NMLRA fighting

[BP Addict]

My local gun club, the BOD votes on the president. I call BS to that. But whatever.

Looks like you need to suggest a By-Law change. As far as I know, any member unless yours prohibits that. If you do, you need to get a bunch of folks to attend that meeting and make sure the change happens.

Walt

 

[JCKelly]

Only been to one NMLRA national - 50 years ago, always wanted to go back. Rejoined last year, but honestly, $50 annual dues is a killer for me (and a lot of other folks). I've a few Muzzle Blasts from the 60's - smaller, black and white, devoted to membership doin's with practical articles/history/etc. Still enjoy reading them.

The new magazine is, IMHO, way overdone and costly. I'd rather see an increase in membership (future of our passion) with lower dues than a full color fancy one with stories of some rich swell's hunting trip. While we're still physically able, I want to go to Friendship at least once more.

Haven't read it myself, but heard that a few months back the Experts at the new mag said it was OK to load with a space between powder and ball. This because their Experts could not get anything bad to happen. Yes, a gap does not always cause the barrel to fail but it has been a known problem since Brown Bess days.

 

[CrowRoad]

Unfortunately, this is about what I expected to hear. Entrenched leadership, unwilling to change, missing using funds, and hiding behind old bylaws.

I have been a CMP shooter for many years, and have always appreciated how that organization was run. The Small Arms Firing Schools that they put on allow any new shooter (no matter experience level) to show up at a match without any equipment and get training, barrow equipment, and by the end of the weekend you are shooting in a match. Imagine how many new members NMLRA could get if they did something similar.

 

[FishDFly]

The latest attempt at cost savings is sending out an e-mail telling you that your dues are due and to go on line and send in your dues via the internet. I understand cost savings, but I do not put out my credit card on the .www.

Send me a bill and I will pay it, have for over 30 years.

 

[BP Addict]

I’ve been a member for quite a while now. Started in the 80s. I’ve belonged to several gun clubs. You never know the politics that goes on until you go to a meeting. My local one isn’t bad and everyone seems to get along. While President of a ML club south of me, I was obliged to attend the meeting for the Sponsoring Range and only went once. That night, both the President and the Safety Committee Director resigned. The Treasurer said she wouldn’t serve another year. It makes you appreciate the old saying “Ignorance is Bliss”.

I live on the West Coast and have never been to an NMLRA sanctioned event. Friendship is still on my Bucket List. I do not vote in the annual elections as I don’t know any of the candidates or their qualifications.

I am a Field Representative who is always wondering if belonging to a National Organization might be the way to organize the independent clubs and bring our numbers up. I‘ve heard from clubs in my state that there was a NMLRA Sponsored Rendezvous here and apparently it didn’t turn out well. They blamed the NMLRA. We lost many Charters and individual members as a result.

I was shocked when I received an email from someone I don’t know about the President’s Message in the magazine. How she got my email address, I don’t know. It must have been from the Field Rep page. I reread the Text and didn’t see anything wrong with what he said. There was nothing in it that made me say “That’s not right”.

I’m currently President of two clubs; one ML and one Prospecting. Sometimes playing musical chairs with Board members is a way to keep the power between a select group of individuals. More often it’s due to lack of volunteers. Everybody wants to belong but nobody wants to help run it.

Walt

 

[Tanglefoot]

Just an add-on to what Flinter 2 said: I was an NMLRA member for boo-coo years also. Then in `93 I was a Dog Soldier for the Western. Jim O'Meara was the Head Dog that year, which he said officially made him the "biggest SOB in camp." The NMLRA sent a group of HQ personnel from Friendship to the Western National on the Uncompaghre PLateau in western Colorado, threatened to "fire the Booshway and all his people and replace them with our own crew if they don't conform to NMLRA rules," take over the running of the rendezvous. Then they announced that a paid-up dues card to their organization was required to vote in the camp election for future Booshways, normally elected for 2 years in advance. I had sent in my renewal in January. This was in July, and I still had not gotten my new card and said so. The individual who was designated NMLRA Director of Primitive Affairs or some such went by the name "Lizard" and he was there when this happened. His response to my statement was "No card, no vote. If you've got a problem with that, write a letter to NMLRA Headquarters after the rendezvous." I won't repeat here what I said to him, but I tore up my (already expired) membership card and haven't had anything to do with them since, excepting to help out one of the NMLRA former Presidents to prepare a book titled "The History of the NMLRA" which was not politically inspired. I was later told by the New Hampshire State Rep for the NMLRA that Lizard and his team tried a similar maneuver there, with similar results (Our Booshway explained that the camp rules were voted on by the attendees, not established by the NMLRA, and if that was not satisfactory they could "pack their gear and get off his mountain." Just as a footnote, when I got back to Texas after that `93 doin's, I wrote to Friendship and asked for my dues money back and never got it. Never got that new card, either.
There floats my stick.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Most service clubs and others are having problems coping with the modern age and technology compared to the good old boy way that was good for so many years. There are gov't regulations now, inspections, fees and costs. The old out house with a couple loose floor boards is now a major problem. In order to run a raffle to raise money, many states now have complicated regulations and licenses to regulate "small games of chance" There are government and IRS annual filings and running such clubs has become a business with all it's ugliness. Some members want valet parking and others do not want to pay for gravel for the washed out driveway.. Directors and executives need to be political and try to please both groups without angering both. I was an advicor to a small vacation community. 38 lots total. Road maintenance fees were $15.00 a year per lot and that was not enough to replace the stone that washed out every year. When I suggested raising the road fee to $20 a year, you would have though I stabbed some of them. A Year after I quite one of the most vocal opponents of the road maintenance had a heart attack and the ambulance could not get back to his cabin, because there was no money to plow the snow. He lived and now the annual road fee is up to $115 and the road gets plowed when the snow is over 10 inches.

 

[Boston Bill]

Looks like you need to suggest a By-Law change. As far as I know, any member unless yours prohibits that. If you do, you need to get a bunch of folks to attend that meeting and make sure the change happens.

Walt

I've been told that has been tried and has gone down in flames!

 

[PathfinderNC]

Well it sure sounds like a royal mess.

 

[Alan O]

I wish I'd known all this before I joined a few months ago...!

 

[FishDFly]

There are some great folks if you ever get to go to Friendship.

The folks that I know do not participate in the politics.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

There are some great folks if you ever get to go to Friendship.

The folks that I know do not participate in the politics.

And that is part of the problem. people join for the benefits and programs and let the drudgery of "business" to the same old few. My Lion's Club has a rotation and every one serves their turn as director, President, etc. I have been through the rotation as has every one else. I will be President again in three years. Each member gets to experience the hassles of management of meetings and programs. Meetings are less arguments and whining as a result.

 

[FishDFly]

With the way your Club is run, you get an influx of new blood and ideas which is great. Unfortunately that is not happening in the NMLRA Board.

With the way the bylaws are written it is difficult to get on the ballot and then elected.

 

[oldhunter1954]

I wish I'd known all this before I joined a few months ago...!

I joined last year. I don't regret it one bit. I spent 3 days in Friendship last June for the National matches. Fun place, great people and so many vendors on commercial row.

 

[fleener]

Let me provide some comments.

I am a relatively new NMLRA member compared to quite a few. I live in Iowa and it is an 18 hour round trip drive for me to Friendship, IN.. Been going to F’ship for 15 years or so and became a life member a few years back.

Trips to F’ship were always for just for a few days during the June Nationals and when it worked one or both of my boys would come with me.

A couple of years ago I retired after 33 years and went to work for myself. So, without having to worry about vacation time and having a little more free time I was looking forward to coming to F’ship more often and staying longer.

A couple of years ago I was asked if I would consider filling a two year board position that had been vacated. My two years were up and I decide to run for a full 3 year term on the board. I ran in the recent election for the board and was elected. Running for the board was not difficult. 25 members to sign your petition gets your name on the ballot, write a little blurb that gets published in the magazine on why members should vote for you.

Just like in any organization you have those that typically fit into one of the below categories.

• Work, volunteer and complain
• Work, volunteer and not complain
• Just complain about those that work and the organization and not volunteer
• Don’t work or complain

About half of the board of directors are what I would consider relatively new board members. Yes, there are people on the board that have been there quite a while.

With 21 people on the board not everyone has the same opinion.

At my second board meeting in 2019 I agreed to Chair the committee that pursued and received what ended up as $1.2M grant from the Pittman Robertson (PR) Grant program. It is a 90/10 grant, with 90% of the funds coming from the federal government and 10% match from the NMLRA. Pittman Robertson act collects a tax on sporting goods from the wholesaler. That money is then used for various things to promote and support shooting, fishing, camping etc. You have been paying into that for years and most likely never knew it.

The NMLRA has the 10% match sitting in an account ready to go.

Regarding the ADA compliant bathrooms, tomorrow September 02 the bids are due for two ADA complaint bathrooms and other range improvements that the PR money will help pay for.

On this project the committee has been working very hard for over a year to get to this point.

The negative comments that you have seen or heard on line regarding board members or President I would suggest that you simply do not take them at face value.

Those that are doing the most complaining and stirring the pot, ask them specifically what they have done to help the NMLRA in a positive fashion and compare it to what the people have done that they are complaining about.

Actions speak loader then words.



Art Fleener

Secretary NMLRA

 

[springfield art]

I've seen more than a few organizations with entrenched leadership, unconcerned about or unable to manage a large business and fulfill their responsibilities.
Not necessarily bad intent (except perhaps the current NRA millionaire leadership), but with poor results.
Sort of like Congress.

NRA leadership is dragging the NRA down; no one human individual is necessary to the success of any political or lobbying organization. People grow old and die, the universal truth. Like politicians that are re-elected until they die of old age, the NRA could find someone with new ideas to lead it. Most of the members buy their own clothes; I don't want to pay for Pierre's suits, I can't afford designer suits of my own.

 

[springfield art]

Only been to one NMLRA national - 50 years ago, always wanted to go back. Rejoined last year, but honestly, $50 annual dues is a killer for me (and a lot of other folks). I've a few Muzzle Blasts from the 60's - smaller, black and white, devoted to membership doin's with practical articles/history/etc. Still enjoy reading them.

The new magazine is, IMHO, way overdone and costly. I'd rather see an increase in membership (future of our passion) with lower dues than a full color fancy one with stories of some rich swell's hunting trip. While we're still physically able, I want to go to Friendship at least once more.

If you look at the cost of printed newspapers and periodicals today, $50 for 12 issues of an informative interesting magazine is not out of line. The days when people demanded a tiny, B&W, graphically-dull pamphlet are long gone. Daily newspapers average around $3 per day!

 

[springfield art]

Let me provide some comments.

I am a relatively new NMLRA member compared to quite a few. I live in Iowa and it is an 18 hour round trip drive for me to Friendship, IN.. Been going to F’ship for 15 years or so and became a life member a few years back.

Trips to F’ship were always for just for a few days during the June Nationals and when it worked one or both of my boys would come with me.

A couple of years ago I retired after 33 years and went to work for myself. So, without having to worry about vacation time and having a little more free time I was looking forward to coming to F’ship more often and staying longer.

A couple of years ago I was asked if I would consider filling a two year board position that had been vacated. My two years were up and I decide to run for a full 3 year term on the board. I ran in the recent election for the board and was elected. Running for the board was not difficult. 25 members to sign your petition gets your name on the ballot, write a little blurb that gets published in the magazine on why members should vote for you.

Just like in any organization you have those that typically fit into one of the below categories.

• Work, volunteer and complain
• Work, volunteer and not complain
• Just complain about those that work and the organization and not volunteer
• Don’t work or complain

About half of the board of directors are what I would consider relatively new board members. Yes, there are people on the board that have been there quite a while.

With 21 people on the board not everyone has the same opinion.

At my second board meeting in 2019 I agreed to Chair the committee that pursued and received what ended up as $1.2M grant from the Pittman Robertson (PR) Grant program. It is a 90/10 grant, with 90% of the funds coming from the federal government and 10% match from the NMLRA. Pittman Robertson act collects a tax on sporting goods from the wholesaler. That money is then used for various things to promote and support shooting, fishing, camping etc. You have been paying into that for years and most likely never knew it.

The NMLRA has the 10% match sitting in an account ready to go.

Regarding the ADA compliant bathrooms, tomorrow September 02 the bids are due for two ADA complaint bathrooms and other range improvements that the PR money will help pay for.

On this project the committee has been working very hard for over a year to get to this point.

The negative comments that you have seen or heard on line regarding board members or President I would suggest that you simply do not take them at face value.

Those that are doing the most complaining and stirring the pot, ask them specifically what they have done to help the NMLRA in a positive fashion and compare it to what the people have done that they are complaining about.

Actions speak loader then words.



Art Fleener

Secretary NMLRA

Kudos!

 

[Bucolic Buffalo]

Biggest reason I joined the NMLRA was the big glossy magazine. And I know, that in these modern times that expense will one day become to much. And we will all have to read Muzzle Blasts online.

For you older members there is discounted rates of membership.

I do read all the little blurbs of those running for the board, and vote. Sure as heck I do not want to be on the board.

I do not know nothing about regional head butting over whatever it is. Only real complaints I have heard, is Friendship's location. Unless you are willing to drive, there is little in the way of motels and places to eat close. Not everyone wants to rough it. As pretty as the area is, driving Rt62 often can really suck. At least the parts I have been on do.

 

[duca]

I stop my membership years ago just for the fact that everything seems to happen out west and they don’t have anything going on in the East here. How about a friendship over here on the East Coast so the members here could take a vantage. Oh well just my two cents.