NRA members call for independent audit

A group of National Rifle Association members is pressing for an independent audit as the organization gathers in Houston for its 2026 annual meeting. (ammoland.com) In an op-ed published April 16, longtime dissident voices said the NRA still has “opaque” budgets and weak audit practices, and they called for both an internal investigation and a confidential review modeled on a special audit. (ammoland.com) The push lands during the NRA’s 155th Annual Meetings & Exhibits in Houston, scheduled for April 17-19, 2026, where members, directors and staff are already debating bylaw changes and board oversight. (nraam.org) (ammoland.com) The fight is rooted in the fallout from New York’s civil case against the NRA. A jury found in February 2024 that the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, former finance chief Wilson “Woody” Phillips and general counsel John Frazer violated state law. (ag.ny.gov) A New York judge then ordered governance changes in July 2024 and entered a judgment in December 2024 requiring the NRA to reform its governance and board election process under New York nonprofit law. (ag.ny.gov 1) (ag.ny.gov 2) The Ammoland op-ed says the board has already reconstituted its Audit Committee so directors, not management, choose its members, and it says former committee members who served from 2014 through 2022 are barred from returning. (ammoland.com) The NRA’s 2024 audited financial statements show the organization received an unmodified audit opinion from its outside auditor on the parent organization’s statements for 2024 and 2023. The report also says management is responsible for internal controls and for preparing statements free of material misstatement. (static.notus.org) That gap is driving the current member argument: an outside financial-statement audit says whether the numbers are fairly presented, while the dissidents are asking for a deeper review of how budgets, controls and decisions were handled inside the organization. (static.notus.org) (ammoland.com) Reformers have also been gaining ground in NRA elections. Ammoland reported on April 9 that the 2026 director election showed continued board turnover and more seats going to candidates aligned with reform. (ammoland.com) The NRA has publicly emphasized its annual meeting, member programming and policy work ahead of Houston, but the latest member demands show that governance and accounting questions from the LaPierre era are still shaping the organization’s internal politics. (nraila.org) (ammoland.com)