自从非营利组织在2019年会员年会上罢免主席以来，美国国家步枪协会（NRA）正在裁员并全面削减薪水。
在周一下午通过电子邮件发送给董事会和执行委员会的一份说明中，首席执行官韦恩·拉皮埃尔（Wayne LaPierre）宣布其组织“面临着COVID-19带来的非凡挑战”，必须进行多项员工调整，包括“取消某些职位” ”，为小时工实行每周四天的工作，并在保持当前工作量的同时全面降低20％的工资。
由NRA的总顾问约翰·弗雷泽（John Frazer）转交给董事会的电子邮件是由《新闻周刊》获得的。
该组织的外部法律顾问布鲁尔，律师和参赞在回应有关拉皮埃尔本人是否会受到紧缩的评论时，在一份声明中表示：“今天宣布的薪金调整适用于该组织的各个层次。”
声明还说：“此外，一些高级工作人员自愿采取进一步削减措施。”
LaPierre的薪酬在2018年增加了57％，这是可以报税的最近一年，达到215万美元。
尽管拉皮埃尔（LaPierre）指出COVID-19爆发是人员变动的主要原因，但这一宣布是在枪支权利集团无可争议的现金紧缩期间发出的。税务文件显示，2018年，NRA的净资产下降了近900万美元，至1600万美元，为六年来最低水平。
目前尚不清楚COVID-19的爆发将如何影响NRA的底线。2018年，捐款，转移，礼物，赠款和会员费占该组织收入的80％左右。
NRA最近被迫宣布，原定于4月中旬在田纳西州纳什维尔举行的成员年度会议将不再能够召开。
该组织在较早的声明中说：“我们对此行动的必要性深表遗憾。” “我们最终以负责确保NRA成员，客人和周围社区的安全与福祉为己任。”
周一，LaPierre发出了类似的口吻，他承认他的组织必须“应对眼前的财务挑战，并制定长期影响计划，以确保组织的生存能力。”
他补充说：“不幸的是，这些变化将有必要临时或在某些情况下永久取消某些职位。”
裁员将在周日生效，并调整时间表以确保小时工的“维持福利资格”。
LaPierre继续说：“尽管我们无法预测这些与薪资有关的调整将持续多长时间，或者COVID-19的长期财务影响是暂时的，” LaPierre继续说，进一步鼓励受影响的员工“任何德国州或联邦机构来确定是否有资格获得任何其他援助。”
被解雇的NRA员工将是最近几周成千上万的美国人之一，他们突然发现自己处于美国历史上最糟糕的经济收缩之一。劳工部报告称，3月中旬，失业人数激增至281,000人，为2017年以来的最高水平。
布鲁尔公司周一发表的声明指出，COVID-19疫情及其伴随的全国性封锁“已导致我们的筹款活动受到重大干扰”。
“根据州或地方的限制以及公共卫生当局的指导，我们被迫取消了全国所有NRA之友的宴会，其他计划中的活动，特别节目，枪展，招募站以及其他各种预期收入，声明补充说。
冠状病毒的爆发仅代表NRA的最新财政危机，在道德和治理丑闻中，其财务状况不佳，要求该组织采取措施以巩固其资产负债表。例如，《跟踪》报道说，该集团位于弗吉尼亚州费尔法克斯的总部已淘汰了免费咖啡。
NRA及其慈善基金会目前正在纽约和哥伦比亚特区的司法部长的调查中，指控其违反了免税资格，这要求内部人员不得从非营利资产中获得个人利益。
批评者指责NRA进行挥霍无度的支出，这一说法得到了该组织的前总裁，与NRA脱节的前中校Oliver North中校以及其前公共关系公司Ackerman McQueen的支持。
自那以后，这三个人纠缠在遍布多个州的法律困境中，在各种诉讼中都存在欺骗和背叛的指控。诺斯在担任总统期间的最后几天里写信说，来自NRA外部顾问Brewer公司的发票“正在以惊人的速度消耗NRA现金”。
在2019年第一季度期间，该公司每天为其法律服务获得近10万美元的报酬。布鲁尔的辩护者指出，美国国家步枪协会（NRA）的大量诉讼已赢得了重大胜利，包括针对针对枪支权利支持者的政策与洛杉矶市和旧金山市的对抗。
近几个月来，NRA的换手率损害了其保持在该国最具政治影响力的组织中的能力。2020年是选举年，这一事实只会放大周一宣布的后果。NRA在2016年总统大选中花费了创纪录的5500万美元，其中3000万美元用于支持当时的候选人唐纳德·特朗普。
自去年五月以来，该集团董事会的八名董事已辞职。
在2019年秋天的几个月中，在发生了两次特别可怕的大规模枪击事件之后，NRA处于防御状态，被迫证明其在许多枪支权利支持者不满该组织的情况下继续发挥政治影响力。似乎取得了一定程度的成功：《纽约时报》报道该组织在一次私人电话中从特朗普那里获得了让步，而关于国会山新枪支管制的言论似乎是多年来首次可行。
但是，有关该组织是否可以在国会保留其无与伦比的政治影响力的问题仍然存在，美国现任代表唐·扬（R-AK）也在NRA董事会任职。NRA立法行动研究所（NRA-ILA）的高级官员，游说机构以及与华盛顿特区的联系去年就离开了。其中一位是该部门的前高级游说者克里斯·考克斯（Chris Cox），他在针对North的诉讼中被提及，他被指控参与阴谋推翻LaPierre。
NRA-ILA的总顾问戴维·莱曼（David Lehman）在人手短缺的情况下一直在为Cox填补职位，于8月离职。
拉皮尔（LaPierre）在周一的报告中总结说：“多年来，我们度过了比大多数时候更艰难的时期。” “但是，我们将在一个强大而又有优势的国家中崛起，领导这场斗争，以保护我们的第二修正案，第一修正案以及即将到来的关键选举以及未来几年的所有宪法自由。”
THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION IS LAYING OFF STAFF, CUTTING SALARIES AND REDUCING HOURS AMID COVID-19 OUTBREAK
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is laying off employees and reducing salaries across the board in the largest personnel shake-up since the non-profit organization ousted its president at the annual meeting of members in 2019.
In a note that was distributed via email to the board of directors and executive council Monday afternoon, CEO Wayne LaPierre announced that his organization "faces extraordinary challenges resulting from COVID-19" and must institute several workforce adjustments, including "the elimination of certain positions," imposing a four-day workweek for hourly employees and 20 percent pay reductions across the board "while maintaining current workloads."
The email, relayed to the board by the NRA's general counsel, John Frazer, was obtained by Newsweek.
In response to a request for comment about whether LaPierre himself would be subject to the belt-tightening, the organization's outside counsel, Brewer, Attorneys and Counselors, said in a statement that "salary adjustments announced today apply to all levels of the organization."
"In addition, some senior staff members are voluntarily taking deeper cuts," the statement added.
LaPierre's compensation rose by 57 percent in 2018, the most recent year for which tax filings are available, to $2.15 million.
Though LaPierre cited the COVID-19 outbreak as the chief reason for the personnel changes, the announcement comes during an undeniable cash-crunch at the gun-rights group. Tax filings show that in 2018, the NRA's net assets declined by nearly $9 million to $16 million, their lowest levels in six years.
It was not immediately clear how the COVID-19 outbreak would impact the NRA's bottom line. In 2018, contributions, transfers, gifts, grants and member dues comprised around 80 percent of the organization's revenues.
The NRA was recently forced to announce that its annual meeting of members, set to take place in Nashville, Tennessee, in mid-April, would no longer be able to convene.
"We sincerely regret the need for this action," the group said in an earlier statement. "We were ultimately guided by our responsibility to help ensure the safety and well-being of our NRA members, guests, and surrounding community."
On Monday, LaPierre struck a similar tone, acknowledging that his organization had to "address immediate financial challenges and... plan for long-term impacts to ensure the viability of our organization."
"Unfortunately, these changes will necessitate the elimination of certain positions on either a temporary or, in some cases, permanent basis," he added.
The staffing reductions will be effective Sunday and schedules were adjusted to ensure "the maintenance of benefits eligibility" for hourly employees.
"Although we are unable to predict how long these pay-related adjustments will remain in effect, or the long-term financial impacts of COVID-19, they are intended to be temporary," LaPierre's note continued, further encouraging affected employees to "contact any germane state or federal agency to determine eligibility for any additional aid."
Laid off NRA employees will be among the hundreds of thousands of Americans in recent weeks who have suddenly found themselves in one of the worst economic contractions in U.S. history. The Department of Labor reported that in mid-March, unemployment claims spiked to 281,000, the highest level since 2017.
Monday's statement from the Brewer firm noted that the COVID-19 epidemic and its accompanying nationwide lockdown have "caused a major disruption to our fundraising activities."
"Based on state or local restrictions and guidance from public health authorities, we have been forced to cancel all Friends of NRA banquets across the country, other planned events, special programs, gun shows, recruitment stations, and various other streams of expected income," the statement added.
The coronavirus outbreak represents just the latest fiscal crisis for the NRA, whose flagging finances amid an ethics and governance scandal have required the organization to take steps to shore up its balance sheet. The Trace has reported, for example, that free coffee was eliminated at the group's headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia.
The NRA and its charitable foundation are currently being investigated by the attorneys general for New York and the District of Columbia over alleged violations of their tax-exempt status, which requires that no insider derive a personal benefit from non-profit assets.
Critics have accused the NRA of engaging in profligate spending, a claim that was bolstered by the organization's former president, Lt. Col. Oliver North, who has fallen out with the NRA, as has its former public relations firm, Ackerman McQueen.
The three have since become entangled in a legal morass spanning multiple states, with accusations of deception and betrayal playing out in various lawsuits. North wrote in a letter during the final days of his tenure as president that invoices from the Brewer firm, the NRA's outside counsel, were "draining NRA cash at mindboggling speed."
During the first quarter of 2019, the firm was being paid nearly $100,000 per day for its legal services. Brewer's defenders have noted that the NRA's voluminous litigation has racked up significant wins, including against the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco for policies targeting gun-rights supporters.
Turnover at the NRA in recent months has jeopardized its ability to remain among the country's most politically influential organizations; and the fact that 2020 is an election year will only amplify the consequences of Monday's announcement. The NRA spent a record $55 million on the 2016 presidential election, $30 million of which went to supporting then-candidate Donald Trump.
Eight directors on the group's board have resigned since last May.
During a period of months in the fall of 2019, after a pair of especially gruesome mass shootings, the NRA was put on the defensive, pressured to demonstrate its continued political leverage during a time when many gun-rights supporters have become disaffected with the group. There appear to have been some moderate successes: The New York Times reported that the group secured concessions from Trump in a private phone call just as talk of new gun controls on Capitol Hill appeared viable for the first time in years.
But questions remain about whether the group can retain its unrivaled political influence in Congress, where a sitting U.S. representative, Don Young (R-AK), also serves on the NRA's board. Top officials at the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), its lobbying arm and connection to Washington D.C., departed last year. One of them, Chris Cox, the division's former top lobbyist, was mentioned in a lawsuit against North, where he was accused of participating in a conspiracy to oust LaPierre.
David Lehman, NRA-ILA's general counsel who had been filling in for Cox amid the staffing deficit, left in August.
"Over the years, we've weathered more tough times than most," LaPierre concluded in his note Monday. "But we will rise from this stronger and well positioned to lead the fight to protect our Second Amendment, the First Amendment, and all our constitutional freedoms during the crucial upcoming elections and for years to come."
