Allen West entered the U.S. Army after graduating from the University of Tennessee in 1983. He later received a master’s degree in political science from Kansas State University and a degree in political theory and military history and operations from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff Officer College. In 2003, due to an incident that involved the beating and simulated execution of an Iraqi policeman, West was fined $5000 and retired from the military as a lieutenant colonel. West was elected as the U.S. Representative from Florida’s 22nd District in 2010, making him the first African-American Congressman from Florida since 1876. In Congress, he served on the Armed Services and Small Business Committees and was a high-profile member of the Tea Party Caucus. West is currently president and CEO of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a nonprofit organization whose goal is to develop and promote private, free market alternatives to government regulation. West is a Life and Endowment Member of the National Rifle Association. In May 2016 he was elected to a three-year term on the NRA Board of Directors.
Category Archives: NRA Leadership
Maloney, Sean (Former Board Member)
Sean Maloney is an attorney and the legislative director of Buckeye Firearms Association. He is the NRA’s Election Volunteer Coordinator for Ohio’s 8th Congressional District and a certified NRA firearms instructor. Maloney serves on the NRA’s Grassroots Development Committee and was inducted into the NRA-ILA Election Volunteer Coordinator Hall of Fame in 2011. He lives in West Chester, Ohio.
Schlapp, Mercedes (Board Member)
Mercedes Schlapp is the co-founder of Cove Strategies, a government and public affairs firm that she started with her husband, Matt Schlapp. She was the Director of Specialty Media under the Administration of President George W. Bush and hosted the Republican National Committee’s web show, “In the Know,” in 2006. Schlapp has been an NRA Board Member since April 2015. She is regularly featured as a pundit on Fox News.
Cors, Allan (President)
Cors earned his bachelor’s degree and law degree from the University of Cincinnati and went to work as a counsel with the Judiciary Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. He then served as Corning’s Director of Government Affairs and Senior Vice President for 34 years. A lifelong hunter and competitive shooter with a passion for collecting World War II military vehicles, Cors has served as president of the NRA Foundation and is a member of the NRA’s Executive Committee. He was a principal advocate for the establishment of NRA’s Political Action Committee. Cors was elected President of the National Rifle Association in April 2015. Cors, now retired, was a senior vice president with Corning, Inc., where he directed the company’s government affairs programs worldwide.
Cotton, Charles (Board Member)
Charles Cotton is an attorney who resides in Friendswood, Texas. He is a competitive action pistol shooter and a life member/consultant with the Texas State Rifle Association (TSRA), an NRA affiliate organization. Cotton is also is the founder of the Youth Action Pistol League, a program for junior shooters. He has served on the NRA Board of Directors for well over a decade and was also elected to the Board of Trustees of the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund.
Dowlut, Robert (Former General Counsel)
Robert Dowlut was born in the Nazis’ Augsburg slave labor camp in September 1945 to Polish parents Donald and Olga, less than five months after the U.S. Army liberated the camp. In 1949, the family emigrated to Wisconsin, and then to South Bend, Indiana. As a young man, Dowlut had several run-ins with the law. At 16, he was arrested for a crime spree using stolen weapons and a homemade zip gun, but was put on probation and graduated from Washington High School in January 1963. He then enlisted in the Army and began basic training in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Then, in November 1964, Dowlut was found guilty of second-degree murder, accused of shooting and killing Anna Marie Yocum in April 1963. After six years in prison, the court reversed the conviction, and the case was never retried. Dowlut then returned to the military, joining the 82nd Airborne Division, and served with the Army Reserve’s 12th Special Forces while he attended Indiana University South Bend. After graduating in 1975, Dowlut enrolled at Howard University School of Law. He began working for the National Rifle Association in 1977. In 1979, he graduated law school and was admitted to the D.C. Bar a year later in 1980. He has served as the NRA’s General Counsel and is currently on the NRA Civil Rights Legal Defense Fund board of directors.
Judy, Brian (Senior State Lobbyist)
Brian Judy is a senior state lobbyist for the National Rifle Association who works in Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Utah.
Milius, John (Former Board Member)
After attending film school at the University of Southern California, Milius became a prominent writer and director of motion pictures. Milius-directed movies include “Conan the Barbarian,” “Red Dawn,” and the Emmy winning “Rough Riders” TV movie about Teddy Roosevelt. He also contributed as a writer to “Apocalypse Now,” “Jaws,” and “Dirty Harry.” Commenting on conservative themes in his film “Red Dawn,” where a group of American teenagers take on communist invaders, Milius said, “I was the only person in Hollywood who would dare do this movie. Hollywood is very left wing and I believe in all that rugged individualism hogwash. I knew one thing that would happen. I knew Hollywood would condemn me, that I would be regarded as a right-wing warmonger from then on.” Milius has referred to himself as a “zen anarchist” and once told producer Dino De Laurentiis (who objected to the casting of Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Conan the Barbarian”), “There is only one Nazi on this team. And that is me. I am the Nazi.” When he was commissioned to write the first draft of “Dirty Harry,” Milius insisted on payment upfront in the form of a $2,000 gun.
Young, Rep. Don (Board Member)
U.S. Representative Don Young was born in California in 1933 and moved to Alaska in 1959. Prior to entering politics, Young made his living doing construction work, mining, trapping and fishing. Before entering national politics in 1973, He served as mayor of Fort Yukon, and as an Alaskan state senator and representative. Young is one of the most senior members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) routinely include him in their “most corrupt” list. Young, who once suggested the “Artic National Wildlife Preserve” be named the “Artic Oil Reserve,” has also appeared on the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) “Dirty Dozen” list for his anti-environment views.
Craig, Larry (Board Member)
Larry Craig served as a Member of Congress from 1981 to 2009. Born in Council, Idaho in 1945, Craig served in the Idaho National Guard from 1970-1972. He began his political career by serving as a Republican Idaho State Senator beginning in 1974. After serving three terms in the state senate, Craig was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1980. He then went on to serve ten years in the House and 18 years in the Senate. Craig’s political career was derailed when his 2007 arrest for lewd conduct in an airport bathroom became national news. He initially said he would resign, but later decided to serve out the remainder of his term. While serving in the Senate, Craig was one of the gun lobby’s most important allies, shepherding numerous pieces of NRA-backed legislation into law. In 2006, he received the NRA Institute for Legislative Action’s highest honor. Chris Cox, the executive director of NRA-ILA, called Craig an “eloquent and fearless champion of the Second Amendment.”