NRA Leader Says They've Been Attacked By An Unprecedented Onslaught Of 'Powerful Forces'—And We All Know What That Really Means
The National Rifle Association deflected rumors of infighting on social media by insisting that the real enemies are outside of the organization.
Chaos within the gun lobby group swelled with allegations of financial wrongdoing and long-rumored reports of NRA president Oliver North and NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre butting heads.
On Saturday, North, a retired U.S. Marine Lieutenant Colonel, announced he would be stepping down.
NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch claimed on Friday that "NRA members are not divided." In fact, she went further:
"We've never been more united behind the purpose of defending the Second Amendment — and we vote in droves."
The group's Twitter page backed her assertion and implied they were victims with "so many powerful forces" attacking them.
"Never in the history of the NRA have so many powerful forces attacked us on so many different fronts."
“Never in the history of the NRA have so many powerful forces attacked us on so many different fronts.” — @ChrisCoxNRA #NRAAM— NRA (@NRA) 1556293076.0
But Twitter is calling their B.S.
@NRA @ChrisCoxNRA The NRA is an organization that thrives on chaos and run by some truly miserable people, now has… https://t.co/r5y3W0EAKW— Fred Guttenberg (@Fred Guttenberg) 1556367971.0
But there is something to the NRA's tweet. Those "powerful forces" are our benevolent heroes.
@soledadobrien In fairness, given that, he’s not exactly wrong.— Franklin Leonard (@Franklin Leonard) 1556375350.0
@WendyMalloyTN @soledadobrien @MomsDemand @ChrisCoxNRA Powerful forces, indeed. https://t.co/mgDk4aI7Xv— MarCNuf (@MarCNuf) 1556381426.0
Moms everywhere are rejoicing.
@soledadobrien @geesemom We take it as a compliment! https://t.co/Om5yAOB0QQ— mish (@mish) 1556377709.0
@soledadobrien I can’t think of any force more powerful than a bunch of pissed off moms.— Jody Wahl with an A (@Jody Wahl with an A) 1556372014.0
@soledadobrien And high school kids!— Alex Leo (@Alex Leo) 1556388900.0
@soledadobrien Oh and HS kids and doctors and nurses and teachers. Oh my!!— Mary Lyn (@Mary Lyn) 1556372085.0
@soledadobrien And kids who took cover while under fire at school.— Vic Daring (@Vic Daring) 1556372817.0
@soledadobrien @joanwalsh And Survivors— Rich Ortiz (@Rich Ortiz) 1556377159.0
Meanwhile, the NRA is imploding, and people are breaking out the popcorn.
@davidhogg111 @NRA @ChrisCoxNRA They are even attacking themselves! That LaPierre/Ollie North cat fight: https://t.co/fyzwpOsqdd— 💁🏻♀️ (@💁🏻♀️) 1556374140.0
@tdayspringneely @fred_guttenberg @NRA @ChrisCoxNRA Me too. I am enjoying witnessing their cannibalism and eventual… https://t.co/54rwdxF1Jd— NH Mountain Gal (@NH Mountain Gal) 1556380515.0
@fred_guttenberg @NRA @ChrisCoxNRA @NRA I hope that you die and that your death comes soon. I will follow your cas… https://t.co/iW4wriH06A— Lars Hallin, AB & sceptical scientist (@Lars Hallin, AB & sceptical scientist) 1556399255.0
Who pulled the trigger that led to North's ouster?
According to a letter LaPierre wrote to board members and was published by the Wall Street Journal, North tried to oust him by releasing "damaging information" on him.
The letter North threatened to release supposedly contained:
"a devastating account of our financial status, sexual harassment charges against a staff member, accusations of wardrobe expenses and excessive staff travel expenses."
Wow. Wayne Lapierre sent a letter, first obtained by @WSJ, to the NRA board accusing Oliver North and Ackerman McQu… https://t.co/Uz8e9k1J5w— Stephen Gutowski (@Stephen Gutowski) 1556317762.0
Richard Childress, the NRA's first vice president, acted as master of ceremonies at the group's annual meeting on Saturday where Oliver was notably absent.
Here is Richard Childress reading a letter from Oliver North where he says he has been forced out of the NRA and th… https://t.co/af294RqBqZ— Timothy Johnson (@Timothy Johnson) 1556374744.0
At the convention, Childress read a letter North wrote about the threat imposed on the NRA's tax-exempt status, which referred to New York Attorney General Letitia James opening an investigation into the association's financial improprieties and issuing subpoenas.
"There is a clear crisis and it needs to be dealt with immediately and responsibly so the NRA can continue to focus on protecting our Second Amendment," wrote North, read by Childress.
The father of Jaime Guttenberg, who was killed in the Parkland shooting, has no sympathy for the crumbling organization.
@NRA @ChrisCoxNRA When you are failing, what do you do? Whine and act like a victim. Sorry NRA, the 40,000 who di… https://t.co/qeeYXCbVNY— Fred Guttenberg (@Fred Guttenberg) 1556328576.0
@screaminggina @NRA @ChrisCoxNRA NRA plays victim now, yet engaged in an attack of their own when the most extreme… https://t.co/BAtrGPGri6— Ropebelt (@Ropebelt) 1556340041.0
The NRA is finally getting what it deserves: pandemonium.
@NRA @ChrisCoxNRA You are a propaganda front for gun manufacturers who make profits through the sale of murder, sui… https://t.co/EEbhqtj3nj— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel Jollett) 1556373009.0
Former NRA advocates are turning their backs.
@NRA @ChrisCoxNRA You could've been a good organization for fellow hunters and responsible gun owners to connect bu… https://t.co/cttBFUtqaQ— Nana Cantú (@Nana Cantú) 1556329822.0
@Hezigrimm @K2thebizA @nanacantu @NRA @ChrisCoxNRA @MomsDemand I know so many gun owners who have given up their me… https://t.co/HKKDx4Wos1— ill behaved woman (@ill behaved woman) 1556404552.0
@nanacantu @NRA @ChrisCoxNRA @MomsDemand Hunters, responsible gun owners interested in promoting skills & safety r… https://t.co/IITYtuqWt1— Jean T (@Jean T) 1556399530.0
The Daily Beast met a former NRA member, Cody Becker, who canceled his membership five years ago but renewed for the day at the convention's exhibit hall on Saturday to "fondle some guns."
Becker is disappointed in the organization. "I lost on any faith that any dollars they receive go to anything that matters," he said.
When asked about his feelings towards the NRA now, Becker replied:
"They lost their way—period. They're fucked."
It seems the NRA's membership is depleting rapidly, and it's only a matter of time before they're just shooting blanks.
Twitter's Response To The NRA Being Unable To Afford Coffee Due To Financial Troubles Is Beyond Savage
The National Rifle Association is struggling a bit recently.
For some reason, with the list of violent mass shootings in America becoming longer and longer and the NRA picking fights with the doctors who treat gun wounds (telling them to "stay in your lane"), donations are beginning to dry up.
It's been reported that the organization's membership revenue fell by 35% last year. Some people within the organization are scared it may soon be "unable to exist."
Money has become such an issue for the NRA that they've had to remove the free coffee and water coolers from their headquarters in Virginia.
Oof!
You know things are bad when you can't afford a bad cup of coffee!
Twitter is truly very sad for the NRA and is sending them the same helpful gift NRA members are known to send after mass shootings:
thoughts and prayers.
Thoughts and prayers to @NRA employees whose free coffee and water were tragically ripped from their lives, without… https://t.co/Yye5pasvks— Maggie Jordan (@Maggie Jordan) 1542341775.0
Sending thoughts and prayers, but definitely not policy change, to the NRA during this difficult time. https://t.co/kIJznLiAcj— Jordyn Rowland (@Jordyn Rowland) 1542337024.0
@MotherJones Thoughts and prayers to the NRA. https://t.co/7eTjuFKSg2— SerenaVR (@SerenaVR) 1542337606.0
Hopefully these thoughts and prayers are enough to balance their books.
NRA staffers are "freaking out" after executives eliminated some key employee perks, the latest indication that the… https://t.co/tgn8eG7Qhn— The Trace (@The Trace) 1542303043.0
@teamtrace My thoughts and prayers are with you all. So sad you don’t have free coffee. Some parents don’t get to s… https://t.co/ag7X3UAbsH— Beth Ann Mayer (@Beth Ann Mayer) 1542331233.0
These thoughts and prayers will save the NRA the same way thoughts and prayers have saved so many in the past!
@teamtrace Thoughts and parayers go out to them. If that's good enough for a school massacre, it's more than sufficient here.— Parabolicarc.com (@Parabolicarc.com) 1542333978.0
@teamtrace @TheGoodGodAbove I really don't care, do you? Sending thoughts and prayers.— Karen Eisen (@Karen Eisen) 1542305345.0
@teamtrace @TheGoodGodAbove Thoughts and prayers @NRA From Russia with love.— Where am I? (@Where am I?) 1542305191.0
It seems as if many sent these thoughts and prayers...sarcastically?!
@teamtrace @TheGoodGodAbove They started by eliminating the “Bulletproof Coffee” and replacing it with thoughts and prayers.— Jim Patton (@Jim Patton) 1542305849.0
@teamtrace Thoughts and Prayers 🙏🏽— Stay_Fresh (@Stay_Fresh) 1542339399.0
@teamtrace Thoughts & prayers! womp womp— All The Winning... (@All The Winning...) 1542338967.0
Many on Twitter were glad to hear that the NRA's rapidly declining revenue also led to them scaling back their donations during this year's midterm elections!
Sending my thoughts and prayers to every NRA backed politician tonight. (;— Lauren Hogg (@Lauren Hogg) 1541555193.0
Prayers are being said in a Cathedral in New York for the staff at the NRA who lost their coffee and water deliver… https://t.co/5TI5FU8kLN— Mike (@Mike) 1542400595.0
#NRA My "thoughts and prayers" are with you in this difficult time of water, coffee, and 35 MILLION membership loss… https://t.co/m7nPqZa9cs— FireflyagaricAngel (@FireflyagaricAngel) 1542409895.0
The NRA is in deep trouble.
It is truly VERY sad.
BOO HOO https://t.co/zZYTYQYHSo— paul hester (@paul hester) 1542385103.0
thoughts and prayers for the nra's coffee drinkers h/t @avizollman https://t.co/gYuWzEMOMm— Oliver Willis (@Oliver Willis) 1542300231.0
the nra is going broke. here are some thoughts and prayers https://t.co/uUFN0il5Wr— Maura Hart (@Maura Hart) 1542407920.0
With all these thoughts and prayers coming its way, surely the NRA will be back on its feet in no time!
On Wednesday, November 7, the National Rifle Association, the largest and most influential gun-rights advocacy group in the U.S., wrote derisively about doctors in a defensive tweet. Speaking out against physicians who treat gun wounds and subsequently call for increased gun control, the NRA wrote: "Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane."
Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane. Half of the articles in Annals of Inter… https://t.co/4ciQ0UUZqf— NRA (@NRA) 1541619839.0
America's doctors, who routinely treat injuries caused by guns, did not take kindly to the NRA's belittling tweet.
@NRA @PubMedCommons "Open carry ban decreases fatalities and healthcare utilization even in a state with baseline s… https://t.co/1Oqj4XuLUX— Mary L. Brandt MD (@Mary L. Brandt MD) 1541702905.0
We are not self-important: we are important to the care of others We are not anti-gun: we are anti-bullet holes in… https://t.co/FKXHNFIG5L— Esther Choo MD MPH (@Esther Choo MD MPH) 1541685825.0
@NRA Gun violence is very much our lane. And, advocating for those who have lost their lives and loved ones is our duty.— Tomas Diaz, MD (@Tomas Diaz, MD) 1541690916.0
Medical organizations quickly rose up against the NRA, denouncing the gun advocacy that brought so many new patients to their doors.
The @NRA tells doctors to "stay in their lane" re #GunViolence. We wish we could. Instead, we pledge to talk to our… https://t.co/DhrBIqbHnH— Annals of Int Med (@Annals of Int Med) 1541686650.0
The MMS will do whatever it takes to save lives. Staying in our lane will not save lives. https://t.co/eD23xVZVPG— Mass Medical Society (@Mass Medical Society) 1541724985.0
Some doctors shared harrowing stories of gun violence made possible by groups like the NRA.
@NRA Moments you always remember. Furious honking in the ambulance bay. Picking up the lifeless 12 yo from the fron… https://t.co/ZDgGtcJN4O— Dr. Howie Mell (@Dr. Howie Mell) 1541813243.0
@NRA Moments you always remember. Grandmother shot in the neck. 16 yo dead on scene. Shooter in next bay getting fu… https://t.co/FJKHaZWi3A— Dr. Howie Mell (@Dr. Howie Mell) 1541813515.0
@NRA Moments you always remember. Medics furiously doing CPR on an 8 yo. Small hole just above left eye. Best frien… https://t.co/2LwLq78o7U— Dr. Howie Mell (@Dr. Howie Mell) 1541813790.0
Physicians of all forms stepped up to speak in favor of gun control.
@DrHowieMell @NRA Hospital social worker here. The trauma of this work is real. For doctors who do everything to sa… https://t.co/PlIfyDYvuH— SJ Stodgun (@SJ Stodgun) 1541817506.0
@NRA #GunViolence in the U.S. compares to that of the most violent countries. In a 2013 article for The Atlantic, t… https://t.co/w9Cxl7DZnf— Jenny Bencardino MD (@Jenny Bencardino MD) 1541839454.0
@NRA Doctor of Physical Therapy here...my lane is helping people reclaim their lives after it’s literally been blow… https://t.co/R3iYgrJQLI— Magnolia_981 (@Magnolia_981) 1541803408.0
@NRA Ask a survivor of gun violence. Or any doctor or nurse or medical professional that deals with the fallout. Ev… https://t.co/21X2ti3mD0— Magnolia_981 (@Magnolia_981) 1541803419.0
Making fun of life-saving doctors is very rarely a good move.
@NRA Someone should tell the @NRA that slaughtered children in schools, concert goers, church members, etc is a bad… https://t.co/0RmSFUZrY4— Michael Bizzaro (@Michael Bizzaro) 1541805599.0
@HuffPost Trauma staff are intimately familiar with what gun violence does to the human body and to the families wh… https://t.co/44WNoCIBwk— Elizabeth Jeser (@Elizabeth Jeser) 1541729114.0
Could the NRA do what these doctors do?
@NRA @nra This is the chest x-ray of my 15 year old patient shot by an R.I.P. bullet, how many of those fragments c… https://t.co/mrBNsZtm5b— Ellie Curtis (@Ellie Curtis) 1541814094.0
Hey @NRA, so a 4 year old comes into the ER with a GSW to the chest, but it hasn't crossed the midline. Please inf… https://t.co/rODfrbqIjL— pachec (@pachec) 1541810929.0
Should anyone who fears further gun violence in America simply stay in their own lane?
@HuffPost Next up, "self important anti-gun" priests attempting to console the grieving will be directed to "stay in your lane" or else.— MaterialMattersLLC (@MaterialMattersLLC) 1541728006.0
I’m an animal doctor. Those poor guys have neither the right to carry nor the capacity to defend themselves from ev… https://t.co/4YGFdsqD9Q— DawgDocBrad 💊 (@DawgDocBrad 💊) 1541785326.0
Through your tears, now stop & imagine the doctors & the medical teams who gave their all to save this young man, &… https://t.co/1aXJtxqnR7— Mary H (@Mary H) 1541710173.0
At the end of the day, Twitter users seemed to realize whose lane was whose.
@thehill When the doctors have to treat dying patients due to gunshot wounds, isnt that their lane?— C.M.B. (@C.M.B.) 1541715617.0
@MSNBC And to the NRA: stay in your lane and keep your money out of politics— Karma Police (@Karma Police) 1541728951.0