Chris Cox has resigned from the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action.
By Dave Workman
Senior Editor
Chris Cox, who served as the National Rifle Association’s chief lobbyist at the helm of the organization’s Institute for Legislative Action, has resigned from that post just days after it was announced he had been suspended.
The announcement has caused tremors across the firearms community, and the website “No Lawyers, Only Guns and Money” posted a copy of an email apparently sent to all NRA employees Wednesday morning by Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre. In the email message, LaPierre thanks Cox for his service to the association “and for his efforts to advocate for the Second Amendment.” Cox has been head of ILA since 2002 and had worked at NRA for almost a quarter-century.
LaPierre has been under fire for weeks over allegations of lavish spending that surfaced in the midst of an investigation launched by New York Attorney General Letitia James in late April. NRA is incorporated in New York State. The association has also been under the media microscope for weeks.
The announcement came following an announcement that NRA had essentially shut down NRA-TV, one more sign of the tumult that seems to have gripped the 5-million-member organization, at least according to published reports and social media. Cox had been placed on administrative leave about a week prior to his resignation, allegedly because he had been involved in an alleged “coup” attempt involving former NRA President Oliver North that erupted during the NRA’s annual meetings and exhibits in Indianapolis in April.
Cox energetically denied the assertions, but he has made no other public statement. He called the allegations “offensive and patently false.”
North left the April convention abruptly on the first evening, after allegedly trying to oust LaPierre. The NRA Board of Directors re-elected LaPierre to the post of EVP the following Monday, but in between there was a raucous members’ meeting that has been followed by weeks of apparent infighting within the larger gun rights community over leadership of the association.
Earlier this year, NRA filed a lawsuit against its longtime public relations firm, Ackerman McQueen, which subsequently counter-sued. The fallout from this battle could imperil the ability of gun owners to present a united front politically during legislative sessions and next year’s election cycles at the state and federal levels, many activists fear.
Cox’s departure comes at a time that gun owners across the country are just beginning to prepare for what promises to be a volatile national election campaign season in 2020. Donald Trump, who has appointed scores of conservative federal judges and two conservative associate justices to the Supreme Court, has been under attack from the moment he declared victory on election night in 2016.
There have been some signs that the media is delighting in the drama, and anti-gun-rights organizations have been capitalizing on the turmoil.
As for shutting down NRA-TV, LaPierre posted a message on NRA’s website to its members. Here is the text of that message:
“As many of you may know, we have been evaluating if our investment in NRATV is generating the benefits needed. This consideration included the return on investment and the cost and the direction of the content. Many members expressed concern about the messaging on NRATV becoming too far removed from our core mission: defending the Second Amendment.
“So, after careful consideration, I am announcing that starting today, we are undergoing a significant change in our communications strategy. We are no longer airing ‘live TV’ programming. Whether and when we return to ‘live’ programming is a subject of ongoing analysis.
“The NRA will continue and improve our service on social media channels and our flagship website, www.nra.org – your trusted resource of information. Our many web sites will continue to showcase new and archived videos, as we reorganize much of this information in a way that better serves our key audiences.
“What necessitated the change now is our conclusion that our longtime advertising firm and website vendor failed to deliver upon many contractual obligations it made to our Association. The NRA will always hold our vendors to high standards and ask that they maximize their value to the Association. No exceptions.
“Looking ahead, you can expect great things from your NRA. We will energize our messaging strategy, become more cost efficient, and promote the NRA’s singular focus like never before. Simply put, our messaging strategy will advance the NRA’s core mission: to serve our members and fight for our Second Amendment.”
