president in the history of this country.”
Trump is one of nine presidents who have been NRA members. Others include Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Ulysses S. Grant (who served as NRA president 1883-85), Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, William Howard Taft, and George W. Bush.
“In going forward,” Hamlin said, “we’re continuing the theme of working together.”
He appealed to the audience to help rebuild the organization and restore trust in the NRA.
“You’re all influencers,” he said. “Put the word out.”
For Hamlin, a former U.S. Marine, and former executive director of NRA Publications, leading the association is not just a job, “It’s a calling.”
“We’re doing important work,” he said. “We’re doing freedom’s work.”
