NRA kicks off annual meeting as board considers successor to longtime leader Wayne LaPierre

DALLAS (AP) — The National Rifle Association is kicking off its annual meeting Friday in downtown Dallas, gathering for the first time in decades without Wayne LaPierre at the helm as board members prepare to elect his replacement.

Though beset by financial troubles and following a trial in which a jury found LaPierre misspent millions of the NRA’s money, the group remains a political force. Upwards of 70,000 people are expected at the three-day event with a scheduled speech by former President Donald Trump, seminars, receptions and acres of guns and gear.

A board of directors meeting on Monday is expected to include elections of LaPierre’s replacement and other officers.

“The immediate question is: Who leads the organization and what direction do they go in the post-Wayne LaPierre NRA?” asked Robert Spitzer, a professor emeritus at the State University of New York-Cortland who has written several books on gun policies.

“They have suffered a series of blows, mostly caused by their own corruption,” Spitzer said.

Trump is set to address members Saturday. At the organization’s Great American Outdoor Show earlier this year, he told those gathered that if he is reelected, “no one will lay a finger on your firearms.”

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