Charles L. Cotton (born November 28, 1949) is an American attorney and gun rights advocate who has served as president of the

National Rifle Association of America The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent gun rights lobbying organization while cont ...

(NRA) since 2021. Cotton is also the moderator of TexasCHLForum.com, an online discussion forum about gun ownership.

Biography and education

Cotton grew up in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. Cotton stated that "grew up hunting and plinking". He graduated with a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

degree from the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

in 1987.

National Rifle Association career

Cotton is a trustee of the NRA's Civil Rights Defense Fund. He chaired the NRA’s audit committee from 2017 onwards. Cotton was elected President of the NRA in 2021, succeeding Carolyn D. Meadows. He was reelected President on May 30, 2022.

TexasCHLForum.com

Cotton is the moderator of TexasCHLForum.com, a gun rights forum. In 2016, he was reportedly criticized by

open carry In the United States, open carry refers to the practice of visibly carrying a firearm in public places, as distinguished from concealed carry, where firearms cannot be seen by the casual observer. To "carry" in this context indicates that the fir ...

activists, who accused him of being insufficiently supportive of gun rights.

Civil War comments

On a forum post, Cotton apparently lamented the loss of the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, lamenting that it was “too bad we lost the civil war.” Cotton later posted that his view stemmed “purely from a states’ rights viewpoint and in light of the exponential growth of federal power after the war.”

Stoneman Douglas High School shooting comments

On a forum post, Cotton criticized efforts to enact gun control measures in the aftermath of the

Stoneman Douglas High School shooting On February 14, 2018, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire on students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the Miami suburban town of Parkland, Florida, murdering 17 people and injuring 17 others. Cruz, a former student at t ...

, arguing that advocates were unfairly using “the sympathy factor of kids getting killed.” In a post, Cotton stated:

“Wake up people and see what’s happening!!!! Bloomberg and Hollywood are pouring money into this effort and the media is helping to the fullest extent. We’ve never had this level of opposition before, not ever. It’s a campaign of lies and distortion, but it’s very well funded and they are playing on the sympathy factor of kids getting killed.”

Personal life

He currently resides in

Friendswood, Texas Friendswood is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is part of the metropolitan area. The city lies in Galveston and Harris Counties. As of the 2010 census, the population of Friendswood was 35,805. In 2007, CNN/''Money'' magazine listed Fr ...

with his wife Martha.

References

Living people Presidents of the National Rifle Association American gun rights activists 1949 births {{US-politics-stub People from Houston People from Friendswood, Texas Texas lawyers