Leave it to the Dorr Brothers to label the biggest neutering of the National Firearms Act scheme in history a “sellout.” This is the standard M.O. of all of the Dorr Brothers’ organizations, whipping up their deluded members and claiming they’re the only “no compromise” pro-gun org out there.
In this case, it’s happening under the banner of their so-called American Firearms Association. They’re shrieking that major national gun rights orgs like the NRA, Firearms Policy Coalition, SAF and Gun Owners of America (are you kidding?) are selling out everyday Americans who own guns.
The good news is the Dorrs’ questionable practices have come to the attention of those beyond the legitimate gun rights community. Maybe the biggest voice to report on their exploits is The Blaze just a few days ago.
With their national reach, The Blaze covered the Dorr Brothers’ activities and their prolific fundraising. Senior editor Cortney Weil researched and wrote a long and well-done feature on the Dorrs and it starts with this…
Gun-rights ‘grifter’? Activist accused of exploiting 2A supporters for profit
“Arrogant.” “Dishonest.” “A plague upon our state’s gun owners.”
Aaron Dorr, the face of more than a dozen interconnected gun-rights groups across the country, has inspired some harsh descriptors from influential gun enthusiasts who theoretically should be on his side. But according to these critics, Dorr is actually a bully with few legislative accomplishments to his name, prompting some to claim he is a grifter who capitalizes on the good-faith donations of hardworking, trusting gun owners for his own gain.
Blaze News spoke with current and former political leaders and a podcaster in Wyoming as well as a gun-rights activist in Illinois, who all told us the same story: Aaron Dorr and his organizations do the gun rights movement much harm and very little good.
Not exactly a ringing endorsement. Ms. Weil interviewed a whole slew of politicians and gun rights folks across the nation, including me. No one had a lot of nice things to say of the Dorr Brothers.
‘No compromise,’ no matter what
According to its website, WYGO wants “to expand the Second Amendment for our members, not to protect the careers of politicians in Cheyenne!” Its affiliated groups in Iowa and Missouri make a similar statement. However, most of the affiliated groups bill themselves as absolutists, claiming to be the only “No-Compromise gun rights organization” in their respective states, which include Alabama, Illinois, and New York.
While a “no compromise” pledge from a well-connected group may compel Republicans in red states like Alabama to remain committed to the right to bear arms, that approach in deep-blue states like Illinois and New York is more puzzling. As John Boch of Guns Save Life in Illinois told Blaze News, support for gun control far outweighs the support for gun rights in the Illinois state capital.
“Frankly, we could have 100 lobbyists in Springfield,” Boch said. “We could have 1,000. And when it comes to the gun issue, we don’t have the votes to stop anything. It’s just the sad reality of life on the ground here.”
Blaze News was curious to know why Dorr’s groups would demand a hardline, “no compromise” stance from pro-2A politicians in Democrat strongholds since doing so makes any progress on the issue even less likely than it already is. Dorr did not respond to our question on the subject, but the others who spoke with Blaze News claimed that Dorr is more interested in stirring up public emotions about gun legislation, both good and bad, rather than helping to pass or defeat it.
“More interested in stirring up public emotions…” That’s their standard modus operandi for goosing their membership for more donations.
‘You’re being lied to.’ John Boch of Guns Save Life said he had heard about Dorr and his groups’ “shenanigans in other states where they fundraise the heck out of everything and don’t really do anything.” However, those “shenanigans” hit closer to home after Boch obtained a four-page fundraising letter from WYGO-affiliate Illinois Firearms Association, signed by Dorr, asking recipients to make a donation to help “mobilize as many gun owners as possible” against a gun-control bill in Illinois pushed by Democrats.
“I think they’re just siphoning off money from well-meaning gun owners who don’t know any better,” Boch explained.
“Just out of the blue, they rolled into Illinois,” Boch claimed. “And here they are, sending out these letters. And they send out the same letter every month, every 30 days.”
The Illinois Firearms Association headquarters in Peoria, Illinois (Image via Google maps)
After doing some investigating, Boch learned that the address for Illinois Firearms Association listed on the letter is actually a private mailbox inside a UPS store in Peoria. Boch doubts that Dorr and his associates in Illinois Firearms Association have made strong connections with any Illinois state lawmakers.
“I’ve never seen anything of them actually being in Springfield,” Boch said. “I’m going to say it didn’t happen, but nobody’s ever told me that they’ve seen them in person in Springfield.”
Blaze News heard similar stories that Dorr rarely visits the states whose lawmakers he claims to lobby on behalf of gun owners. In fact, Iowa state Rep. Matt Windschitl (R-Harrison), a strong gun-rights proponent, took to the floor of the chamber in 2017 and excoriated Dorr and other leaders of Iowa Gun Owners, yet another WYGO-affiliated group, for failing to attend legislative sessions when a major gun-rights bill was under consideration.
“Where are they?” Windschitl railed. “Why aren’t they registered on this bill? Why did they not even come to a subcommittee to give their opinion on what we’re trying to advance? Where are they? Where have they been?”
“They’re not even registered on this bill,” he continued, “and yet they’ve already gone out, taking credit for it.”
“You’re being lied to….”
Here’s a video of Windschitl railing on the Iowa branch Dorr Brothers, Inc. on the floor of the Iowa House.
Here’s my personal experience with them, and it was a doozy, from Guns Save Life . . .
Who are the Dorr Brothers?
Who are the Dorr Brothers and how do I know they’re affiliated with this endeavor? While poking around into the pedigree of this gun rights organization I’d never heard of soliciting money in the Land of Lincoln, I came across a telephone number on their website. 217.535.9145. So I called it.
I had the honor and privilege of speaking for 9 minutes and 54 seconds with none other than Alex Dorr. He sounded like a very smooth-talking professional salesman. If you didn’t know any better you would be impressed by his rap. Unfortunately for him, I knew better, and when I pushed back, he denied, deflected and/or squirmed.
Alex reportedly lives in Georgia.
Back to our conversation. I pressed him on a couple of points. When I asked him about the Illinois Firearms Association’s claim of fighting the AR-15 ban in court, Alex eventually admitted they weren’t in court.
And they didn’t have a lawsuit.
They did sit and watch a hearing last July in Chicago in the Barnett suit. I guess to them that’s how they challenge the AR-15 ban in court. By watching from the gallery.
Hardcore, I know.
But wait! The Barnett case was filed in the Southern District of Illinois Court in East St. Louis, not in Chicago. Yes, there was a hearing on the appeal held at the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago at the end of June. Maybe Alex just got his month wrong. Maybe he’s a big, fat liar. We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
After I pressed him about three times he admitted that the American Firearm Association filed an amicus brief (which really was submitted June 22, 2023). Helpful hint: the fry cook at your favorite McDonalds could file an amicus brief if he hires an attorney to enter it.
What else? Alex Dorr the non-scam artist registered lobbyist in Georgia complained a lot about Republicans – squishy RINOs – didn’t stand up to fight for gun owners in Springfield. I asked him to give me specific names and he wouldn’t. Then I asked for ways they could do so but aren’t, especially as they’re the super-minority party. “Just what are they supposed to do?”
“Well, they’re not calling bills.”
“Really Alex? The Democrat leadership controls which bills get called for votes. They control which committees bills are sent to before that.”
“No, no. Any two legislators can call for a floor vote on any bill using a procedural motion,” he says. “That’s fighting back.”
Laughing at his ignorant remark delivered with such authority, I said, “I’m not sure what state you’re from, but that’s not how it works in the Illinois General Assembly.”
Turns out it looks like he lives in Georgia. My aunt lives in Georgia. That’s a LONG drive.
Of course, he was repeatedly asking me to join their organization after each time he gave me an answer.
Asked to give me some examples of victories the Illinois Firearms Association’s parent organization has, he said “sure.” He told me how his organization – the American Firearms Association – is responsible for passing Constitutional Carry in Ohio, Iowa, Georgia, Missouri and a couple of other states. I’m sorry. I couldn’t write fast enough to keep up, in part because I was laughing so hard.
And then he called me, John Boch, a FUDD. Right-o.
Before Dorr, nobody every called me a FUDD. My best AQT at an Appleseed is 244. What’s yours, Alex? Have you even been to an Appleseed, Alex? (Image by Boch)
Then Alex hung up.
It probably won’t surprise you to learn that I’m no longer on their Christmas card list.
In my opinion, the pushback the Dorrs and their American Firearms Association has received are all well-placed shots that land in the X-ring. Their crazy assertion that everyone in the gun world except the American Firearms Association has sold out America’s gun owners is a load of purely preposterous poppycock. And thank you to The Blaze for helping spread the word about their shenanigans.
The Door Bros are known scammers in the gun world, they been at it since 2013
They set up orgs in states using the states names … ‘Minnesota Gun Rights’, ‘Iowa Gun Owners’, ‘Illinois Firearms Association’, etc… and now national with their scam with ‘American Firearms Association’. The pattern is always the same – claims of fighting for gun rights and lobbying legislators and getting bills introduced and backing bills and how they were responsible for getting this or that passed and the list goes on and on, while they aggressively solicit for donations … but when you check out their claims you find just about zero. And although they did have non-profit status, or claim they do (sometimes their claims of non-profit status are a lie), any 990’s they do file for their non-profit show expenses that do not make any sense for lobby efforts and the activity they claim because they are always missing the key expenses that show up in lobbying, while the guys claim to be working all these hours every week with $0 pay from the org but have no other verifiable income while living a nice comfortable life style.
The got caught in their scam once in Minnesota, I think it was back in 2019 – calming they were a registered non-profit and collecting over $200,000 in ‘charitable donations’ – but the IRS had pulled their non-profit status in 2016, and they claimed to have been filing 990’s all that time but no evidence of any 990’s then they tried to lie their way out of it by claiming it was a mistake and the information would appear soon on the IRS site but it never appeared and not a one of the state legislatures they claimed to have been working with knew who they were or had ever been contacted by the ‘Minnesota Gun Rights’ organization. One of the legislatures stood up in a committee meeting in which several legislators the Dorr Bros claimed to have been working with to ‘advance gun rights’ in the state were present, and he asked for show of hands of those that had been approached by ‘Minnesota Gun Rights’ or the Dorr Bros and no hands were raised and no one had ever heard of them.
Yeah, scammers.
“He told me how his organization – the American Firearms Association – is responsible for passing Constitutional Carry in Ohio, Iowa, Georgia, Missouri and a couple of other states. I’m sorry. I couldn’t write fast enough to keep up, in part because I was laughing so hard.”
The Dorr brothers have other scams they run too. One being the ‘right to life’/pro-life anti-abortion area. They usually run this scam in the same states in which they run the ‘gun rights’ scams, for example, the ‘Minnesota Right to Life’ scam while running the ‘Minnesota Gun Rights’ scam. The also do a ‘climate’ scam. They use the same basic scam methods in each scam type, aggressively solicit for donations- make false claims of how they are doing this or that or have done this or that for – claim to be lobbying and fighting hard for your rights for this or that or what ever the cause is but no real verification they have done anything, etc…. they have even claimed they were the major diving force behind certain bills passing and being signed into law but oddly its a ‘but the fight is not over so send us some money now so we can keep fighting for this bill’, when no such bill ever existed.
The anti-gun side say they are ‘far right wing’ and far-right activist. This is just false projection on their part and its not true, they are saying that because ‘guns’.
What they are is ‘no-wing’, and more left-wing which is where they take their scam trolling points from. For example, their ‘activism’ scam in COVID – the rhetoric centered around contentious points put forth by left-wingers but didn’t stray from the standard left-wing rethoric formula to induce a false fear to get people riled up. However, they are not actually any-wing – they are scammers and out for them selves with no dedication to the 2A or pro-life or anything else except the money they can make from ‘donations’ and in that they are more akin to the left-wing groups behind things like BLM and NoKings as they rake in the donations and their organizer hierarchy take a healthy salary from the donations as their rhetoric keeps people riled up or in fear of something happening … ‘now if ya just donate a little more we can fight this.’ and the donations flow from the duped.
They also have an office here in Ohio. Funny, I looked it up and got a hit on a UPS store in Columbus, specifically Suite (aka Box?) 311 at the East Main location. They are registered as a non-profit in Ohio that will gladly accept your non-tax-deductible donations, although I found no record of them registering as a lobbyist here. Ok, this is hilarious. Google their Ohio phone number, 614.795.3421. The location pic for the first hit shows a red dumpster beside a UPS truck, at the back of the building. That oughta say all you need to know.
The Dorr Brothers are well known scammers.
The Door Bros are known scammers in the gun world, they been at it since 2013
They set up orgs in states using the states names … ‘Minnesota Gun Rights’, ‘Iowa Gun Owners’, ‘Illinois Firearms Association’, etc… and now national with their scam with ‘American Firearms Association’. The pattern is always the same – claims of fighting for gun rights and lobbying legislators and getting bills introduced and backing bills and how they were responsible for getting this or that passed and the list goes on and on, while they aggressively solicit for donations … but when you check out their claims you find just about zero. And although they did have non-profit status, or claim they do (sometimes their claims of non-profit status are a lie), any 990’s they do file for their non-profit show expenses that do not make any sense for lobby efforts and the activity they claim because they are always missing the key expenses that show up in lobbying, while the guys claim to be working all these hours every week with $0 pay from the org but have no other verifiable income while living a nice comfortable life style.
The got caught in their scam once in Minnesota, I think it was back in 2019 – calming they were a registered non-profit and collecting over $200,000 in ‘charitable donations’ – but the IRS had pulled their non-profit status in 2016, and they claimed to have been filing 990’s all that time but no evidence of any 990’s then they tried to lie their way out of it by claiming it was a mistake and the information would appear soon on the IRS site but it never appeared and not a one of the state legislatures they claimed to have been working with knew who they were or had ever been contacted by the ‘Minnesota Gun Rights’ organization. One of the legislatures stood up in a committee meeting in which several legislators the Dorr Bros claimed to have been working with to ‘advance gun rights’ in the state were present, and he asked for show of hands of those that had been approached by ‘Minnesota Gun Rights’ or the Dorr Bros and no hands were raised and no one had ever heard of them.
Yeah, scammers.
“He told me how his organization – the American Firearms Association – is responsible for passing Constitutional Carry in Ohio, Iowa, Georgia, Missouri and a couple of other states. I’m sorry. I couldn’t write fast enough to keep up, in part because I was laughing so hard.”
Yeah, I don’t blame you for laughing John.
The Dorr brothers have other scams they run too. One being the ‘right to life’/pro-life anti-abortion area. They usually run this scam in the same states in which they run the ‘gun rights’ scams, for example, the ‘Minnesota Right to Life’ scam while running the ‘Minnesota Gun Rights’ scam. The also do a ‘climate’ scam. They use the same basic scam methods in each scam type, aggressively solicit for donations- make false claims of how they are doing this or that or have done this or that for – claim to be lobbying and fighting hard for your rights for this or that or what ever the cause is but no real verification they have done anything, etc…. they have even claimed they were the major diving force behind certain bills passing and being signed into law but oddly its a ‘but the fight is not over so send us some money now so we can keep fighting for this bill’, when no such bill ever existed.
The anti-gun side say they are ‘far right wing’ and far-right activist. This is just false projection on their part and its not true, they are saying that because ‘guns’.
What they are is ‘no-wing’, and more left-wing which is where they take their scam trolling points from. For example, their ‘activism’ scam in COVID – the rhetoric centered around contentious points put forth by left-wingers but didn’t stray from the standard left-wing rethoric formula to induce a false fear to get people riled up. However, they are not actually any-wing – they are scammers and out for them selves with no dedication to the 2A or pro-life or anything else except the money they can make from ‘donations’ and in that they are more akin to the left-wing groups behind things like BLM and NoKings as they rake in the donations and their organizer hierarchy take a healthy salary from the donations as their rhetoric keeps people riled up or in fear of something happening … ‘now if ya just donate a little more we can fight this.’ and the donations flow from the duped.
This sounds like RMGO and Dudley Moore, same playbook, same scam.
Dudley Brown I mean…
NPR’s No Compromise podcast launched in 2020 with a series on the Dorr brothers
With so little substance and accomplishment, it’s surprising they’re still around
A World Where The NRA Is Soft On Guns
The Facebook Flock
Does No-Compromising Really Work?
Building The Kingdom Of God
The Original No Compromisers
A One-Man Propaganda Band
They also have an office here in Ohio. Funny, I looked it up and got a hit on a UPS store in Columbus, specifically Suite (aka Box?) 311 at the East Main location. They are registered as a non-profit in Ohio that will gladly accept your non-tax-deductible donations, although I found no record of them registering as a lobbyist here. Ok, this is hilarious. Google their Ohio phone number, 614.795.3421. The location pic for the first hit shows a red dumpster beside a UPS truck, at the back of the building. That oughta say all you need to know.
https://www.google.com/search?q=614.795.3421&sca_esv=50dc833e4eea275e&source=hp&ei=yKRlaKyANb2U0PEPyOarmAc&iflsig=AOw8s4IAAAAAaGWy2FN9cfAPFpIS2aA6s6ZXPO-isZ8-&ved=0ahUKEwishKitj5-OAxU9CjQIHUjzCnMQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=614.795.3421&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6Igw2MTQuNzk1LjM0MjFImZQBUPsuWMN0cAJ4AJABAJgBfqAB_QeqAQQxMC4xuAEDyAEA-AEC-AEBmAIBoAI4qAIKwgIKEC4YAxjqAhiPAcICChAAGAMY6gIYjwGYAzjxBUC94TfMiETMkgcBMaAH5AWyBwC4BwDCBwM1LTHIBzA&sclient=gws-wiz&sei=3qRlaOS4FuTFp84PkfKy-Qs