Guno צְבִי
We fight, We win, Am Yisrael Chai
Powell described himself as a "huge Second Amendment supporter" with a sizable gun collection and a lifelong passion for hunting and shooting. As the NRA's "No. 2 guy," he said he "worked side by side" with LaPierre over several years. An NRA spokesperson, in a statement, said that Powell "had zero input or influence on the NRA's political or legislative strategy," but Powell says he was involved in "every single important conversation that went on in the NRA."
But he became disillusioned with the organization and LaPierre's leadership, he said, as LaPierre's alleged misuse of members' money came into focus. Powell says his work became "soul-sucking," and he now considers it a "low point in [his] life."
In his forthcoming book "Inside the NRA: A Tell-All Account of Corruption, Greed, and Paranoia Within the Most Powerful Political Group in America," Powell's portrayal of LaPierre, who Powell says he once "look[ed] up to," is particularly stark.
"I think the biggest transgression of the NRA under Wayne was that he turned the NRA into an organization of 'No,' in response to any effort to quell gun violence. He helped to create and fuel the toxicity of the gun debate over the years, until it became outright explosive," Powell writes. "Wayne in essence bowed to the most militant and extreme faction of the NRA's five million members. Whenever the organization fell short in its funding drives, Wayne would 'pour gasoline on the fire' to ignite donations. And that strategy worked, time and again."
And he condemned the hypocrisy that he said funded LaPierre's lifestyle.
"In spite of Wayne's attempts to paint the other side as the 'Elites,' he himself was the epitome of elitism," Powell writes, "robbing every $45-dues-paying member to cover the costs of his own extravagance and his shameful mismanagement of a multi-hundred-million-dollar association."
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/nra-insider-speaks-gun-owners-horrified/story?id=72797290
But he became disillusioned with the organization and LaPierre's leadership, he said, as LaPierre's alleged misuse of members' money came into focus. Powell says his work became "soul-sucking," and he now considers it a "low point in [his] life."
In his forthcoming book "Inside the NRA: A Tell-All Account of Corruption, Greed, and Paranoia Within the Most Powerful Political Group in America," Powell's portrayal of LaPierre, who Powell says he once "look[ed] up to," is particularly stark.
"I think the biggest transgression of the NRA under Wayne was that he turned the NRA into an organization of 'No,' in response to any effort to quell gun violence. He helped to create and fuel the toxicity of the gun debate over the years, until it became outright explosive," Powell writes. "Wayne in essence bowed to the most militant and extreme faction of the NRA's five million members. Whenever the organization fell short in its funding drives, Wayne would 'pour gasoline on the fire' to ignite donations. And that strategy worked, time and again."
And he condemned the hypocrisy that he said funded LaPierre's lifestyle.
"In spite of Wayne's attempts to paint the other side as the 'Elites,' he himself was the epitome of elitism," Powell writes, "robbing every $45-dues-paying member to cover the costs of his own extravagance and his shameful mismanagement of a multi-hundred-million-dollar association."
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/nra-insider-speaks-gun-owners-horrified/story?id=72797290
