Riding Shotgun With Charlie

#224

Philip Gray

NRA BOD, NRA 2.0 Candidate

 

It was a busy weekend at the Great American Outdoor Show earlier this month. I was able to film three episodes with NRA Board of Director candidates who are on the reform ticket. This is a slate of 28 people who are up to reforming the way the NRA has been conducting business and some of the shenanigans that have been going on. Everyone I talked to was excited about the future of the NRA.

 

One of the passengers I got to spend some time with was Philip Gray. He’s from Ohio and grew up shooting and hunting like so many Americans. It really was an integral part of his youth and family time. Shooting clays is still a treasured time for Philip and his family, which they do on the family farm with the kids and grandkids. His family got a land grant years ago. The family has been there with a farm  since the mid-1800’s for five generations.

 

Philip has a lifetime hunting license. I think he said it was like $2 when he got it at eight years old. And he’s been using it since he was young. He started off shooting small game and trapping. He spent 20 years working electric power as an engineer. 

 

He’s been involved with the Friends of the NRA program since 1994. Working as a field representative and climbing the ladder at NRA. Half of the funds raised by FNRA stay in the state where the money is raised. The other half helps the NRA’s many other programs. The program grew until they needed to split Ohio up into two groups. Then he was the director of the east central region. His territory was eight states with nine employees. 

 

As a field rep, he goes around to ranges and gun stores telling them the benefits of the NRA. They can lead the way with range insurance, training and safety programs, and the Eddie Eagle program. The field rep has lots of volunteers helping get the word out. Since we all have different strengths, it’s good to have a large group of people with lots of different skills. He was responsible for events in six time zones from Maine to Alaska and Hawaii.

During his time working as a field rep for NRA, he did the Wall of Guns. I was able to get the mic from a friend who was making the announcements and I tried to get some sales for Wall of Guns. The good news is the Wall of Guns has a cash option should those of us in occupied territory win and it’s not an “approved firearm.” They also take the winner’s information and send the firearm they won to their favorite and local FFL to make the transfer. Not gun show loopholes here!

 

He retired from NRA just before the 2020 virus that shall not be named. Things were changing politically and he decided it was time to get involved a bit more. He got involved with the local Republican party and joined two Senate campaigns. Recently, they voted him as the chairman of the local Republican Party. Talking with his grandson, the boy asked why he is spending so much time and money working on these things. Philip replied "If we don’t, you might not get anything that we have.”

 

We did talk about bullet voting and how that was effective in the past. But this time we need to support 28 reform candidates and vote for all of them. With these 28 people, there will be a majority of reformers and we will see some changes, but it will take time. 

 

The NRA is needed and it needs to be strong to face the anti gun crowd. This group of diverse people can and will make it happen. Some of the candidates are lawyers, some have business backgrounds, and others have political minds. 

 

I’m going to have a handful more of the NRA BOD reform candidates over the next month. Please be on the lookout for those upcoming shows. And share them with your friends. 

 

Favorite quotes:

“I had some concerns at the NRA when I left.”

“Working with the right people does pay off down the road.”

“I think the turnout, the number of people voting, is going to be a record high.”

“You should always be learning the job above you.”

“Getting the Board changed to a little different direction. And then getting started getting the members back will be the two most important things we do.”

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