brownell pete gun

=<div>suddenly quit aFTER TRIP WHY?</div><div>
</div><div></div><div><div>=</div><div>cf trms email says trip to give conduit to djt</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/02/leaked-documents-incriminate-gop-russia-ties-with-nra-as-a-common-denominator/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/02/leaked-documents-incriminate-gop-russia-ties-with-nra-as-a-common-denominator/</a></div><div>
</div><div>Leaked emails obtained by several news outlets contradict the NRA’s denials that it had nothing to do with its members traveling to Moscow to meet top Russian officials on a 2015 trip organized by admitted Russian agent Maria Butina.<div class="p1_21" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />Butina, who recently <a href="https://www.salon.com/2018/12/12/maria-butinas-boyfriend-claimed-he-set-up-trump-russia-nra-conduit-as-campaign-funds-flowed/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">pleaded guilty</a> to federal conspiracy charges after she was accused of working as a Russian agent to infiltrate conservative circles, organized a 2015 trip to Moscow for top NRA officials. While there, they met with Russia’s then-foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, and other prominent figures as part of an apparent Russian campaign to gain influence with American conservatives.<div class="advertisement " style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="teadsNative" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></div>Several NRA officials told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/28/us/nra-russia-maria-butina-investigations.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">the New York Times</a> on Monday that NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre “was opposed to the trip” and ordered members not to go. “Given Mr. LaPierre’s power within the organization, it is unclear how such a trip would have proceeded at all despite his opposition to it,” the Times noted.<div class="p3_21" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />ABC News <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/nra-2015-moscow-trip-wasnt-official-emails-photos/story?id=60715741&cid=social_twitter_abcn" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">reported</a> that internal NRA documents and emails, as well as photos on social media, appear to show that the NRA “was significantly involved in planning” the trip.<div class="p4_21" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />Among those who went on the trip was former NRA president David Keene.<div class="p5_21" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />An email obtained by <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/nra-heavyweight-wanted-access-to-putin-leaked-email?via=twitter_page" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">the Daily Beast</a> written by Paul Erickson, Butina’s boyfriend and longtime Republican operative, said that Russian Central Bank official and Butina’s handler Alexandr Torshin offered Keene, who was also a columnist for the Washington Times, an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin.<div class="p6_21" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /> “[I]mpressing the NRA’s Russian hosts is also the quickest way to secure a private interview with President Putin on behalf of David Keene and the Washington Times — a plum that was dangled in front of Keene by Torshin himself during a recent Torshin visit to Washington, DC,” Erickson, wrote according to the Daily Beast. “High stakes all around.”<div class="p7_21" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />Erickson’s email also said that the trip could ease tensions between the U.S. and Russia and pave the way for relations with a future Republican president.<div class="p8_21" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />“As we discussed over lunch in Iowa, Russia believes that high level contacts with the NRA might be the BEST means of neutral introduction to either the next American President OR to a meaningful re-set in relations with the Congress under a (God forbid) President Clinton,” he wrote. “This simple good will trip would have enormous diplomatic consequences for a future U.S. / Russia bilateral relationship to the world.”<div class="p9_21" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />The emails show that Keene played a large part in organizing the trip with Butina, and was angry when another NRA official dropped out of the trip, putting Keene’s plans in jeopardy. Despite LaPierre’s claims, the NRA paid for Keene’s travel expenses, at least, and also bought official NRA “gifts” for the Russian delegation, according to the Times.<div class="p10_21" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />Among the members who accompanied Keene were Joseph Gregory, co-chair of the NRA’s Golden Ring of Freedom, a group for donors of $1 million or more; and Pete Brownell, the group’s vice president, who later became its president. Brownell also paid for former Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke, an NRA member, to go on the trip.Brownell later abruptly resigned from the NRA.<div class="p11_21" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who is leading at least four investigations into the NRA’s ties to Russia, told ABC News that “it’s not credible for the NRA to claim that they played no official role in the 2015 Moscow trip.”<div class="p12_21" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />“Americans would rightly be outraged if they learned that officers of a powerful, taxpayer-subsidized organization were offered personal incentives by the Kremlin in exchange for access to elite Republican circles,” Wyden later told The Daily Beast. “That question is right at the heart of my inquiry.”<div class="p13_21" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />After the meeting, Butina <a href="https://www.salon.com/2018/12/12/maria-butinas-boyfriend-claimed-he-set-up-trump-russia-nra-conduit-as-campaign-funds-flowed/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">wrote to Torshin about</a> the successful trip she organized.<div class="p14_21" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />“We should let them express their gratitude now, we will put pressure on them quietly later,” she wrote.<div class="p15_21" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />Around the same time, Erickson <a href="https://www.salon.com/2018/12/12/maria-butinas-boyfriend-claimed-he-set-up-trump-russia-nra-conduit-as-campaign-funds-flowed/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">wrote, in an email</a> obtained by the FBI, that he was “involved in securing a VERY private line of communication between the Kremlin and key [unnamed political party] leaders through, of all conduits, the [unnamed gun-rights organization].”<div class="p16_21" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />When FBI agents raided Erickson’s South Dakota home, they found a note in which Erickson mused, “How to respond to FSB offer of employment?” The FSB is the Russian state intelligence agency, successor to the infamous Soviet-era KGB.<div class="p17_21" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />During this same period, the NRA, relying on an arm of the organization that is not required to disclose its donors, <a href="https://www.salon.com/2018/10/10/waterloo-for-the-nra-its-donations-to-gop-candidates-plunge-90-percent/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">spent a record $30 million</a> helping to elect President Trump, which was nearly three times the $12.5 million it spent to help Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign. The NRA and the Trump campaign went as far as coordinating their ad buys for maximum impact, <a href="https://www.thetrace.org/2018/12/trump-nra-campaign-coordination/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">The Trace</a> reported.<div class="p18_21" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />All this has caught the eye of special counsel Robert Mueller, whose team has been “raising questions about the relationship between the campaign and the gun group,” according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/22/politics/mueller-nunberg-trump-campaign-nra/index.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">CNN</a>.<div class="p19_21" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />Despite mounting suspicions and eyebrow-raising emails, William Hurd, a lawyer for Erickson, dismissed the reports even as his client faces his own <a href="https://www.salon.com/2018/12/12/maria-butinas-boyfriend-claimed-he-set-up-trump-russia-nra-conduit-as-campaign-funds-flowed/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">possible charges</a>.<div class="p20_21" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />Hurd told the New York Times, “Anyone who thinks that a freedom-loving group like the NRA is going to get all cozy with Vladimir Putin is living in Fantasyland.”</div><div></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/01/nra-desperately-backpedaling-from-russia-as-investigators-look-closer/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/01/nra-desperately-backpedaling-from-russia-as-investigators-look-closer/</a></div><div>
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<div>scrape</div><div><div>Sara Shertz</div><div>Owner at Gun Play Worldwide & Play Safe Worldwide</div><div>
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</div><div>Joshua Beaumont</div><div>President/Owner of Long's Shadow Holster, Inc.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Wendy Randall</div><div>Randall's Adventure & Training / ESEE Knives</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Clover Lawson</div><div>National Sales Director at Torrent™ Suppressors /Tactical Arms of Texas LLC</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Matthew Daniel Karls</div><div>Armorer at TriggerTrip | Chairman at TAD Software | Director at Karls Technology | Owner at Karls Arms</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Greg Jennen</div><div>CEO at Alaska Magnum ARs, LLC</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Jody Scott</div><div>President / CEO at Tacticool22</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Jennifer Jacques</div><div>Concealed Carry Advocate, Second Amendment Defender</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Laura Burgess</div><div>Public Relations Firm</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>SMT Tactical</div></div><div>---
<div>LI</div><div>
</div><div><p class="headline title" data-section="headline" style="margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 20px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Past Chairman of the Board at National Association of Sporting Good Wholesalers<dl id="demographics" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><dd class="descriptor address" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline-block;"><span class="locality" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Des Moines, Iowa Area</dd><dd class="descriptor" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 8px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(187, 187, 187); border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline-block;">Sporting Goods</dd></dl><table class="extra-info" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><tbody style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><tr data-section="currentPositionsDetails" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><th style="margin: 0px 0px 3px; padding: 6px 20px 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: normal; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: text-top; text-align: left; white-space: nowrap;">Current</th><td style="margin: 0px 0px 3px; padding: 6px 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 14px; vertical-align: text-top;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none;"><li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/brownells-inc-?trk=ppro_cprof" data-tracking-control-name="pp_topcard_current_company" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">Brownells, Inc.</a>, </li><li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-rifle-association?trk=ppro_cprof" data-tracking-control-name="pp_topcard_current_company" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">National Rifle Association</a>, </li><li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;">National Association of Sporting Good Wholesalers</li></ol></td></tr><tr data-section="pastPositionsDetails" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><th style="margin: 0px 0px 3px; padding: 6px 20px 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: normal; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: text-top; text-align: left; white-space: nowrap;">Previous</th><td style="margin: 0px 0px 3px; padding: 6px 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 14px; vertical-align: text-top;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none;"><li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/brownells-inc-?trk=ppro_cprof" data-tracking-control-name="pp_topcard_past_company" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">Brownells</a>, </li><li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/professional-outdoor-media-association-poma-?trk=ppro_cprof" data-tracking-control-name="pp_topcard_past_company" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA)</a>, </li><li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;">Montegomery KONE Elevator</li></ol></td></tr><tr data-section="educationsDetails" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><th style="margin: 0px 0px 3px; padding: 6px 20px 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: normal; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: text-top; text-align: left; white-space: nowrap;">Education</th><td style="margin: 0px 0px 3px; padding: 6px 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 14px; vertical-align: text-top;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none;"><li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/edu/the-university-of-iowa-tippie-college-of-business-18229?trk=ppro_sprof" data-tracking-control-name="pp_topcard_education" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">The University of Iowa Tippie College of Business</a></li></ol></td></tr><tr style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><th style="margin: 0px 0px 3px; padding: 6px 20px 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: normal; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: text-top; text-align: left; white-space: nowrap;">Recommendations</th><td style="margin: 0px 0px 3px; padding: 6px 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 14px; vertical-align: text-top;">1 person has recommended Pete Brownell</td></tr><tr class="websites" data-section="websites" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><th style="margin: 0px 0px 3px; padding: 6px 20px 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: normal; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: text-top; text-align: left; white-space: nowrap;">Websites</th><td style="margin: 0px 0px 3px; padding: 6px 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 14px; vertical-align: text-top;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none;"><li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; display: block;"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/redir/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebrownells%2Ecom&urlhash=GEZz&trk=ppro_website" data-tracking-control-name="pp_topcard_website" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">Personal Website</a></li><li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; display: block;"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/redir/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Epheasantsforever%2Eorg%2F&urlhash=v29k&trk=ppro_website" data-tracking-control-name="pp_topcard_website" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">Pheasants Forever</a></li><li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; display: block;"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/redir/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Enrahq%2Ecom&urlhash=BMLw&trk=ppro_website" data-tracking-control-name="pp_topcard_website" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">NRA</a></li></ol></td></tr></tbody></table><div>
</div><div>=</div><div><div class="GGD0W3FBKT" aria-hidden="false" style="font-weight: bold; float: left; top: 3px; left: 5px; margin-right: 110px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Remington</div><div style="clear: both; position: relative;"><div class="GGD0W3FBKS" aria-hidden="false" style="float: left;"><div style="clear: both;"><div class="gwt-HTML" aria-hidden="false" style="">=Olin corp owns winchester? was bot by remington?see uber 1 history2011
bloodmoney
Since 2005, corporations have contributed between $19.8 million and $52.6 million to the NRA as detailed by its Ring of Freedom corporate giving program.6 The vast majority of funds—74 percent—contributed to the NRA from “corporate partners” are members of the firearms industry: companies involved in the manufacture or sale of firearms or shooting-related products. Contributions to the NRA from the firearms industry since 2005 total between $14.7 million and $38.9 million. According to the NRA, “The NRA Corporate Partners Program enables businesses and organizations to help ensure the future of America's hunting and shooting traditions. Those that make a commitment to the NRA are recognized at various Ring of Freedom levels.” Under the heading “Corporate Strategic Giving” the NRA adds, “Companies can make a commitment to support any area of the NRA's mission and vision through outright financial support in an effort to raise significant funds to secure the future of the NRA.” In a promotional brochure for the program, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre promises that the “National Rifle Association’s newly expanded Corporate Partners Program is an opportunity for corporations to partner with the NRA....This program is geared toward your company’s corporate interests.” The Ring of Freedom has seven “recognition” levels based on the amount contributed to the organization. The highest level ($5,000,000 to $9,999,999) is named for former NRA Executive Vice President Harlon Carter. A larger-than-life figure to the NRA faithful, Carter is credited with creating the lobbying focus of today’s NRA.7 Among the benefits offered with the Harlon Carter level is a private meeting and dinner with current NRA chief Wayne LaPierre at NRA Headquarters. The second highest level ($1,000,000 to $4,999,999) is named for former NRA President Joe Foss. Benefits include a private function at the NRA Annual Meetings with an “NRA VIP.” Lesser giving levels ranked below these NRA leaders are named for the Founding Fathers: George Washington ($500,000 to $999,999); Samuel Adams ($250,000 to $499,999); Alexander Hamilton ($100,000 to $249,999); George Mason ($50,000 to $99,999); and, James Madison ($25,000 to $49,999). Each level carries various benefits, ranging from pins to plaques to signage to “exposure in NRA media...One of the George Washington ($500,000 to $999,999) level corporate donors is Xe, the new name for the now infamous Blackwater Worldwide, known for its abuses in the Iraq war. The website for the corporation’s U.S. Training Center (previously the Blackwater Lodge and Training Center) states that it: is famous for our ability to deliver hard hitting, effective training experiences for military, security and law enforcement professionals as well as civilians. [Emphasis in original] We provide advanced training courses for a wide range of missions, terrain and tactical situations. We train both individuals and units applying our knowledge and experience to support their stated objectives.13 # A second George Washington level corporate donor is Brownells, headed by NRA board member Pete Brownell. The company describes itself as the “world's largest supplier of firearms accessories and gunsmithing tools.” It sells a wide-range of high-capacity ammunition magazines for pistols and assault weapons, including the same capacity Glock magazine as the 33-round magazine allegedly used by Jared Loughner in his January 2011 attack in Tucson, Arizona, that left six dead and 13 wounded, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). Brownells is also a manufacturer of high-capacity ammunition magazines. On his website supporting his campaign to join the NRA's board, Brownell offers his vision for strengthening the bond between the NRA and the gun industry and making sure that industry members are part of the NRA's mission: Having directors who intimately understand and work in leadership positions within the firearms industry ensures the NRA's focus is honed on the overall mission of the organization. These individuals bring a keen sense of the industry and of the bigger fight to the table

13This is a 180-degree turn from the NRA described in Americans and Their Guns, an official history of the organization publishedin 1967 which stated that the NRA “...is not affiliated with any manfactrer of arms or ammnition or with any jobber or dealerwho sells firearms and ammnition.”15And today, while in one section of its website the NRA actively courts the financial support of its gun indstry “corporate partners,” inanother—where its indstry financial links wold heighten valid sspicions, sch as in relation to the objectivity and effectiveness of itsEddie Eagle “gn safety” program—the NRA falsely claims that it “is not affiliated with any firearm or ammnition manfactrers orwith any bsinesses that deal in gns and ammnition.”1614National Rifle Association Ring of Freedom “Corporate Partners”“Corporate Partner” Name and WebsiteGnManfactrerGn DistribtororRetailerHigh-CapacityAmmnition MagazineManfactrer or VendorGn AccessoriesManfactrer orVendorOtherHARLON CARTER LEVEL—Amont Donated: $5,000,000 to $9,999,999MidwaySAwww.midwaysa.com JOE FOSS LEVEL—Amont Donated: $1,000,000 to $4,999,999Beretta SA Corporationwww.berettasa.com  Clayton Williams Energy, Inc.www.claytonwilliams.com
Pierce Bullet Seal Target Systems, LLCwww.pbsts.com
Springfield Armory, Inc.www.springfield-armory.com  GEORGE WASHINGTON LEVEL—Amont Donated: $500,000 to $999,999Benelli SA Corporationwww.benellisa.com Big Sky CarversNational Rifle Association Ring of Freedom “Corporate Partners”“Corporate Partner” NameNational Rifle Association Ring of Freedom “Corporate Partners”“Corporate Partner” Name and WebsiteGnManfactrerGn DistribtororRetailerHigh-CapacityAmmnition MagazineManfactrer or VendorGn AccessoriesManfactrer orVendorOther15Brownellswww.brownells.com

Cabela’swww.cabelas.com


Dillon Precision Prodcts Corp., Inc.www.dillonprecision.com
Lepold & Stevens, Inc.www.lepold.com
The Master’s Tablewww.masters-table.org
Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc.www.rger.com


Universal Coin & Bullion, Ltd.www.niversalcoin.com
Winchester Division—Olin Corporationwww.winchester.com
Xewww.xeservices.com</div></div></div></div></div><div>===</div></div></div></div>