The National Rifle Association's (NRA) board of directors voted to re-elect Wayne LaPierre as its CEO at the group's annual meeting in Houston on Monday. The convention was organized at a time when many across the country are voicing their frustrations on stricter gun control laws as mass shooting incidents keep rising.
Former Republican Congressman Allen West was defeated in a 54-1 vote against LaPierre as the only board member to vote for him was a Kansas judge, Phil Journey. As per Bloomberg reports, West had plans to fight and eliminate the "corruption, cronyism and nepotism" culture from the organization.
According to the firearm group, the vote was preceded by a "resolution overwhelmingly passed by NRA members" which declares support "past, present and future" for LaPierre. Charles Cotton was re-elected as board president with Willes K. Lee for first vice president and David Coy for vice president.
The CEO has had a controversial run as the NRA's leader since 1991 because the organization has always displayed a firm resistance to stricter gun control laws. In light of the current situation in Uvalde, many republican politicians refused to attend the NRA's annual meeting this year and several gun control supporters also called for cancelling the event, as per Forbes report.
The three-day convention was organized almost 280 miles from the elementary school in Uvalde where the 19 children were massacred and just 10 days after the Buffalo market shootings.
LaPierre has previously been criticized heavily for his comments on the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, where he said "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."
He was also involved in financial misconduct with other NRA executives for overspending to fund their lavish lifestyles. A New York Attorney General Letitia James sued to disband the organization in 2020 on the same misconduct charges which included, a trip to the Bahamas, safaris in Africa, and expensive gifts to name a few, NY Post reported.
Unfortunately, her claim was dismissed by the Manhattan Supreme Court with suggestions of reforming the organization. "The complaint does not allege the type of public harm that is the legal linchpin for imposing 'corporate death penalty'," the decision read.
To save their own skin, the organization had pinned the blame onto Ackerman McQueen, an ad agency for billing disputes and other 'improprieties' with a series of lawsuits that was settled earlier this year.
The NRA had also attempted to declare bankruptcy last year so as to reincorporate in Texas instead of New York, but the case was dismissed as James argued it was a calculated decision of the NRA executives to avoid her office's lawsuit, as 14 of her claims had received green light from New York's jurisdiction.
