The Revolt at Cincinnati, also known as the Cincinnati Coup and the Cincinnati Revolution, was a change in 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 ...
's (NRA) leadership and organizational policy that took place at the group's 1977 annual convention in
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
. Led by former NRA President
Harlon Carter
Harlon Bronson Carter (August 10, 1913 – November 19, 1991) was an American advocate for gun rights and a leader of the National Rifle Association. Carter's 1977 election as NRA Executive Vice President marked a turning point for the organizat ...
and
Neal Knox
Clifford Neal Knox (June 20, 1935 – January 17, 2005) was a board member and officer of the National Rifle Association, gun magazine writer and editor, gun rights activist, and prolific author of technical firearms articles and articles rel ...
, the movement ended the tenure of
Maxwell Rich
Maxwell Evans Rich (August 13, 1913 – July 29, 1979) was a major general in the United States Army. He also served as an Adjutant General of the Utah National Guard. He was an Executive Vice President of the National Rifle Association (NRA ...
as NRA executive vice president and introduced new organizational bylaws. The Revolt at Cincinnati has been cited as a turning point in the NRA's history, marking a move away from "hunting, conservation, and marksmanship" and toward the defense of the
right to bear arms
The right to keep and bear arms (often referred to as the right to bear arms) is a right for people to possess weapons (arms) for the preservation of life, liberty, and property. The purpose of gun rights is for self-defense, including securi ...
.
Background
Until the early 1970s, the NRA was focused on marksmanship, environmental stewardship, and recreational events, with limited resources allocated to political lobbying.
Following the passage of the
1968 Gun Control Act and the NRA's abstention from the Citizens Against Tydings campaign to unseat
Joseph Tydings
Joseph Davies Tydings (né Cheesborough; May 4, 1928 – October 8, 2018) was an American lawyer and politician. He was most notable for his service as a Democratic member of the United States Senate representing Maryland from 1965 to 1971.
Bo ...
, a group led by
Harlon Carter
Harlon Bronson Carter (August 10, 1913 – November 19, 1991) was an American advocate for gun rights and a leader of the National Rifle Association. Carter's 1977 election as NRA Executive Vice President marked a turning point for the organizat ...
began advocating for a focus on the defense of gun ownership.
Along with
Neal Knox
Clifford Neal Knox (June 20, 1935 – January 17, 2005) was a board member and officer of the National Rifle Association, gun magazine writer and editor, gun rights activist, and prolific author of technical firearms articles and articles rel ...
, editor of Rifle Magazine, Carter concentrated on winning the support of the NRA's Life Members ahead of the 1977 annual meeting. This membership class, consisting of over 2 million individuals, had voted along with existing leaders in the preceding annual conventions.
The revolt
At the Cincinnati convention, Carter and Knox led a grassroots movement with a focus on preventing the construction of an Outdoor Center in Colorado Springs and unseating the "Old Guard" leadership. The Outdoor Center would have served as new headquarters for the organization, while the Old Guard referred to the many leaders who had spent multiple decades in their positions.
Members of the group wore orange hats and carried walkie-talkies on the floor of the convention.
Carter's group succeeded in unseating members of the incumbent leadership, producing a subsequent removal of leadership members and a change in organizational focus.
Resulting leadership changes
Carter replaced Rich as executive vice president. The executive vice president position was changed to become a member-elected office.
Knox was elected as head of the group's
Institute for Legislative Action
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 conti ...
(NRA-ILA),
with the position of vice president for finance, held by Thomas Billings, eliminated;
the management committee of the organization, consisting of Merrill Right, Irvine Reynolds, and Alonzo Garcelon, was also eliminated.
Resulting organizational changes
Preceding the 1977 convention, the NRA's leadership had made plans to move the group's headquarters from Washington, D.C., to an Outdoor Center in Colorado Springs focused on conservation and recreational shooting. The new facility had an estimated cost of $30 million.
The proposal for this Center was included as an item for discussion in the 1977 meeting, and was rejected following the change in leadership.
The new leadership increased funding for its lobbying arm, the
Institute for Legislative Action
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 conti ...
(NRA-ILA) by an undisclosed amount. The NRA-ILA was given freedom to support the rights to "keep and bear arms".
The NRA redefined its stance on gun control, defending protections provided by the
Second Amendment
The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...
. Moving away from prior support for "incremental forms of gun control regulation," new leadership made the "protection of gun rights the NRA's primary cause."
References
{{reflist
Gun control advocacy groups in the United States
May 1977 events in the United States