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                              Online Report
                                  to the
                   F I R E A R M S   C O A L I T I O N
                    Box 6537, Silver Spring, MD 20916 
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February 12, 1998        http://www.NealKnox.com         Vol. 5, No. 2
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     See last page for subscription and administrative information.
In this issue:
   Special Report:  Injunction Issued in NRA Election Lawsuit
   Shotgun News Columns
      Unlikely 'George' Byline – Neal Gets Between Slick Covers
      NRA Directorate Purge On – Get Set For Rough BOD Elections
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A Note from Chris
     What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will 
     be done; and there is nothing new under the sun.
           Ecclesiastes
     The NRA Board election will be heating up over the next couple of 
months.  This election promises to be even more rancorous and mean-
spirited than the last.  One thing will, however be missing.  You will 
not see any notice in the magazine or on the ballot telling whether a 
candidate was nominated by petition or by the management-stacked 
Nominating Committee.
     According to Article VIII Sec. 3(e) of the NRA Bylaws, "In both 
the official journal and on the official ballot, no persons nominated by 
petition nor by the Nominating Committee shall be so designated."  
     The bylaw is in boldface italics, indicating that this provision cannot 
be changed by the Board, but only by a vote of the membership.
     A history lesson is in order here.  Prior to 1977, the Nominating
Committee named exactly enough candidates to fill each vacancy,
usually 25.  A ballot had 25 names with 25 check boxes to fill 25
slots.  In token observance of New York not-for-profit Corporation
law, the back of the old ballot held some blank lines for write-in
candidates.  The Nominating Committee was the only path to the
ballot.  There was no provision for nomination by petition of the 
members.  
     As part of the 1977 "Cincinnati reforms," nomination by petition
was instituted.  But the "Old Guard" still resisted, painting
its candidates as mainstream and those nominated by petition as
members of a dissident minority (which they were), far out of step
with the average member (which they were not).  Ballots during this
period carried the notation that the candidate had been nominated
by the Nominating Committee on the ballot itself.  Biographies of
candidates also mentioned the method of nomination.
     After a while it became clear that the Nominating Committee's
endorsement was a significant advantage, according to the vote
totals.  Members who did not follow the issues but who disliked
all the discord simply went with the majority's decision hoping
everything would smooth over.
     And that is why in bold italics, the NRA bylaws prohibit noting the 
source of a nomination in the magazine or on the ballot.  It is a 
redress to correct past abuses.  NRA management has a record of using 
the Nominating Committee and other corporate resources to "perpetuate 
itself in office" in the words of another New York judge who issued a 
ruling against NRA in another suit brought by an NRA member in the late 
1970's.
     The rule was unobserved and unenforced for several years.  My
brother Jeff called attention to it on the floor of the Seattle
NRA convention in 1985 but was slapped down by the chair.  Last
month Howard Fezell filed suit to enforce the neglected bylaw.
Which leads us to the following special report.
     Chris BeHanna has circulated a report on the Internet along
with a copy of the opinion.  I have included it in the BeHanna
Postings section of the Knox Associates/Firearms Coalition web
site.  Point your browser at http://www.NealKnox.com for the full
opinion, plus a copy of the complete telephone log from which the
following report was lifted.  You might also stop by Howard Fezell's
site at http://www.2ndAmendment.net.
     I've also loaded a fresh phone log for the mail monster.  Send a 
note to
                  phonelog@NealKnox.com
to get the latest.  I will also be archiving the logs on the web site.
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Special Report:  Injunction Issued in NRA Election Lawsuit
February 11 
     This morning The Washington Times broke the story that a New 
York Supreme Court has ordered NRA to follow its Bylaws and not 
publish the means by which this year's board candidates were 
nominated.
     In a nine-page written opinion handed down last Friday the 
court said the Bylaw prohibiting publication "says what it says in
very unambiguous terms."  Nevertheless, Monday NRA outside counsel
Steve Shulman again argued the case before the same judge, and the
case is under appeal. 
     The judge ruled that publication of the method of nomination
by NRA, a New York corporation, would be a "breach of fiduciary
duty by the present NRA Board ... by impeding plaintiffs' right to
a fair corporate election."
     That may have saved NRA the embarrassment and expense of
having the election overturned, as the courts overturned the
Teamster's election.  
     The bylaw enforced by the New York court, Art. VIII, Sec.
3(e), "was intended to prevent the Board from perpetuating itself
through the Nominating Committee it elects," according to Joe
Tartaro.  He was chairman of the Federation For NRA in 1979 when
that group drafted and passed that bylaw, which was designed to
assure a level playing ground for all director nominees.
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