Major NRA donor to lead rebellion gunning for ‘radioactive’ leader Wayne LaPierre

Even as the National Rifle Association (NRA) has been consumed by relentless and increasingly public infighting, Wayne LaPierre has maintained a firm grip on its leadership. Now one of the gun group’s major benefactors says he is preparing to lead an insurgency among wealthy contributors to oust Mr LaPierre as chief executive, along with his senior leadership team. Such a rebellion would represent a troublesome new threat to Mr LaPierre, as his organisation’s finances and vaunted political machine are being strained amid a host of legal battles, most notably the New York attorney general’s investigation into its tax-exempt status. David Dell’Aquila, the restive donor, said the NRA’s internal warfare “has become a daily soap opera, and it’s decaying and destroying the NRA from within, and it needs to stop”. He added, “Even if these allegations regarding Mr LaPierre and his leadership are false, he has become radioactive and must step down.” Until that happens, Mr Dell’Aquila, a retired technology consultant who has given roughly $100,000 (£80,000) to the NRA in cash and gifts, said he would suspend donations — including his pledge of the bulk of an estate worth several million dollars. He said he was among a network of wealthy NRA donors who would cumulatively withhold more than $134 million (£106 million) in pledges, much of it earmarked years in advance through estate planning, and would soon give the gun group’s board a list of demands for reform. That figure could not be verified, however, and Mr Dell’Aquila declined to provide a list of the other donors, who he said were not ready to go public. But a second prominent donor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is a senior firearms industry executive, said he was also suspending a plan to give more than $2 million (£1.6 million) from his estate, as well as halting other donations, and was backing Mr Dell’Aquila’s effort. “The donors are rebelling,” the executive said, adding that he believed that the leadership turmoil was “helping to destroy, temporarily, the strength of the NRA as one of the strongest lobbying groups”. The extent of any rebellion is difficult to discern, and the NRA insisted it still had the firm backing of its donor base. Mr LaPierre has also retained the support of the NRA’s 76-member board, with fewer than a handful of public defections, and it would take a three-fourths vote by the board and one of its committees to oust him...MORE