Kansas Crimson

This is getting really interesting.

Ackerman McQueen is biting the hand that feeds it. The longtime PR firm for the National Rifle Association is counter-suing the gun group for a staggering $100 million, alleging the NRA is dishonestly attempting to sever business ties — for the benefit of the gun group’s top-dollar legal firm.

The PR firm’s suit was filed Thursday in Virginia state court, just a day after the NRA sued Ackerman McQueen for $40 million, accusing the firm of “fomenting” an attempted coup and leaking confidential documents. The counterclaim sheds new light on the power struggle that has roiled the gun world. And it helps explain why the NRA’s outside counsel has been drawn into the firefight. (For more detailed background on the turmoil read “WTF Is Happening at the NRA, Explained.”)


https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/p ... on-839628/

An explanation of the various players in the current NRA Saga, As the Gun World Turns.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/p ... er-830567/

Avarice and lust for power on a stick:

Newtown massacre divided NRA leaders, foreshadowing split to come

Twenty young children had just been gunned down by a semiautomatic rifle in their classrooms in Newtown, Conn., in December 2012, and inside the hardened bunker of the National Rifle Association, rattled officials were wrestling with rare feelings of self-doubt.

In the past, the gun rights organization had responded to mass shootings with unapologetic, high-profile attacks on any attempt to restrict firearms. But several senior NRA officials — laid low by images of sobbing parents planning their children’s funerals rather than tucking presents under Christmas trees — thought the organization should take a less confrontational approach this time, according to multiple people familiar with the internal debate.

Over the objections of some top officials, however, NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre struck a defiant posture. In fiery public appearances crafted by the organization’s longtime advertising firm Ackerman McQueen, LaPierre announced that the group would create a model program to train armed security guards who could protect schools from shooters, saying that was the only measure that would keep children safe.

Then LaPierre and his wife left for the Bahamas, a trip they billed through Ackerman McQueen — and was ultimately paid for by the nonprofit organization. Their post-Christmas flights to and from Eleuthera, known for its pink beaches, cost the NRA nearly $70,000, according to internal documents and people familiar with the trip.

New details about how the NRA handled the tumultuous moment show how Sandy Hook —one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history — divided the leadership of the powerful gun rights organization. The episode also showcased the symbiotic relationship between LaPierre and Ackerman McQueen, an alliance that defined the powerful gun rights group for more than three decades, several former officials said.

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