American radical firearms advocate Wayne LaPierre will resign as director of the American gun lobby group NRA at the end of January. Various American media reported this on Friday. LaPierre (74) himself says that he is leaving for health reasons, but the American newspapers The New York Times and Wall Street Journal point to a series of lawsuits against him as the reason for his departure. He is accused of corruption and is threatened with being removed from office by the New York prosecutor. He also faces large fines.
LaPierre has been the director of the NRA since 1991. The lobby group has millions of members, whom it knows how to mobilize to influence political decision-making regarding gun legislation, including through demonstrations and television commercials. Under LaPierre’s leadership, the NRA has become a major force in the United States, especially because Republican candidates want political support from the club. After major shootings in schools and elsewhere, LaPierre and the NRA have consistently advocated for more guns on the streets in recent years, as opposed to fewer.
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Coup attempt
In 2019, LaPierre became embroiled in a power struggle with another prominent NRA figure, Oliver North, a deeply conservative politician who was chairman of the NRA at the time. North accused LaPierre of using NRA money for personal expenses. North’s coup failed, but according to The Times and Wall Street Journal has brought LaPierre’s power struggle to the attention of the New York State Attorney General.
Prosecutors say LaPierre spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in NRA funds on private jet flights for him and his family and yacht vacations in the Bahamas. He also received gifts from arms sellers. Since the investigation began, he has already returned almost a million dollars (900,000 euros) to the NRA.
The NRA’s revenues and membership have taken a hit, partly due to the controversy surrounding LaPierre. In 2022, the interest group had a turnover of 192 million euros, 40 percent less than in 2018. Six years ago the NRA still had almost 6 million members, today there are still 4.2 million members.
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