NRA Leaders

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Member Profile

Ron Schmeits

Former President and Current Board Member

Ron Schmeits

Former President and Current Board Member

Biography

Ron Schmeits, who was born and raised in Nebraska, began his career as a banker and later served as mayor of Jordan, Minnesota from 1976 to 1980. He joined the NRA Board of Directors in 2000 and served as president of the organization from 2009 to 2011. Schmeits has called the National Rifle Association “the only and the largest, I think, you know, freedom organization that there is in the world.”


All Statements (5 total)

Statements by Category (5 total)

  • Republican Party (GOP)

    Sources [1]

  • Republican Party (GOP)
    In an interview with Ginny Simone of NRA News at the 2011 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on February 11, 2011, Schmeits said, "A gun doesn't shoot somebody. It takes the person behind it. If the gun did shoot somebody, I'm not a very good speller. Well, if that's the case, they'd outlaw all pencils." Speaking of those who called for better firearms regulation after the mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona on January 8, 2011 (which included several survivors of that tragedy), Schmeits said, "They take advantage of a disaster ... Look at how many people get killed on the highway every year. We aren't going to ban automobiles ... My feeling and my respect for them has been downgraded substantially."

    Sources [1] [2]

  • Conspiracy Theory
    After promoting the conspiracy theory that the United Nations is attempting to ban private firearm ownership in the United States in a February 2011 column for America’s 1st Freedom, Schmeits wrote, “Thomas Paine once said, ‘It is the responsibility of the patriot to protect his country from its government.’ NRA will heed his warning even if no one else will … If foreign powers insist upon pushing their idea of ‘global norms’ across our borders, NRA will be the first to alert and mobilize the American people to stop them.” The Paine quote used by Schmeits is bogus—it has no legitimate source.

    Sources [1]

  • Political Violence
    Schmeits wrote a “President’s Column” for the November 2010 issue of America’s 1st Freedom, in which he proclaimed: “The political class in Washington today wants to make you dependent upon them. They want to be the sole source, or controlling authority, over every aspect of your life. They want you to be beholden to them—so that you’ll vote them back into office for fear of losing their supposed ‘benevolence.’ And everything a firearm represents—independence, self-sufficiency, personal security, even the notion of a free and armed society—goes against everything they want to impose on this country.”

    Sources

  • Conspiracy Theory
    Schmeits wrote a “President’s Column” for the November 2010 issue of America’s 1st Freedom, in which he proclaimed: “The political class in Washington today wants to make you dependent upon them. They want to be the sole source, or controlling authority, over every aspect of your life. They want you to be beholden to them—so that you’ll vote them back into office for fear of losing their supposed ‘benevolence.’ And everything a firearm represents—independence, self-sufficiency, personal security, even the notion of a free and armed society—goes against everything they want to impose on this country.”

    Sources

  • Animal Rights
    In a September 2009 column for America’s 1st Freedom, Schmeits wrote, “You’ve heard how ‘animal rights’ radicals have tried to booby-trap deer stands, vandalize duck blinds, poison hunting dogs and drive game away from hunters.”

    Sources