HOUSTON, TX — Members of the National Rifle Association board of directors re-elected CEO/executive vice president Wayne LaPierre and board president Charles Cotton at the annual convention, the organization announced.
The NRA's annual convention is in Houston this year, fewer than 300 miles from where a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde last week. Protests gathered outside the convention center this week as the gun rights advocacy group met, and some speakers dropped out.
The organization has not met since 2019 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the Associated Press reported.
The NRA has also seen "a period of serious legal and financial turmoil that included a failed bankruptcy effort, a class-action lawsuit and a fraud investigation by New York's attorney general," according to the AP.
Re-electing LaPierre in particular is a show of support from NRA members, even as New York AG Letitia James is pursuing a lawsuit that would remove him from office.
A judge ruled in March that James could not dissolve the organization, as she had been trying to do, Reuters reported. However, the judge said James could pursue LaPierre's removal under state nonprofit laws, Reuters said.
Col. Allen West, former chairman of the Texas Republican Party, was running against LaPierre. He served on the NRA board for five years but resigned in 2021, Bloomberg News reported.
The vote was 54-1, according to Bloomberg, and there are 76 members of the board.
In a statement, LaPierre called for improving mental health services and making schools "more safe and secure. Our children are our most treasured and precious resource — making schools safe is a national emergency," he said.
LaPierre has been CEO and executive vice president since 1991.
"I am honored to continue my work for the NRA, and to join our members in their campaign to promote responsible gun ownership and defend Second Amendment freedom for all law-abiding Americans," LaPierre said.
“The NRA stands strong, safe and secure,” said Cotton. “We have never been better positioned to protect the Second Amendment or lend our collective voices in support of important issues like school security.”
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