Jackson Hole NRA Banquet 2016

We have been asked why the JH Shooting Sports Foundation is not involved in the 2016 NRA Banquet.

In 2015 the Jackson Hole Shooting Sports Foundation sponsored the Friends of the NRA Banquet in Jackson Hole.

The organization and planning success at the local level was greatly hindered by the Wyoming NRA representative.  Despite the unprofessional and incompetent “assistance” provided by the friendly and outgoing Wyoming NRA field rep, the local Jackson Hole friends of the NRA Committee put on a fabulous event.  Afterward, we compiled a list of “issues” that needed to be corrected before having the event in 2016.  The problems with the Wyoming rep were so bad and had a high probability of being uncorrectable that our committee agreed that he was not a good fit for the level of excellence we were keen to provide in 2016.

• Despite repeated requests for marketing to Jackson Hole area NRA members, the rep fell short
• Bank account setup was very slow, despite requests from the local committee
• Responses to many issues were slow and incomplete
• Volunteers were yelled at during the event
• A local major NRA supporter asked the rep about the poor NRA communication and the rep dishonestly blamed the local committee.  A local committee member overheard & defended the local committee and an argument ensued, with the Wyoming rep saying to the volunteer that he and his spouse, “…would never be allowed to volunteer at another Friends of the NRA event in Wyoming again…”
• Other volunteers were snarlingly blamed for not volunteering MORE time amid complaints that there were not more volunteers
• Much more…

Our Jackson Hole Friends of the NRA committee chairwoman contacted Brad Kruger, who is the Wyoming representative’s boss and explained our grievances, emphasizing that our committee would like to work with the Friends of the NRA in 2016.  We explained that we were excited to work with a more responsive and capable representative, perhaps the Idaho rep.  We did not suggest that the Wyoming rep be fired from his position with the NRA, however we declined to work with him in the future.  Communication with Mr. Kruger was slow and after many months of waiting, we were finally told that he would not provide us with a competent rep.

The Jackson Hole Shooting Sports Foundation and the Jackson Hole NRA Banquet Committee reached out to other divisions of the NRA in hopes of teaming with them for an event.  We had success and were contemplating at event for the late spring or fall of 2016 when we learned that the Wyoming rep had already scheduled an event for Jackson Hole.

So, we had not planned to publicly air our dirty laundry, however it seems that by undercutting local efforts to support the NRA, the Wyoming rep is attempting to restore his poor reputation locally by having his own event without contacting anyone from the previous committee.  We hope that he has developed himself personally in terms of personal initiative, communication & follow-thru and has committed to making the event a good one.  We hope that he treats his new batch of volunteers with professionalism, respect and appreciation.