Riding Shotgun With Charlie

#223

Al Hammond

NRA BOD, NRA 2.0 Candidate

 

I get to travel the country and film RSWC episodes. I take the cameras just about every time I hit the road. Recently, I went down to the NRA’s Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, Pa. On the eve of the beginning, I went to a Friends of the NRA dinner. There were several of the NRA BOD reform candidates at the dinner. I was able to connect with them and arrange to film shows over the weekend. 

 

First I had Al Hammond. He’s one of the newer board members, having only served one three-year term. However, he has worked as NRA staff for 28 years. One of the reasons he ran for the BOD is that he saw things that didn’t sit well for him while he was on staff. He wanted to make some changes and he’s with the 28 who are being billed as the ‘reformers.’

 

Al was raised in a shooting family in Florida. He’s spent much of his career and life in the agriculture business. Shooting and hunting has always been a part of his life. It’s a cultural thing for him. It’s important to him to be able to pass this on to his children and his grandchildren. 

 

Before his career with NRA, he worked for several agriculture companies and was involved in some farm co-ops. He helped conservation groups raise money, and has even testified about conservation. He had a friend who was working for the NRA and they were looking for help with the Friends of the NRA program. Al and others were involved in starting and growing the FNRA program back in 1993. He was the field representative for Florida and that position grew. Over the years, he became the regional director and ultimately, the director of field staff. 

 

The main responsibilities for a field representative are raising funds for the NRA and the foundation. Half of the money raised in the state, stays in the state for programs for the youth programs, grants for ranges, training, and the shooting sports. They also end up being a liaison between the NRA HQ and the members in the area. 

 

The Florida permit comes up in the conversation. I’m a Utah instructor. I tell him the Utah permit is cheaper than Florida, but he retorts that it’s good for 7 years. Which leads into why we need to have national reciprocity. Let’s hope this can get passed before 2028! It should be possible with 29 states that have Constitutional/permitless carry. It would make things much easier for someone like me who carries on most of my adventures. 

 

We talk about how passing this on to future generations is important. He wants to make sure that his grandkids are able to go shooting. I talked about going to the library and getting the Eddie Eagle video on VHS and watching it with my children. It’s important for children to learn firearm safety, not just because you have firearms. But because they could go into the home of a friend who doesn’t keep their guns locked up. There could very easily be an accident if they don’t know the simple Eddie Eagle rules. 

 

The whole weekend when I would talk with those on the ballot as reformers, they emphasised that the NRA needs to get back to their roots, which is education, training, and competition. They all talked about gaining back the trust of the members and growing the membership. They want to get past the legal hurdles they’ve gone through with the New York Attorney General and build and expand on the fundamentals of what the NRA was. 

The number of gun owners vs the number of NRA members is vastly different. Some say there’s 100 million gun owners but only about 4 million NRA members. There can be an NRA member who has family members who align with the same beliefs and even votes like the NRA member. The latter may not be a dues paying member, but they consider themselves as part of the NRA. 

 

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 saw some things that just didn’t sit with me as well as they should have, for the organization.”

“We don’t advocate everyone should own a firearm. We advocate they should have the right to choose. And if you choose to own a firearm, we want to make you a responsible firearms owner.”

“We were built on education, training, and safety.”

“It wasn’t a job for me; it was a lifestyle.”

“We believe in what we’re doing.”

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