I'm at the NRA board meeting. They let me sit in on the open session without any issues. Now, the board is in executive session which is only for board members and staff. So, I'm sitting outside. I'm the only reporter here.
No pictures are allowed inside the meeting. Here's a picture of the tiger-print carpet at the Hyatt Regency Tysons Corner Center instead. It's a bold design choice. 
The NRA board meeting has been very uneventful. There's been no mention of the failed bankruptcy attempt in open session so far. Jason Ouimet, the NRA's top lobbyist, gave an interesting update about the group's legislative efforts.
Ouimet's presentation to the NRA board was definitely more realistic than optomistic. He said David Chipman's nomination to the ATF was likely right around the 50 vote mark with Manchin, Toomey, Tester, and King still. On the fence. If he's put up for a vote, it means he'll pass.
Ouimet was equally realistic about the prospects for Biden's two executive actions. He said they are pushing members to comment against the pistol brace and ghost gun bans. He expects to get hundreds of thousands of negative comments but said Biden may push them through anyway.
But Ouimet pointed to gains at the state level, including the recent passage of permitless carry in Texas, as examples of where the NRA is having success. He said the NRA is the only gun-rights group that has that kind of reach in the states and on Capitol Hill.
He said that while other gun groups are tweeting or making memes, the NRA is working directly with lawmakers to pass pro-gun laws or block anti-gun ones. He said the NRA is the one who puts words into senator's mouths when it comes to guns.
The NRA board was in executive session for about an hour. That's when the meeting is closed to anyone who isn't a board member or staff. I don't know what they discussed during that time.
The legal affairs committee reported in open session that they spent most of their time in executive session and would give most of their report in the full board's executive session. So, that's likely where they discussed the bankruptcy failure and New York's case against them.
By my count, 45 of the 76 board members attended this meeting. Wayne LaPierre was there the entire time. However, when I went to speak to him he was ushered out of a side entrance and I was told he couldn't speak to me because he had a meeting to get to.
Multiple people told me the board was notified of my presence when I wasn't in the room. But the board members didn't seem bothered by my presence and I was able to talk to a number of them.
But the meeting was very much business as usual. You would not have known the NRA just spent $22 million on a failed bankruptcy or that they're facing dissolution if New York AG Letitia James (D.) gets her way. It was a pretty relaxed atmosphere.
I'll have more on the meeting on @TheReloadSite. So, make sure you subscribe to the free newsletter if you want to keep up to date on the biggest gun stories in the country! thereload.com/free-newslette…
NRA Tries to Move on in First Board Meeting Since Bankruptcy Failure thereload.com/nra-quietly-mo…
I want to note that I've updated my report on Jason Ouimet's comments at the NRA board meeting and replaced the paraphrase about putting words into senator's mouths with a direct quote from the speech in order to more accurately show his argument.
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