Just a bit of an update. It seems Chris Cox is putting his foot in the NRA mouth, so to speak, again. sigh. See this blog by John Richardsons
No Lawyers - Only Guns And Money. The actual NRA-ILA alert is
here.
Chris Cox (Executive Director of the NRA-ILA) is scared spitless of the SAF, in general, and Alan Gura in particular.
Before
Parker, the NRA-ILA was attempting to position itself as the premiere 2A litigator. They already held the field as the biggest, toughest lobbyists on the Hill. Mr. Cox wanted much more. As the "heir apparent" to Wayne LaPierre, Mr. Cox wants and needs to create a secure legacy. He wants and needs the NRA to be
THE 2A rights organization.
That dream was to come crashing down, when the
Seegars case could not drag
Parker in, as a related case (and thereby taking control of the young upstart attorney). That resulted in
Seegars being dismissed as not having standing to sue (See
Navegear).
When a favorable decision in
Parker was handed down in the D.C. Circuit, Chris Cox, and the entire NRA hierarchy went into panic. Everyone knew that D.C. would appeal. With the (then) makeup of the Supreme Court, there was ample fear of bringing a pure 2A case to the Supreme Court. The facts of the matter are, that this fear was entirely justified. There is not one person alive who could say how C.J. Rehnquist would vote on a 2A case. Justice O'Connor has pretty much kept her feelings on the matter to herself. Yet many concede that she may well have went along with Justice Stevens interpretation.
Regardless, Mr. Cox's dream was further crushed when after the
Parker decision but before cert was granted (renamed,
Heller), the NRA-ILA nearly succeeded in lobbying the Congress to remove the offending laws from D.C. The effort failed when popular sentiment went totally against the NRA's efforts. Even its own membership was ready to revolt at this brazen attempt to scuttle the litigation, and Wayne LaPierre himself was affected by Chris' manipulations.
Fast forward to the gaffe of horning in on the
McDonald orals. The NRA heard about that one for months. They lost some few memberships because of that. Fast forward (again) to the article by Chris Cox, wherein the NRA takes full credit for the
McDonald victory. Again, the central offices heard about that and again, they lost memberships.
It appears to me that Chris Cox does not know the meaning of team play. That he is insecure in his own position and that of the NRA. That Wayne LaPierrre (for whatever reasons) has chosen not to reign in this maverick and is counting on the FUDS to carry them... And people like me, who are still members, despite my misgivings on the direction the NRA-ILA is going -
I have no problems with what the NRA itself is doing, just the NRA-ILA and its leader, Chris Cox.